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Loki is not technically banished. This is just - giving her mother space. To think. About what to do with her wayward child. She will be called back in a few years for a more permanent decision. Midgard's nice enough, anyway, and Sigyn's coming along.
The Bifrost lights up in all its colors and -
- this might be Midgard, but it is not a part of Midgard she ever saw and not the place she was expecting to be dropped, and there is no Sigyn with her.
She holds Lævateinn ready as a glaive. Maybe her mother feared her sorcery and thought she'd best be sent somewhere deadly under the impression she was meant to survive the trip -
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purposeful_glory
"Why can't he come back here?" Macalaurë says.
Curufinwë shakes his head. "If he's right about what's going on, that's informative about the layout, guard rotations, our behavior -"
"So we build the first outpost - we were planning to anyway, we can speed up the construction a little - and have him there," Tyelcormo says, "nowhere he's seen, if necessary none of us working there directly, he'll be fine, how fast can we build it?"
"Two years," Macalaurë says, "if I drop everything else, and -"
"So do that," says their father, as four people open their mouths at once with comments.
Curufinwë shakes his head. "If he's right about what's going on, that's informative about the layout, guard rotations, our behavior -"
"So we build the first outpost - we were planning to anyway, we can speed up the construction a little - and have him there," Tyelcormo says, "nowhere he's seen, if necessary none of us working there directly, he'll be fine, how fast can we build it?"
"Two years," Macalaurë says, "if I drop everything else, and -"
"So do that," says their father, as four people open their mouths at once with comments.
purposeful_glory
Loki's transcribing. "Can I just relay him the exact words of this entire conversation?" she inquires. "He's been willing to read such things, keeps a very straight face while he does it..."
"Yes, of course,' Fëanor says.
"By drop everything else," Macalaurë says, "I mean everything else, Pityo's going to need to take over scouting rotations and we're going to need to send Moryo with a thousand people to the pass right now and I'm going to have to spend favors left and right to get the permissions we need from the locals. And I have two hundred people on a rotation to watch orcs and if I send them out to the new mining camp they might get results a month faster, trying to do one thing as fast as possible means pulling people off projects at which they're far more valuable -"
"Getting Maitimo back is pretty valuable," Tyelcormo says.
"Not until he's able to help us, which probably won't be for the duration of the war-"
"I may think of a better solution sooner," Fëanor says, "there have to be other things that the enemy can't fake."
Ambarussa shakes his head. "Perhaps we should ask Maitimo if he wants this before we redirect everything towards making it happen?"
"By drop everything else," Macalaurë says, "I mean everything else, Pityo's going to need to take over scouting rotations and we're going to need to send Moryo with a thousand people to the pass right now and I'm going to have to spend favors left and right to get the permissions we need from the locals. And I have two hundred people on a rotation to watch orcs and if I send them out to the new mining camp they might get results a month faster, trying to do one thing as fast as possible means pulling people off projects at which they're far more valuable -"
"Getting Maitimo back is pretty valuable," Tyelcormo says.
"Not until he's able to help us, which probably won't be for the duration of the war-"
"I may think of a better solution sooner," Fëanor says, "there have to be other things that the enemy can't fake."
Ambarussa shakes his head. "Perhaps we should ask Maitimo if he wants this before we redirect everything towards making it happen?"
purposeful_glory
"I'll pass on the conversation and see what he says. I should be able to have the orcs on their way soon, if Círdan is as friendly as Lúthien claims and agrees to let them by to use the island," says Loki. "The only other idea that came up as a possibility the Enemy couldn't fake was that someone could marry Maitimo on the grounds that Eru performs unfakeable soul magic, which would have been one thing if he were already married but in the absence of same would simply open the possibility that the Enemy found him a fellow prisoner to mind-control. Can I speed up your outpost at all? It turns out that osanwë means I can teach someone to fly very fast compared to how long I was expecting, you might need fewer scouts if they were willing to be birds for a while each, perhaps it would be useful to have an illusion of a blueprint to build to...? Can the locals' favors be bought with healing, I don't know what their situation is there?"
"Scouts, yes, that would save us time, in particular we can build with fewer people on guard if we can be confident we'd notice an ambush and have a few hours' warning of an approaching army. The locals are with good reason not very trusting, but I'll ask about healing," Macalaurë says.
"I can't build much faster with a blueprint," Carnistir says, "though it's worth a try. The constraint there is moving enough stone, and I don't suppose you have a spell for that."
"Círdan's all right," Tyelcormo says, "when we rode out to Brithombar in the first campaign here he was exceedingly friendly."
"I can't build much faster with a blueprint," Carnistir says, "though it's worth a try. The constraint there is moving enough stone, and I don't suppose you have a spell for that."
"Círdan's all right," Tyelcormo says, "when we rode out to Brithombar in the first campaign here he was exceedingly friendly."
purposeful_glory
"I have no stone-moving spells. Although it's possible that if I describe steam engines to you it could help. I am not sure the Nolofinwëans will be thrilled if I teach your people to fly - Maitimo is I think a special case - so as long as we don't know if he'd appreciate the rushed outpost at all I'll make sure this won't upset them more than seems warranted, or offer to have some of them learn too -" Letters of light appearing at her elbow, separate from the still-ongoing transcription. "There are some things that he told me to pass on."
