"I bet I could if I really wanted to," sniffs Rylen. "It's just impractical."

"I'm not sure your teeth could get through the fur," says Tarakova, with an amused swish of his tail.

"Tarakova's not sure your teeth could get through the fur. I think I agree. Plus, how could you get a good angle for biting without the polar bear mauling you?"

"I mostly kill it with something else, then I finish it off with my teeth. Possibly first cutting away its fur so I actually can."

"That sounds," declares Navethae, "stupid, risky, impractical, and like it's sort of missing the whole point of the exercise."

"I agree. If you really want to kill a polar bear with your teeth, get better teeth. Ideally not the way I did."

Navethae is too busy laughing to relay this message.

Tarakova giggles.

She manages to get her giggling under control enough to relay the message to an amused Rylen.

"Well. Okay. Fair enough. Guess I'll stick with my boring weaponry."

"Much more sensible."

Navethae relays this too, along with her agreement.

Rylen, for his part, is now within sight of town.

"... So how much do you want me to explain, here? I was going to go with 'My sister is trying to fix the Valley, I'm getting updates on her progress, she's making progress but it might take a while, don't worry about it,' but I'm not necessarily attached to that?"

Tarakova shrugs. He doesn't have an opinion here.

"That - sounds okay. Maybe don't mention the part where I'm sort of - stuck. In here. Until we know I'm properly stuck for sure."

"Sure. I also might want to uh, avoid talking to myself in front of people, you remember the weird looks you've gotten for it. I can linger out here if you want me to?"

Navethae considers. "... No, I'm all right, I think. Tarakova? Willing to say goodbye to my brother's charming company?"

He shrugs again. "Sure."

"All right. Then be free, Rylen, to walk in front of other people without talking to yourself like a crazy person. Love you. Any preference for when I next contact you?"

"Not in the middle of the night, please, I need my beauty sleep."

Which of course actually means 'whenever you like is fine.'

"Love you, too. Nice talking to you both."

Tarakova smiles.

Navethae gently disentangles the spell sending her words to her brother, then:

"Okay, he no longer hears everything I say. How does it - return to the quiet form that isn't spying awkwardly on my brother?"

"Show nothing," he says to the pool, and the image fades away.

"Oh. Okay. Convenient."

"Most things about this valley are convenient. There's just the big one that isn't."