Curufin returns that sly grin. Ha! What an analogy! -- stories, like drinks of strong liquor, as aids to a seduction. But Curufin is well-versed in such strategies; he was himself a champion manipulator in the bad old days. He generally avoids using such tactics nowadays, but he understands them intuitively, and he can recognize it when others try to employ them against him, whether playfully or seriously, or a little of both.

"Oh my! Your King reminds me of my cousin Finrod." Curufin had wrested this cousin's kingdom away from him without ever raising a weapon against him or his people. Not a steel one, that is. His weapons had been words. And sorcery: the darkest usage of the traditional arcane knowledge of his clan, the Noldor.

"Yes, I probably would have liked your King." Curufin had liked his cousin Finrod, too. That hadn't stopped him from seeing him as a means to fulfill his own ambitions. "I like to debate, and I like people who are knowledgable in many fields, who are passionate about learning." Small laugh. "Even if they love knowledge because they see it as the route to peace and harmony. Maybe I love them, too, because their natures are different from mine, and the difference is a creative one -- it is a challenge to relate to such a person, and rather a pleasure."

"As for Hadriel, I have not explored all of it, although I've made the circuit of the place and have made a note of everything I have seen. I haven't been inside all of the temples. I didn't like the atmosphere of some of them. But I've visited the orchard, the park, and all of the dwelling places, and I'm afraid I've spent quite a bit of time here in the bar! It's a good place to meet people, though. There are some places I'd like to check out still. There's a darkness on the other side of the river, and I feel that strange events must occur there. I have yet to make a full expedition to find out, though." Small laugh.