"I didn't think you had. I don't think of them as equivalent. I didn't realize how much it'd bother me to hear you say that until you said it and I just thought - oh no oh no oh no what about when - I guess it had been on my mind because I was trying to imagine what the girl might want -"

Squeeze.

Squeeze. "Anyway to me that conversation was twenty minutes ago but I take it it's been bothering you for longer than that."

"...three, four hours? Long enough for Miranda to ask what was bothering me and look very disconcerted when I wouldn't tell her and run and get Mirelótë who took it as you apparently saw."

"Came upstairs to be very patient at the thing. I can see how she worked her miracles on the Valar. I - it'll help me if in the future if when you make a decision like that you - nod at - some of the costs of doing so and indicate you've thought about them, but other than that I don't think you did anything wrong and I really don't want you to be all sad on a couch down here wondering if I regret falling in love."

...nod. Snuggle. "I love you."

"I love you."

"- I was sort of premature in announcing plans, I did check various things like the presence of a preexisting police report before I sent any emails and if I'd been being careful I would've mentioned that my intentions were potentially conditional and so on, would that have helped -"

"Significantly." Snuggle. "But usually I would have assumed you'd do those things, I'm clearly quicker to worries on this topic than most."

Nod, squeeze.

"A very long time ago... well, for those of us who are not yet twenty, it was like a year back - I said 'we don't have to do the right thing every time' and you made such a face and said 'yes we do' and it is one of the things I like very much about you, not compromising on that."

"I do want you to be able to trust that when I interact with a situation it gets handled acceptably. A rapist being stuck in a cornfield for a week while I figure out what to do is acceptably, to me, but that is very important and I don't want to damage it."

"...it wasn't obvious you considered yourself still in a figuring-out stage."

"I was going to deal with other things once I'd finished writing his friend who had the initial inquiry, but not indefinitely."

"I would have been less inclined to step in over you if I'd expected you to circle back in a shortish time. You - sounded sort of done, I should have probably asked."

"I did, didn't I. I was not especially invested in speeding him to cozy accommodations as quickly as possible but when I feel that way it rarely lasts past a good night's sleep. Would probably have finished the letter, ignored him for a day and felt quite satisfied about it, looked things up the next day, gone and talked with the family...they might be okay with Ganymede, might've done this because they didn't feel like they had options - it must be unpleasant to know that someone you were glad to see dead is in fact still around and with magic powers..."

"Yeah."

"If the victim would have been required to testify at trial, wasn't okay with doing that, and wanted him stuck, then I would have been okay with him staying stuck. Roof over his head and visitors, yes, but - I wasn't going to intervene in order to force a choice between testifying and watching him go free. But maybe they won't need her to testify, and maybe they'd have been okay with Ganymede."

"The need of victims to testify at trials, in general, has plummeted since forensic conjuration became popular. If it's really sensitive sometimes the conjuration is done in an opaque box and a computer looks at it."

"Okay. That helps." Sigh.

Hug.

"I'm going to go back up. But you're, uh, welcome to come."

"Couldn't fall asleep down here anyway." Rearrangement of snuggle to enable movement.

"Wouldn't expect so. If you don't happen to have Elfishly patient alts around to help and don't want to bother me you can always get one of my brothers to tell me that I am making you sad and should stop that, they will gleefully do so." Upstairs.