We could on Earth - except you'd be an obvious Elf, someone might notice -

Yeah, I've thought about it. We'd have to have a mage make me less conspicuous, probably.

Or an illusionist.

Could just go skiing and have scarves on.

Oooh, skiing. That would be easier.

Some nonfestival time when we can justify and explain a weekend away.

Used to take a fair bit of time off, shouldn't be too hard to explain. Or we can add it on to the end of the next round of treaty negotiations.

They're even in Europe. Alps!

I will take your word for it on what kind of mountains are good for skiing in!

I have heard vague good things about Alps.

Sounds like a plan. After the festival, you know, I need three weeks off work to be properly grateful for the harvest.

It's weird that harvest is a distinct occasion when you basically don't do seasons.

Well, Yavanna has to tell the crops to ripen at some point. And Tirion's - uh, the flat-world equivalent of equatorial, there are seasons up north and down south.

Which is weird with no sun!

I'm increasingly suspecting this is a cargo-cult planet off an initial design idea that was round and stuff. I asked some questions about the edge of the world and the Valar were like 'Eru's vision was unclear!' -

Giggle. Meaning, 'we fucked it up!'

That is how I interpreted it!

What kind of visions of a round planet are clear about the seasons and unclear about the sphericality of the planet, though, this does seem like it may also reflect a flaw in the design spec.

I didn't want to press them too much, but - I think they got visions of what it should be like for a person to live on their planet? Which is how you get both 'flat' and 'seasons but no explanation of what forces are supposed to produce them'.

Isn't Elf vision good enough to detect planetary curvature?

If you're looking anywhere with distant horizons, yes. I can't see it most places on Earth that don't have a view of the ocean, because there's usually stuff in the way.

And they didn't get any Elf-perspective-on-ocean visions?

Must not have. Or weren't paying enough attention, or couldn't think how to pull it off -

...it would be rather entertaining if they were not paying attention. To Eru. When they were being told how to make a world.

Maybe it's why they seem so embarrassed about the whole thing.

Of course then they're massive hypocrites on the listening to Eru thing, but oh well.