Of course he was, Maitimo says a bit smugly.

Yes, yes, he is slightly me-obsessed.

You should find it flattering. And it's convenient when the best path to doing right by someone is to be your best self and do the things you do best.

I find it a little worrying - I mean, he was slightly me-obsessed before too but this level of it has post-traumatic written all over it - but yes, extremely convenient.

Maybe Lorien in a few centuries when he's ready.

I'm hoping it doesn't take him centuries. If he isn't substantially perked up in two, three years I'm doing something wrong.

Fair enough. But - it can take as long as it needs to, neither of you are ever ever going to die, pretty soon no one's going to die, he doesn't need to feel rushed.

Yeah, rushing him would constitute doing something wrong. I'm trying to project 'the new normal now and forever is us being alive and together'.

Approval, contentment, pride, determination. Ah, those were osanwe'd, people unfamiliar with it sometimes fail to correctly distinguish them - I'd smile at you but I can't.

I didn't find them hard to identify! Yay me.

The risk as I understand it is that if you didn't know we could send emotions you might just think you were feeling them.

I... think I would have noticed anyway, but yes, being aware of the option helped.

I think the risk is pretty minimal, but you're in any event obliged to warn. So. You're warned. More pride and approval and general fondness.

I will bear this in mind before I start emoting at people. You know, it never annoyed me before that neither I nor Aydanci is telepathic but I have gotten so used to the convenience.

I cannot imagine how I'd live without it. Findekano and I only interact face-to-face once every few weeks, we'd go mad.

Well, that's a separate problem.

One I'm very glad you two no longer have.

It's pretty great. I wish you and Findekáno could conveniently remember a past life or something.

One of us could switch. We did discuss it at one point. Don't want to.

I wouldn't have wanted to; it's something about the reincarnation process that makes it sit okay. Not what I meant, anyway, I just meant I wish you had a loophole.

I appreciate that. We are both of us happy and able to pursue the things we care about; I do not write myself dramatic self-pitying songs very often. Though I was going to write one if you ran off and never came back.

I would've visited.

I find your presence very distracting when I cannot kiss you!

Oh, well, then, clearly there would have been nothing to be done and sad songs would be the way to go.

You'd visit and I'd still write sad songs. I have never lost a person before, it would have been very distressing.