"Your name was a series of numbers, was it not?"

She stares blankly at him for a few moments before she realizes what he's talking about. She feels somewhat nauseous. She puts a hand to her mouth for a second, half to control that reaction and half to hide the fact that her face has probably gone redder than it's supposed to be. 

"So, uh, when I got here I thought this was an Alteri ship, you know? And uh, I figured - I figured the Alteri would want my identification number, and I thought it was weird because your name didn't sound like it was long enough to be a string of digits, but there was no way the Alteri would want my name, so I gave you the number and then I guess I sort of forgot to mention that it was - not really exactly a name?"

" - oh. You poor dear."

"My name is Imrainai," she says quietly.

"Would you rather we call you that?"

"Yes. I would like that."

"All right. I'm sorry. I should have asked sooner."

"It's not your fault. I forgot. There's no way you could know what alien naming customs are like." 

She still feels sort of nauseous, but she does feel better knowing that her friend does, in fact, know her name now. This seems like a good thing for a friend to know.

It does! "Do you want to go for another walk?"

"Yes, please."

They've changed the courtyard up; the plants are in different places and differently lit and the rocks have been recolored and the sculptures replaced.

Oooh. She investigates the sculptures. She's still not very good at talking, but she's confident enough now to at least say hello to some of the other Elves in the courtyard.

"Hello! How are you liking everything?"

"I like it here! It is very pretty."

She bites her lip and hopes she didn't mangle the grammar.

Well, they seem impressed.

She is delighted. She can think of precious little else she knows how to say, but she's delighted nonetheless. She goes off to find Ettelië and ask him which words she should be focusing on if she wants to be able to talk to more people.

"Most of them should have a pretty good grasp of your language, I've been putting all my notes on the public computers."

"Oh, really? That's convenient. I mean, I still really want to learn your language so I can talk to people on Endorë, but that's good, too. How many languages do you know, exactly?"

"All of the ones in our world, but that isn't very many - there's Quenya, which people from Valinor speak, and Thindarin and Nandorin and Avarin, which Elves on Endorë speak, Taliska and Sechwar, the human languages, and the common Dwarven trading language. And I've never actually had occasion to speak orcish but I understand it."

"That's a lot! Not as many as they have on Earth, supposedly Earth has hundreds of them, but still. Though I guess it's easier when you can pick them up in a few days. My niece knows a lot of languages - not that many, I don't think, but close. She's really good at learning them, it's a little unfair." She smiles. "I hope she's doing OK right now."

"If we make contact with the Alteri we'll do everything we can to get them here safely."

"Thank you. That would mean a lot to me."

"Would you like lunch now?'

She deliberates for a moment, then shakes her head. Her stomach is still not super happy with her. "No, I'm good for now. Thanks."

"Would you like me to sing you something?"