"No sense rushing, though. It'll be a joyous occasion now or in a hundred years." She mimes washing the dishes.

Bonesaw can mime helping wash the dishes.

Eventually it's time to go! They have a bit of a set, so they can do things like sit down and retrieve objects without His Lordship having to patch too much inconsistency in the mime. There's their prisoner, very authentically beaten up and in no condition to go have a joyous reunion with her son at all. The orf maintains a very solemn affect about their "guest" in character, smiling at "Mell" and the extras who stop in occasionally but treating the prisoner with appropriate gravity except for the prescribed frequency of concerning smirks.

Bonesaw LOVES the simulation. She has a bunch of fun playing house with the orfLalwen and helps tend to the prisoner, setting a challenge to herself to help her get better without looking like she's doing anything much and occasionally hurting her in ways that seem like accidents.

Towards the end of the first day she turns to her acting partner and whispers loud enough for the prisoner to hear: "Mommy, what do you think happened to our guest to hurt them so much?"

"Monsters got her, sweetheart. This is why you must never go out into the woods by yourself and always need somebody with you. Monsters catch anybody they can and take them back to the Enemy's stronghold."

"And what happens there?" Mell asks innocently.

"Maybe one day our guest will tell us all about it." She reaches out to adjust a bit of the prisoner's clothing. "If I'd ever been there myself, I don't think we'd be here right now!"

"Well, I'm happy you've always been here with me!" says Mell, giving her Mommy the biggest of hugs.

"And I'm so happy to have you, my darling Mell." Hug.

"Will you tell me a story before bed tonight?" she asks, sitting on the edge of the bed with the prisoner and 'accidentally' leaning against a particularly sensitive bruise.

"Of course, honey. Do you want one about the Valar, or one about regular people?"

"About the Valar!"

"Once upon a time, the Vala Aulë was inspired by Eru Illuvatar's creation of the Elves - that's us! - and decided to make a species of his own, the Dwarves. He sculpted them out of rocks just how he wanted them, short and with hair growing right out of their cheeks like whiskers, and breathed life into them. They breathed, because he commanded them to breathe, and they blinked, because he asked them to blink, but they couldn't do anything more; they wouldn't speak or walk or do any of the things he wanted his children to do, because he couldn't give them souls. Heartbroken, he asked Eru for help, and what do you think Eru said?"

"Yes?"

"Not at first! Eru was angry that Aulë had tried to make a people on his own. Only Eru is supposed to do that! Anyone else making a new kind of person is breaking Eru's rules. Aulë was a loyal Vala who never wanted to break Eru's rules, though, and once he realized what he'd done he was very sorry and begged Eru's forgiveness. And Eru saw that he hadn't meant to do anything wrong, or to go against Eru's will. So he had mercy on Aulë, and when Aulë begged for his creations to be imbued with true life because he loved them so, Eru granted his wish. But of course the Dwarves are not as well-made as Elves are. When they die they don't go to the halls of Mandos to be granted new bodies, and they don't have our beauty or our osanwë, because they're short and squat and their minds are as impenetrable as rocks. They might hope that Aulë has some plan for them, but no one knows better than Eru how a people should be, immortal and beautiful like us." She dabs a bit of blood off the corner of the prisoner's eye; she's still not crying straight tears.

"And dance and sing and talk forever and ever?"

"That's right. Even if our guest needs a long rest she'll one day be able to try all that again because she'll exist forever and that's long enough for everything."

"Does that mean I'll get to play with her someday?"

"Someday, of course! But not any time very soon."

Bonesaw heads to bed not long after that, surreptitously topping off the time dilator dosage before she leaves. 

Beka sings her to sleep. She sings a lot when she's pretending to be an Elf.

She's such a good singer and Bonesaw falls asleep with a smile on her face.

What a nice cozy hallucination this is.

Gradually incorporating ominous content continues. There's "oh no, one of your hairs fell out" accompanied by a hairpluck. There's keeping the room hot and remarking on how it's an unusual heat wave and insisting on keeping the prisoner wrapped up anyway because they may have a fever. At one point they are supposed to give her a bed bath to make her presentable for her sister-in-law who might visit, and the bath is unpleasant enough but then the sister-in-law doesn't show up and they are not supposed to explain why out loud.

Bonesaw helps, making an almost implauisbly appetizing meal for the prisoner that taste vile the more they eat, as Bonesaw sits by them and encourages them again and again to take just one more bite they were doing so well earlier. She also enjoys the bathing bit but is a bit confused with what's up with the sister-in-law, and asks Beka about it over osanwë.

Oh, we're implying that she got captured and that we aren't saying so to avoid upsetting our guest.