Children live with one or the other parent, usually, or swap around, until they're old enough to live on their own. Adults live together sometimes but it's unusual for someone to choose that without some reason to need to; living in someone else's territory as an adult is stressful. But they won't stop her people from living however they want to, obviously.

Phaidra nods. She is just, telling how things are different back in Actana. In this case it means they need less space, but might be more confused by the locals. Plenty of people like to live alone, but she thinks most people prefer having others around, even as an adult. Shrug. Why is it stressful? Is something to do with the magic?

No, it's - he's going to need a second to figure out how to explain it...

...so crafters, as a species, are just not meant to be in each others' territory, more or less? They have a very strong instinct that that's just not something they should do. It's not something they have to think about or choose, it's just how they work; he's not going to be able to go into her house, once it's done, without either a very explicit indication that she wants him there, or a whole lot of effort to force himself to do it. And even if he did he'd still have a hard time with touching any of her things, or doing anything with them, because it's her space and her things. Being in unclaimed territory is easier - the things there aren't his, and that does mean it takes more effort to interact with them, but it's not basically impossible like it is in someone else's territory. And the only way to not experience that, for a crafter, is to have a territory of your own - having your own house in someone else's territory is livable, just about, but it means your ability to act freely ends at your door, if it even extends that far; most crafters in a situation like that end up having trouble with their territorial instincts even within their houses.

She can't quite get accross the concept of "this is interesting" but gets the concept "she understands" and is glad to know about it. Also, she is thankful that he is helping her so much.

Phaidra thinks her family will eventually find her, but unsure how long that will take. Pause, oh, and it might be surprising? One might show up or she might disappear.

He won't worry too much if she disappears, then. And he'll try not to panic if they show up too close, though, uh, he can't promise anything.

At least he is warned, it would be much worse if more people just appeared all of sudden. She sighs and writes "I want them to be safe."

He's not going to attack them, that's the opposite of the problem he expects to have - he doesn't have a territory claim here, just his houses, but it's still not done to get too close to a traveling crafter's house and might make him freeze up.

Really this whole thing is giving him an increasingly bad feeling... does she have an idea of how close to her they'll appear? Maybe it'll work for them to travel somewhat separately.

Phaidra was trying to say she wanted them to be safe back home, because it's dangerous there.

But to answer his question she expects that they will be able to get pretty close (same room or at least several feet) or very far, far enough that the new visitors might accidentally trespass into other people's territories.

She is okay with them travelling separately. More so now that she can write explanations about the situation.

Oh, if they'll be that close he's not worried. It will be pretty bad if they show up in someone else's territory - it's not impossible they'll be attacked - but he's guessing there's not much she can do about that?

Phaidra ponders for a moment and then writes, how maybe she could write all down on a sign that they could read if they figured out how to scry. But they would want to rescue her sooner rather than later.

He thinks it's worth doing - there's a good chance someone will get hurt, one way or another, if they land in someone's territory. Does she want a different sort of writing board? He can solidify one of the ones she has once she's put the message on it, if they're otherwise fine.

Sounds like a great idea. She can put a "Warning, read this" in her language and hang outside. Increases the chance they will spot the thing if they appear somewhere outside or have to travel to her location.

Do people care about the space above their territory? If they send fliers the rescue team can just fly over without interacting.

If they're high enough that's fine - high enough that it wouldn't make sense to think of them as something someone on the ground might interact with, basically.

Far enough that people can't communicate? That sounds easy enough.

Ideally more than that - far enough that they'd have trouble dropping something on someone on purpose. Different people have different sensitivities to that sort of thing, even just high enough not to communicate will help, but - trespassing on someone's territory can hurt them even if nothing else comes of it, he's not sure she's taking that seriously enough.

Phaidra apologizes, she will try take it more seriously. Far enough as not to be noticed or hard to tell apart from a bird, or to pose as a danger to the people below?

If they're high enough that they can't be told apart from birds that's definitely fine - crafters make balloon vehicles sometimes and spotting one of those overhead isn't usually a big deal, just if it looks like it might be landing somewhere it shouldn't. And if they're low enough to potentially be a danger to people on the ground that's definitely too close. Between those two - like, he'd know it if he saw it but there's not exactly landmarks up there, he can send her 'yea far up' but he doesn't expect that to help much if she's having trouble with the idea.

Phaidra reassures him there ought to be a flier among them that knows "far enough to not matter to people on the ground".