:By magic - it would take a long time to explain. ....What is 'lightspeed', I am not sure if we are faster than that - I have not previously been able to measure if light in my homeworld has a maximum speed, I think my instruments are not sensitive enough: 

By magic??

Light travels here from the nearer sun in five minutes, and from here to Endorë in twenty-five years. All the other stars are further than Endorë, one of the other two says helpfully. They still don't seem at all hostile or even suspicious but are now mentally recruiting attention from other telepaths - hey, look at this -

Leareth notes this but isn't especially troubled by it; it won't affect their ability to escape, and all else being equal it seems useful to have more attention on the problem of finding whoever-or-whatever Urtho spotted in the Void. 

:I see. Thank you. Given what you have said, I suspect that the entity we followed here is not from your world originally. I would be curious if any strangers have appeared here recently - or if there have been any odd events in general, I suppose: 

We haven't had any visitors from other worlds. I don't know about odd events - Mindspeaking pause - the Clearwater Atoll volcano erupted? Reported marital satisfaction rose three percent, that's awfully unlikely if you assume it's noise...there was a bad run of dyes in Valmar so they're trying to think whether to allow bright colors at the summer festival....

...Leareth is suddenly very interested in how the local culture both gathers data and reasons about statistics, such that a 3% rise in anything is both notable at all and generally assumed to be unlikely-to-be-noise, but - either way this doesn't seem especially related to their main goal here. 

:Hmm, I see. None of those indicators point specifically toward the entity we are seeking - and it is very possible they landed on Endorë instead - but I am, separately, quite curious about your world. Could you share with me the three-paragraph description you would choose to present to a complete newcomer: 

Pause. 

:...Sorry, to be clear, you can take your time preparing such a summary, I do not expect nor demand that you have one ready on the spot: 

I think probably I should ask other people with relevant expertise, he says, and then listens in on a blur of thoughts, far more than Thoughtsensing can keep track of, and then -

Valinor is the world made by our gods, the Valar, agents of Eru our creator. It has a population of about forty million, mostly Quendi - that's us - but also the Valar, our gods, and the Maiar, our small gods. About half our population lives in the cities, of which Tirion and Alqualondë and Valmar are the largest, and the other half lives in small villages or single homes in our countryside. Quendi breathe oxygen though we don't need the atmosphere to have more than about ten percent of it and we eat the plants of Valinor - also some people eat animals but they have decided not to include that in the three-paragraph summary lest the aliens be with the school of thought that considers it barbaric - and build homes and concert halls and universities out of wood and glass and metal and stone. 

The Quendi were not born on Valinor but on Endorë, but a war among the gods left it scarred and full of monsters, and so some of the Quendi accepted the invitation of the Valar to come here instead. They brought us here on Tol Eressëa, which is now one of the moons of Valinor. The journey took twenty five Endorë years, two Valian years. We hope someday to invent ships we can use to travel to Endorë ourselves but we have not done it yet. The people of the Quendi love craft and exploration and invention and poetry and the beauty of speech and movement. We have three Kings - Finwë, of the Noldor, Ingwë, of the Vanyar, and Olwë, of the Lindar.

The Valar were the first thoughts of the Creator, when the world was dark. There are fifteen of them. They created Endorë and later created Valinor, and invited us here to share it with them. They are Manwë, king of the Valar; Varda, who hung the stars in the sky - Valinor has a special star system so it's never dark - Yavanna, goddess of plants, Aulë, god of invention, Ulmo the god of the sea, Námo the god of the dead, Vaire, goddess of fate, Vána, goddess of youth and springtime, Nienna, goddess of mercy, Oromë, god of exploration; Irmo, god of dreams and visions, Estë, of healing, Tulkas, the defender of Valinor, and Nessa, the goddess of dance and beauty. 

They mean beauty as in symphonies and ballets, not as in pretty faces; their language distinguishes these things and a dozen others besides. And Melkor, the god of defiance. There had also been a heated debate about whether to include him and what to say about him if he was included. 

It's quite a lot of information at once; Leareth nudges the feeling of overwhelm aside. 

:I see. - Can you tell me more about Melkor?: That sounds like a particularly interesting part. 

Melkor is one of the gods. He was opposed to Eru's plan for the world so he kidnapped lots of elves and tortured them and made orcs, a race of people to be his servants, and the other Valar went to war with him and stopped him. He was a prisoner for three thousand years and repented of the evil things he had done and was released, though he is still closely supervised. He lives in Valinor now.

:I see: 

Leareth is not at all sure that he sees, actually. 

:- So Melkor is on this planet?: he says, after fifteen seconds of considering it. :Where?: 

In Tirion. The city near here.

:Thank you. Is there anything else relevant that I should know now?:

Would you like a place to stay? We could arrange that here, or in Tirion, or anywhere else really...

:Hmm. We may end up wanting a place to stay in Tirion? I think we are not sure yet what our plans will be, here - is there someone we ought talk to once we know more...?:

The person fields a sudden flood of "ME ME ME ME ME ME". 

The King I guess? he says apologetically, that's what Kings are for, to handle everyone else who thinks it should be them.

...Well, that's weird and disconcerting and not how anything normally works at all. 

:Thank you: Leareth says. :- Is the King also the person most likely to know of any recently-arrived strangers here, or other strange occurrences?:

I urgently surveyed everyone about the strange occurrences and strangers question, and the only things are the ones I mentioned.

Being able to urgently survey 'everyone' on a couple of minutes' notice is...not normal...but Leareth leaves that alone. 

:Well, we are very grateful for your help. Which way to Tirion?:

He points in the direction of the city on the sea. It's not far. We could walk with you?

Leareth glances over at Urtho and Ma'ar. :Certainly. That would be very kind of you: 

The three of them fan out, according to their conscious thoughts because they want to give all of the other elves a better view of the newcomers, and start walking towards Tirion.

They have at no point ceased singing.

Urtho, the main one out of the three of them who's been paying any attention to the singing, thinks that they're impressively good! He listens, trying to pick up the tune, and then starts humming along. 

The Elves privately think that Urtho isn't very good at singing but they don't say anything about it. 

Ma'ar considers saying something to Urtho, but it's unclear what the point would be, it would just hurt his feelings. He wonders if the Elves would consider Vanyel's level of musical talent to be adequate. 

Leareth is preoccupied as he walks. Half his attention is on their surroundings, vigilant for any threats, and the rest of his brain is busy chewing on the question of Melkor, and the other gods, and how, if at all, any of that relates to the mysterious quarry that Urtho chased here.

Once they're out of the orchard there's a cobblestone road, which proceeds past lots of cottages with stunning flower gardens out front. The people in the houses want to come gawk but have uniformly agreed that would be rude. Some of them are glancing out their windows, though. 

The city gets taller around them as they walk, from cottages to dense townhouses to eight-story buildings with tiered balconies where, again, people are not staring (though they're all watching through the eyes of the people accompanying them.) There are food carts in the street, offering fried delicacies of various kinds.

There's a bright spot of powerful magic, across the street, under the canopy of a jewelry shop.