The Valar are faster. You didn't seem comfortable asking them for favors, though.

Not... really, no. And wouldn't it be a little weird to ask for a ride from one twice a week?

They'd probably give you something that let you make the journey instantaneously, instead of personally taking you every time.

...okay, a teleport wand might actually be worth having another conversation with a Vala, but if it would be an object would it have to be me personally having the conversation with the Vala.

Good point! I'll ask Lórien for you. In a few days, it's not urgent and we've just spoken with him.

Thanks.

The light that's filtering through the trees of Lórien changes colors, again, and several people pull out needlework. Rúmil is tracing letters in the air. I'd like to develop an alphabet for our language, it's such a clever concept.

Relatedly, I've been assuming it will be possible to get paper - presumably you have, like, drawing paper? - when I run out of what I brought.

Yes, definitely! Everyone uses it for architecture and art in particular, in enormous quantities.

Okay, good. So if you want to work on an alphabet now you can borrow my pen and notebook. She offers them to him, then, having rolled around on the grass sufficiently, goes behind convenient foliage to change.

He is delighted by pens and notebooks, as concepts, and has filled the page with scribbles by the time she comes back. I want to find someone who can make these! They're so useful!

What do you draw with? I guess Miriel mentioned charcoal.

I personally mostly just use a sharp stick that leaves impressions in the paper, but this does that and also leaves ink so other people can see what I'm doing, which seems strictly more useful. Unless the ink will rub when I look back over my own work?

No, the ink's pretty permanent. Won't smudge like charcoal unless you touch it when it's wet.

Paper doesn't tolerate that very well either.

I mean, the ink is liquid when it goes on, and dries quickly.

Care to come close enough that I can see my work?

Sure. She goes and sits by him and looks at the notebook for him.

He's now able to get more ambitious with proposed letter-designs. Some of them are very elaborate.

It's faster to write simpler things, and a virtue to be able to write almost as fast as someone might speak if possible so you can have a record of what was said exactly.

Yes, that makes sense. They all have a distinct-to-touch and therefore very-few-stroke backbone, see? Everything else is just elaboration. People are more excited by beautiful things.

So these would be like the calligraphy versions?

I think so. Can you do that for your language, or show me what it's supposed to look like?

We don't have official separate calligraphy strokes for letters; people doing calligraphy just add per-occasion curlicues and stuff. But I can write out the alphabet.

He hands her the pen. I can only see it through your eyes anyway, so if you can visualize it clearly enough you needn't write it.