>>5942479>>5942531>>5942743Since you don’t wish to squander or spoil the Ranger Commander’s goodwill and hospitality thus far—and since you can’t ACTUALLY reliably detect the Cult of Kuttralas or even know what they’re capable of—you cede to the bureaucratic process. You permit the Ranger Commander to lead your procession through the city streets of Iternagreyn, and pass by gawking elves with wide eyes; they are confused, concerned, or simply curious. Theya re few in number, though, in comparison to a similarly-sized and comparably-prestigious human city. Even a mid-sized regional capital among the race of Man, without Hawksong’s history and cosmopolitan nature would host a larger population than you see evinced here, and having spent so long among your father’s people, the difference is stark to you. As a child, Iternagreyn had seemed like a metropolis… But in truth, it has the population of a human town, probably less than three thousand long-term citizens dwelling here…
And almost no children.
The Thief’s comments from your conference with him now come back to you: <span class="mu-g">“Elves… They have difficulty breeding even with other elves, yes?”</span>
You frown a little a you think on this. The <Rite of Attunement>, as you have performed it so far, ahs largely given the benefits of elvenkind to men and women: longevity, beauty, grace, a natural talent for magic. But what effects would it have on an elf? What perhaps NEGATIVE aspects of the elven condition could you be imbuing your subjects—your friends and family—with?
(As a half-elf… Have YOU inherited this limited fertility, for instance?)
You mull on these biological, sociological, and interpersonal implications with a mix of personal concerns and idle scientific curiosity while the others marvel. Intergareyn’s natural spires and panoply of a million verdant hues are certainly a long-missed pleasure, and extremely nostalgic, and soon enough the recollection of your last time here—as a student, before even the Tower—comes back to you brings with it happy memories. You play the tour-guide to your girlfriends and Pearce, aided by Commander Qinfir, and you wave to half-familiar and unfamiliar elves and greet them in your birth-tongue, and the pleasantness of the place and its childhood emotional associations washes away your worries.