"No, I drink skin. I..." She sighs. Might as well demonstrate.

She makes a slight incision in the palm of her hand with one canine tooth, and then licks the resulting blood. "I drink skin," she repeats.

They look horrified.

"That defies physical law," Izindal says, averting his eyes and looking slightly green. "You can't drink your own blood for nutrition, it just wouldn't make any sense- is she an orc -"

"Those probably don't exist," says Gimlith helpfully. She is also averting her eyes.

"No no no." She corrects. "I don't drink my skin - my blood? I drink... Your blood? No, not you... I drink..." She gestures as if to encompass all the world's blood. She starts feeling like an idiot again.

"Blood in general," Izindal says. "Like fleas."

"That's insulting," says Gimlith. "Like - I don't know, I've never heard of anything like that."

"People physiologically can't survive on blood."

"How do you know, have you tried it?"

They're alarming their guest. "It's fine," Izindal tells her. "We're broad-minded, here. Don't believe any of the old superstitions. We've just never met anyone who drinks blood before."

"No blood? Never drink blood? How you survive?"

"Food," they say unanimously.

"Blood is food! The food! Can't survive with not blood."

"Well, we can," says Izindal. "How do you know you cannot?"

"My people cannot. No of my people can. We have drink not blood and not survive. Cannot eat solid." *She pantomimes choking on solid food.

"Right but, like, soup? Coffee?"

"She hated the coffee," Gimlith says.

"Is soup blood?"

"Of plants," Izindal says after a long pause.

"What is 'plants'?"

"Growing things? Green?" He gestures to a house plant.

She turned up her nose and nodded in distaste.

"No. I drink blood of..." She points to a bird on the window sill. "This. I drink blood of this."

"Well, at least it's not people," Gimlith says nervously.

"Birds don't have much blood," Izindal says.

"Not only bird. Bird and...." She gestured impotently.

"Animal?" She imitates the sounds of a cat, a dog, a bear.

"Animal, yes. I drink animal blood. My people survive with animal blood. Why you eat plants blood? Animal blood is better."

"Plants are more numerous," Gimlith says, smiling slightly, "and grow in one place, don't run around. And don't hurt when you eat them."

"My people know how grow many animals in one place." She counters. "And can grow animal blood without animals. We use...." She comes up short, trying to describe what a 'machine' is. She decides to try making the the sound of cogs turning, and then realised this isn't going to work. She sighs.

"Ah. In that case, very sensible," Izindal says. "Umm - your people are not known to us. Who are they?"

"My people are Zifarti. Not all people I know are Zifarti. All people are name 'people'. They all drink blood. My people are name 'Zifarti'. Understand?"

"Yes. My people are named Adûna. Not all people I know are Adûna. Some live very far, some live for all of time, some created the world, none drink blood."

Huh. Is this an entirely different planet? "This is... Different world? All people of my world drink blood. My people drink blood; far people drink blood; all people drink blood. Never hear of people eat plants."