"- by height or by volume or by mass?"

"Height. I don't know our volume at full size, it'd be complicated to measure."

"Eureka," remarks Cam. "- by which I mean, you'd want a tub full of a known volume of water and marked sides and then you'd dunk and see how far up it goes."

Bounce bounce. "This did actually occur to my father and we have tried it but we don't have a watertight full-sized tub anywhere so we've only tried it at court size."

"I suppose you can't make small tubs and enlarge them the same way you do the other way around?"

"Very few things get larger. Clothes do, and crystals, but they're magic."

"Hmmm... I could make clothes here and we could see if they enlarge..." He writes this down.

"That's the thing that keeps courts physically small, the fact you can't make things get bigger. It helps with stretching food and wine."

"I don't expect the clothes to get bigger if they're not magic but it would be really interesting if they did and it's not hard to test."

"Yep. - hey, maybe when we move out of this court someone can come over to the ruins of it, big, and pick up the green balls. They won't be too heavy then."

Snort. "About how often do you have to move?"

"This is a good thick tree trunk but I'd expect it to start rotting in a few years, not more than ten. Courts in living trees or in caves or underground move much less frequently."

"Does it wreck their architecture when the tree grows? I suppose perhaps it doesn't lose branches if they keep the misfortune to a minimum."

"I do not personally know how to build into a growing tree so its growth doesn't ruin your house and you don't kill it but I think some people know how to do that."

"One that grabbed me was in a burrow. How do they keep animals out, just barricade the place when they sniff around till they lose interest?"

"I think so. It's not very hard to see them coming. And many of them shy away from unfamiliar smells, I think."

"Oh, that makes sense. And none of them would have evolved to eat you."

"I'd like to see them tr- no, I wouldn't, it would probably be at least mildly alarming and amusing only in retrospect."

"Oh, faeries ever have to catch themselves too, I hadn't realized the habit wasn't quite that ingrained!"

"Faeries sometimes have to catch themselves. More when they're younger, or drunk, or distracted."

"You're not that young."

"Nor am I drunk."

"If any of the cocktails looked good I can make versions without alcohol in them. Personally I just don't let alcohol affect me but that's my being dead privilege."

"Your food is delicious but I'd rather ask you questions, at least until I've accumulated a pile of certificates so enormous I don't feel like they meaningfully trade off anymore."

"All right, ask away."