Reordering the golems is pretty straightforward except insofar as some of them have to be recalled from far away for Aydanci to have a word with them. He assigns Lári root access in case something happens to him. And he makes routine terse reports on his progress with the anti-illusion scribelike thing, testing puppets for image quality, honing instruction sets.

Aydanci's time is too valuable to waste awakening more of the things. Lari can do it. Macalaure'll skip her sleep when she gets behind. He wonders if she'll complain but she doesn't, just clings to any of her brothers who are within clinging range. He wonders if his real sister is like that.

He talks Findekano into bed. He's not sure what he's trying to prove. At this point he will be grateful to wake up, at this point he is hoping for the proof that it's not real...

Aydanci, meanwhile, makes do on a diet of negligible physical affection except what his parents and his brother manage to insist on. Sleep skipping? You don't say.

- missing the dreams hurts but missing the time he could spend working hurts more.

More war golems. Longer-ranged Maia-shredding projectiles. Tyelcormo can kill things from five miles away, and demonstrates this, viciously, at any animal which could be an Enemy pet and gets within five miles.

No. Doesn't strictly depend on hearing. You can pet snakes, they don't even have ears.

He orders someone to kill all their dinosaurs.

If there's any eggs, Lári can pet those when they hatch. Aydanci's busy.

They hadn't thought about breeding the dinosaurs. Goes rather against Elven instincts, making an animal bear children in wartime. Too late. Too late for so many things. Next hallucination he'll suggest breeding the dinosaurs.

Several of the factories that turn out chassis are entirely automated, now, from the mining to the minute Lari awakens them. The only constraint on how much they can throw at Angband is how many of the things she can touch.

The sight-scribe works now.

He wants six thousand.

Aydanci will touch them all except any they want Lári to do for strategic reasons.

Yeah, probably wisest to split that half and half.

He calls in Aydanci again to let him know what they're planning to do if they find Kib alive. There's a plan for if there's a chance to make it out, and a plan for if there's not. Are you going to want to stay here or are you going to want to petition the Valar to open the portals, if he's dead already or if we kill him?

They shouldn't open the portals again until the Enemy's dead.

Agreed. Thank you. You're on a week's rest, no going in the workshops, because your parents are worried you will work yourself to death and my assessment is that you very nearly already have. Eat. Sleep. Get your dreams. Then figure out a project that'll help us kill a Vala, but for a week don't even think about it.

Nod.

He's not going to help anything by complimenting his work ethic. That's all. Good night.

Aydanci goes. He eats, he sleeps, he dreams his first childhood and he dreams Kib coming home to him in their house in Valinor and he dreams watching Aly eaten away by a death that was never anywhere near worthy of her and he dreams the process of realizing he was in love and he dreams telling Kib that it was him who got the pox back -

And they march off to war, again.

When he gives the cue Angband crumbles. It's very satisfying. He wishes it were real. The golems rush over the collapsing walls. Their orders are to kill everyone inside except Kib, and to kill Kib if there's no avenue to get him out.

There he is.

They've got one well-defended Elf in full armor per battalion of a hundred war servants, to react to things they can't have given instructions for in advance. Someone bounces him Kib's body, their location, the status of the fighting around them -

-get him out, he says, because it wasn't the wrong decision with the King, was it -

Kib's barely reacting to his surroundings. His eyes flick around, but he's not focusing on things, doesn't speak, doesn't try to order the servants, doesn't resist when one picks him up and delivers him to Findekáno.

I love you, he says. Please don't move and don't talk and let me get us out of here.

He doesn't talk. He doesn't move except to sigh and lean his head on Findekáno's arm.

Which is probably not a very cozy place to lean because he's armored. They fight their way out. There's someone handling the other prisoners - there's someone handling the other humans - he will track all of that later. They break clear of Angband.

Got him.

The King is too distracted to respond, except for a flicker of some emotion that's not particularly happiness.