Too slow. And do you think with his plans discovered he'll slink off and leave us alone?

Leareth takes a slow breath. Taps the magical ceiling, renews his spell again. There are centuries of context here, no, millennia of it, not just political but emotional, the wounds between Fëanáro and his father. He's about to step into the middle of it, and even complete access to both of their thoughts doesn't guarantee that he'll step right. 

:I can give you only my strategic advice, as an outsider: he sends. :I agree there would be a cost to the unity of your people, if we depart in haste. However, it - gives me a very itchy feeling, having such a large land area where we have no intelligence, no presence or force. And - I imagine that your Outer Lands contain suffering, as does my own world, but they are much nearer at hand, especially with my magic to aid yours: 

He turns his gaze on Fëanáro, frowns slightly. :I do not think it is true that your departure will resolve the division here. I think the King is right, and alone, it may worsen it. The advantage it offers is that Melkor cannot have seen it coming, and thus it will disrupt his plots, and his levers for future plots, much more thoroughly than the Valar can at first. If it were my choice – it is not, but if it were – I would advise a major expedition to the Outer Lands. Not all of your people, yet; I think Tirion is salvageable, and if this proves false, I can set up communication magic so that we might be alerted of it and change plans:

He turns his eyes back to the King. :I would speak to the Valar, as we mentioned, and I would also wish for a meeting between the disputing parties, to see if there is any way that this expedition can happen without deepening that rift further. If you thought it wise, I would be very curious to hear Nolofinwë's thoughts on the matter. It is a complex one, all of us are missing information, and more minds on it would help:

He glances back at Fëanáro. :It is, of course, not my decision for a reason. You both have more context than I do: 

If that weren't true, he might consider putting compulsions on all of them just to simplify matters. 

Communications with the Outer Lands sounds acceptable, if they're limited to emergencies. I don't want people going back and forth, that just seeds more opportunities for Melkor to interfere.

We can't ask everyone to leave anyway, parents of young children ought to stay. I thought you were going to ask people to delay children and wait until there weren't any -

Yes, but there's no time for that now. I think we can make things good enough for children in twenty Years. Maybe ten.

Leareth resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He's starting to get a headache. Mostly from the nonstop magic use, but some of it is frustration. 

:I think: he sends, :that we have no way of knowing, yet, what will be possible in the Outer Lands or how long it would take. I would agree that it is currently no place for children, or for anyone who cannot defend themselves and others – though I suppose we will know more soon, when: if :Tyelcormo's party returns. And I would only offer communication for a dire emergency, since it would come at great cost to myself: He's not actually sure there's a better way to do it than himself, personally, Gating back to Tirion. He can't use any of his known communication spells without a mage on the other end to pick it up, and currently there's exactly one mage in this world. 

(Unless he finds a way to bring in help – that's a thought already on his mind – but he's not going to touch on that yet.) 

That's all right, then. He has no doubt Tyelcormo will be entirely fine, and this is not just ignorance of how dangerous a place can be, though it is probably some amount ignorance of how dangerous a place can be.

I think the possibility of straightforward transit to the Outer Lands and communications with them does make an expedition more appealing, Finwë says slowly. He would like his people to stay here where they are safe but trying to hold onto Fëanáro always results in losing him more thoroughly. Our priority should still be mending the divisions among the Noldor.

Leareth nods, slowly. 

:If possible, yes: he sends. :We ought at least try. It may be easier to mend, armed with the knowledge that it is perhaps an outside adversary that seeds this dissent and mistrust. I have found people can often come together before a common enemy, even when they were at odds before: He's looking at the King, but the words are more for Fëanáro. 

Leareth hesitates, choosing the words carefully. :I understand that this is sudden: he sends. :And thus hard to absorb: He glances over at Fëanáro, but this time, he's speaking mainly for the King. :However, if I am right, then - your people are not safe here in Valinor. Not anymore: He bows his head. :I am sorry to be the bearer of such news. And I hope I may be wrong: He's pretty sure he isn't; still, the sentiment is genuine. :But - something is amiss, that much is impossible to deny: 

Finwë doesn't want to believe that there's danger in Valinor. He is smart enough to not dismiss the idea anyway. He nods, a bit numbly. He's worried that things will explode again as soon as Nolofinwë and Fëanáro are in the same room. 

He wants to leave for the Outer Lands and is hoping the political nonsense doesn't take long enough to delay that. Sure, let's get Nolofinwë in here.

Leareth glances at both of them in turn. 

:Remember that, in all likelihood, none of you have been seeing the exact truth here: he sends, carefully. :If there is an adversarial process at work, controlling access to information. The way to combat this kind of longstanding campaign of misinformation is to be patient, and charitable to one another - no, even more charitable than that - and to keep an open mind. Right?:

Fëanáro badly needs that advice, he thinks. The King likely needs it as well. Probably he can keep things from exploding, given the advantage of mindreading and knowing if things are about to get out of hand. If things get really heated, he can - probably stop any violence. Maybe stick all of them behind separate barriers to cool down. Or something. His mind is already flashing through various possible contingency-plans. 

Well, Melkor didn't succeed at making him distrust anyone actually trustworthy, so even if Melkor turns out to have been behind this it's still informative about Nolofinwë that he fell for it. But he can be patient while Nolofinwë is inevitably an idiot about this, so long as they're making progress on departure from Valinor.

I'm happy to do some things to promote reconcilation so long as they help with or don't distract from our immediate departure.

I thought you had Years more preparation to do.

If our crops will grow out there, nearly all of it's skippable.

Leareth watches both of them, his expression neutral, waiting to see if a plan is going to be proposed. He's done a lot of pushing his own agenda already. 

I think we should talk to Nolofinwë and craft an announcement of the expedition, aiming to depart a Year from now -

A week.

I don't think Melkor, if he is indeed responsible, would be able to substantially adapt in a Year and we'll have more time to prepare -

A Year's long enough that he might, a week isn't. We're ready, Father. We've been ready for a long time. We were stalling to soothe our own sense of propriety, not to get things done. Our people survived in the Outer Lands when we had nothing. The riches of Valinor will make it even easier.  And if it's a mistake, we'll come home. The fastest way to learn anything is by trying it.

We didn't survive in the Outer Lands, Fëanáro, not all of us. People died.

So people will die! That doesn't leave them any worse off than they are right now. Better off, I think, at least they tried something instead of sitting here like - a glittering pool of stagnant water -

If this is what you want, you can do it. But I'd rest easier if I felt sure I'd conveyed to you what you're risking. 

We might die. We might do violence to one another, for Melkor's reasons or our own, and be delayed in returning. We'll lose precious things, some we can't rebuild. Some people might die and decide not to come back. We'll be hungry. We'll hurt the locals, accidentally or in anger. Some of Melkor's monsters will be trying to continue his works. I'm not stupid, Father. I just think there are worse fates than living in the world and coming to grief for it. 

A month?