Soon, huh. Thank you.

It can be done, do not fear.

Thank you.

And the waves crash back against the shore and the pressure recedes. Well? Findaráto asks?

"Wanted us to go to Valinor for the Valar to more closely 'examine the situation', I said that was impractical, he wanted a timeframe, I gave him one, he said he'd tell the others it was important to act soon."

"Okay. Well that's something. They can send you back?"

"I'm sort of unclear on that, but he seems to think it's likely."

"What happens if you don't get back fast enough?"

"I don't know exactly. I'm not needed instantly for anything unless the king dies sooner than expected. But I'm gone, I still have my powers so they will not be able to find my successor because I probably don't have one, the other four primes will be unbalanced and that'll affect how much politics can get done because some interests like to hold out for consensus and I'm not there to make that accessible - in the longer run the royal succession will be called into question; somebody might think this is a good time to stop having a monarchy but if I'm gone oligarchy of primes is out..."

"That sounds like a disaster, all right. I hope Ulmo's able to get a consensus quickly. I don't suppose there's much point in waiting here for it, the Valar can reach us where they please."

"Why can you only summon Ulmo from a beach, then?"

"They don't watch us constantly; wouldn't it be a bit odd if they did? So to get their attention, you have to go somewhere they do watch; Ulmo watches beaches. For drowning children, mostly, but also for things like this."

"Then what's the song for, couldn't we just go up to a beach and say 'hey Ulmo'?"

"There are a lot of beaches, saying 'hey Ulmo's' not a particularly good way to get his attention and definitely not the best way to get him in a good mood. The Valar don't process the world much like we do."

"How do they process it?"

He shrugs. "Did you not get in reading distance of Ulmo? Did you not get in reading distance of Huan at any point?"

"Ulmo was out of range. Huan I did catch once, it was - weird but I didn't examine him closely."

"With his leave that might be the best way to get a sense of it."

"I'll keep it in mind but I'm generally unwilling to affirmatively ask of people if I may read them."

"Hmm? Why's that?"

"I don't want to make refusing me nondefault by having reasons people might want to accept on the table. Except with a couple people like Aleko who've cultivated very consistent comfort with it I prefer the standard procedure for it to always be other-initiated - physically, as an immediately relevant topic, whatever - so I don't need to worry about trespassing however lightly on somebody's absolutely reasonable boundary that they shouldn't have to justify even to themselves."

"That's a very strong stance."

"I wouldn't want my power in the hands of anybody who didn't hold it. I'm not even truly comfortable with what I did to revise the orcs."

He nods. "Mandos may be able to do just as well by them, and with less burden on your shoulders."

"Perhaps." Mandos probably falls in the category of people she doesn't trust with mind-alteration powers but this is probably not the time.