"Okay. I - thanks."

"I was in a position a lot like yours just... Gods, just four days ago. It feels like longer. And I rushed in just like you want to do and it was a trap and now she's in quite possibly worse hands than she was before I did anything and I'm...here."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm OK. Anyways. Brethil was kind of close to Tol-in-Gaurhoth - on the way at least - it might be a good place to set up for the next month if the natives are friendly, let's head that way."

And they walk in more-or-less silence for the next hour until the language spell expires.  After that they're still silent, but there's an excuse so it's maybe less awkward.

Yeah.

It's several days' walk.

The next day they're speaking Sindarin again, lots - Using it more should help them learn the language faster, so they don't have to rely on the spell for talking and can use the brainspace they're currently using for that spell developing better undetectability. Some inane things, discussions of where they might acquire weapons in case "sneak in and out invisibly" turns into "fighting escape from Tol-in-Gaurhoth," which Malak is pretty sure it will because plans never work out as intended.  Malak asks about being a half-Maia, are they really common? Does she have any siblings? What about her mother, does Lúthien think she could be persuaded to help?

"It's just me, Mum found it really hard keeping a human form for long enough to have a baby. She protects Doriath, and it's really well protected, but she doesn't leave it and won't fight Gorthaur unless he tries to enter it."

"Huh. So do Maia not usually reproduce? Was it your father who wanted children then?"

"Maiar can't reproduce unless they hold incarnate form for the whole pregnancy and Mum's the only one to fall in love with an incarnate."

"...Back home, 'falling in love' was definitely not a prerequisite for half-bloods. People - well, mostly humans, actually - A lot of them apparently can't help...experimenting...with pretty much anything they can find that's willing. One of my half-sisters was half dragon and - "

"Oh, I think I'd heard a rumor humans were like that - the not needing to be married to have children, I mean, I am pretty sure no humans here are half-dragon - where do dragons come from in your home world if you don't have a Melkor -"

"I don't know where dragons come from, the dragons probably do but they don't like sharing. Elves are like that too, back home. half-human half-elves are actually the most common halfbloods. Marriage is often involved but not always. Are all elves here asexual then?"

"Asexual?"

"Not really interested in sex?"

"...some people are, but what does that have to do with anything -"

"...OK I feel like I am missing something. In my world, people have sex and if they have the right combination of parts then one of them might get pregnant. Is it just... not that way here?"

"...if you did that you'd get married."

"Ohhhh I see, the concept that my spell gives me when you say "married" is somewhat different from what you actually mean, just like the concept that the spell gives me when I hear "elves" is somewhat different from what elves are here in this universe. So married just means "have had sex," or at least "have had certain kinds of sex". Gotcha."

"...I guess? And everyone can see if you're married, and your souls bond for the lifetime of the universe..."

"...OK sex does not do that back home I have never been able to just look and see who has had sex with whom and also I'm pretty sure someone would have told me. The soul bond thing can happen, as part of a marriage ceremony - that's just a thing where a priest says some blessings over a couple and they commit to being monogamous forever - but it requires an expensive magical ritual so few people can afford it and most of those have political marriages so usually they don't actually love each other enough to go through with the ritual.

I'm guessing that elves - heterosexual ones at least - are pretty monogamous then?"

"...yeah? You find someone, you marry them, you're together forever. That's how it works."

"I see. You know, I was actually vaguely hoping that marriage - my kind - here was sufficient for children? Without the sex involved. I...might have wanted some, one day. Not that marriage is exactly my thing either, but it's not as bad."

Sigh.

"OK, this might sound really weird to Lúthien, but I've decided that there's a remote chance you're actually a person and I kind of like you so I feel like just in case you are I owe it to you to tell you that I don't think you're real.  Also, it's fairly obvious that you're not trying very hard to make this believable, so you must know that I know that it's not real, and rather than trying to second-guess which level of deception we're at in the vague hope that it might win me some small advantage, I'm just going to make it common knowledge."

"...huh?"

"...Do you want to know what gave it away? How about 'ranged plane shift doesn't exist' and 'involuntary plane shift doesn't exist' and the wizard who cast the spell that hit me right before I was here was a necromancer so I'm giving it about 85% chance I'm dead, 15% it was sleep or something like that and one of Nerikross' allies is setting all this up while I'm unconscious, and maybe 1% it's real. To start. Then there's this story you've cooked up that coincidentally resembles my own recent life so well. Alfirin's not that sloppy and Nerikross is probably not subtle enough for all this, which combined with the fact that I have very little idea what either of them would gain from this bumps the chance that this is real up to a whopping one in twenty."

"Is there someone else here, who are you talking to -"