*goes with the simple answer, because he's not sure he can explain how the distance also makes it easier to choose (when home is far away and here there really is only the Fountain, and everyone under her umbrella)* I know. I do know.
Maybe she doesn't need you to tell her
*makes an amused sound, feeble though it is* You're probably right. Mothers and old aunts know everything.
My family
*squints at the shades, unwilling to let that hurt well up on top of everything else (and he can't very well threaten to make you walk home)*
*contemplatively, turning some of that gentleness back your way* Carol and Joe never had kids of their own. I'll have to have her in some time so she can adopt you, too. *brightens somewhat at this thought, and at the next:* And Glorfindel.