:That is something I am very much hoping for – I miss my records: And perhaps he can bribe or at least distract Fëanàro with a few dozen more shiny new languages, not to mention all the different alphabets and ideographic scripts. :Your scholarship is very advanced here, compared to my world. What is your main area of study?: 

I study plant hybridization. Uh, that's when you cross-pollinate two species of plants and get a plant with traits of both.

:Fascinating. I know that this phenomenon exists in our world, but I do not think it has ever been formalized as a field of study. Have you made any new discoveries?: 

Some, but I haven't done a formal presentation yet. I was planning to in a couple of Years. Now - shrug. We'll see.

:I am sorry: Leareth bows his head briefly. :That is one of the costs of this situation. I am doing my best to help, with the wisdom I bring from my own world's history, and...I hope it will be enough:

He's mostly been 'looking away' from her thoughts, focusing on the osanwë words, but he does a brief deeper pass, checking what she's thinking and feeling. 

She thinks her friend will propose marriage once she's finished her dissertation and was sort of rushing on that account but now that they can hardly settle down and have kids there's less reason to rush and maybe she will finish this up and publish it with less fanfare and do her dissertation on another world, that's got to be a really great one.

Leareth smiles slightly. He really will try to make sure that she finds out if and when transit between the worlds is possible and safe (both magically and politically) so that she can accomplish her entirely peaceful goals there. He likes her. 

:I am glad that I met you: he sends. :I wish you luck with your research, and I hope it will not be disrupted too much: 

Hopefully it'll be helpful for developing crop varieties in the Outer Lands, someday.

:Someday: Leareth agrees, and nods to her and then heads off. It's - refreshing, or something, to talk to someone not focused on scheming for power. Someone who just wants to understand plants, and make them grow a little better, and for whom the most interesting fact about another world is its plant life.

He waits until he's out on the street before searching for Nelyafinwë's mind. :I am finished helping with the sword-room for now. Is there anywhere else I might be of aid?:  

Do you have thoughts on other preparations we should be making for the larger expedition?

:Likely – I have prepared exploratory parties before: or moved armies long distances, :but it will depend heavily on your resources and what you are doing already. I suspect it makes sense to test if I can make durable artifacts here, that can cast my type of magic when I am not there to do it, but again I am not sure which spells would be most valuable. I could meet with you and talk through options if you like: 

I think that'd be very useful.

:Should I return to the library? I ought be able to find it again: 

That works for me, though I can meet you elsewhere if it's easier.

:I am here currently: Leareth sends an image of the street through his eyes. 

There's a nice tea shop near there! Just around the corner, you'll see the little tables in the street.

:All right: Leareth follows his directions, and spots the little tables as specified. :I am waiting here: He doesn't mind waiting. Everything is still new and thus interesting, and he can have some time to collect his thoughts, jot some quick notes about what sorts of preparations his experience says will be useful. 

The little tables are in a ring around a blossoming cherry tree; someone comes out to ask what he'd like to order. 

Leareth smiles warmly at the person. :What are the options? I am new to this city – to this world, in fact – and do not know what kinds of tea are usual here: 

Keeping his existence secret is a losing battle anyway; he might as well find opportunities to make sure that as many people as possible find him courteous and friendly. 

I could bring you out a sampling platter?

:That would be lovely: 

Nelyafinwë arrives before the sampling platter does, sits down, looks fondly out at Tirion. "Are you finding everything all right?"

:Everyone has been very obliging at providing me with directions, so yes. I visited the biology school – the farmers who greeted me on my arrival and hosted me for a night have a daughter who studies there: 

That's very common - it's easier to lose a child to the big city if they're going to study plants and come home someday and make the farms better.

:That makes sense: Leareth agrees. :In any case, I have been considering preparations – particularly supplies aside from food and weapons, and magical aid. It would help to hear what you have so far: