"Thank you."

"We can send your escort out to Doriath when you're ready."

"Is Aleko welcome?"

"Yes, definitely. He makes them a lot less nervous. Understandably."

"Yeah."

"We'd probably take the better part of a Year to make it down there, but you're in a hurry so everyone shall have to accommodate that. Let them know when you're inclined to depart."

"...how long will it take given that I'm in a hurry?"

"I'm sure everyone'll ride out today if you ask."

"I mean the trip itself."

"Not sure. It's dangerous terrain but you can make the lights, that should help. It's a few hundred miles from here. Perhaps a week."

"Okay, that's not too bad."

And she would like to leave tomorrow.

Tomorrow can be arranged. Findarato will be going, the King is his uncle, and Maitimo will be going because he likes people - Feanaro says this as if it is baffling - and they'll have an escort of fifty.

Seems like a lot of people but okay.

She and Aleko are ready first thing in the morning.

So are the Elves, insofar as morning is a useful concept they seem to be early risers. Or don't sleep at all, hard to tell. 

Lucky bastards.

Off they go riding by firelight. It is boring.

The Elves would be happy to sing or tell stories or from the look of it Findarato'd be happy to talk politics and Maitimo is again subtly deflecting. 

Singing and telling stories are entertaining. Politics is not entertaining per se but it's interesting!

To Kiri maybe. Aleko wants to learn Elf songs.

Elf songs it is, then, Findarato's quite good at them. He can warm them all up - not much, but enough that it registers to Kiri's senses, and that's interesting, can he make patterns of heat in the air if he alters the tune? have an inpromptu lesson on Elven magic composition...

Magic music is really interesting! Neither Kiri nor Aleko has a particularly spectacular voice - he's got better innate musicality than she does, though - but expanding her repertoire of magic so she doesn't have to go from zero to FIRE is definitely a desirable thing.

Well, most Elven songs aren't very useful for danger, they were composed in Valinor where there was none, but they're useful and she's welcome to them. He can sing all trip. 

And she will take diligent notes and attempt to sing magic into the world. (Pity Sarelle's not here.)

Getting a better grasp of Quenya will really help them here, almost all magic songs have lyrics and no one knows her language well enough to compose any in that, yet. He's happy to teach lyrics by rote and prompt over osanwe, though, so they can make progress quickly.

It's not that hard to transliterate Quenya - it's at least phonetically simple - so her notes presently have readable lyrics in the Welchin alphabet.

Lovely. 

After a few days' travel it becomes hard to look at the forest ahead of them.