There is nothing out of the ordinary on the eastern border of Doriath, and then, abruptly, there is a brilliant light.
A crown of black iron, bent and twisted as though crushed by some terrible force, set with three shining white jewels of surpassing beauty, lands on the forest floor. There is no sign of where it might have come from or who might have put it there.
She takes a minute to think.
She says: "I think I could make an entertaining and minimally hazardous game out of teaching evasion."
Shirask smiles. "Should you be having a parental conversation about it first, or would that be better left for after we have already played the game and demonstrated that learning this sort of thing can be safe?"
"The objective of the game is to throw water on one's opponent while remaining dry. We should find somewhere to play where we will not cause a nuisance, and perhaps wear clothes that are particularly well suited to moving around in and having water thrown on them."
"All my dresses are fine for climbing trees in, they'd be rather useless otherwise. We can't go outside, though - maybe we can clear out part of the gardens?"
And then they can attempt to throw water on each other. It is, as promised, both harmless and entertaining. Shirask is also very, very good at it, and willing to offer advice on how to improve.
She is not sure this is teaching her skills that'll be useful in a fight with Sauron but it's a game with her sister, that's good.
The combat applications are admittedly less obvious when the thing you're trying to evade is water and no one is throwing strategic illusions. Shirask isn't even using her stealth song yet; she thinks this will be both more fun and more educational if she waits to start cheating until after Lúthien is better at the mundane version.
After a few hours she apologizes and says she should get back to their people, who'll be worrying, and stop monopolizing the gardens.
And Shirask finds somewhere quiet and out of the way to sit and think by herself.
Someone should (and so someone does) bring her food occasionally! All the best things Menegroth has to offer.
She thanks the person and eats the food. It's very tempting to try to figure out how to make herself unfindable despite the flower trails, but it would only needlessly inconvenience the people sent to feed her. Still, she lets herself go and find a more obscure corner to sit in, just the once.
She could totally make herself unfindable if she wanted to! That'd be good, since it'd involve wanting things! But she doesn't know this is even on the radar and so can't show her how to float untraceably around Menegroth.
So instead, Shirask just sits. And organizes her thoughts. And eats food when it is brought to her. Thinking about how to translate her education in magical combat into a series of harmless games is a very absorbing task.
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