"That sounds maybe biologically complicated but not mentally. Golems can do complicated mental stuff, just not personality kind of stuff."

"Yeah, I don't particularly desire to create the first sapient golem, it's just a conceptually interesting question."

"I do want to create the first sapient golem but when the Valar tried the aforementioned, Eru personally took issue."

"...Then what happened?"

"I don't think I'd pass a lack of hubris test."

Fëanáro is looking at him with obvious approval. "So we make that test in your world, I think."

"Who's we, I still don't want to create the first sapient golem, the idea of creating life is really weird to me, you can do it, you've done it seven times."

"Fair enough. I shall ask my daughter to do the awakening bit."

"She'll be more accustomed to the concept," nods Kib, "and might even find it uncomfortable not to be able to create life in the locally conventional manner, could be a nice substitute. Depending on her, anyway."

"I think she's brilliant but I might be biased. It's a known affliction of parents."

"I'm not sure how you could tell at three weeks."

"Babies stare longer at things that are novel in their environment, so you can test whether they notice violations of physical law by whether they stare longer when magic is performed, or when they're presented with artwork depicting something geometrically impossible."

"...and you have been performing these experiments?"

"...of course. I'm curious about the relative rate of Elven and human development."

"Of course, how silly of me. And you have control results from your other children?"

"I do! Though girls might develop differently than boys so perhaps I should go ask someone to let me experiment on their infant daughter."

"I'm not aware of any systematic differences but I haven't heard of the staring-at-things test so maybe."

"There are differences in inclinations which are assumed to be differences in aptitude, but people make all kinds of assumptions."

"Humans don't have the math thing, I don't remember hearing about any other local expectations."

"The most significant one is that every Elven ruler has been a man."

"Why's that?"

"I have no idea. The sample size is only a bit large for 'coincidence' to be an explanation - seven kingdoms."

"And the succession thing works by heredity and the family seems skewed male based on who I've met and heard of..."