:All right, I'll just stay up and see if I can't sync with him. If you get to Arda you must of course tell the King of the Noldor - whoever's King by now, it was a bit up in the air by the time the portal closed - where he's to be found:

:Er, of course, I'll...pass that on to Leareth...: Mara ducks her head. :Good luck. I - hope he gets better, someday: 

:I hope so too. Sometimes they do:

Mara nods and sighs and asks if there are any accommodations available for the two Healers and the two mages who're staying overnight too. 

Sure, plenty of Elves don't sleep on a nightly basis, or don't have to, and can put them up.

It's much appreciated! Also the food is amazing and the city is gorgeous and they get so many compliments on all of it. 

Leareth sleeps for ten hours, interworld Gates are a lot. In the morning he gets up, seeks out breakfast, and then Mindspeaks the nearest of the Elves and says that he has questions about Arda. 

:Sure, what do you want to know?:

:As much as you can tell me about the physical laws of Arda - how it works if the world is flat, is there an edge, can you go underneath - how the Valar built the sun. Also as much as your people know about the underlying structure of magic and how it interacts with other physical laws, and it would help greatly to see demonstrations of your singing magic and to examine some of your artifacts: 

:The Valar made the world flat, though I don't know if they had to do anything more special than making a world at all for it to turn out all right. We aren't supposed to go close to the edges, but I suppose that rule existing means edges exist. By the same token we don't go underneath. I wasn't actually aware the Valar had built a sun - it's, ah, it's possible they didn't, if you heard that from Kib - at any rate they hadn't done it before the portal closed. I have a necklace that glows when it's near my wife's necklace and vice-versa, and there's always someone singing healing for humans, they get hurt so easily and they know to come to us if it happens in Wrebb:

:The Mindhealer thought she could distinguish memories that were altered or faked from the real pre-capture ones, but I will keep in mind that she could be wrong. May I examine your necklaces?: 

The necklaces are produced! They glow if they are about as close together as "in the same house" and don't if they're farther away. :When Elves get married we get new senses for appreciating each other: the wife explains, smiling at her husband. :But we didn't get especially good ones, if you ask me, so I had these made, so I can see when he's near:

:Fascinating! How does that work? ...I am not certain if this is relevant to physical laws but it might be, I have never heard of humans having that. Even when they are Gifted, or lifebonded: 

:Well, humans sometimes say they get married, but what they mean is they have a ceremony, like a wedding party, and humans also sometimes have sex - often even without the party! Sometimes with several people!: explains Elfwife, :but for us they're exactly the same thing, and also like an oath sworn to Eru, and last forever and come with the little perks like the better osanwë range, and - oh, ours are silly, what are some good ones -:

:A lot of people can hear their spouse singing from any distance: her husband offers. :My parents can do shared motor planning, it helps them dance... I have a friend who can always tell what her husband wants to eat when he hasn't even noticed he's hungry:

:That does sound like it could come in handy! How interesting. ...My colleague who is a Mindhealer would be very curious to study this, but that is definitely not a strategic priority:

Leareth thinks for a moment, getting his uncertainties lined up. 

:Can you tell me more about these oaths? They work for both Elves and Maiar, and are - sworn to Eru? Who or what is Eru?: He got fragments on it from Kib's memories but, of course, he has to hold some uncertainty on all of that, and he's still confused. 

:You can also swear them to Valar, and then the Vala you swore to can release you. Eru doesn't do that: explains Elf-husband. :I've heard of people swearing by Maiar too but I'm not actually sure if that works... and just saying 'I swear' without specifying anyone does work, so I hope nobody's counting on a Maia to release them. You have to speak aloud and just saying you promise doesn't do it, but you can't swear falsely, that's why we're sure you aren't a Maia of the Enemy's. Eru is the creator of the Valar and gave them the instructions they use to make decisions:

:......Including the instructions that Melkor uses to make decisions?: 

:Oh, no, he rebelled against Eru's plan, that's why he's like that:

Leareth winces. :I mean no offence, but - it sounds as though Eru is not very competent at making gods: 

:They say that somehow or other all will eventually come to its fulness in a way that further magnifies the glory of Eru, although I admit I am not sure how Melkor will factor in there myself, but, well, I'm not Eru:

Leareth restrains himself from saying out loud that in that case he suspects he disagrees strongly with Eru on what glory ought to look like. 

:I see. Can Valar also swear them?: 

:Yes, and Maiar:

Nod. :What other kinds of magic do the Valar have?: 

:They have visions of the future, though it turns out they aren't reliable around humans, Kib was messing with things... they can sing like we can, but better. They have territories, mostly Valinor but I think Ulmo has the whole sea? And there they can do pretty much whatever - well, whatever they're the sort of Vala to do, they have specialties:

:Mmm. What does Ulmo do with the sea - are they responsible for managing the ecosystem and water salinity, the sort of thing that purely physical laws would take care of in my world...?: