"- ooh, yes, food, food sounds good. Sounds like a plan."

And he finishes his letters and rebraids his hair while he leafs through a memo and then the lights overhead go from gold to white and they go back outside.

The streets are full of elegant little vendor carts with all kinds of food, which people offer to him unprompted. "I'd make recommendations but I have no idea what you'd like," Maitimo says.

"I don't recognize most of it so I don't know either." He goes by what smells good.

There are baked cheesy things and roasted vegetables on sticks and fruits and juices and pastries and desserts.

Kib tries various things and finds them all quite agreeable.

And then they find a tailor, and Maitimo asks if some clothes can be tailored for Kib, and Kib is shown a bewildering variety of styles of extremely elaborate robes.

"For riding! This is the wrong place to get you riding clothes, but we will also get you riding clothes."

"I'm just worried that if I try to walk around in robes they'll trip me, I'm not used to them."

"I should ask my father to make you jewelry for grace so you don't have to constantly sing about it. But it will take him a long time, magic jewelry is slow."

"Maybe I should just make a walking chair golem or something. Wouldn't need wheel-friendly terrain. Golems are also slow, though."

"You needn't go around in robes; it is not as if people won't already have noticed that you're not one of the Eldar."

"Yep. Too short. What've we got in the pants department?"

"More the hair, really - short you could just pass off as not yet fully grown. I have never seen anyone with hair like yours. Pants will be down this street a way."

"I did notice everybody has their hair really long."

"It would be very rare for the Eldar to cut it. We care about it a lot."

"Humans keep their hair all kinds of lengths. In a lot of cultures it's a gender marker, short hair's masculine."

"Some hairstyles communicate gender but there are none that would involve cutting off almost all your hair."

"Are people going to be horrified if I'm still here in a few months and want a haircut? ...Am I going to have to learn how to give myself haircuts?"

He looks extremely amused for some reason. "I am sure no one would be rude enough to object to you cutting your hair, but they also definitely will not cut it for you. Is haircutting a professional occupation where you're from?"

"Yeah, we can't see the backs of our heads, it'd be hard to get it all even."

"I suppose that makes sense. Among the Eldar touching hair is intimate, so people wouldn't cut it for you."

"Grand. Man, and a haircutting golem would have to be really complicated."