If it takes a thousand years at least - at least eventually - we had a good thousand years, we'll have a bad thousand years, then we'll have eternity - it must seem absurd to you but I can bear that.

If you say so.

I have a more acute sense of what never would mean. If he will never be happy then that is hard to live with. If it will merely be an unthinkable length of time -

Squeeze. Sigh.

Physically, he gets better. He relearns walking. He grows his hair back out. He is charming and humbled and so happy to be safe, he feels truly blessed by his cousin's courage. He would like someone to teach him how to wield a sword with his left hand, is Findekáno available?

Findekáno is surprised. Of course he is available. 

They practice that.

Kib is not sure whether this is Maitimo anticipating Findekáno's needs and not waiting to be asked or what but - good, okay.

(The golem watches, ready to catch a stray blade.)

The next time Maitimo runs into Kib is in the hallway a few weeks later. He smiles at him, effortlessly, exactly as if he is back in Tirion. "Do you have plans for dinner tonight? I wanted to hear about progress on your projects."

Kib blinks.

"No, no plans."

"Can I snatch you away? Curufinwe was trying to give me a summary of what you've been up to but he's been busy enough with his own things that I felt very guilty about insisting he stay up on yours as well just for my sake."

"Yeah, sure. - if you don't want me to just send you a copy of my work notes."

"If that's easier."

"Either's fine by me."

"Then take a break with me? It won't even lose you very much time, I assume you eat dinner anyway."

"Every day, even."

He's become a vegetarian. He hasn't explained to the cooks why. Kib can tolerate it for one night, or ask about it and get a truthful answer if he really wants one. If he doesn't he'll get the answer everyone else gets, which is that it's hard to cook meat with one hand. 

How are you doing?

Holding up. Might have the talking golem in three, four years. No comment on the vegetarianism. He's trying not to guess.

Have you all figured out what I shouldn't see, given your state of information, or do I need to be doing that myself, because not learning about what's going on is really difficult. 

There's some things on the list but I'm not confident it's exhaustive. Substantial servant programming, anything to do with relations with neighbor states... If you have a clever idea for ways to establish an upper bound on how subverted you could be I'm all ears.

Regrettably I'd think I could potentially be very carefully externally directed, as long as they can have someone within osanwe range. Or no orders at all but changed motives, can't see how you'd check for that. It might be that the amount I should know is 'nothing', and I'll figure out how to occupy my time if that's so. 

This golem's not smart enough to play cards. Talking one might be.

Or if someone can figure out how to demonstrate that an item is enchanted to do what it's supposed to be enchanted to do, I can do that, it's time-intensive and nothing new. Anyway, I can offer to self-police on that but you'd be exceptionally silly to let me and people have been happily telling me things.

Except as an occasional consultant I'm not heavily involved in infosec stuff, I'm still the best programmer we have and specialize heavily; but I can hash out the concerns with somebody who can sound really credible when issuing instructions.

Less credible than I can sound while making people feel like those precautions are foolish and unnecessary. It's a problem.

I can imagine. I'll get it handled.

He beams at him. Thank you!