"Did they have a lot of that last?"

"Didn't say I paid attention. Uh, we have a bunch of laws that reference specific ages and they were annoyed we hadn't changed all the laws to specify the relevant and different ages for elves."

"Ha, I guess that would be annoying for elves with kids."

"I mean, if marrying off your twenty-year-old Elf is ill-advised you can just not do that. I think it was causing problems in a couple of places? I really spent my whole education trying not to pay attention, though, I was scared Abadar'd get ideas."

"Makes sense."

"The marriage law is nineteen, or sixteen with special approval. In Qadira it's fourteen so we feel very civilized by comparison."

"Wow, the ability to get married of the ability to get married of the ability to get married of my ability to get married can get married."

"Well, you can hardly get married past twenty two or twenty three!"

"Speak for yourself!"

"Not having married any women I have to admit I don't know what changes between twenty-three and twenty-four."

"That's when I learned to write!"

"Ah, that's probably it. Marry a literate woman and you'll never find marital bliss."

"It'd explain a lot."

"Maaaaybe drow can make it work with an illiterate man."

"We don't systematically skew the educational system that far but I'd believe it's happened, if he's pretty."

"Huh, really? Osirion can't afford to educate everyone and the boys are the obvious subcategory to go for, figured it'd be the other way around."

"Slaves. We don't educate the slaves. There are a lot."

"Right."

"Some of 'em pick up a surprising amount anyway, I guess like Osirian girls who can read."

"Well, I haven't, so I'll be in character."

"Yup. If anybody hands you a book they will totally be reading your mind to check if you are extracting meaning from the text so it's a good thing you're covered on that front."

"Studied for years."

"Took them that long to give up? They could have saved some time by putting down the project for a bit when you were, what, five, and trying again when you were eight in case that helped, and then being like 'oh well'. I guess throw in a little more iteration time if different alphabets are different."

"My father really didn't like the thought one of his children was stupid. He's into all those heredity theories, you know, if I'm stupid it means he is."

"Wow, can't he just see how many spells a day he gets and assume if necessary that you were dropped on your head?"