"No, lady Mountain."

Her thoughts start coming through again almost immediately. "Then it seems this is a skill like any other, to be mastered eventually. I wish everyone wasn't quite so formal - the only one who acted remotely like a friendly acquaintance is an evil overlord who started and is sustaining an unjust war. I am a bit of a loner I admit, but it's tiring. Of course, inflicting myself where I am not wanted for my comfort is not called for."

"I should go make you a few tiles," four miles each, her thoughts say, "of road and see how the other host is doing. They said they'd hold their own but still."

"They do tend to overestimate themselves," he says. Well, she'd asked them to be more familiar.

Slight smirk. "Sounds familiar. I'll be back to run off a batch of carts and more road in about a day."

And she's off. Roadbuilding, a calming exercise for the whole family. Aaaand back to the presumably-ongoing battle...

Which has actually gotten way more manageable. They were prepared to survive it on their own, and are doing well with the unexpected help. They've sent Tyelcormo south to break the siege on the cities there, they're pressing towards Angband as soon as there's an opening -

Mountain doesn't know they're going to make a charge if they get a chance when she starts trapping entire groups of Orcs in obnoxiously quicksand-like stone.

Strategically speaking they should probably rest first, but they came here to charge Angband and as soon as the way is clear they are definitely charging Angband.

Cut to Mountain hovering over them, shoving Orcs around as opportunity arises, shouting in her own language and projecting thoughts as much as she knows how, "You idiots, the place is unassailable, and a total hive of Orcs, and Melkor's place of power, you need artillery or something! Or at least some rest and a better plan than 'charge'!"

This probably should deter them from charging, but being called an idiot has literally never deterred his father from anything.

Ugh. She- Can't make bombs on such short notice, and she's not sure she wants to.

She sends as much of the layout of the mountains, the fortress, likely avenues of Orc attack, and a live view of the battlefield from above, as she can. And follows them in, conserving strength for when she inevitably has to lift the entire group out of this death trap.

The Enemy sends Balrogs. They have no idea how to stop Balrogs. They throw themselves at them anyway.

No that is not what is going to happen today. These balrogs can go away to the other side of this pass, the ground under their feet forming spheres around them and being flung away, still under her command even as it melts into lava.

Then she meets the nearest one with a half dozen giant spiked stone hammers and starts smashing. This probably won't kill it easily, let alone forever - this thing smells like the same sort of creature as Melkor and she, sort of.

Not easily, no, but it can only hit back at her with whips of scorching fire and those don't do as much against stone as they should.

Well, her stone is just plain old regular rock - there's just a lot of it. Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash.

How are the elves doing? Because at the very moment they look like they're giving up this suicide charge, she's going to lift them the hell out of here.

The Balrogs do seem to have prompted them to reconsider the attempt to take Angband.

Is the one she was wailing on dead yet? No? Fine. Out with you, have fun flying through the air for a minute or two.

She goes and puts up a short wall to defend the barely-coherent mass of elves from further attack, then works on cracking the ground under them free as a solid plate.

The Balrogs stand back. They're clearly not used to having even opposition on the playing field.

And then the elves and some soon-to-be-former Orcs that got caught on her platform are moving back towards their walled fort on a flying platform of rock.

"If you lot stop showing such terrible judgment I might, some day, explain how to make artillery. As is you'd probably blow yourselves up with it."

"We have more experience with engineering than with war," he says, but not very heatedly, because moving through the air at high speeds by someone slightly irritated with you. "And thank you."

She sets them down near their hasty wall.

"Can the Orcs plausibly be spared? Depending on their own willingness to go peaceably, which might be limited. They are - rather hateful, those I've talked to."

"We haven't had the chance to interact with any peaceable. What we were told back in Valinor is that orcs are Elves who have been tortured and magically bound into the service of the Enemy, and they despise him but still serve him, and they are in constant pain. It's probably kinder to kill them."

"I'll keep this in mind when interviewing prisoners. If you're decent at engineering, someone will have plans for an improved fort sooner or later, yes? While I'm getting fed up with your lot's... Decisions, you still deserve decent walls."

"I can send you what we were going to build, if that's helpful."

"I will probably at least help with some of it."

She mutters mnemonics about her own magic, to calm her frustration.

"Defeating the Enemy is a task of terrible urgency and totally unknown difficulty. We decided long ago that we preferred to die fruitlessly than miss a hope of success."