Odd. This seems like the kind of thing where he might run headlong into some cultural taboo if he's not careful, so Leareth lets himself pick up a bit more on her surface thoughts; is there something here she's too embarrassed to say to a stranger? 

Hair sensations are nice. Hair sensations are only for marriage.

Of course. The obvious category for that particular flavour of embarrassed face. And if he does end up staying here longer, whether because getting home proves hard or because their political situation is in screaming need of fixing, he's going to get a lot of odd looks and random strangers' concern unless he does something about his hair. His current host has hers braided.

:If I decide to grow mine longer, is there anything I ought to know about your customs for managing hair - do your braids signify something in particular, for example?:

People use them to signify what they're studying, sometimes, or where they're from, or lately who they're supporting in Tirion, but if you're foreign people won't assume any of that.

An excellent segue. :I am curious about this business in Tirion. Do you know much of it? You must visit often, if you make this goods run regularly:

Some of it, though lately every time I come back it's added a new twist. Ah, the short summary is that the King's first and favorite son used to have no interest in ever taking the job and now he does want it, which has discombobulated the people who were expecting to end up with it, and it is rumored that everyone involved is handling their hurt feelings less than gracefully. They've got swords, now, and big metal helmets with red feathers on top, they look like some bizarre oversized bird.

:Certainly an interesting fashion choice: Leareth agrees. :I wonder what gave them the idea? Hmm, and do you have any idea why the King's son changed his mind?:

The helmets are the Prince Fëanáro's idea, I think. The swords too. He says we'll need them in the Outer Lands - and that's why he wants to be King, he thinks we ought to reestablish contact with the Outer Lands and that he'll have to be King to do it.

:I see. Do you know why he thinks you ought to reestablish contact there, or why he needs to be King for it?:

Well, he probably needs to be King for it because it'd be an enormous undertaking, right, we'll need oceangoing boats and lights and apparently helmets and I think there are also helmet-shirts planned, and swords, and I don't know that he can call on enough favors, if he's not King. Certainly it would take a long time and I think he's a bit of an impatient person.

And he doesn't get along with the Valar, I think, and he thinks you can only grow so much if you live in their garden. And we have the people we were sundered from, back in the Outer Lands, the ones who didn't come, and should see how they're doing and tell them about writing and domestication and so on, and make sure their dead get returned to them.

Leareth doesn't mention that he agrees with Prince Fëanáro on just about everything in her second paragraph. He hasn't actually met the Valar yet, so can't say for sure how trustworthy or not he thinks they are, but...gods. 

:Have you ever had a new King take over from the previous, before?: he asks. If their people don't die then he's much less clear on how it would happen. 

No! I think that's why it's causing so much drama, if there were precedent then people'd know what to expect but as there is not, they get very inventive. She does not sound approving.

:This may be an ignorant question, but - in my world, people grow old and die, and usually a new King takes on the role when the old King dies. In your world, this is not the case. Why was there talk of who would be the next King at all?:

The King wants to step down. It's been four hundred Years and he's tired, and his wife wants to move out of the city.

:Very understandable: Four hundred 'Years' must be closer to four thousand years in his own world. Which means that the King is older than he is. That...could be interesting. :Who are the other candidates to take over?: 

The King has chosen his successor and it's Prince Fëanáro. 

:Hmm - it sounds like that ought to be final, then, but that some people still disagree about it?: 

I think some people are being rather foolish. But - yes. 

:Do you happen to know who they would prefer and why?: And, quick glance at her surface thoughts, is the cart-owner getting annoyed with this line of questioning? He's not sure that he's up on reading Quendi body language yet. 

She is of the opinion that at this point the interest in picking a different successor is turning into a national embarrassment. 

Nolofinwë, Finwë's second son, thinks that he's more temperamentally suited, and he's right, and more qualified, and he's right about that too, and will do a better job, which is certainly at least debatable. But the thing is - the understanding we've always operated under is that the King will pick a successor. And I think there's something interesting intellectually about the argument that the new king ought to be the most temperamentally suited person or the most qualified person, it's a fascinating argument, if we had a national debate about it it might win out, but the rule we in fact have is that Finwë picks, and even if that's not the rule we will arrive at in the distant future when we have developed the ideal set of laws, it's still very important that it's the law now. 

:You make a sophisticated argument: Leareth sends. :For matters of coordination, I agree, it is important that the law as it is now be respected. Unless it is manifestly unjust, some might argue, or the ruler imposing it is abusing it in obvious ways. Still, it sounds as though neither is the case and your people have approved of Finwë over his reign?:

Finwë is a good king. He should've shut down all this nonsense with swords, but he led us here and he's led us well.

:Do you have any speculations on why he has not interfered with it?: 

Well, he's never been any good at saying no to the prince Fëanáro, since he had such a tragic early life.

:Understandable, but unfortunate: He's going to leave off poking directly at the 'national embarrassment' for a bit now, see if he can learn more from sideways angles. :What were Fëanáro's interests before he wished to be the next King?: