"Well, congratulations on your {Protagonist Growth} then," says Esta, smiling, as he takes back the headband.

Deliberately showing the smile feels very unnatural.  Even when he's negotiating outside Cheliax he doesn't smile like this, nobody would believe it.  But also, Esta has been WORKING ON THIS GOAL FOR A WHILE, and even if this is not actually Mariona, it is a sign of HOPE if he ever does get back to Cheliax and resume his crafting of Mariona.

He puts the headband back on, and is less weak and unreflective.  Has he been stupid in the last few minutes?

...he has probably been too much going with the flow, and not steering hard enough for the part where he finds some concrete hope for getting back to Cheliax before the next time he prays to Asmodeus.

"Talk to me about dath ilan," he says.  "Suppose that Sendings can reach them.  What, exactly, do you imagine them being able to do?  My Ring of Persuasion does have some spellsilver and could in principle be melted down to make a useful minor magic item, if a more accomplished crafter was standing over my shoulder and telling me exactly what to do.  But trading 25-word messages back and forth, which is all Sending allows for and only one trade per spell, I don't see how dath ilan could master item crafting from scratch and inside an antimagic field no matter how Cunning the most Cunning person on the planet may be."

...Cultural Adaptation, is it remotely true that Merrin is actually low in mental stats for dath ilan?  That's got to be just one of her neuroses, right --

"Well, congratulations on your {Protagonist Growth} then," says Esta, smiling, as he takes back the headband.

Deliberately showing the smile feels very unnatural.  Even when he's negotiating outside Cheliax he doesn't smile like this, nobody would believe it.  But also, Esta has been WORKING ON THIS GOAL FOR A WHILE, and even if this is not actually Mariona, it is a sign of HOPE if he ever does get back to Cheliax and resume his crafting of Mariona.

He puts the headband back on, and is less weak and unreflective.  Has he been stupid in the last few minutes?

...he has probably been too much going with the flow, and not steering hard enough for the part where he finds some concrete hope for getting back to Cheliax before the next time he prays to Asmodeus.

"Talk to me about dath ilan," he says.  "Suppose that Sendings can reach them.  What, exactly, do you imagine them being able to do?  My Ring of Persuasion does have some spellsilver and could in principle be melted down to make a useful minor magic item, if a more accomplished crafter was standing over my shoulder and telling me exactly what to do.  But trading 25-word messages back and forth, which is all Sending allows for and only one exchange per spell, I don't see how dath ilan could master item crafting from scratch and inside a dead-magic plane, no matter how Cunning the most Cunning person on the planet may be."

...Cultural Adaptation, is it remotely true that Merrin is actually low in mental stats for dath ilan?  That's got to be just one of her personal insanities, right?

"Well, congratulations on your {Protagonist Growth} then," says Esta, smiling, as he takes back the headband.

Deliberately showing the smile feels very unnatural.  Even when he's negotiating outside Cheliax he doesn't smile like this, nobody would believe it.  But also, Esta has been WORKING ON THIS GOAL FOR A WHILE, and even if this is not actually Mariona, it is a sign of HOPE if he ever does get back to Cheliax and resume his crafting of Mariona.

He puts the headband back on, and is less weak and unreflective.  Has he been stupid in the last few minutes?

...he has probably been too much going with the flow, and not steering hard enough for the part where he finds some concrete hope for getting back to Cheliax before the next time he prays to Asmodeus.

"Talk to me about dath ilan," he says.  "Suppose that Sendings can reach them.  What, exactly, do you imagine them being able to do?  My Ring of Perception does have some spellsilver and could in principle be melted down to make a useful minor magic item, if a more accomplished crafter was standing over my shoulder and telling me exactly what to do.  But trading 25-word messages back and forth, which is all Sending allows for and only one exchange per spell, I don't see how dath ilan could master item crafting from scratch and inside a dead-magic plane, no matter how Cunning the most Cunning person on the planet may be."

...Cultural Adaptation, is it remotely true that Merrin is actually low in mental stats for dath ilan?  That's got to be just one of her personal insanities, right?