She shrugs, and then nods, as if it's not something she's ever thought about before.

For her, just that much is encouraging. (Not that anyone is ever to blame for not being able to say or think even that.)

"I'm sorry.

We don't think that's true at all. But it's very alright if you don't believe that just because I said it."

That gets another shrug. (She's maybe not the sharpest crayon, this one.)

(Not really the kind of thing you can tell, this way. Wouldn't be even without everything else.

("He keeps count of the stitches," someone had said about Tesse.
"Yeah."))

She pauses a moment.

"Did anyone let you know they were going to send you somewhere else, before you got sent here? Or did you notice anything that seemed like they were planning it?"

She thinks about it, and then shakes her head.

"It happened by surprise?"

She nods.

(She checks potential sources of messages from L again. There continue not to be any.)

Nod. Moment's pause.

"You've been nodding and shaking your head and that's very alright. I have some friends who don't talk outloud at all, and I have some friends who sometimes do but not other times. Is that something you sometimes do? Either way is alright, and you don't have to talk now even if you sometimes do."

She shakes her head.

"Alright.

Are there any other ways you like to use for talking to people? Some of my friends write, or type, or pick pictures."

(She spent some of the time away working on a translator for Heria, has been using the speaking to contribute to it. She takes Heria's hand to hand it over, lets it start to take over the translation while she checks it.)

(In other magic she is not doing - it is in fact perfectly possible to use truth-spells on nods and headshakes. She doesn't do that, now. 'What the arrival wants then to know' is good information to work on, and truth spells are another thing rather fraught for many (as she would have reason to know.))

She seems dubious, and shakes her head again.

"You only nod and shake your head? That's very alright, if that's what you do."

Shrug.

"Have you done any other things before? That doesn't mean you have to now, if you did."

And now she's confused again, and tense.

Most likely then she either did and it was bad, or she didn't and was expected to and it was bad.

"That's alright. This is very alright. You can nod and shake your head; you don't have to do anything else if you can't or don't want to."

She sighs, and stares off into space for a moment before looking back to Heria.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Is there something you want to tell me?"

Shrug.

"OK.

Is there anything you need right now that you don't have?"

She gives another shrug.

"OK. If there is, we'd want to try to help get it for you."

Shrug, nod.