" - yeah, I think so too, I just - I don't want her to focus so much on that that she doesn't learn to think about what she wants."

- nod. "You'd think having the power to make people do what you want would make you think about what you want but I don't know that it does."

"I'd kind of expect it to do the opposite? Because - if you seem like a person who wants a lot of things then you might make people nervous that you'll use your powers in ways you shouldn't."

"Huh."

" - maybe that's just me. But she's kind of me. So."

"I have a lot of power and I mostly use it to do stuff I wanna do. I guess I have less than her but I was in charge of a planet."

" - see, that seems like the kind of thing that would make a lot of people nervous? But maybe that's also just me."

"I don't think it made people nervous until her? It did make her nervous but I think that was mostly the worrying the Alteri would come conquer the planet."

"Well - I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, you know? Whatever you're doing might be fine for your people. Just - she's probably used to people with power pushing other people around a lot, you know? What with the slavery."

"That makes sense."

"Anyway, just - if you don't want her to marry random people then maybe explain that or something."

"I will explain that!"

"Thanks." And she heads off to hang out by the book pile some more.

And he goes looking for Imrainai.

She's still talking to Asmodia and Verita, though the conversation is winding down. Eventually Verita drags her mother off somewhere else.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Oka - coping. Trying not to lie, apparently if I end up entangled with any fairies it'll hurt them."

"I'm working on a blessing for that - for reminding people not to lie, it can't help with the fairy side of things - but I don't know how to give those to you anyway. Do you want a hug?"

Nodnod.

"Probably seems a little silly to keep saying so."

" - to keep wanting hugs?"

"Yeah. You'd think at some point I'd - hit diminishing returns, or something."

" - when Elves are pregnant they need to be held all the time. For the baby. Alex says this is not true for humans but it seems to me like it ought to be a medical emergency even if it isn't."

"It's really pretty normal. The - being pregnant itself."

"Yes but - hmmm, imagine if you ran into someone who hadn't eaten in two weeks, and they kept apologizing for eating food and explaining that, actually, their species doesn't strictly need it so they're sure you think they're very unreasonable."

- nodnod.