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.
"Well, it wouldn't be feasible to go pester them about it, so my patience or lack thereof will not affect how quickly the information comes to me."
"Yeah, I know, just want you to have reasonable expectations. If we both do it can we interact with each other?"
"I've obviously never tried, but my expectation is that we couldn't. We can test that if you like."
So she sings the stealth song.
They are indeed totally imperceptible to one another this way.
"That's annoying! Means we can't stealth everybody all the time even if we find a way to make it less uncomfortable!"
"Anyone who can get into Doriath can likely also get into a stealth song covering all of Doriath," she says. "Even if we find a way to make it comfortable, and a way to make it safe for people who aren't us."
"It would depend on how they got into Doriath, and how the stealth song was implemented. But the logic of it is that if Doriath's borders aren't safe, other safe-seeming things may not be either."
"True enough. There remains the question of whether all possible safety measures are worth the effort and inconvenience."
"And yet we are not all killing ourselves in order to enjoy the protection of the Valar."
"So, there are possible safety measures that aren't worthwhile to implement."
"I'm really not sure it'd make us safer. Being in Mandos isn't being in Valinor. It'd make us safer from the Enemy in particular, I suppose, but that's not the point."
"Surely Mandos would not hold us back from reembodiment forever. And if suicide annoyed him, it would be technically feasible to arrange non-suicide."
"Trying to work around the rules of what's unacceptable behavior is definitely unacceptable behavior. 'probably reembodied someday' is not 'safe'."
"...people with kids might come out hundreds or thousands of years after the kids, and have missed their childhoods and their whole lives? People who are scared might not go to Mandos at all or might not cooperate with him? People'd have died, which is probably traumatic? There's a really big difference between moving all of Doriath to Valinor, which we'd do if it were possible, and killing everyone in Doriath and thinking that eventually probably they'll be in Valinor."
"Hmm, I see what you mean. It's unfortunate that reembodiment isn't easier."
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