"And perhaps eventually I'll locate them and see if they have any unique associated obstacles. I would have had a rough time with the locals on Midgard; I had not yet discovered the appeal of boys when I was last there, mercifully, or I would have been trying to piece together from filthy tavern songs what exactly they do with their soul animals and how to compensate for my lack of such a thing. This is not most of the reason why I was bringing Sigyn but it factored in."

He smiles. "I have another five centuries of getting over Maitimo scheduled so I don't think I can make fun of the odd customs of your people, or Midgardians."

"Well, Midgardians differ in ostensible, respectable custom and practice, and it wasn't my principal anthropological interest; I am in this sole respect fully a product of my culture."

"I can't imagine that sort of thing is entirely socialized. If you raised Quendi on Asgard, and they liked the same gender so marriage wasn't relevant, I still don't think we'd -"

"Maybe you wouldn't. And there's variance in Asgard, too; I do actually think I would have settled out at a lower - although still locally bewildering - level of fascination if it weren't for the fact that this was the first thing that was considered a perfectly expected, natural, healthy activity for a girl my age in which I had any innate interest. I had to cultivate an aptitude for combat; I was simultaneously expected to show up to lessons on statecraft and history and science and whatnot and expected to find them boring and want to go run around outside instead until I became considerably older than I am now; and I find hunting merely practical, drinking to excess actively unpleasant, etcetera, etcetera."

Nods. "You'd have gotten on well here."

"I'm not so sure of that."

"Fëanor's been saying he thinks the Valar are unsuited to rule for centuries, they didn't retaliate until he started putting swords to peoples' throats. Tirion - our major city, back home - really was a good place to be a contrarian with diverse talents."

"Was it a good place to be barely able to walk, judgmental, and impatient?"

"Artanis was adored. Though I guess she can walk fine."

"Well, maybe. But I would have been quaking with fury and terror more or less constantly from the moment I learned how Mandos treats souls in his care, if I knew for a fact that the moment I tripped off something a little too high it would happen to me."

"I never got myself killed, and Maitimo and I tried every extreme sport the continent had to offer. I can imagine being frightened of it, but I assure you it wouldn't have happened."

"Well, and I survived until I managed to fix up my spell, but if I'd never had a spell with no Tesseract to teach me? If I'd wobbled around for Ages? I might not have had a fatal accident but it would certainly have concerned me, and anyway I am capable of upset on others' behalves."

"Fair enough. Do you know what was wrong with you? If it were physiological Valinor might itself have healed it, it does that."

"I think neurological, which is something of a gray area. The physiology of the brain and how it implements the mind."

He nods. "Well, I'd say 'get your hands on a Silmaril, see what happens' but it sounds like you fixed the problem long ago."

"I did." She twirls.

"You said you taught Maitimo to fly?"

"Yes. I wasn't expecting to finish in a week, let alone a day, but I was able to osanwë him some of the muscle memory and he had it in hours."

"I wondered if we'd be much faster, ever since you said you had to turn back into a person every time to try again. Seems like there'd be advantages to staying in bird form while you tried to pick it up."

"And to having a group," she says. "If you're alone, can't turn back on your own, and crash to the ground, you're pretty stuck; if someone can pick you up and fling you into the air again you have another try."

"Anyway, it'll be useful to have a pair of our eyes in the air. Elwë wants us to settle out east, I don't think we've seen the area yet."

"Maybe Maitimo will tell me what he saw, since either I generated the entire continent for his benefit in the first place or mean him no harm with the information."

"Yes, exactly. And I trust that he won't feed his family false information. ... if he asks you to give us information different from what you're telling Fëanor you'd let us know that, right?"

"I am giving you different subsets of information. I don't think you need the personal regards he sent his father and brothers. You're getting all the Angband stuff and so on. I suppose I'd have to make a judgment call if for some reason he finds something of potential strategic interest out East and thought I shouldn't tell you, but presumably he'd have some sort of reason I shouldn't just go verify its existence myself and pass it on."