"Maybe they would've. Any reason or no reason at all."

"Uh huh."

"Hey, you hadn't even met me yet when it was orange boy."

Macalaurë hisses again.

"Sorry."

"Please do not apologize for upsetting me by -"

"Bringing it up?"

"You should feel free to bring it up as often as you want."

"It did upset you though, I don't want to upset you."

"I would rather be upset about bad things that happen to you than not be upset about bad things that happen to you."

"Sure, but you don't have to do it on a schedule."

"Peka, I have forever. In ten thousand years I'm not going to - regret having thought about it sooner than I felt like it - but I will deeply regret having made you feel like managing my feelings was the important thing here."

"If you say so."

"I do."

He goes to talk to the guy who denies it.

Purple. Retail. Not in custody; at home with a wife and a one-year-old.

He knocks.

One-year-old can open doors! He gasps! "Elf!"

"I'm here to speak to your father. Can you get him?"

"Why?"

"It's about a girl."

"Who?"

"Go get your dad."

"I never saw an Elf before. Sing a song!"

"Maybe later."

"Sing a sonnnnnng!"