Ah. Do humans awaken as adults? The first Elves did that, but we've had children ever since.

No - that'd be a lot more convenient, but no, we appear as babies.

...where? And how?

Just sort of around. It's really hard to actually catch a baby as it appears without camping out at a good spot for months on end, generally one has to find them later on, but they can be most anywhere sort of tucked away. Somebody anonymously invented a kind of golem that goes and listens for crying and brings the babies back to the nearest creche, that's done wonders for population stability now that it's not all hikers stumbling over infants tucked into hollow logs or whatever.

That is the most horrifying thing I've ever heard.

I mean, I'm kind of grossed out by the idea of babies being caused by sex in sapient creatures, but I'm trying to be open-minded here.

Our way, no child is brought into the world unless there are two people who wanted it to exist and who want to raise it, and none of them slowly die of exposure and starvation alone in the woods.

I guess there are advantages to that system. We get kind of used to it being a fact of nature that sometimes babies die of exposure and starvation alone in the woods, we can't find them all - there do seem to be new stork golems occasionally, somebody's still churning them out in batches, we just don't know who.

In the Outer Lands we were used to the thought you'd be kidnapped and slowly tortured to death at some point, being used to it doesn't make it not horrifying.

...uh, you'd be what?

The Enemy I mentioned earlier? That's how he earned the title.

That would do it, yep. We don't have one of those.

We don't anymore, as soon as the Valar found out they intervened. But it's not an easy thing to forget.

Wouldn't think it would be.

I cannot describe how awful it would be if babies were born alone in the woods. It was not safe to be alone in the woods fully grown.

Our wilderness areas are safer, I guess? I don't go hiking much for obvious reasons but I'm pretty sure it's commoner to find a live baby than a dead one.

He shudders. Now that the Enemy's dead no one dies. I have never seen a dead person, let alone a dead abandoned baby, let alone - a whole world full of them - what if you want to have children? You go out and find one? Wouldn't they not be anything like you?

I can't think of any earthly reason I'd want a baby around. I don't think I could stand to have an apprentice younger than four and it'd have to be a precocious four. Some people like babies and take them off the hands of overloaded creches, but that's not common at all, usually it's creches up until the kid's ready to eat with utensils and not throw rocks indoors and learn something. Some kids don't even get apprenticed, they just stay in the creche until they feel like striking off on their own.

Children are reared collectively, not adopted, if they don't slowly die in the woods? None of you have any families? I mean, that one sounds like a cultural difference not an ongoing atrocity and I'm willing to be open-minded but - seems terribly lonely.

I found my creche way too crowded, honestly. Skipped out with the first servantmaking teacher who came by. People make friends! The well-organized creches make sure there's some adult responsible for giving any given kid individual attention!

Most of the time the two people who decide to make a child together quit most of their other work so that during her childhood they can devote their full energy to raising and tutoring and loving and caring for her.

Well, that sounds really laborious.

If one were the sort of person who found it so, they wouldn't have children.

I guess. Creches have perpetual problems getting enough people to work at them, the staff are usually really dedicated but most people have other things they want to be doing with their lives...

I certainly don't think anyone would want child-raising to be the thing they do with their lives. But a thing you do, if you've decided to do it at all, wholeheartedly for the short time the child is young and can benefit from devoted attention.