Storks found him and had to stop at a creche to get him fed on the way but got him back again - no idea what the creche is going to think - yes.

Alright. We're going to war. He must have taken the babies, he must have them in Endorë, Endorë's populated...we're sending an expedition south to get more dinosaurs, planning to send some people into your world to pick up whatever weaponry your people use to fight, so we can learn from it, and building or importing boats to get across the ocean. 

I don't know what to do with him. If I put him in a creche he won't be able to find me. If I leave him with someone in Valinor - I don't know if the dreams come by developmental or chronological age and Lári's aged so slow I can't have a toddler remembering getting eviscerated by an evil god or watching me die of the pox or - but I can't bring him into a warzone, can I? -

I mean, in addition to going off to war we are also emigrating from Valinor, we're about fucking done with their interference. Once it was in exchange for light and protection, but now there's no light and there was apparently never really any protection. We'll build cities. They'll be - there'll always be more people between him and the Enemy than there were this time....if you bring him to the Outer Lands I bet he'll age faster, too, Elves do. 

Part of me wants to put him in a creche nice and safe and assume he'll be fine without me but - and no creche is going to believe me if I tell them they definitely have to make sure this kid gets this letter when he can read - and I can't assume he'll be fine without me, he wasn't, I'd be taking a gamble on how well-adjusted the new childhood would let him be and how long it'd take before he got hit with Aydanci remembering sitting around in an empty house grieving -

We could also leave him in the south of Valinor with the means to follow us but that doesn't help much if he's developmentally two when he gets all the memories...

Yeah. Which, he might not be, but if he was, fuck -

I'm guessing from the fact Melkor didn't attack until Tirion was empty that he cannot, in fact, murder his way through our host at will. We can build a very safe city - we'll be keeping you very very heavily protected too, for that matter, you're quite the strategic asset - we can probably keep him as safe as he'd be anywhere, and at least you'd know he was safe...

Yeah. Whereas I suppose otherwise I'd be constantly paranoid that Melkor went wherever I'd left him...

Your choice. Either way we want you to go south and acquire us more dinosaur cavalry, ones more specifically chosen to be dangerous, and your advice on what weapons to buy in your world. 

Yeah. Okay. When do we leave for dinosaur territory.

Plan was two days, but if you need more time than that that's okay, and if you want to head back to the human world first and get a lot of very very bright shines we're going to be trying to figure out how to grow food with them.

I don't think it'll work naively because they only go on surfaces but maybe there's a way to refract them or something. I'll go get shines and ask around about weapons stuff. Is there going to be any time in here for me to cry on you or Findekáno.

Yeah. As much as you need, really, in wartime 'leave and don't ask questions' is a perfectly reasonable order we can give at need... I hear that Tirion no longer has a palace, but we can find somewhere or accompany you over to the other world...

And he can give Kib a hug right now, no one will dare read anything into that.

Hug. I love you.

I love you. I'm so sorry. He will grow up loved and happy and you two will have each other again and the Enemy will never, ever be able to hurt people again.

I yelled at him while he was dying he wanted me to promise him I'd be happy and I said he'd better come check up on me -

And he did. When he has that memory is he going to feel yelled-at or loved?

Probably depends on how happy I manage to be in the interim.

Hugs.

Melkor, it transpired, burned down Tirion's library. Even against the background of everything else that provokes a lot of startled cries of pain.

Is the scribe still there or did the fire burn hot enough to melt it?

Scribe's still there. Bit dented, does that mean it won't work?

Only if the dent mangled any of the lettering or makes it immobile in a way they can't fix without denting the lettering.

"Looks like no. So that's something. What should we be buying in the human world, assuming we're willing to spend everything we have in reserves...."

Human world has some war servant designs - hard to come by on the open market, not hard to find pictures and descriptions of to reverse-engineer. Ballistae, various melee weapons - Elf bows are better than human ones, at least if you have an Elf's draw strength. Armor's a thing, doesn't come in Elf sizes but it's not hard to buy.