[I worked with the Valar a lot to get it under control. Mostly Ulmo. I don't mourn Mandos personally or anything but I don't think they're outright evil, as a group.]

[You should talk to Maira.]

[What about?]

[What we're planning to do, what the Valar are doing...]

[Do mind I'm pretty sure either she or Melkor tried to kill me.]

[Well. You're wrong. The Valar must have done it in a panic after realizing that psions actually could kill Valar and Eru wouldn't step in to save them - Eru's evil too -]

[I'm not going to argue that the Valar are great at their jobs or that Eru ought to be trusted with anything more sentient than Legos but Melkor is worse. Did you know about the five Elves she kidnapped on her way out?]

[Do you think you can just make stuff up and I'll believe you if you phrase it as 'did you know about'? She didn't kidnap anyone. Some Elves came with us because they knew, too -]

[I don't have conference calls or I'd put you in touch with one of the people she kidnapped - maybe you should pick up lie detection - I've only talked to Maitimë and Rúmil but they did not go along voluntarily and Maitimë at least is being time-dilated and memory-tampered and tortured -]

[Liar.]

[Get lie detection and check.]

[I'm working on a lot of stuff. And Maira swore she'd never lie to me.]

[What are you working on?]

[Precognition.]

What, so they can trip over each other -

She's made kind of a mess of this lookahead, she needs to fucking control herself, if she doesn't want to wait years (years sidereal - Maitimë -) for Melkor to die she needs to get through to Liz -

She drops it, picks up a new one. Collects a second breakfast.

[Liz?]

[...hi?]

[Any chance you know where Maitimë is? She's been missing since you, uh, left, and when I talk to her it's confusing and I think she's in time acceleration.]

[Yeah, she's here, dunno what she's working on but Melkor's doing acceleration for everyone who wants it. At high levels it's kind of a pain to drop out of? So you might just have to wait until she calls you.]

[Oh, you've seen her?]

[Nah but I've got a ranged sensing thing. It was one of the pieces of the Vala-killing power - lets me find them, it's not always the same thing as their current body -]

[Could you go see her if you wanted?]

[Probably, but I'm not getting in the middle of your relationship or whatever.]

[Excuse me?]

[...uh, Maira says Maitimë's yours? Maira's been working with her a bunch.]

[I didn't tell Maira that. Did Maitimë?] Pause. [I'd sort of figured vanishing without saying goodbye was a lot like getting dumped, but if she's telling people she's mine -]