"You haven't interacted with them much. Except insofar as apparently you memorized all their names and make a point of indicating that you can identify each one any time one is in your field of vision."

" - you've seen me at work, that's not just them, that's people in general -"

"Yes, I know that."

" - right. Okay."

"They don't know how to interpret you because you don't have a track record."

"I can - host dinner parties -"

"...or you could give them each a little bag of fruit and chocolate and tell them your plans for them for the next year and clarify what if any authority I have to make promises."

" - sure, okay, I can do that too. What promises would you want to be making?"

"That it is safe to tell me things and they will not be acted on in ways that would make the teller regret it, mostly."

" - yeah, of course. I'll tell them."

Nod.

"Do you need anything else right now, ma'am?"

"No. Thank you very much."

"Of course ma'am."

She goes and draws a flying squirrel with six tails and fan ears.

She doesn't ask again about the drawings thing. She imports fruit and chocolate and gives everybody the day off and the fruit and the chocolate and explains that they're going to keep everything running normally for the next year, except that she might experiment with allowing people who'd like to go work somewhere and keep a tenth of their wage go do that. And she clarifies that Ayabel can promise appropriate handling of complaints they bring to her. 

Everybody okay if she gives the list of family members they want bought now?

Yeah.

So Aya writes it up neatly - it comes to thirty-eight people and a couple question marks about kids who may have been born since last contact - and plops it on Amait's desk.

She reads it. 

"I don't know if they're all available. I'll look into it. Thank you."

Nod.

"Is there something you would like to say."

"I have that problem chronically, ma'am."

"Can I solve it with little packages of fruit and chocolate?"

"No ma'am."