"The magic tells you if you're doing things right?"

"If Master Timothy says to do a thing and I am not paying attention I get a tug so I can do it anyway."

"If there were a way to make sure you always knew what you were asked to do even without magic would it still be just pretending?"

"Niblet is not sure. Niblet has not met any elves who were freed and is not knowing if it feels like losing something even at times when there is no tugging. It is seeming it would feel like losing part of you."

"May I tell you a story?"

"Of course, ma'am."

So she tells a story about orcs. Orcs were not pretending; orcs did not work exactly like house-elves, but they could promise to obey, and they could be sure that the promise was very, very real, and they were badly used and badly hurt and kept bringing their children into it to continue on because they couldn't do anything else because they were not pretending, not at all.

Their master was taken away from them because he was dangerous - this would be a little like if an elf's master were sent to Azkaban, or the moon prison that is now doing the job of Azkaban -

And now their not-pretending ability is gone.

And they are okay. Some of them miss their master but they are okay.

"Well, elf masters are not bad to them and if they were elves would not be having children, maybe. Did they want the not-pretending to be gone?"

"They couldn't. Part of how their not-pretending worked was that it made them want to keep it. But once it was gone some of them were glad about it - others had different feelings about it because their master had been gone a long time and they didn't think very often about what it was like when he was there."

"Are you going to take our not-pretending away?"

"I don't know how, and I don't know if it would be a good thing to do. I am worried that it might make you want to keep it."

The elf is shaking. "That would be a terrible thing to do. Master Timothy wouldn't let you!"

"I won't do anything to you that Timothy thinks would be a bad idea. He knows a lot more about you than I do," promises Ambela.

Nod nod. "Is that all of your questions, ma'am?"

"A lot of people who don't know much about house elves are very worried about you because they only know about other species that wouldn't like living like you do. Timothy will want to look good to those people, and it would be useful if there was a way to prove that you are definitely better off how you are, so that no one thinks he's mistaken about that. Can you think of anything?"

"We could not be telling them about elves?"

"That could work for some of those people but maybe not all of them."

"We could be not telling those ones that there is any magic?"

"Some people are very good at knowing when they are not being told everything."

"Master Timothy wouldn't be freeing us to look good to people - he wouldn't -"

"I don't think he's planning anything like that at all," says Ambela. "He knows it would make you unhappy. But if you could think of a way to prove that he shouldn't so everyone will understand without needing to know you so well first, it would be very helpful."

"Not looking good to people makes Master Timothy unhappy - he wouldn't he wouldn't he wouldn't -"

"He may think of something else, he's very clever. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that of you."

"Niblet is a good elf, Niblet is a good elf, Niblet won't be free - won't, won't -"

...Ambela sends Timothy a computer message I upset your elf and don't know how to calm them down.