"I mean less that you exist in a landscape of multiple polities and more that the project is not just your, pet, project. It may begin to be inconvenient that so many of your collaborators are more of you, though."

"Might get a little awkward, yes. I'd be happy to introduce you if you have an excuse to be doing anything in Godspring, she's already met Cam - well, no, met Minor polyjuiced as Cam - elsewhere I can at least introduce myself as a delegate of an organization which does this sort of thing rather than a bored spoilt Elf prince who stumbled on them and decided to play politics -"

"I can't think of anything I plausibly need to be doing in Godspring that isn't 'have known you since you were born', unfortunately."

"It's all right. I could ask Liatsi how she suggests handling Elf-human relationships, maybe the conversation would be reassuring on the 'we are at least not abusive and would cooperate with procedures for that' front."

Nod.

So when he is next in Cefax he inquires after an appointment.

As ever, Liatsi is available to Prince Nelyafinwë.

"I would like to sell you some more things. You can summon your own demons now, so it might be trickier than last time."

"I'm sure we can think of something, if only the debt we owe you for teaching us to summon the demons in the first place. What do you need?"

"Cir has a younger sister and I would like to buy out her contracts as well. And there was a dangerous operation a while back that we hired a goldmage for, and it seems generally advantageous for us to not need to negotiate personally over all significant expenditures." 

Nod. "What do societies with summoning tend to trade in?"

"Expertise - people who can teach your engineers or doctors or scientists - access to things like airspace and bandwidth that aren't very important to Cefax yet but will be eventually - recommendations for demons who are particularly easy to work with or knowledgeable or trustworthy -"

"Medical training might be particularly relevant if the Temple-Guilds are going to be in adjusted demand."

"We had our gods drop by and they were able to do a lot for whitemages in particular. I think they're planning to do the same at any other Temple-Guild, if they haven't already. They have also been installing magic silvery trees from which people can address petitions; that hasn't been announced to people outside the Temple-Guilds yet, because I have a feeling it could be disruptive. So we are still planning to adjust mage schedules but a little less urgently."

"As long as the mages are all right with the outside divine influence everyone else will follow them on that."

"I was more concerned that they'll crowd the trees. Maybe we should get the trees security fairies like the dots have, or I can suggest to the Valar that they make the trees and the surrounding area indestructible."

"Indestructibility doesn't seem likely to address crowding."

"It stops the problem where the trees get knocked down and the surrounding grass destroyed, it doesn't solve queuing problems. And Yavanna - she's the Vala handling Godspring - can only be a few hundred places at once, tens of thousands of requests would overwhelm her."

"Then a security fairy seems expedient."

"I will arrange for it. I also was hoping you might have some insight on a concern we're anticipating with our personnel staffing the clinics."

"Oh?"

"It seems like people might decide getting an Elf to take you home with them is a very good ticket to a life of luxury. I feel like if this becomes an established dynamic it would make it harder for the clinics to do work requiring some degree of trust and openness with the local community."

"It happens internationally sometimes, or with people trying to touch redmages. Can you elaborate on why you think it likely to be a problem?"

"Elves are - 

- they will take people at their word that they are unmarried. They will take people at their word that they are using methods of preventing pregnancy. They will take people at their word on everything. They have instructions not to let this come up and I trust them to abide by the instructions but it seems like 'under no conditions may you become involved with any human' is - the wrong approach, in the long run, to interspecies relations. Not to mention how much of a hypocrite it makes me."

"Ah. Are arbitrary Elves likely to experience this temptation or could you place, say, married ones in public-facing roles?"