And at some point before she goes to bed, her sister checks in again. Hey, Illia.

Heeey. So how have you been doing, my day was not great, killing orcs is actually super boring.

I keep forgetting to do things other than that, so.

At least anything you do has the added value of 'continue to spiral you towards a power level that will raise the dead and kill Morgoth' on top of its immediate value.

Poor dear, she responds, not unsympathetically. You know I can fly you someplace with more humans so you can teach people magic, right?

Might well take you up on that soon. Um. Possibly not Dor Lómin, though.

...Why not that place in particular?

Illia sends her the relevant portion of the conversation she had with Lady Hareth.

That's kind of hilarious.

I know. Oh, trust me, I know. I like Hareth, she's so completely not afraid to speak her mind, but she doesn't entirely have the same priorities we do.

The two of them exchange further updates on various things, none sufficiently jarring as to produce conspicuous external reaction.

And then Illia actually does go to bed. Killing orcs isn't intellectually challenging or diverting, but it's something useful she can do while trying to figure out what she actually wants to do. She gets into the habit, over the next week or so, of bringing along something to write on and with so that when she has an idea or anything she can write it down. She talks to her sister, every now and then, and requests a wood-bound journal next time she shows up in person.

Fingon returns from his trip south to find a fight stalled mostly where it started. He finds her. "Illia, would Odette be amenable to going around making scary faces at people while we propose a combined assault on Angband?"

"Probably. I'll ask her. Who should she be making scary faces at, what kind of scary faces, and on what kind of timeline?"

"Timeline is 'within the next year when she's free', the people she'd be making faces at would be the rulers of the southern Elven kingdoms we need allied with us, and the ideal face would be 'I can drop heavy things on Angband and this offensive is worth the risks'. The offensive itself won't be for fifteen years even if I persuade everyone right now, so if I wait to persuade people until she's ready to fight Morgoth we'll lose time we may need."

"She'll want a list, and probably advice on not stepping over the line from 'scary' to 'they all hate and fear me and for good reason'."

"My pleasure. Now, or sometime later?"

"Now works. I have been doing nothing useful except killing orcs and healing people and it's starting to wear."

"Nargothrond. Ruled by my cousin Finrod who adores mortals and will probably be slightly condescending towards Odette but happy to help her. Reluctant to go to war with us mostly because he doesn't like our odds, which she is a big factor in, so she can just talk about her capabilities a lot and act impressed when he makes obvious inferences about what they'll allow us to do in the fighting.

Doriath. Isolationist and paranoid as hell, but if she gets in the borders at all ruled by a Maia queen who knows magic when she sees it and could give Odette a sense of when/whether she can take a Vala.

Brithombar. Friendly, likable, reasonable, would commit resources if they had them, maybe she can give them some."

Gondolin. Location currently unknown. The King is my brother and would be super happy at the prospect of eventually getting his sister and his wife back."

She writes all this down. On her arm. Because this is convenient and writing by magic is fast enough to keep up with people talking and writing by hand isn't. "Why is Gondolin's location currently unknown?"

"One of the Valar protects it, and it's a secret. To everyone not living there. We communicate with my brother via palantir, but even that does not work reliably."

"That sounds...annoying. Why is there a Vala keeping your brother's city a secret from you."

"By my brother's request. He thinks I'm too forgiving of certain people who shouldn't be trusted."

"Oh." So glad I convinced Lady Hareth to write instead of speaking. "So I should make sure to tell her not to mention that she's going to bring Feanor back if she can possibly avoid it, I'm guessing."

"He'll ask." He shakes his head. "I have a niece. Idril. She's nearly five hundred now. You can bring her mother back but her mother still missed those five hundred years, that cannot be undone, and my brother is not going to forgive it."