"I'm not going to kill you. Not everyone has as a realistic option 'stab evil Maiar', and while I'm suspicious of your motives even if they were pure as the driven snow that wouldn't make you able to stab evil Maiar so I can hardly expect it as a display. I'm debating whether to send you on with them or get a Quendi to act as an intermediary to teach you to fly so I can bring you where I'm going and keep an eye on you."

Carefully neutral expression. "My people need me."

"To do what?"

"Notice when their true-believer rationalizations are going to collide with reality and prevent such a collision from occurring."

Everyone looks mildly surprised. He nods to her and walks off to join them.

"What would we do about it?" someone ventures, but they then ask Tyr some verifying questions which he answers to everyone's satisfaction.

The valley has improvements! Irrigated areas by the riverbank, a small flock of mountain goats on a nearby hillside. Findekáno is improving walls.

She lands near him. "Hi. Verify my identity, there's a case of impersonation going around, I'm up to two Balrogs now. I haven't been here in a couple weeks, right?"

You haven't. We've been using osanwë for that.

Good. Oh what a fucking two weeks. You want the long version or the short version?

...short version first.

Dropped Maitimo off with Dwarves, who are great. Went up to check out Men. Men are very new which makes them awkward conversationalists, and have aggressively unhelpful Nandor neighbors, and some of them were turned into werewolves by Thauron who had moved in nearby and was fucking around with them to no good end and with the complete ignorance of the aggressively unhelpful Nandor neighbors. Ran into Thauron. Got offered a job, bribed with cessation of orc suffering. You're going to hate this part - he wanted Maitimo as a show of good faith to extend the free sample into a less free sample. I would've wanted to be asked if I were Maitimo and I don't get how he ticks so that was the best predictor I had; I asked. He shed some light on the situation, convinced me it was a bad idea, I went to Doriath and may or may not be able to freely leave Doriath in the future, went to your cousins, Macalaurë and Tyelcormo and twenty others and Huan went with me to pick up Maitimo as bait to lure Thauron off his ground and have a fight. I gave Huan a head start, Huan did the rest. During the fight Thauron quoted Vár, so after everyone was dropped off where they belonged and had opposable thumbs again I checked on the orcs. One of their escorts was a Balrog, probably inserted into the party when somebody impersonated me and made off with Vár and I am not fucking equipped to go and get her back -

One of the twenty volunteered to be a decoy bird; Maitimo had to be nearby to fool Thauron but I didn't have to actually carry him there. That one's dead. Everyone else made it out.

Thanks. Pause. Ice powers work now.

Yeah, I know. Vár's pretty much going to have to wait until I can teleport.

Weren't you thinking you might have Angband-levelling bombs before then?

Yep. And then Mandos will have her, but when I can teleport I can justify switching gears and getting resurrection working.

He looks very sober. That sounds like a good plan.

Yep. Already promised the Men. Well, the werewolves, who are basically Men.