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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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They retire shortly afterwards. Dwarves are early risers.
In the morning she finds Maitimo in the amphitheater explaining the theoretical framework that Elves use for enchanted weaponry.
It's only a bit more exhaustive than what she already got from Macalaurë - he presents a few of the algorithms and goes through the spell design process that would produce a ring which glows, the simplest case - and, as he ruefully concludes, perhaps of dubious use to Dwarves since they don't use osanwë. The questioning period makes it clear that their approach is similar in some important ways, though, and there's much excitement about some algorithm that seems relevant to what they do.
purposeful_glory
Eeeeee.
Loki's pretty much out of things she wanted to do here. Except play Governor. She will stay one more evening and see about setting that up.
Loki's pretty much out of things she wanted to do here. Except play Governor. She will stay one more evening and see about setting that up.
He finds her after the talk and gives a quite relaxed smile. "Loki."
purposeful_glory
"Maitimo. Like it here? I can wander off tomorrow morning without being perpetually concerned you will swan-dive off your balcony?"
"Were you worried? I have obligations if this is real and nothing to look forward to if it isn't. I will be able to achieve my goals here."
purposeful_glory
"It crossed my mind when you picked the only apartment with a view into certain death, but you've been carrying around a knife for a while so not that worried. Want to start our game tonight?"
"I find it tremendously soothing that if I need to I can. Without even leaving a mess for anyone else. But I'm going to build a city, my people need to apologize and I think they will need a very nice city to be prompted to do it. I would love to start the game tonight."
purposeful_glory
So off they go to his (roomier) quarters to start. She has inferior paper for the purpose.
She has never played this game before but she can plagiarize ruthlessly from every head of state she's ever heard of.
She has never played this game before but she can plagiarize ruthlessly from every head of state she's ever heard of.
The first set of orders he hands to her for effectiveness-and-trustworthiness modification (she has a separate slip of paper that notes whether his people are reliable) are 'send a friendly emissary', 'give asylum to anyone dissatisfied who we can accommodate climate-wise', 'trade food', and 'research methods of warming the whole planet to the temperature of Tirion through amplifying the Sun etc'.
purposeful_glory
Loki wonders to what extent her information on the scientific inadvisability of amplifying the Sun should play into his ultimate results on that. ("And who wins if you do it anyway and cook the planet?")
By the time they've been playing for an hour she has undersea tunnels of ice sloped to allow rapid sled-based retreat from the Helcaraxë, two complementary plots to have the favorite daughter of Maitimo's annoyingly competent secretary seduced, plans underway to invent the heat-seeking missile, a museum's worth of stolen artifacts, and the aftereffects of a bioweapon to contend with. This is so much fun.
By the time they've been playing for an hour she has undersea tunnels of ice sloped to allow rapid sled-based retreat from the Helcaraxë, two complementary plots to have the favorite daughter of Maitimo's annoyingly competent secretary seduced, plans underway to invent the heat-seeking missile, a museum's worth of stolen artifacts, and the aftereffects of a bioweapon to contend with. This is so much fun.
He has been smiling for the last half-hour. It's not the relaxed smile that's on his face around the Dwarves, but it seems somehow more sincere for that. "If you're leaving in the morning I should let you sleep."
"We can pick it up when you return. Thank you for everything. Travel safely." Somewhere in the middle the smile changes to the one he's been wearing for the last several days.
purposeful_glory
...she's going to want to ask somebody about that. "You're welcome. Good night."
And she goes to sleep and in the morning she's on her way to go bother some Men.
And she goes to sleep and in the morning she's on her way to go bother some Men.
On the other side of the mountains is a desert; it's evening before it stops being mostly desert in favor of rocky plains. Her vision takes longer than Maitimo's would have to notice a tribe of Men.
Not much. Some of them are winding through the brush gathering some kind of grain. Some of them are sleeping.
purposeful_glory
Are they gathering in groups or singly? Also, are they pretty much just soul-animal-less Midgardians?
Yep, soul-animal-less Midgardians is a very good description. This group contains ten people, but the gatherers are mostly working alone.
purposeful_glory
Okay then.
Loki finds a place from which to approach a gatherer without obviously appearing from nowhere, and then does that.
Loki finds a place from which to approach a gatherer without obviously appearing from nowhere, and then does that.
She looks startled and confused to see her, but not angry.