(Interesting. Was it discussed how that works in practice, say with lawbreaking? And how the children-slavery works for them?)

Yup, they treat an entire colony as responsible for any wrongdoing by one member. There's different punishments for lone individuals, too, for the same crimes.

There aren't any laws about young thwilit in particular.

Iri keeps looking out the window being quiet and uncomfortable.

"Did they sell you? Or something happened to the colony?" 

"I wanted to leave. They thought they might be in trouble if I ever did anything wrong if they just let me go. And then they didn't let me change my mind."

"I'm very sorry.

How old are you?"

(Did the not-video have anything about mechanisms for thwilit to separate out? Is this because xie was underage, or a general issue? Did anything mention when thwilit come of age?)

Nothing mentions when thwilit come of age.

"You first. How old are you?"

She doesn't mind answering that.

"I'm four."

"Is that underage, for thwilit?"

"There's no law about when we're adults. It wouldn't make any sense for us, we're not like humans."

How does that work with the underage and slavery thing?

"You really don't know anything about us, do you? I'm not really a person so it doesn't matter how old I am."

She knows exactly as much as was in the not-video, plus what Valanda has told her, which Iri will have heard. How does it work for thwilit?

"I haven't been here the whole time, remember? I've only seen part of it. And we, uh..." Is that the bird equivalent of a shrug? It might be! Iri doesn't narrate what their body language means. "One person is one human or one agerah or one belul or all the birds that live together and work together and have children together. Thwilit make choices together. Like choices about whether to break laws."

Most things she learns to draw conclusions on are not narrated.

Sorry. She should not have just assumed Iri knows the not-video contents. If there are episodes with more about thwilit specifically, they're not ones she's currently seen.

So rather than being birth-based, a colony can just sell a member if they want, but there isn't a slave/free internal distinction otherwise?

"I'm not mad at you. Yeah, it's like that. Some birds aren't... used for making decisions as much... but it's not the same."

Understood.

She's sorry that happened to xer, that sounds awful.

(And, now that they're talking, she'll try asking again -)

Is there anything Sheridan might be able to do to help xer? Is xie alright right now? Would xie be able to tell Sheridan what commands xie's under?

Iri's not as terrified as the last time she asked.

"I don't think I should tell you that. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Ok. That's fine. (That's actually very suspicious in at least some way, though there's a few to choose from. She keeps that part to herself.)

Information about Valanda that it would be good to have and she lacks would be useful. 

Iri trembles.

"I don't know him, I don't know what you know, I, I..." Deep breath. Pause. "Maybe if you have specific questions."

She's sorry to be scaring Iri. If it helps at all, she's not angry at xer and is very unlikely to become so. Is there anything else she could do to scare xer less?

"...I'll let you know if I think of anything you can do for me. I can answer more questions if you want."

She'd be glad to know that.

She'd like to ask a somewhat oddly-formed question, can she try that?

"Sure."

If there's something having to do with Valanda where xie is under commands that involve keeping it from Sheridan, please don't respond right now until Sheridan says something again. If not, say something.

(She not sure if this ought to work or not - doesn't have a definite good enough understanding of command magic, at the moment. And she's certainly not guaranteed a true answer. But it's enough to be worth a try.)