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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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Can you explain things in terms of water movement? Things that are sort of analogous to water movement are easy to learn, everything else is very hard.
purposeful_glory
...I can try.
Okay, so, Men communicate in sounds, and in the same way water will make certain sounds when moving in certain patterns (clunk if you drop a rock in, hiss if you force it through a narrow aperture under pressure, etc.), some shapes of mark represent sounds. This will not do the river Maia that much good since she's not familiar with the spoken language, but that's the underlying idea. Here are example written sentences all of which are themed around water/rivers/lakes/rain/waterfalls/snow/ice/mist/steam/etc. Here is a map: it has rivers on it. If one day the Men wanted the river to adopt a certain flooding pattern, or go around some area they hoped to use for something else, or move slower or faster here or there for safety or industry, they might ask like so and accompany it with drawings.
Okay, so, Men communicate in sounds, and in the same way water will make certain sounds when moving in certain patterns (clunk if you drop a rock in, hiss if you force it through a narrow aperture under pressure, etc.), some shapes of mark represent sounds. This will not do the river Maia that much good since she's not familiar with the spoken language, but that's the underlying idea. Here are example written sentences all of which are themed around water/rivers/lakes/rain/waterfalls/snow/i
Okay. I can try responding like so - and she turns a leaf in her hand into a marvelously detailed moving map, showing problems with the land if the river moves.
purposeful_glory
Maybe highlight the problems in red; the map is gorgeous but it's not necessarily obvious to Men which changes are problems and which are just changes. Other than that, seems great.
Parts of the map get highlighted. All right. Thank you for advising the Men not to do silly things.
I don't think you're mad at all, Eru just gave you a very hard job.
Would you like to go swimming? It's lovely. The river goes underground through these caverns and gets so deep.
purposeful_glory
I have to breathe, so I'm not sure I can best appreciate the caverns without equipment I don't have, but I'm sure they're lovely.
Oh. In theory I could fix that but I've never tried. Sorry. I'll practice and let you know if I ever get it down.
Have fun!
purposeful_glory
Bye!
And Loki flies back and says it seems to have been a benign river Maia and they can float messages in the river for her if they need something river-related but keep it down to once a year at most and she will respond with pictorial maps.
And Loki flies back and says it seems to have been a benign river Maia and they can float messages in the river for her if they need something river-related but keep it down to once a year at most and she will respond with pictorial maps.
The Men are rather delighted by the idea of a benign river Maia and the Elves teach them songs to sing at the river.
purposeful_glory
Oh, and do not mess with the river without permission, it's the Maia's and she wouldn't like it. Also you know how Elves are kinda... slow? Maiar are like that too and they might have to be patient. But she seems nice.
They'll treat the river with appropriate deference. Summer comes, and first harvest.
There is a lunar eclipse. Everyone, even the Elves, is fairly panicked.
purposeful_glory
Loki gives an astronomy lecture, with the usual disclaimer that what she knows is planets in general and not this weird planet's weird astronomy; but she did see an eclipse or two on Midgard and it was like that.
Astronomy is interesting and lots of people kind of want to take it up. A shame about this weird planet's weird astronomy.
purposeful_glory
Loki can attach illusion telescopes to sticks! They will not get you as far as Elf vision but they should help. Note: stars are less starlike than they appear.
And the seasons change, and the orcs are half-grown, and the Enemy does not bother them.
purposeful_glory
That is very nice. She likes not being bothered by the Enemy.
She's starting to be a little deadline-conscious. Huan said five years. Could be longer; could just really be five. She apprises people of this deadline: she is not sure what will happen or when, but she does not want it to be a complete surprise.
She's starting to be a little deadline-conscious. Huan said five years. Could be longer; could just really be five. She apprises people of this deadline: she is not sure what will happen or when, but she does not want it to be a complete surprise.
This makes people nervous. What can they do to prepare? The Elves suggest building enchanted walls, but you can't actually build them over a space as expansive as this one.