"I think he needs orcs. We knew him quite well in Valinor and I don't 'think he has any capabilities that would suggest he need not even bother with armies. He's been defeated in battle before, and didn't break out any capabilities vastly beyond the ones he's displaying."

"Yes, about that, why did the Valar let him go? I heard in Doriath that they had him imprisoned for a while."

"After the three Ages were up he prostrated himself at Manwë's feet and said that he was anguished with grief and guilt over what he'd done, and he would contently live out the Ages as the humblest creature in Valinor if only this would permit him the opportunity to make amends. So Manwë paroled him. And he devotedly set about being kind and helpful to everyone who crossed his path, and Manwë was apparently not watching closely enough to notice the lies he set in motion to divide our family. And once he was discovered he partnered with an abomination from beyond the Void, one unknown to the Valar, to kill the Trees, despoil Valinor, murder my father, steal the Silmarils, and flee."

"What do you know about the abomination? Anything? If I could identify it -"

"Monstrous spider-like creature about a hundred feet tall, drinks light and exudes impenetrable magical darkness that may have psychological effects or those may just result from the trauma of the situation. We've been calling her Ungoliant. She got more powerful when she killed the Trees, and it looked vaguely like she drank them."

"I don't recognize the species off the top of my head. I'll look it up if it's still relevant when I get out of here. Any relation to the seven-foot spiders in the forests? By the way, there are seven-foot spiders, in the forests."

"That is news to me. Thank you. I would expect them to be related. Maybe she had children."

"There are supposed to be a lot of them. I hope they don't all get to be a hundred feet, that would be rather miserable."

"We might actually want to tackle that first. It sounds like more of an unknown quantity than the Enemy, and possibly expands its capabilities faster."

"I'll ask more about the spiders and maybe go have a look at some next time I'm in that part of the world." Notes. She's color-coding, now. "Is Ungoliant herself still a factor, do you know?"

"We would notice, I think. Though it might be worth asking Maitimo."

"I'll add that to the list." She does. "Speaking of Maitimo, he's not sure I could do a convincing rendition of people he knows, may I share with him my transcript of this conversation?"

"Did you tell him that you intended to do that?"

"I'm going to ask him before I actually tell him anything you said, but since it would be a hassle to ask him first and then you..."

"That misunderstands the nature of my concern. The nature of my concern is that if Maitimo gets better, or is pretending to be more disconnected from reality than he really is, or expects he can continue pretending to be unwell in exchange for detailed information about important strategic discussions, then he will appreciate these transcripts for more than the ways they're suggestive of our personalities. He is not an honest person."

"I did not tell him I was going to bring him transcripts because at the time I hadn't thought of a way to keep them without being prohibitively wasteful of paper. But I can leave yours out."

"Use your judgment; if you think it will help him, I am happy to have it be among the tools at your disposal."

"Thank you."

"Thank you. It sounds like you've been working very very hard on several different fronts."

"I find it very fulfilling, actually."

"I'm glad. Is there anything you need from us? Other than for me to speak to Artanis about establishing some common ground, which has been on my list of priorities for a while?"

She checks her notes, exploding them out from her notebook and arraying incomprehensible Asgardian symbols in the air. "Unless I've forgotten something from before I could start writing things down again, that's it, I'll just be having dinner and flying to Maitimo overnight."

"Is there anything you expect it would be useful for him to hear?"

"If I knew I'd tell you."

"There have to be some people in my brother's host who aren't well-known to my nephew but would keep him company."