"Second one unless you want to express incredulity. Yea big age four." Gesture.

And he will continue quizzing her on drow society in steadily more proficient drow!

It's fun. She can stay up late if he wants, see less of the sky fireball.

"Is that what drow call it or just you?"

"I think we don't actually have a native word for it. I'd loanword the Elven if I weren't trying to complain about how silly it is."

"How do you grow food under the ground?"

"We eat a lot of mushrooms and meat that can itself eat mushrooms, there are magic light gardens, and there's theft."

"And now maybe trade."

"Yes, I hope you like mushrooms."

"Not especially, but I like foreigners, so it's all very exciting."

"Foreign we are."

"Not as foreign as I would've imagined! Thank you for the language, though."

"I've been upstairs for a while, I'm not evil, and I think I might be specifically talented at sussing out cultural differences. The other drow you meet may be pretty darn foreign."

"Oh, they won't let me near anyone very interesting."

"No? They don't have you meeting foreign heads of state?"

"Oh, I guess we will slide those in, but they don't usually want to talk about languages."

"So you'll leave it to someone else? What if the expedition comes back with the crown princess of Shazeun and she wants to use sign language because she thinks she's too good to talk to anybody out loud?"

"Might she?" He looks delighted.

"I have heard rumors that sign language operates as a power distance thing in Shazeun! I've never been there so I don't know if it's true."

"Is that the country we're trying to reach? Are you going to visit?"

"It's one of three countries that might be under you and I have not been hired for the expeditionary force."

"Well, maybe I can do something about that."

"If you like? I'm sure I can occupy myself if they'd rather send a team of clerics or something."

"Probably they'll do whatever they get the best bids on but sometimes when no one has any information that doesn't work out as well as they'd like." Shrug. 

"I don't have that much informational advantage. Shazeun isn't as foreign to me as a random Avistanian country is to you but it might be like the difference between here and Katapesh and I don't know in what directions."