He relaxes considerably. Oh. Okay. Sorry for getting upset then.

It's okay.

Usually, I'm either someplace safe or with Ila, or both. So even if that happens I'm not stuck. But when they came and said you were singing and I had to go with them, I was too tired to remember how to say no - that doesn't happen very often anymore.

Hope you feel better soon.

Couple days, probably.

Okay.

And she finishes eating and makes her way back to bed. She's still asleep - and Ila's still growling, if less emphatically, at anyone who gets too close to her - when their guides arrive with breakfast.

Breakfast sounds nice.

They introduce themselves as Defiyi and Kenozì and set out the food - tea and peach juice and fruit-filled pastries and acorn bread with sweet potato hummus and boiled eggs - and one of them brings a covered basket up to Nidela's room - don't you dare wake her up, I have claws and I know how to... oh, food, yes, you can leave that right there - and they join the Quendi for breakfast.

"Would you like to visit the zoo first, or see some of the other things the city has to offer?" asks Kenozì.

"Zoo first."

"All right." And they take turns telling them about other things they might do in the city afterward - museums and themed gardens and art galleries and theaters and sporting events for elves and their animal companions and maybe not everything they could've found to do in Tirion, but a pretty good variety of options nonetheless.

And then breakfast is done, and they clean up and put the leftovers away in the kitchen for Nidela and lead the way to the zoo.

Where he talks with the animals.

Most of them are at least passably content. Some want to be released. Some have other complaints or requests - different food, different neighbors, more cover in their enclosures, more time with their keepers, to be bothered by the keepers less often, and so on; a few of them complain of medical issues that haven't been noticed, and a few more take the opportunity to give more details about medical issues that the keepers have been treating. Aside from being kept against their will, none of the animals seem to be being mistreated; as before, it's fairly obvious that the elves are at least trying to do right by them.

Which is good, because he has orders not to pick a fight, not if they're getting anywhere on convincing the elves to stop starting wars. He translates. He doesn't make anything the animals say more diplomatic but he doesn't make it less so either.

Defiyi takes notes; after each section they go to meet with the elf responsible for it to hand them off and answer any clarifying questions.

The zookeepers thank him, and say they can't promise anything without discussing it with each other and their supervisors but that if he'll be in the city that long they should have more information in a few days. They think, however, that almost all of the requests can be accommodated - except that they're not willing to let most of the animals that want to be released go, given the difficulty of finding replacements.

"I might be able to find you replacements for the animals that want to leave, if that'd help or anything. I'll try."

"It would, yes." And the zookeeper describes where the relevant animals can be found, and Defiyi takes notes.

Probably the best they're going to get.

Yup, probably.

It's a big zoo; even going through it at an efficient non-sightseeing pace they've only gotten to about two-thirds of it by midday, when the elves suggest they break for lunch.

They don't need to eat this often, but they go along with the suggestion.

They wind up at a cute little café that offers a dozen kinds of soup and baked potatoes with a variety of toppings. The elves make small talk, and work their way around to asking what being able to talk to animals is like.

"It's a little hard to describe. You know how we can send thoughts and ideas, like we did with the songs? Well, around animals, I can receive them as well as send then - just from the animals, of course. But since animals don't think like Quendi, we have to spend a while sharing thoughts and ideas to sort of establish enough common reference points to talk."

"So you get to really know what being them is like. That's amazing." Elves: jealous. It's a religion thing.

"I'd be happy to try sending it to you. I know it's not quite the same, but it might be interesting."

Their eyes go wide and they clasp each others' hands and nod.

So he sends! What it's like to be everything he's talked to today, one at a time, as clearly as he can remember it.