They head several hundred miles south before the pterodactyls get too tired.

"I'm sure they got out. My dad made those things to hurt Thauron, they could definitely hurt golems - they're all going to be okay - "

Aydanci lets out a held breath against the onrushing wind from their flight and focuses on not falling off his pterodactyl.

The news catches up with them. Fourteen thousand dead, a few hundred missing. There's no settlement at Lake Mithrim, any more. The army found Men and Dwarves at each others' throats with no Thauron involved at all, left a couple thousand warservants to straighten it out, are now back. Please communicate your status.

...they're okay (as far as that goes). Got away clean (with these people, only) -

"I'm so sorry," the Elf communicating this says, after a minute. "I'm so sorry, Aydanci - they haven't - haven't found his body -"

...

Doesn't the Enemy know what Aydanci does to things that hurt his spouse?

(He doesn't say anything.)

When it's safe they head back.

The Elves are singing.

Aydanci was raised by Elves and he will sing too.

While he tries to think of something he can do to solve the problem of the Enemy still doing whatever it is Valar do that isn't draw breath.

After a few days' frantic activity the King wants to speak with him.

Aydanci will charitably assume that this is not a frivolous waste of time, considering. He shows up.

We're marching on Angband, but we need a better counter to the illusions first. Golems see through them. Can you do some kind of binoculars?

And do you want a hug?

Binoculars - probably not - something that renders images as it sees things, though, yes, like a scribe almost - trick'll be getting it fast enough to use for more than recon - no thank you.

Can't do it until we have something faster than recon, that's twice now he's run rings around us in different ways. A lot of little printing elements, like stamps, each of them on or off, to draw out a whole picture at once?

...Yes. I can get started on the programming for it immediately, it can parallelize if someone else puts together a puppet chassis prototype.

I'll have that done.

Thank you.

We need to assume the Enemy can use all Kib's servants now.

I have root permissions to most of them. I can lock him out.

Thank you.

I'll do that first. There's some older golem models I was never added to though.

Then I think we'd better break those ones down.

I'll courier you a list when I'm sure I've remembered all of them.

Thank you. Good skill.

And Aydanci goes off and works on all of that ferociously, shorting sleep, barely remembering to eat enough to keep himself in one piece.

Less staring at the wall this time around. Then Aly was merely dead.

This is worrying but there is no obvious avenue to provide comfort.

He's the calmest person in the place, since none of this is real anyway. He lets Findekáno fall apart on his shoulder and offers Findekano more than that since now he does not have an extra boyfriend. Findekano observes that there really isn't time, and bites his tongue to avoid observing a lot of other things, and they plan an assault on Angband -

- as soon as Kib can't order any of the golems, as soon as there's a way to see past the illusions, as soon as everything his father developed is bigger and deadlier -