Ordinarily I would strongly caution one against that. But you have strengths that in our world only powers have, so perhaps it's safe for you. The Enemy's fortress is north and east of us; his servants roam the continent freely, as far as we know. It is our hope we have arrived in time to save some of our kin, who did not accept the trip to Valinor or became lost on the way and who remain here, if they're still alive.

And you were burning the ships to deny their use to Moringotto?

That was chief among our reasons, but not the only one. I've elided several complications to the situation, namely that after the succession crisis there was nearly a war between those who followed the King's appointed successor and those who desired a different King, a war we're trying to prevent by keeping the two parties on separate continents. 

Civil war. Of course. She sighs. You realize that I know I am not hearing an entirely unbiased story.  

Pause.

Perhaps if I helped move them so that your mutual enemy is between you and them the only fighting will be with these so-called Orcs.

Not a war. There's been no fighting, not with them. We're just afraid that it could come to that and trying to take measures to ensure it doesn't.

Putting them on the other side of the Enemy is a very tempting solution, if it's safe for them there. Can you check that?

It may take several weeks, but yes. I would... Store the boats somewhere you cannot burn them and they cannot use them, then speak to them, before checking.

Bleeding through, she's used to mediating conflicts and doesn't find it very enjoyable. Necessary, though, plenty of that.

We really, really cannot afford for the boats to fall into the hands of the Enemy. If you have the capacity to move people around continents at will, perhaps you can send the boats to the harbor of Alqualondë on the opposite shore? He sends a mental map. They would kill us if we travelled within range of them but the boats would not be used by anyone to do harm, there.

The fire was also to draw the Enemy out from where he is currently besieging our kin, if they're not already dead. I don't suppose you can do anything comparable? Are boats sacred in your culture? This is a great deal of work to protect our possessions from us.

Pointless destruction is against my personal code. I could cast a great deal of dust into the air, if you think the effect is similar enough to smoke.

And I am very new to this place, so I am hesitant to destroy or allow destruction of anything or anyone until I learn more.

It's not the smoke that would be visible, but the fire. Dust doesn't seem similar. We can try making a great deal of noise, perhaps.

Here it is generally understood that people have the right to destroy their things, and while none will have the strength to oppose you, they will be very bothered if you step in to prevent them from tearing down their homes or so forth.

My concern is the possibility that these boats are not rightfully yours. I don't think this is particularly likely and I will not interfere if you wish to set them alight again. However, if you burn them and later I find that they belonged to another I will be annoyed.

Do you have more story to relay or should I visit Alqualondë and the Enemy and other such informative places?

There's a great deal to say, but I don't know how much of it will be usefully communicated without really starting from scratch - for example, you seem to have a different concept of 'rightful' than ours, and 'belonging', and several other things. I'd happily sit down and discuss philosophy, but at the moment we're scrambling to get the attention of our enemy so he stops harassing the less-able-to-defend-themselves people who we hope still live on these shores, and that's a higher priority. If you're inclined to collect more information, can I encourage you first to collect the information that would help you decide whether you'll join us in that fight? It's going to be an ugly one.

I have no doubt that our concepts of rightfulness and belonging are different, perhaps radically so. Two cities of humans will sometimes have different enough definitions of belonging to cause a war. I will focus on understanding the conflict, as you say. She floats into the air.

Well. She didn't fly into a rage and kill them all, which is good, and her examination should conclude that their side of this war is justified, which is good, and she can get the other host here safely without sending the boats back, which is very good. But it doesn't seem like there's a way to get the boats back to Alqualondë without her going to Alqualondë and hearing a story that will then probably make her fly into a rage and kill them, which is bad. Perhaps they can win the war here first.

She is actually not the principal complication here. The principal complication is that Father, while he'd been dissuaded from talking with a Power from a different world who'd just calmly stopped them from doing this, would probably not stay dissuaded, and that having the cousins on the other side of the continent seems like an unstable compromise, and that he's not sure if she can hear him while he's trying to stabilize all of that.

The Fëanorian tightrope, Findekáno used to call it. It was a wider tightrope before you denounced my father and named yours the King, Maitimo wants to say, but that can wait.

Mountain flies high above the continent and towards its interior. She fashions a crude telescope with diamond lenses and investigates possibly-inhabited spots. The optics are tricky but managable with something that has that high an angle of diffraction.

There are creatures of the kind he sent mental images of through the continent, in some areas clustered in great numbers and in some areas walking about alone. There are walled cities in the far south. There's a fortress in the north.

Fates can fly very, very fast. But not so fast as to visit all these places in a day.

She descends and tries to talk to one of the creatures, a lone one.

(Did they set the ships on fire again?)

They did not. 

The creature snarls and then cowers when she tries to speak to it. They don't seem to have a common language.

She lands a ways away and tries to appear calm and nonthreatening. Removing the bulk of her rock-armor and keeping only enough for decency might help. Right?

Seems to alarm the creature, honestly, but it still doesn't make a move.

She attempts to replicate the talking-without-talking thing. I mean no harm.

It relaxes slightly. 

Strange rock-stranger. Why are you here?

Someone told me about people who look like you. They said your kind are dangerous and hostile. I wanted to see if they were right.

Warily. "They're lying. You should come speak to our commander Melkor, he will tell you of them and their crimes. This land is safe from them, as far as I know."

I would be glad to speak to him and hear his side of this story.

The creature becomes at once more serious, and starts walking toward the north. "Melkor lives in Angband, the cradle of our people, protecting the children. He will be pleased to meet you."