Nod.

"Some humans write their names down. My father reads their things and he was very surprised by it."

"Yes, we do. To sign letters and decrees. It doesn't mean the same thing for us, there's - we have the concept of debt, and of being connected to another person, but names don't enter into it."

"You knew - who I was, what I was doing, what I wanted - but I wasn't sure how much of that was because you'd heard stories and how much was because humans are the same way."

"I did not! I had guesses. - I am actually maybe still slightly unclear on some of what you want."

"I wanna have a human and have adventures with the human and hear lots of good stories and have you look at me like I'm wonderful or something."

"Oh," she says, like this is really quite surprising. "That's - well that sounds fine. Lovely, even."

"What did you think I wanted?"

"Well, at first I thought you wanted a slave, and then you didn't ask me to do anything, so I thought you must mainly want me for sex, and then we established that you weren't going to force that, and since then I've been a little confused."

"I ask you to do things!"

"Not anything unpleasant."

"I mostly just avoid living a lifestyle where lots of unpleasant things need doing, honestly."

"I see.

" - will that be very different, if we go to visit your court?"

"KInda? That's why I don't go very often."

Nod.

"It's a very nice court. I left as soon as I was allowed to, and didn't go back for a hundred sunrises."

Nod.

"I don't mind being a servant. Just - you won't stop caring about us?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's mostly not unpleasant stuff you can do, though my father'll want to hear you talk for him and write for him if you know how and make all kinds of sounds and so on. It's mostly people stuff and I'll have to do it and it'll be fine, we'll just leave again as soon as we can."

"Oh. That sounds all right, then."

"I'm not entirely sure because I've never had a person before but I think you are probably too scared I'll leave or get bored or change my mind and probably I won't."

Nod. "I just - things were really bad, before. And I don't know how bad they usually are."

"Probably they are usually pretty bad if you're - human and slowly dying and have nothing and can't live on your own and are pretty and mostly just stuck with whoever wants you and hate the things they're likeliest to want - and not very bad if fewer of those things are true."

"Okay."

"And I don't think you'll like court but I think it'll have - good stories, and you'll notice them.

It has beautiful jewelled cages for prisoners. Most courts do but when I was little I thought about that a lot."

" - ah.

"I suppose human courts just - hide them."