"Dara! It's so good to be here! It's stunning. Who do I ask about the flowers, if we want to try to grow them at home -"

Dara beams. "I can put you in touch with the head gardener here? I don't know that much about them, although I did try my hand at growing plants a bit - Van and I were introduced to a beverage called chava on our trip to the Dhorisha Plains, see, the one where Leareth," she grins at him, "decided to yoink him when we were traveling back. I rode so fast the rest of the way, but the seedling I'd packed up survived, and once things had calmed down a bit I remembered to plant it properly..." 

They walk up a long winding path, past an ornamental pond and some more statues - Dara assures them it's even better to walk around in daylight - and then come to the guest-wing. It's newly-built in the last five years, stone and in roughly the same style as the existing Palace buildings, tending toward low and square and blocky, but with some flourishes that are definitely Quendi in origin. 

"We've been having the most awful time getting our favorite tea plants to grow in Tol Eressëa, the sun seems to be bad for them. A delegation rode for a month to ask Yavanna what we were doing wrong and she said "oh, yes, they don't like the sun at all, I've been sustaining mine with magic"."

They have a couple of guest rooms for him and Leareth?

Dara has assigned them adjacent rooms near the end of the hall. "Should be quieter here," she explains. "We don't have too many guests right now, though, so feel free to ask about moving if you don't like something. The rooms are roughly the same, but slightly different layout and decorations. Hmm - want me to show you around what's where, plumbing and extra blankets and such, or figure it out yourselves?" 

"If it's convenient I'd love to have you show us around."

"Sure, I've got time - I can show you both and then you can fight over who gets which room, seem good?" 

"That sounds great."

Then she can show them around. The rooms are pretty spacious if not quite as much as the Palace guest-rooms in Vinyamar, with large windows. One of them has a skylight; the other has a door out to a little side patio screened off by vine-draped trellises. Other than that, and differences in exact room layout, they're about the same: a bedroom with a bed and wardrobe, a nice sitting area with a sofa arrangement and a writing desk, a fireplace which Dara says shouldn't be necessary at this time of year. There are rugs and nice tapestries.  

Haven has Quendi pretty much figured out. He thanks her and makes some plans for the next day "and then I suppose I will have to fight Leareth over the rooms."

"Ha, good luck. Either of you, feel free to Mindspeak me, or osanwë, I guess, if you need anything." She dimples at them and then heads out. 

How much privacy do we have -

:Just a moment, I will check the shielding - I think it is standard for rooms to be shielded against Thoughtsensing...: He checks. :Shielded against Thoughtsensing and mage-sight. And the doors lock – I suspect Dara will have made sure nobody comes into my room without knocking, I know Vanyel also reacts badly to that, but I could also put a sign on the door that I wish not to be disturbed, and then no one would check: 

You probably have a better guess than me about what's culturally appropriate, there.

:Putting out a note? I doubt it would seem odd. Vanyel told me he started doing it when staying at inns, when he was jumpy after the war and one time a servant came in to clean the fireplace without knocking and he almost blasted the door off: 

That makes sense. Quendi do not usually knock - we check over osanwë - but we picked the habit up.

:That makes sense. Whereas most humans are not Gifted, here. I think the Heralds will often use Mindspeech to talk at a distance, but generally it would not be considered polite to bother guests like that, I think. Certainly not when one expects them to be sleeping. And I am not even sure Dara would be keyed to these shields; she would need to be to use Mindspeech through them. I can only Mindspeak out if the door is open: 

All right. I will stop worrying. 

And fight you over the rooms; I promised Dara.

:Well, I wanted the one with the skylight: 

Then it is a shame that your species is smaller and physically weaker than mine. 

Grin. :However, some members of my species can cheat with powerful magic: Leareth attempts to dive for the doorway and block it with a mage-barrier before Maitimo can get past. 

Cheat? You? I'm shocked. He goes into the other room and sits down on his bed in an apparent huff. 

:Cheating is just good strategy, really: Leareth sends smugly. :Though magic does take a lot of concentration. It's too bad you'll have a hard time distracting me from all the way over there: 

I could sing but I worry it'll just encourage you. 

He does anyway. The song turns out to have slightly frustrating effects when you are not already snuggling.

It's nowhere near distracting enough to actually make him lose the barrier, but - grumble, sigh, :all right FINE I will take down the barrier if you either stop that or come here to the objectively superior room and snuggle: 

Ah but you see now I am having fun and have gotten fond of my inferior room and do not want to stop in the middle of the song. You could come here.