What does contracts not obliging specific performance mean. They have some addicts of various drugs, what about them. Nobody here has any particularly specific traumas about being held in place by people, since nobody at home would touch them.

"If you sign a contract to work on my fishing boat for a month, and then you decide not to do it, the court can fine you money, but they can't demand you work on the fishing boat and no one can hurt you for not going to work." ...they're not sure they have those drugs here, are the people going to be in medical danger if they don't have access to their drugs? If there's no pending medical emergency then they can schedule a council meeting for tomorrow to discuss allowing people to be intoxicated in their own homes? If enough citizens think it's a good idea then it will become the law.

The ones with stashes brought them. The ones without have already been through their dicey period. Some of the drugs are safe to come down off of but they will still have trouble without them and some of them are kind of not, especially alcohol.

This seems like good reason to change the law, and it sounds like it will be the refugees' first council meeting so it will also be good exposure to how those work! The meeting is scheduled for the next day. 

...and they're allowed to vote?

...of course? They live here, if they couldn't help make the laws then the laws would probably be wrong.

They were emphatically not allowed to do that at home.

"Terrible planet," the Elves murmur nearly in unison. 

Some of the refugees start tentatively picking out houses. Several of them freeze when they touch the doorknobs in case someone is about to tell them there has been a mistake and they mustn't do that.

No one tells them that!

They go in the houses and look at things and unpack what they were able to bring and wander around in a sort of daze.

Elves hang out outside and sing.

The houses are very compact and mostly have three or four bedrooms with beds that swing out of the walls and are desks otherwise, all with large windows looking out on pretty views (the houses are spaced so they all have pretty views). The kitchens are packed with nonperishable foods. There are tapestries. The furniture is absurdly elaborate. The sheets are really excessively soft.

Some of them go and sit nearish where the Elves are singing to listen. Some of them very tentatively ask some of the least threatening-looking Elves how the beds work and how to cook the unfamiliar foods and how does one even clean furniture this nice or launder sheets that fine?

An unusually bold red toddler marches up to the nearest Elf child her size and plants her hand on his face and looks defiantly up at the adults.

The Elf child giggles!! The Elf parents coo and one scrambles for a camera to take pictures.

The girl's mom bursts into tears.

...Elves are concerned. The one who was about to take a picture stops - "I don't put them online -"

The girl's father is trying to calm his wife down but explains that they are tears of relief, they can take all the pictures they want -

They take so many pictures! The Elf toddler is pleased at all this attention and grabs his new friend back and tries to walk and accidentally topples both of them.

Whee! Falling down is fun!

Elf toddler dissolves into giggles! 

"Do you guys all want hugs or something?" says an Elf adolescent, tentatively.

This prompts some more crying.

Some people want hugs.

They can have so many hugs!!! Elf singing changes tones and is vaguely sad.

People relax substantially around Elves who have touched any red and then not flipped out, even if they have not themselves touched any Elves.

More Elves get in on the hugs once they notice this. Someone explains how to launder the sheets and take care of the furniture. The sun sets.

The reds attempt to adjust to local time and wind down for the night. Bold Toddler does not want to let go of her friend.