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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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purposeful_glory
"It's actually possible that getting ahold of me was an aim; it's sort of hard to know where I'm going to be far in advance without making sure something interesting is slated to happen in a particular place."
She grins. "In that case, shoulda sent more than one."
"In Valinor the Enemy tried first to become friends with Fëanor, then when he realized Fëanor has trust issues he tried with us, then when that didn't get him anywhere with anyone who could get him to them. That could be read as 'go for the most powerful people' or 'go for the people in the formal power structure', and now that those are different it'd be useful to have a sense of how he thinks."
purposeful_glory
"Hmm, yeah. I'm definitely not in any local formal power structures."
"Could also be 'go for the most unstable and violent people'," she muses, "in which case he'll ignore you entirely. Probably not that, though. Take care."
purposeful_glory
"Will do. I hope the lesson he takes from this is that if he sends me a Balrog he does not get it back."
She smiles. "Congrats on that, by the way. It was awesome."
"Your weapon - can ones like it be made?"
purposeful_glory
"Well, presumably, this one was made, but I didn't make it and they're not standard-issue, it was just sort of lying around for Odin to give me when I killed something toothy enough that the accomplishment counted as coming of age. I could probably make a spell for it but it'd postpone the teleportation." She frowns at her weapon thoughtfully.
"We're going to need something better than arrows for those things," Irissë says, "but that's not on you."
purposeful_glory
"I think I've explained the basic concept of a gun, but they do need a few iterations of development before they're an improvement on bows in any way except how quickly a person can learn to use them."
"And everyone here knows how to use a bow. We can start development, though, if it'll be worth it eventually, once we have workshops and supplies and things. That's perhaps two years out."
purposeful_glory
"Your cousins will probably have them first, and I'll explain them to the Dwarves too."
"I don't see a better solution," Nolofinwë says, "but it does sound like we're in a position of dearly hoping no one is maneuvered into doing something Fëanor can take as threatening, or that when they do he continues to be disinterested in riding down here with an army with weapons longer-ranged and more powerful than ours."
purposeful_glory
"I'd teach you to make bulletproof substances but I don't know how."
"I don't blame you, I think you're making the right decisions given your knowledge and the situation."
purposeful_glory
"Thank you, I really appreciate having that acknowledged."
"Sometimes I consider just telling Fëanáro that the Kingship's his and everything's forgiven. It didn't work the last ten times, but -"
purposeful_glory
"I don't think it'd go over well with your people time number eleven."
"If it were the right thing I would figure out on what terms it could possibly be brought about. It's not the right thing. Being irreconcilably divided forever also probably isn't the right thing."
He grimaces. "He has more options at his disposal than I since unapologetic betrayal of people who trust him is on there."
purposeful_glory
"...Well, I suppose he could propose it but he can't actually implement anything that I don't relay and whoever I relay it to doesn't okay, not from a distant Dwarven kingdom where he'll be in a week."