[ Only having one war seems to be too good to be true, but Beleth knows that even one war is, really, one war too many. She can't see Thranduil's expression, but--she drops the subject. War isn't a pleasant topic, no matter what.

Furthermore, she's distracted by the, quite frankly, ridiculous age that Thranduil actually is, and sputters. ] Seven--Seven thousand? That's--Humans hadn't even arrived in Thedas by then! That's amazing.

Um. It was just. Another word for city elf. But, um. Not...polite. At least, to city elves. [ But the Dalish used it as often as 'shemlen', and Beleth used it among other Dalish freely. Maybe the city elves should just stop being so SENSITIVE. ]

Oh--It's more like matchmaking, really. It's all optional. And plenty of people bond without outside interference. But if you're still single by a certain age and you haven't really shown much success on your own, sometimes Keepers will...try to help you along. They usually just ask around to other Keepers, if they have any single people around your age, and they might pick someone they think would suit you. Then they'll bring it up with you, and have the two of you meet, and see how you get along.

We're not shemlen, we don't force anyone to agree to a match. You can say no, or break off at any point in the engagement. [ What Beleth doesn't mention is that refusing is entirely dependent on your willingness to snub your Keeper and what they think is best for you. Which. Can be difficult. ]