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Tumunzahar makes Menegroth look like a contract project. Which, the Dwarves assure her, it was. The stonework is astonishingly careful and beautiful, silky to the touch up close while from a distance it gives the impression of stretching on forever above, a sky of stone with crystals for stars. Vast natural cave systems are connected by dozens of perfectly smooth, gently sloped broad stone pathways from which the fall, if she fell, would be several miles down. There are handrails. "We use those to move materials carts," someone explains to her, "we're not going to be reckless."
There's an amphitheater, a place where a hundred of the stone walkways twine around to create space for a hundred thousand people to sit in close proximity, and someone is giving a lecture or a demonstration at the base of it, the seats closest to him filled with eager, tiny, bearded Dwarf-children.
And they spiral down, and down, and down, past waterfalls and egg-sized gemstones left half in the rock and halls of crystal. Everything grows gradually more ornate and more perfectly maintained and the clang of hammers fades behind them. "People say," her guide says, "that we only have a council instead of a single King because there were nine winners of the competition to design the throne so we couldn't just select one person to sit it." And they push open the doors to reveal, indeed, nine thrones so elaborate it would be hard to choose between them, and nine squat bearded people sitting them.
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For a minute he is perfectly still. Then he stands up, easily, gracefully, and pulls the door open. "I haven't tried flying over the mountains, swifts can handle that much altitude?"
purposeful_glory
"Sure, I'd take a lot longer to cross the continent if I had to go around," Loki says. She's not a great actress, but the intended audience knows she's faking, even if they don't know what she's faking. "Nothing to eat up there so I don't think the actual birds tend to go but we can."
"I need to be back by this evening, I was giving another talk on rare metals mining in Valinor."
purposeful_glory
"I bet they're looking forward to that. I thought nothing was rare in Valinor?" Walk, walk, walk, aaaaaaaugh.
"Right. Rare here, mined for in Valinor. Did someone patch your armor?"
purposeful_glory
"Yep, your brother gave back the finished pieces the other day. Good as new as far as I can tell."
"They're good at that. I really want to introduce them to the Dwarves. My insistence that Quendi can be good at metalworking is going to ring a little hollow as long as I can't show them anyone who actually is."
purposeful_glory
"I think they would get along splendidly with Dwarves," she agrees. "Dwarves are great."
"I'm really enjoying it here. Thank you for arranging that."
Macalaurë said I do not need to acknowledge or interact with them. I do not intend to.
And they walk out of Tumunzahar, and Maitimo smiles at her and takes her hand.
purposeful_glory
She turns him into a bird.
She follows suit but doesn't crowd him.
She follows suit but doesn't crowd him.
He heads for the mountains. Silently.
purposeful_glory
She goes back to the rest of the party and resumes her customary form there. She points at Maitimo.
Great, Macalaurë says. And he doesn't want us talking-to him?
You look a little out of sorts, was he angry at the idea?
purposeful_glory
Just upset. I really did mean to leave him in Tumunzahar undisturbed, when I brought him here.
I believe you. If this is an end worth trading peoples' lives for it's one worth trading his peace of mind for.
purposeful_glory
I know. That doesn't mean that afterwards there won't be dead people and unpeaceful minds.
If Thauron can see through your invisibility we have a greater disadvantage than the tactical one; he'll also see everyone approaching.
I've been trying to work out a song for 'uninteresting', it's the opposite of one I already have. A few more days, maybe.