There were exactly three, out of all the hundred thousand of us, who agreed to check out Valinor after the war, when they came and offered. Everyone else was either too scared or too paranoid or just thought it sounded fishy. Finwë, Ingwë and Olwë. I told Finwë I expected he'd never come back and he said "but if they're telling the truth, no one will ever die again. We have to know something like that." And they left, and they came back and persuaded our people it was real and it was safe and it could be ours.

And he was right so he got to be king?

Everyone who is here - well, everyone older than Nerdanel - is here because Finwë personally explained the Valar and Valinor to them, convinced them it was worth it, won their trust, and got them to pack up and leave everything they'd ever known. We hadn't had Kings back by Cuivienen but when the Valar said we should have one to mediate disputes and who they could settle grand questions of policy and land with, the choice was obvious.

That makes sense.

And it was everything he'd promised us, and lovely. Finwë and Miriel had a wedding party in the grand square while the palace was still being built. The singing lasted a week.

That's a long concert, didn't people need to sleep?

Not really. The Trees are very energizing. You'd be very tired after staying up that long but it's very doable. Actually I don't know what it'd be like for you.

I feel like I've been getting tired on schedule but maybe I just expect it?

Fëanáro barely sleeps. Perhaps it's because no one told him that people need to.

I think people vary in how much sleep they need anyway but I've always been pretty typical for a human, eight hours of twenty four.

Most people here rest when Laurelin's at her peak and it's warmest, some for the length we just rested and some for barely half that. Almost everyone can skip it if they're working on something interesting.

Maybe I'll try that sometime, see what happens.

You mentioned. That's, I think pretty common for people who are that unhappy.

I think she finds it much easier than being awake.

Yeah. I should probably see if I can read and ride a horse at the same time and have the books at least skimmed by the time I get there.

That'd be useful. How fast does a person...read?

Varies a lot, person to person and depending on the reading material and how closely they're reading it. I'm pretty fast but these are dense textbooks and it might take me all day to get pretty casually through one of them.

Not that I desire that Miriel's unhappiness be extended, but you being fully informed sounds more important than you helping immediately.

I'd still skim first. Not everything in the books is relevant and I'll know where each section is after a quick read-through.

All right. I'll leave you to that, then.

So Bella spends the rest of the day trying to sit on her horse and read. The horse doesn't seem to require much attention from her so most of the challenge is in squinting enough against the light but not so much that the letters are indistinct.

Sorry. Perhaps we should have waited for Mahtan to finish the glasses.

I was assuming you knew what you were talking about when I said 'right now?' and you said 'right now'.