Telumë nods. Steeples his thin hands together over his knees. He looks very young in that moment. 

"I think that makes sense," he says. "I - think the only scenario where it would have made sense to do that is the one where Sauron starts moving to get Melkor and we have nothing else ready and no other options. I have - been trying to set people looking for other options in a hurry, methods I abandoned before I knew about Arda magic and have not had a chance to reassess - but, I have not been at my best for clearheaded planning. I can check back in with my people, see if they have any leads. It would likely be things where we would need Fëanáro's research efforts to make it work and - it would take time and might not pay out at all. But I was assuming we were going to pursue every avenue for as much time as we end up having, and - hope that is enough time to find something better. Has Fëanáro spoken to the Noldor yet about the plan?" 

"No, he hasn't. He should get my father's assistance in coming up with a communications plan, and logistics for if we need to go forward with it. If he is not willing to do that, and he probably isn't, then we could hope that he's distracted enough not to notice if someone else does it, or we can tell my father but tell him it needs to be a secret from Fëanáro that he knows it. I am - not especially willing to try to keep it from my father, it's one thing to end up backed into a horrible corner where we have to proceed without the consent of the populace and another to plant ourselves there as plan A."

Telumë stares at him. "We absolutely should not have it as the default plan! I...think I have been very stupid again and was - counting too much on everything on the Arda side just working. I should have clarified." He rubs the back of his neck. "If Fëanáro is not willing - oh. Right. He hates Nolofinwë. Probably that was in my notes but there were so many notes and I have not had very long at all to read through them. I asked other people to read and summarize but - I think some balls were dropped again and I am very sorry. Obviously we need to tell your father. I assumed he would be involved. Do you think he would be willing to keep his knowledge of it secret from Fëanáro, if we cannot talk Fëanáro into collaborating on it?" 

"Yes, he'd be willing to do that. He has been doing a lot of that. We've been - more or less running Vinyamar, since, ah, since Maitimo was doing most of it and Fëanáro never really delegated it to anyone else."

"I...see... I wish I had known that although I am not sure what I could actually have done from here. Your geopolitical situation is very messy and confusing and I think in my previous incarnation I let Maitimo do all of the strategizing related to that rather than even try. I have notes on trying to make Nolofinwë and Fëanáro have a conversation once about their disagreements - this was before the war with Melkor became overt - and apparently it was a complete disaster, although not nearly as much of one as I later found out Maitimo had feared." 

"Fëanáro has several strengths of a person but none of them are related to diplomacy. Finwë intended to hand off the throne to Maitimo once he retired, but -" Sigh. "- but he wanted Maitimo to marry and raise children first, as it seemed unfair to the children to have their father be King, and Maitimo kept dawdling. And then Melkor arrived and exploited things. 

- we could really use Finwë back. Mandos is still in Velgarth, right?"

"Yes. It wasn't clear that Gating him back was worth it before, since the other Valar agreed he would eventually make it on his own, but we certainly could collect him, and that seems like a worthwhile reason. Does he, um, resurrect people on demand like that?" 

"No. But maybe he would make progress on it, and that might be sufficient, I don't know what's delaying it."

"We should do that, then. And - all right, if we think your father will keep this a secret if we ask, and - er, possibly will pretend to be finding out for the first time if it turns out Fëanáro is somehow on board as long as it's his idea - then we should tell him as soon as possible." 

"I agree. If you want volunteers they need time to process the idea and make plans."

"For what it's worth, I assumed that was plan A. I sort of assumed it was the only realistic option until about five minutes before I Gated us here, when Fëanáro - said something that implied he thought involuntary murder was a backup plan." 

"-Actually, you know, I think Fëanáro might've assumed that too, he just - didn't take any steps toward it. Because, um, Maitimo normally would do that kind of thing, right? Giant hole. And we're all idiots. Except you, apparently." 

Findekáno looks like it maybe takes a tiny bit of restraint not to agree with Stef there. "Well, now we can get moving on that for him."

"Hmm, logistics are going to annoying - I'm not sure it makes sense to try to get him here, although there probably is enough space in this compound for both of you to go off and hide when Fëanáro shows up in a couple of days. I think it's easier for Van to Gate if he doesn't go through himself, but we could go back to Vinyamar... Hmm. While we're on this topic, I forgot that Katha is up north? Where is she? She'd have good advice on the Maitimo-precautions side, she actually taught me the spy work." 

"...Come to think of it, where's Dara? I could very much use some Dara levelheadedness in my general vicinity right now." 

"...She is here," Telumë admits. "She has been mostly keeping to herself except when I asked her for Truth Spells." 

"–All right, I should talk to her right now. I'm - not sure what I thought you were doing for Truth Spells, I guess I thought you could do it yourself somehow."

Dara must have been so uncomfortable. And - probably feeling powerless to do anything, given the lack of a surviving Valdemar, being in Leareth's territory surrounded by Leareth's people a long, long way from the other surviving Valdemarans... We should have brought her to Arda as soon as Gates were possible. 

I would've - at least had Treven write up guidelines and let her know it was fine to ask to leave for Arda. 

"I am not sure where she is but Jisa would know - you could Mindspeak with her? I am not sure where Jisa went either. Probably if we are going to have an actual strategy meeting she ought to be there." Telumë is back to looking deeply exhausted. 

Herald Dara? This is Findekáno, I'm visiting from Vinyamar -

Oh? She answers in osanwë rather than using Mindspeech. What's going on? Jisa told me she was going to talk to Vanyel and probably Maitimo was going back to Arda, but no one's asked me for anything since then so I'm not sure what's happened. 

Maitimo is in fact going back, it looks to me like the Noldor should have more oversight of Telumë's operations here, so we are now doing that, and Vanyel wanted to ensure you were invited to a strategy meeting now to figure out what the plan is going forward. Did Jisa explain why Maitimo was probably going back to Arda?

Yes

We're - and he sends the location. 

Dara gets there a few minutes later. The flash of relief in her eyes when she sees Vanyel and Stef is evident. She sits down without saying anything and folds her hands neatly in her lap.