Leareth nods, and lowers the shield, leaving just his ordinary personal shields.

So, tell me about the world you're from.

It's hard to figure out where to start. :It is much worse than this one – well, at least worse than here, I am not sure of the state of your Outer Lands. Some people have magic similar to mine. Most do not. My world is fragmented into many small countries, often at war with one another, usually over petty matters. On average the civilization is much less advanced than yours, though there have been periods of flourishing; things always tend to return to the same state. One where the majority of people are subsistence farmers, who often go hungry and sometimes die of it. Where most people cannot read or write, much less go to study at an academy. Also, unlike the Quendi, humans and most other intelligent races will grow old and die within a century. And we have no god of the dead as obliging as yours. Souls may come back into the world, eventually, but remembering nothing of their previous life: 

He ducks his head. :I...found a way around this. I preferred not to die before I had achieved all that I cared about. Someday, I hope, I will bring that to everyone in my world, but it is a far harder problem than I first thought. I never dreamed I would find a place where it had never been a problem at all: 

What sort of assistance do they need? Can we help?

:...Perhaps. I hope so: Surprised, and realizing he probably shouldn't be, he turns to smile at Nelyafinwë. :Your world's scholarship may be of great value. Perhaps your magic too. Possibly even the Valar: He's going to have to be convinced of that point, though. :Later. Once your local situation is less trending toward disaster. You must repair your own ship before rescuing another: 

Yes. It occurs to me that I agreed with you that this looked likely to be a disaster but we might have very different visions of what that means - what is it you're afraid of -

:Well, in my world, it is not uncommon for a succession dispute that has escalated to the point that the loyalists for both sides are shouting at each other in public while carrying weapons, as I observed at the city gates, to very soon end up with one side attempting to claim a victory by violence. Which generally involves a large fraction of both sides ending up dead. 'Blood in the streets' is a colloquial phrase in my world, and would be literal in this case: 

There's twenty people who know how to use the swords. I guess if you were motivated you could maybe manage anyway.

:A depressing number of wars in my world were fought largely by placing sharp things in the hands of untrained peasants and giving them a day or two to drill before sending them out to run at each other. That is generally sufficient to cause a very large number of deaths: 

He glances over. :Perhaps your people are genuinely less inclined to violence than mine, but I am not inclined to bet on it: 

We are very much capable of violence, it just doesn't come up much. We were expecting to need to defend ourselves, in the Outer Lands.

Leareth nods. :...And what did you mean, when you said this seemed headed for disaster? Was it something different?: He hasn't even gotten into all of the things that tend to happen after an attempt at violent revolution, whether it succeeds or fails. 

No, that was about my - worst case scenario. That people would clash and lots of them would die and Tirion would splinter and we'd have two cities with two Kings, or that the Valar'd get angry and kick us out of Valinor - that's what my father thinks would happen -

:Oh. Is that a possibility?: It's one he probably should have thought of, and didn't. The gods of Velgarth don't tend to intervene so openly. But even they make exceptions, in dire circumstances. Leareth isn't sure how bad things have to get before the Valar would consider it 'dire'. 

:The worst case scenario: he sends, :is that it happens, and does not end there. Wars have lasted for generations in my world, sometimes. Children growing up who never knew peace. And - that is if the fighting is with steel alone. I am not sure what magic of your world might be called upon for violence, but - in mine, there once existed a magical weapon that could rip apart continents: 

(And the only reason it doesn't exist now is that it was used, eighteen hundred years ago, shortly after the Tower that Tirion reminds him of went up in its final conflagration, and it's still not over now, the damage is still being felt, returning to haunt the future.) 

Oh. The war between the gods shook the continents, but I don't think even - I don't think any weapons we've created could do that.

I guess if we were at war for centuries, we might create new ones.

:It occurs to me: Leareth sends, slowly, carefully, they're not behind shields right now, :that what might begin as a war between people, could - lead once again to a war between gods: 

That this could be exactly Melkor's plan, he doesn't quite say explicitly – not that he sees the how of it, yet, but it's hard to do that, with gods. So often you don't until centuries later. 

He lost the last one badly.

Leareth nods. :I have no experience on direct war between gods: he sends. :The gods of my world do not operate in that way. However, I have certainly seen cases where one kingdom was thoroughly defeated, pushed back onto worse lands, and at some point - centuries later, perhaps - found new weapons or new alliances, and tried again. Conditions change: 

He shakes his head again, looking over. :I have very little certainty in any of what I am saying; I still know little of your world: But, worst case scenarios. He would have said bodies in the streets was his median estimate of the outcome here, nothing near the worst case. 

Nod. 

No one wants people to die. Even my father doesn't - I don't know what you heard about that -

:I heard that your father loves the study of magic and languages, and has invented some kind of magical artifact: Which, come to think of it, he should investigate as an energy source; he still has no idea how magic here works, he can't tell where the energy for the cart was coming from. Maybe Prince Fëanáro will know. 

:And somebody claimed he tried to kill Prince Nolofinwë: he adds. :Which might or might not be evidence that he wishes for anybody to die. I am, as of now, unsure what to think – but I weight your word above that of a stranger at the city gates: 

He threatened to kill him. I wouldn't have predicted he'd do that so it could be I'm far wronger in my estimation of him than I imagined. With that said - they were standing in front of half of assembled Tirion, and Nolofinwë said to the King that two loyal sons remained to him - Nolofinwë himself and his younger brother, who sensibly left the country a while ago - and my father drew his sword and told him that if he continued saying such things, maybe he'd stab him. I think he wouldn't, but that's what he said. I think what he wants is for Nolofinwe to - cease to be something he needs to think about - and I think he's not quite sure himself how far he'd go to achieve that, but we did manage to point out, earlier today, that stabbing him will definitely not achieve it and will probably make it super unachievable.

Leareth almost chuckles at the last sentence. :Probably. Particularly given the situation with your death god: He hesitates. :I...can perhaps verify your estimation of your father: By mindreading him, but he's not yet convinced enough of the security of osanwë to speak about that openly either. 

That seems like probably a good idea but - if I'm wrong about him it's because he's wrong about himself, it wouldn't be that he's concealing things effectively. He's - not a very subtle person.

:Also the sense I have gotten. And an awkward trait at best in a potential future King: He suspects that his original hosts were right, and Nolofinwë is clearly the more temperamentally suited of the two. 

Yes. Before the question of his Kingship became so intertwined with lots of other things like whether the Noldor will get to leave Valinor and whether his father loves him I think it would've been fairly straightforward to convince him to surrender it once he had it. Now - not so much.

:I...see, yes. That is an unfortunate entanglement. Now, I suspect I may agree with your father's reasoning on recontacting the Outer Lands, but - do you know why it is so important to him?: