And Lúthien stands, changes out of the dress that makes it look like if you breathe on her she'll fall over, and darts away. "Good luck! Don't leave town again without saying good-bye!"

Loki laughs again. She scoops up her armor-and-whatnot, leaves on the blue and gold dress, goes to her guest room, puts her belongings there, and heads for the Dwarves.

Menegroth is still lively and beautiful.

There's the place where Menegroth's natural lighting fails and the flowers stop. Lúthien had said they made the Dwarves sneeze.

Loki puts a lamp floating overhead and steps in.

After a while, a few Dwarves pop out of the darkness. "Loki of Asgard!"

"Hello! How are you?"

"Nýi," he says, "and we are very busy testing the strange ideas of your people, as well as all the projects we've undertaken for our own. You?"

"Hello, Nýi. I am well. If it will not interrupt your train of thought or delay you too badly, I have some questions about the other Dwarves who live outside of Menegroth."

"That's nearly all Dwarves. And go ahead."

"I'm curious in general - in particular, if they might welcome a visit - but the specific question I have in mind is whether they have a policy on escapees from Angband. Quendi seem reluctant to harbor them except as prisoners."

He looks a little hesitant. "Depends on the Elf. Most of them don't get along with us. If someone was all right, then they'd be all right."

"The person I have in mind is from one of the newcomer hosts, who I think have had no contact with Dwarves before."

"What's he like?"

"Unfortunately, in his time with the Enemy he's been subject to a lot of hallucinations. He still thinks he's in one. When he's not making overt the background assumption that I'm some servant of the Enemy's orchestrating the entire world to get information out of him, or being just generally depressing through no real fault of his own, he's not a bad conversationalist."

He shrugs. "I mean, does he work hard? Is he fair? Is he clever?"

"I haven't seen him in a context where he was working or issuing judgments... He does learn quickly and think of ideas; he's extremely popular among his own people, who would have him back, but he doesn't want to go anywhere he's familiar with in case it's a hallucination and his expectations give something away. He's very conscientious about that part. I think he'd consider it entirely reasonable that if he moved in with Dwarves he would help them with their work; his skillset is a Quendi one and not a Dwarven one but I imagine there could be something for him to do."

"They're only mostly useless," Nýi says agreeably. "Well, he's welcome to come say hello."

"He can't come into Doriath. Where should I bring him to meet non-Doriath-dwelling Dwarves?"

"Tumunzahar is east of here along the Dwarf-road. They've had a few Elf visitors, with no outright disasters."

"I'd be traveling by air... can you show me on this map?" She pulls her map out.

"Farther east than anything on your map," he says, after examining it. "It'd be around here."

She marks the spot. "Do you happen to know any other far East landmarks I should have on here?"

"There are seven great Dwarven kingdoms, Tumunzahar being the one farthest west and also my own, so the only one whose location I am at liberty to give."