"I guess that's one good thing about it then."

"Yeah. Dead orcs are all - stuck forever - but they aren't currently suffering, except psychologically."

aaaaaaaaaaah

"I'm upsetting you."

"It's not you, it really isn't."

"Okay." She goes outside to commend their leaf-catching, and eventually join them, giggling. 

That is so hopelessly adorable. Annie can't really catch leaves unless they happen to land directly on her but she can sit here and hopelessly adore Rirosseth.

There's a long winter. Everyone except Annie settles in around warm fires roasting nuts and telling the children lessons in the form of stories. Chemistry and math and metalworking and music and magic songs when Annie's far enough away.

Annie remembers, uh, maybe three fifths of high school chem and less of high school math, but from a much more advanced world! ...The math is not actually that much of an improvement, although comparing notations is diverting.

Annie makes snow angels and is almost not too hot.

She gives it six months of solid consideration before she says "I managed to work out circumstances that made hugs tolerable, if it would improve your life if we could do that."

"Um? What are the - how does it make them -"

"The main thing is that you need to not move at all and I need to have complete enough freedom of movement and - and you need to do exactly what I say, which I feel sort of coercive even mentioning given love magic, but that's - what makes it feel like I'm sufficiently choosing things -"

"And tolerable definitely actually means that and not, not something I would actually think was awful that you're rounding up to tolerable."

"No. It's scary but sort of satisfying. If I thought this were real I would definitely want to be able to do that."

"I can hold still and do what you tell me to do."

"Okay. My room?"

Nod nod nod.

Here is a very-austere-by-Quendi-standards room. Here is Rirosseth wearing four extra layers.  "Lie down -"

Annie does that.

And if Annie can be very very still then she can lie down next to her and lean in very very carefully and breathe very deliberately.

Annie can be so still.

Okay. Okay. 

She is scared but it is tolerable-really-actually, she doesn't want to die even a fraction more than usual.

There is a limit to how imaginative Annie can get while remaining firmly in the reality where Rirosseth doesn't actually want to touch her, and holding perfectly still without squirming at all, and being ready to do anything Rirosseth tells her to do at once, but it is not zero imaginative.

And she asks her to move, a little bit at a time, until here is a view and a posture and a facial expression that doesn't give her any flashbacks - of course, next hallucination there will be even fewer things that qualify - and then she holds her quietly and firmly denies herself permission to cry. 

Annie is absolutely perfectly compliant, although the facial expression part is slightly difficult.