Yeah, that sounds good. 

Okay. I think that's it... she takes one last look around. Do we want anything about the religion? I know the basics, but if we're going to do this again it might help to know more than that.

I suppose it might, yeah. We have money for more?

She counts the piles. Yeah. One or two if we get everything we're even considering.

Okay. Maybe some stuff about science, unless they're hopelessly behind us.

Sure, let me see.

They're behind, but not hopelessly so; they've got better saddles and other animal-related things, and food storage, and ceramics, and astronomy, and some very advanced stuff on ecosystems and wild forest husbandry - but I think I know enough about that to help with anything you'll actually want to do, just keeping things from going extinct can be hard but it's usually not that complicated. And I think we're a little better than you at using things efficiently, too, but I don't think there'll be a book on that exactly.

Probably not. Food storage sounds important. Astronomy - I think our world just works differently on that one -

Yeah. It might be a good idea to see if we can figure out how it does work sometime, it seems like they can do some really clever things with it here, but that sounds like way too much work to be worth it right now.

She picks out two books detailing different food storage techniques, organizes the collection by importance, and prepares to bring them up to the desk. I might need you to take over talking to them, I'm still a little shaky with that.

So he goes up to the front to request the cheapest copies of each of these books.

The librarian boggles a bit; Nidela manages to speak up and reassure him that they have the money for it.

"Okay. Um. Thank you. I'll have to see which of these we have more copies of; I can have that for you by tomorrow afternoon if that's all right?" Their backup book storage is on the other side of the city; he's not sure he shouldn't get one of his coworkers to cover the desk and go now.

"Yes, that's fine."

"All right. Thank you. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"That's it, thanks."

"Thank you."

Nidela collects Ila and starts leading them back; along the way, they pass a hat shop. Hey, she points it out. Doesn't look too crowded, want to have a look?

Uh, okay, why?

I can't wear a bunch of my clothes since I don't have hats that look okay with them, it'd be nice to fix that.

Uh, sure. Do we have money for it?

Yeah, it should be fine, the kinds of hats I wear aren't expensive and I only need a couple.

Okay. So he waits while she shops for hats.

She looks at the hats; there's a pretty good selection of the kind of wide-brimmed floppy ones she likes.

You know, I never did get around to asking what's up with the braids.

Hair is considered intimate among the Eldar. 

...oh. Uh, okay then. Good thing hats are good enough, then.

What's the problem otherwise?

I, uh. Have trouble doing fiddly little stuff with my hands? Like, I can learn eventually but it takes a long time. And braids, uh, are that. And the next step if hats hadn't worked to stop people from looking at her funny would have been asking for help, probably - might've tried cutting it, but she likes her hair long - and she feels a little sick just thinking about that, now.

Ah, yeah. People back home start young so that's not a problem, I guess. Hats work.