And if he attacks between now and then there's always you doing it as a last resort.

Yeah.

Maybe pick out a world long in advance, just in case.

Mmhmm. As soon as I have the magic-detection form I'll start working on that.

Okay. And you're getting that with Findekáno?

Haven't asked them yet - I did bring up that we'd like them to learn magic, but didn't actually ask about that. When things are more settled there I'll bring it up again.

Makes sense.

Yeah. Still soon.

The Eldar don't tend to rush things, by inclination.

Nod. Some things should be, though. I can be patient but here I don't want to be.

I want to win. That's more important than timing. 

Also this hallucination is nice and he wants it to last.

Yes. There's that edge to her tone, again.

He offers her another hug.

She's still careful not to move much but she does lean into it, just very slightly.

It's important to her so he's been working on it with a large share of his attention. He doesn't flinch.

She doesn't move beyond that. She knows this is hard, even if she's mistaken about why he's doing it.

We'll get them, one way or another. There has to be something that'll work. Even if this doesn't, we can go to other worlds and learn their magic.

Yeah. I am sure it can be done with something in some universe.

Yeah. We'll figure it out.

And then it is just a question of disassociating until she decides to go.

It doesn't take very long for her to notice. She teleports back to her usual spot and waits to make sure he comes out of it okay.

He smiles pleasantly at her as soon as he can.

Good enough. She goes to wash the bowl and stoke the fire. I'll be back for dinner, let me know if you need anything before then.

I will, thank you.

And she goes to hunt. She doesn't find any giant animal tracks this time, so as it gets close to evening she backtracks to get a herd of regular deer, and then supplements them with some fish. The sun is starting to set as she brings them back to the mountain.

They haven't stopped singing.