He tells people not to expect to be able to contact him for a minute, they're testing a magic interaction.

Sounds good!

Leareth gathers his reserves, concentrates, and casts the shield. It's not a high-power spell but it's going to take a significant chunk of his strength, he really needs to find an outside source of magic. 

–And Nelyafinwë will notice that his ability to reach any of the other Quendi has cut off. 

That's terrifying. He beams at Leareth. Wow. I don't think even our gods have magic that can do that. It does seem to affect our telepathy; can you say whatever it is you wanted to say quickly so we don't worry them?

Leareth doesn't object to that. He only has a couple of things to say, and it'll tire him less the shorter the time he needs to hold the shield. Nelyafinwë is a shockingly good actor and Leareth is suitably impressed; his face gives away nothing of his alarm. Not that it's doing him much good, right now. 

:I realize I do not have leverage to demand secrecy from you: he starts, :but I ask that you use your own discretion, and share what I tell you only with those you trust absolutely and judge need to know. One. The pattern I see here screams more than impending disaster; a long history plans that ought to be foolproof nonetheless failing, to me speaks of a god's meddling hand. The gods of my world have thus disrupted my plans many, many times. I strongly suspect that your god Melkor may not have been as contrite as he claimed. If I am right, then your situation is dire indeed, but I doubt Melkor expected my arrival and perhaps there is still a chance to pull away from the disaster he wishes to create: 

:Two. The Mind-Gifts of my world work very differently from your osanwë; in particular, my Gift does not recognize the distinction between public and private thoughts. I hope I might learn to avoid reading private thoughts, since it is rude to your people and also distracting for me, but I tell you this because I am aware of what you have been thinking and where it does not match your words, and because this ability of mine may be of use to you for gaining intelligence, if you wished to request that: 

Mindspeech is fast but his minute is trickling away. He's poised to offer to drop his own shields fully, in hopes that osanwë will consider that equivalent to making all of his thoughts public, and letting Nelyafinwë verify his intentions, but he takes a moment to check his reaction. 

Well that's the worst possible news. 

- he mentally reviews the time they've met to see if he's thought about it yet, and he hasn't except very indirectly, and maybe this is enough - have some discipline - if he'd noticed, I'd have noticed him noticing - he's got to think about something else - is Melkor orchestrating the conflict, yes, seems likely, though it's very hard to tell how - should've just let him speak to his father, who is constitutionally incapable of having failings not already known to all of Tirion -

Well, that's sort of unfortunate. Leareth considers, and decides against, actively probing for whatever dark-secret failing Nelyafinwë thinks he has – it's a tradeoff, it probably is relevant, but he's also pushed pretty hard already and he's decided on trust and cooperation as his first attempt. He's seen enough to know that he respects Nelyafinwë, that the man is both competent and genuinely desires that his people not end up in a stupid, pointless, wasteful civil war. And that means he's an ally, if Leareth can get him to agree on that point. 

:I am going to briefly drop my mental shields: he sends, there are still some seconds left. :I hope this will make all of my thoughts public by your magic, so that you might verify that I wish you and your people no harm, and that however I arrived here, I would like to help you repair your situation before I depart: 

He nods distractedly. The problem is that he actually has too much attentional capacity to occupy it doing math or something - he could take the circlet off, but that'd be weird - so he seems to have selected a strategy of occupying it with blind panic, which is stupid and embarrassing. It occurs to him to think that he thinks his father is too smart to be blackmailable about things.

:...Do you need time to think? I can drop the shield so that your colleagues will not worry: 

Leareth frowns slightly. :I am also going to stop looking at your thoughts; I have seen enough to know that you are someone I wish to have as an ally. If it would be easier to think with certainty that I was not observing, however - perhaps I can place a similar shield only around myself, and you can verify that your osanwë cannot reach me: 

I think I do need some time to think alone. Thank you.

Leareth drops the shield, and then raises a new one just around himself, weaving it tight, he's not sure how much the Quendi senses can pick up on but hopefully Nelyafinwë will be reassured by what he can see for himself. 

"I go?" he says out loud, gesturing at the door with a questioning face, he doesn't know the words for 'I can wait outside if you wish'. 

He takes a deep breath. Smiles. "No, it's fine. I apologize."

Leareth nods, and leans against the wall to wait. He entirely does not trust Nelyafinwë's smile or reassurance that it's fine, but he'll accept it at face value for now. 

He takes some more chocolate. Eats it.

"Does it cost you? To make it so no one can hear -"

Leareth follows some of that, his receptive vocabulary is better than his expressive in Quendi; he suspects Nelyafinwë is asking if it's tiring for him.

He can't actually answer in Mindspeech without taking his shield down. "Yes." He makes a gesture with his hands intended to indicate a moderate amount.

Nod. "You can - again - if it's helpful."

Leareth, unfortunately, is having a hard time following what exactly Nelyafinwë wants him to do. And dropping the current shield so he can ask about building a new one will cost more energy. Instead, he concentrates and expands it to include Nelyafinwë; he can pull it back if it turns out that what the man wants is the opposite. :I am sorry, what?: 

I take it you think we should speak under concealment because otherwise someone might be capable of reading us? That's an ability the Valar are only known to have within their own domains but it is possible he's found some way around it. I'm trying to figure out how necessary that is, because it's a major constraint on how much planning we can do.

:I mainly wished it be private when I shared it initially. If I can obtain a source of power, it will become very cheap to shield in this way – I might even build a permanent set-spell on a room: He shakes his head a little. :I doubt even a god is listening to everything all the time, but the moment that a stranger from another world first spoke with you would be a particularly salient one: 

Yes. What's a potential source of power?

:The Maiar were suggested to me. Or a artifact that produces energy for some particular function might be repurposed: 

We can get you a Maia, if this process wouldn't harm them. I think that we should bring this theory and whatever options you have to help us explore it to my father's attention, ideally in some way that doesn't attract Melkor's, though he is almost certainly aware you're here. An additional complication is that Nolofinwë will have learned - or will learn shortly - that you have magic from another world and are working with us, and I don't know what he'll do in response. 

:I had planned to go speak to him after you. Ideally with you, your father, and the current King present. I am not sure if that is workable immediately, but - if I do gain a power source, I will have considerable ability to prevent any violence between you, were that to arise: 

They've talked a lot but maybe they'll be on better behavior in your presence.

Leareth starts to ask about what went wrong in previous conversations, but remembers that right now they're both behind an impassible shield and he is no longer keeping detailed track of what Nelyafinwë is thinking. And getting details on past arguments isn't nearly as sensitive as some other items. 

:My current plan is to drop this shield and go with you to your father; we can discuss less sensitive matters on the way. I can manage another shield today without becoming exhausted, and then we can figure out if a Maia can provide energy in a way that is not harmful to them: 

He pauses. :Before I do that - do you trust me? I did offer to let you see my thoughts: briefly, and Leareth has more than enough mental control to make sure he's only thinking about the current situation, :and that offer is still open: 

I think I'll probably learn more from your proposals about what to do, but I do appreciate it.