"I just want them to be okay."

"One day."

Nod nod.

"I'll get some research done."

"I'll get some studying done."

These pastimes ensue.

At some point a blonde woman in a red dress trimmed with lace in every tastefully available location sashays into the room. "Hello!" she says brightly in Quenya. "You must be Bella."

"Hi! Yes I am."

"Gloria Scott, lovely to meet you," she says, offering her hand to shake.

Shake shake. "Likewise. What've you heard already?"

"You're from Valinor, via some kind of world that fails to permit science, or perhaps vice-versa, but not Idaia's Valinor, and you have unfortunate restaurant-choosing criteria, and you're going to see to it that our chances that the people on the relevant task will fail and we'll all grow old and die are much slimmer."

"I'm from the anti-science world. I fell into my Valinor when I was eighteen," Bella says. "And I can't read English yet, I wanted to know what I was ordering, the fast food place had pictures. And yes."

"And it's unfortunate, if not unreasonable, that you can't speak English yet," Gloria says, waving a hand. "Don't worry, complaining about things that petty is almost a sign of affection, from Klaudia."

"If you say so."

"She has something of an antagonistic relationship with tact."

"Well, she took me shopping and it was very nice of her. And I don't object to her restaurant preferences in principle."

"Oh, Klaudia's lovely," Gloria explains, "it's just that if she thinks someone's an idiot she won't think twice before saying so."

"Well, then I guess I don't need to be paranoid that she thinks I'm an idiot very quietly."

"No," Gloria says, amused, "she doesn't do that."

"Anyway. It's nice to meet you and your Quenya's pretty good! D'you want to learn some magic?"

"I would absolutely love to learn some magic."

So Bella lists the cantrips she's scrolled.

Hmm. Prestidigitation is tempting but Gloria will start with the sound illusion.

And Bella walks her through the scroll and now Gloria can produce six seconds of relatively soft illusion sound.

Gloria delightedly plays a snatch of Macalaure's singing.