And she pulls out those transcripts: about the Valar kicking out the Nolofinwëans. Recommendation to talk econ with Moryo. Strategy report on Enemy capabilities as witnessed up close. I love you, I miss you -
And she pulls out those transcripts: about the Valar kicking out the Nolofinwëans. Recommendation to talk econ with Moryo. Strategy report on Enemy capabilities as witnessed up close. I love you, I miss you -
They do not make any particular effort at impassivity while they read.
"Asking about enemy capabilities was a good idea," Curufinwë observes. "Ask him also how densely packed Angband is, what would happen if someone besieged it and started a fire, if he knows of entrances or exits -, if he'll expand for our benefit on the things you already know-"
"Asking about enemy capabilities was a good idea," Curufinwë observes. "Ask him also how densely packed Angband is, what would happen if someone besieged it and started a fire, if he knows of entrances or exits -, if he'll expand for our benefit on the things you already know-"
purposeful_glory
She writes this down. "I have to assume it's pretty fireproof considering that it's supposed to contain Balrogs, but I'll ask. I have my own recon -" She makes a to-scale illusion of the place sitting on the table rotating slowly. "But didn't see much of the inside."
One of them starts sketching.
"That was very risky," Macalaurë says absently. "I am of course very grateful that you did it, but - it's plausible that Melkor can sense past your invisibility -"
"I expect he can," says Fëanor, "I've been working on that."
"That was very risky," Macalaurë says absently. "I am of course very grateful that you did it, but - it's plausible that Melkor can sense past your invisibility -"
"I expect he can," says Fëanor, "I've been working on that."
purposeful_glory
"If he can, he didn't see fit to catch me while I was carrying his prisoners away," Loki says. "I suppose he could have brought the smoke down to entice me there and bet that I'd take away prisoners he was already ready to release in the hopes that this would get one or both, probably Maitimo, past some suspicion that would apply to a self-managed escape, but this supposes such broad powers of predicting his opponents that I'm not sure the best strategy isn't just to assume he can't do that. I do expect someone to notice the illusions I left on the wall at some point but I haven't been able to come to a firm conclusion about whether they'll notice it soon enough that I should just vanish them."
"He might have to be in your actual line of sight," Fëanor says, "which I assumed you might have mentioned. I don't know that he can abstractly sense every person in his territory, though some of the Valar can, and I'd assume that if he'd had a chance to kill you that would have taken priority over orchestrating a more convincing rescue of Maitimo."
purposeful_glory
"I didn't see him," she confirms. "Do you think I should dismiss the illusions on the cliffside? I can do that from here, but I would need to see the place again to put them back, which is why I've hesitated."
"This was several days ago? It would astonish me if they haven't noticed by now. Elves would die within a few weeks under the conditions you described, so I assume he is somehow magically sustaining them."
purposeful_glory
"Well, if they've already noticed maybe I should leave them so he's misled about how easily I can get rid of them?"
"Unless you think he'll learn anything from examining them closely, that seems wisest."
purposeful_glory
"I suppose he'd learn the resolution at which I make such things. Nothing really useful. I keep meaning to ask, do orcs see as well as you do?"
"No," Curufinwë says, "we did tests with them. They have better vision than us in darkness but much poorer vision in bright light, and find it painful. I don't know how their vision compares to yours but they can identify symbols an inch tall from about forty paces in daytime; we could do a thousand."
"They can distinguish more heat-colors than we, and slightly fewer on the other end of the spectrum."
purposeful_glory
"Then it's not plausible that I knew a lot about orc vision and left out heat in the illusion because I didn't need it to fool them, I suppose, but he won't necessarily assume he knows the resolution I can manage."
"I expect he'll just be puzzled," Fëanor says, "he's not that smart. I actually imagine he is in a panic - orcs being slaughtered in numbers and a manner not consistent with our abilities, a new host arrived, a prisoner escape - and would throw everything he had at you if he weren't currently very limited in resources."
purposeful_glory
"He's not that smart?" asks Loki. "Lúthien claims Melian has some hundred times an ordinary attentional capacity and I was assuming the Valar scaled up from that; this can be converted into something resembling intelligence, deployed with even a clumsy wit's desire to succeed under constraints such that brute force doesn't instantly suffice. What not-smart things has he done?"
"If you wanted to take over the world, would your approach bear any resemblance to his?"
purposeful_glory
"No, but I was assuming that was mostly stylistic and ethical. And resource-based; a Vala's powers differ from mine."
"About half. The other half is that unless I am very much misunderstanding his objectives he is not good at his goals, given his resources. The Valar are all very circumscribed in their abilities - Manwë, for example, is not capable of understanding defiance, or the desire to act against Eru's will. If you explain it to him he'll come to an understanding of the closest thing you could have said that's compatible with his worldview. As you can imagine he's consistently flabbergasted by actual Quendi behavior."