Is there truly anyone left who is avoiding getting harried, at this point? [ His tone is dry. ] Between the territory war and all of-- this, there is very little left unscathed.

[ And they just have to get on with things and do their best. Every day it feels more and more like Menzoberranzan.

He sort of looks at him for a moment, and then, in a moment of bluntness even surprising to himself, says ] The word for 'friend' in my kind's tongue is spoken without sincerity. It invites treachery or harm, to yourself or to the other party, if you truly mean it.

[ The Menzoberranzanyr likely had a word for love at some point, or something equivalent to that intimacy. But in the march of years, that word had fallen out of their language entirely. 'Friend' was less loaded, so it had survived as a euphemism of sorts...but it was still almost entirely without sincere weight. ]

We learn the lesson young - younger than you are now. If you care about something, it is a fool's errand to admit it.

So. [ He shrugs. ] Continue as you will, but that is what I mean by it. It is quite normal for us, but hardly admirable.

[ He's hardly gonna bug people into being More Open With Their Feelings or whatever that's REALLY not his business, but like. He's just saying. ]