To work.

And creation. 

The journey from Numenor was long, and - perhaps far too honestly - boring. Nyarie likes sailing among islands, but the wide sea stretching horizon to horizon, an infinite oceanic maw, the dull smudges of land too tiny to make out...

It's not her thing.

Arriving in Middle Earth was like a breath of fresh air. Like a warning.

She was sent by her mother the Queen to preside over the ceremonious inauguration of the first full city built and run and owned by the people of Numenor. Not just a haven - a permanent port for their ships, a place to repair them without needing to limp into the elven ports first - but a home, to hear her mother speak. A foothold of great Numenorean culture, a place to process goods and manufacture and trade, to house their exploratory teams and provide a base to leave from when finding out more of this new world. A place of education, a shining city on the coast to spread civilization like flashes of light. A place to build newer and greater ships - and to build the sort of mid-sized coastal ships that can't easily cross the oceans.

A grand thing, and what's been constructed of the city of Estellondë so far is nothing if not beautiful.

But something is... Off, even if Nyarie can never say what, and she's the highest ranking Numenorean on this continent, and she really would rather not get back on a ship, all things considered.

And so, a few hours of gentle arguing with her guards and the captain of the royal ship (the real captain; Nyarie is technically considered the captain, but she thinks that's a joke, and she puts on a leaderly face in public but lets the real captain do the actual running of the ship), Nyarie sets out from Estellondë and into the near Eastern stretches of Middle Earth, beyond the crumbled glory of the Blue Mountains.

(She argues herself down to only one companion, at least...)

Aww, Sulumithil has been promoted to companion! That's so thoughtful of Nyarie.

Though it's kind of backwards, isn't it, having a full complement aboard the ship while in their own sovereign territory, but cutting everyone out when she's venturing into the unknown...

"Yes, but it's the rules of our sovereign territory that define a full complement, and we're no longer where those rules apply."

"Aha. Very tricky, your highness. I'll be sure to make a note to try that reasoning on your honored mother. Spare no expense for my funeral pyre, will you?"

"She'd probably hold that it isn't your job to talk me out of trouble, Sulumîthil. You're my loyal retainer and all."

"As long as no trouble figures out how to follow us home."

"I'll see to it."

"My most humble thanks, Princess." She bows formally.

"It's only my duty."

"Then shall we away into the untamed wild?"

...Thoughtful, not entirely happy hum.

Hm?

"There's a - way a lot of people talk about this continent, and a way they were looking at the native workers, that's..."

"Strange."

"Like they don't count as proper people, you mean."

"Yes."

"And it doesn't match with what I heard about this continent - about what we're even doing here - back home."

"Mm. This is a learning opportunity for you. It's- like the difference between the palace lake and the ocean."

"I suppose so."

"And I want to learn everything that's been - hidden or brushed away or softened."

"You're starting off on the right trail."

"I hope so."

Smile.

"Come on, your highness. Let's go see for ourselves."

She smiles back.

"If you already know something of the trail - where do you recommend we start?"

"Away from this city. Out of the island's direct area of control. To the countryside, to other cities. To meet new people."

"No specific thoughts, then?"