"Oh, I think she's back now. But you're correct that you don't need to check us; Quendi are bound to the world and don't leave it when we die. You could check dead humans from our world, and dead Dwarves."

"One of our parents is dead."

"What, and you'd want them back?"

"...is something wrong with yours? Ours're fine."

"...huh."

"Different people? Or just different cultural attitudes about Khalil -"

"We have four. We know which one was pregnant but not which one was the other biological parent."

"Ours weren't particularly enlightened about Kitty but I wouldn't imply I want them dead."

"Well, ours'd go to Axis probably, I'm not accustomed to assuming they'd just vanish altogether, maybe I'd feel differently about that."

"I wouldn't expect ours to vanish altogether either. They're still alive, though."

"We should maybe check both dead magical and dead nonmagical humans from this world, just in case. My grandmother and some Muggle -"

"Who'd you kill today, Aitim -"

"Who needs this information?"

"I'm presuming we have logistical support at the palace looking in on me and able to follow up on things I ask for. If we don't I'll chase it down once I get back."

"Is whoever was most recently executed for throwing a tomato really a good choice, Minor, why don't we get, uh, Shakespeare or something."

"Are we getting them or just looking in on them?"

"Just looking. Having a likeness or a possession of theirs will help. Why're you executing people for throwing tomatoes?"

"Rotten tomatoes."

"- that's not really very clarifying."

"Amentans have a thing about - anything that's gross. It still doesn't excuse it but you can imagine how your society'd handle it if there were a major problem with peasants flinging their feces at the tax collectors."

"Not really my specialty but I imagine we'd, uh, pay tax collectors more."

"I think I like Osirion."

"You couldn't pay someone enough," says Isama. "- okay, you could pay some people enough but not enough people to staff all the public-facing positions on the Earth and also all those people are mentally ill by Amentan standards."

"And you haven't got the resources to send them to monasteries or anything and even though it's cheap for the state you won't sell them into slavery because that's a bad word."

"Well that's a solution I haven't heard proposed."