well the whole truth (is like the story of a wave unfurled)

[tintila]

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[tintila]

Perhaps it is, I do not know him well enough to say if our thoughts align. [And there was not the free sharing of information as there often was between elves, so she knew even less than she might have at home.]

Kindness is all I can ask for, and hopefully return. So that is more than enough for me.

[She looks at the mortal and then the river.] I have never been on a boat... I would like to, if it is not too much trouble.

[suetekh]

[Set can't think of much else to say. He cannot promise her kindness because he still does not think he understands the term. But also he can't promise something that isn't for his kingdom.

But he can give her the boat ride.]

How have you never been on a boat...? [That's just weird and he nods to the worker, who offers Mithiel his arm for her to get onto the boat. Set just gets on himself because there's something comical about a human helping a god do something as simple as getting on a boat. It's a spacious one, with seats and people to quickly start fanning them against the heat. Once they are safely on, Set nods for the man to start rowing them down the Nile.]

[tintila]

Our rivers have bridges. [She answers quickly and easily, but the corners of her mouth slip and begin to frown before she can fully stop the flare of emotion.] They did, I mean. [Before. Always before everything went so wrong.]

We weren't really supposed to cross most of them anyway, but I never had need of a boat. [She doesn't need help either, her balance is impeccable to the point of being almost uncanny but she accepts it anyway, thanking the worker before she settles into the seat beside Set.]

My people have always loved water though. We were drawn to the stars and the sea and Ulmo, the Valar of the sea, has always been good to us. They say he argues our case more than any other. [Though it hardly seems to have mattered in the end.]

This is a magnificent boat. Unlike those I have seen, though they are few.

[suetekh]

[Every time she says anything, Set is only more confused by her. Why shouldn't you cross them? Why could you not? Her lands were strange, her home was strange. Would Thoth ever be able to make sense of it?

It must seem like he does not listen to her but he does. Her words just make no sense and he is not sure what to say.]

Even a poor family can have a boat here. [So it is absolutely nonsensical she never did.]

[tintila]

We could have them. There was little that was beyond the reach of any of us if we truly wanted it but there was little need.

No hippos or crocodiles either.

[suetekh]

So you...went into the water?

[Is that what she's saying?]

[tintila]

I can swim. But mostly I either went across the bridges or jumped. There were places where the river was maybe only a dozen feet wide. [And she was an elf, after all.]

[suetekh]

What if you didn't want to get wet?

[not that this mattered much to him. but for others it did!]

[tintila]

I fear that I perhaps look too close to human which is making you underestimate how far I can jump. I assure you, I can clear a modest river with enough run up.

[suetekh]

[Set thinks about this and at first it seems strange but well. Some gods can fly. And maybe some could jump.

He decides to accept it.]

Boats are relaxing.

[tintila]

Yes, I think they well might be. Cirdan loves to make boats, my people are going to him but I, of course as I said, never had need of them before and have never been to the havens to see his boats or the sea. [It doesn't count as going to see the sea when it comes to you, right?]

[suetekh]

[Set tries to make sense of what she's saying before realizing that, once again, he does not understand. He quickly gives up and instead when he sees a crocodile, he points it out to her.]

There is a crocodile. One of our beasts.

[tintila]

[He looks at him with a very slightly cocked eyebrow but her gaze quickly goes to the crocodile. A small dragon, as far as she can tell–or a very large lizard. Set clearly is either still baffled by her or doesn't care for the topic, but she doesn't mind.]

I suppose that could eat a whole person. Are they all so large?

[suetekh]

[In older times, he would have simply not spoken anymore. But at least he is trying to hold some kind of conversation.]

They vary but they are always big. Typically bigger than most mortals.

[tintila]

Do they communicate with each other? [She asks, almost asking if he thinks she could manage to talk to them but knowing that sounds crazy after all.] As animals do I mean, not like dragons with their terrible speech.

[suetekh]

What kind of question is that? [He is visibly confused.]

I suppose? In their way. Not with a language. I have never paid much attention to the reptiles.

[tintila]

My people woke the trees and taught them to talk, asking if animals can speak to one another seemed like a much more sensible thing to ask you than if they could talk to us. I am doomed to perplex you, it seems.

Reptiles? Are there other things like these crocodiles?

[suetekh]

[Talking to trees? Could trees talk? He'd have to ask Thoth. But she is right, she is doomed to perplex him. He thinks for a second and decides to tell her:] My elder brother, before I felled him, was the god of agriculture. He would help the humans to grow their crops. [Not the same but at least something they can almost have in common.]

Yes. Smaller ones. And ones with no arms or legs. Those are snakes. They can be dangerous themselves, filled with poison.

[tintila]

Oh. We have helped men to grow their crops before. We have special seeds that can grow in a night from seed to crop. [Even though it is clearly awful that this brother is dead, Mithiel is relieved to finally find some common ground. Even if it is with someone she will never meet.]

Oh we have serpents as well. Some in the sea and rivers, some on land. Many beneath the ground in the deepest places of the earth. Or so they say. As you can imagine I have no gone tunnelling miles beneath the ground.

[suetekh]

You still seem more like a god to me. [From the way she talked, this was how it seemed.]

It seems we are not completely without our similarities. May that be some comfort for you, I suppose.

[tintila]

Men would agree, and a few egotistical elves but I promise we are lesser beings compared to others we know. But perhaps it is the closest comparison for here if you have only men and no elves.

I think the differences are vast but the similarities are numerous. I do take comfort in that. Though hopefully I will not discover too many nameless beasts. They sound horrible.

[suetekh]

But men do not pray to you, do they? Mortals here, they come to us gods with wants. For their crops, for wealth, their health...they are helpless without us. [But it was his job to do what he could. A job he had never taken too seriously before now. Yet here he was.]

Comforts do not come easy in this world. Or yours, it seems. Take what you can and be grateful. [It comes off as if he is telling her she is being ungrateful but that wasn't it. If she took it as that, it wouldn't be the first time somebody misunderstood him. Simply, Set was bad at conversation. Something Mithiel must have noticed by now.]

[tintila]

No. At least I do not think any do. Perhaps there are some who idolise the more famous of my kind? [She has to wonder. There were many fell men who seemed easily turned astray.] There is not much prayer in general. Worship was never a part of the gift of life in my world. We do help men when we can though. We have fed them and clothed them, taught them where they would let us.

[He gets a small but very sharply raised eyebrow.] I am. I was grateful every day of my long life. [And look what it got her.]

[suetekh]

When they let you? They do not always accept your help? [All humans ever wanted was the gods' help...]

I only mean take pleasures when there is something in your day that works out well.

[tintila]

Do you not know of the concept of pride? Hubris has been the downfall of many a child of Eru, be they elf or man or dwarf. Or Vala, I suppose. Morgoth did possess all together too much pride.

I have always tried to do just that. A simple blossom can brighten an otherwise grey day.