Can you hear me?

Apparently not.

Healing won't do anything if she doesn't need it, so he tries a song for wind.

The underbrush rustles; the kobold nods, scuffs the ground at the base of the boulder to break its portal spell, and returns.

No osanwe, I assume? But the music worked fine.

Oh, good. Then my brother can sit by a portal and sing to me and the healing will go faster.

Good.

But they can't easily verify they're speaking to me.

Oh?

With osanwe, it's impossible to intercept a message not directed at you and unless the Enemy's controlling you totally it's impossible to fake one.

That's convenient.

I could let them come here, if you're okay with that.

No.

If you work for the Enemy you could take them prisoner.

Okay.

Also they'd want to hug me.

Her breath catches a little. Yeah. I can talk to them about that, if you want?

I could too. It's easier for them just not to be near me.

Nod. I think one of us will have to have to tell them something sooner or later, though. I don't think I can convince them that I can't bring them here.

I'm going to tell them the whole truth right away, don't worry.

Okay.

They'll have more information than me with which to assess whether you're working for the Enemy, if they're real.

Mmhmm.

And if they're not real there's no harm in explaining what I'm supposed to believe recently happened.

Nod.

That still leaves them probably wanting to see you in person, not through a portal, though. Which isn't an unsolvable problem - if you need me to I can just refuse to let them come and not even explain; it might cause problems later but I can handle that, probably - but it kind of is one.

I'm their commander. If I need to order them not to bother you about it I will.

She chuckles. I hope we can manage to be a little more diplomatic about it than that. But if it comes down to it, sure, very reasonable.

My brothers would actually be relieved if I were giving orders because they'd take it as a sign I wanted a lot of things I used to want.