"If it's important to you I can ask for you."

Shrug.

"I think I'm probably Jesus," says Catherine.

"What does that mean?"

"It means... um... I don't remember. That there are songs about me?"

"Ooh."

He knows some! He can sing them!

Both girls appreciate this! So does Joanna, who has snuck in at some point.

She can be bounced on his knee while he sings; Catherine and Kat are getting too big for that. (They are small enough individually but rarely tolerate one of them getting something the other can't.)

(That would be terrible. It is okay if Joanna gets bounced.)

They think they have instructions for the Silmarils. They set to encoding them.

Miranda makes an exhaustive list of every data-handling spell she has in case any of it will help.

Minor describes things to her when he's stuck on them and between the two of them they usually figure it out. 

They get an instruction set. They write it to the Silmarils. They edit their mistakes.

"We should check if the Enemy's still in Angband -"

"...Point Me Melkor."

Seems to have gone to Utumno which has the virtue of not being a puddle.

"Good thing you thought to check, I had this persistent mental image of him being so very soggy."

"Would have been satisfying. We can aim there just as easily."

And Utumno - freezes.

Nothing crumbles. Nothing explodes. The sky does not shower them with confetti. Nothing within a sphere around the fortress moves.

.........yay?

"If there's nothing else worth keeping in Utumno we can just disintegrate the stasis field at a different rate molecule by molecule, rip him apart - then we'll know, the orcs sworn to him will know -"

"Do we have any of those?"

"Not with us. I think there were a few survivors, if someone cares to track them down while we work - well, while we sleep, first."

"Ooh. Sleep."

They sleep. They wake. They get back to work.

A few months ago Felix started primarily giving him advice on how he could acquire more Felix. That's probably a worrying sign, but on the other hand, Elio and Erica are living in peace and quiet in Italy and the other Imperiused witch is all right and James and Samuel are getting on well with his little brother Alexandros and Statute repeals are proceeding everywhere magic can take him and luck can carry them and it's almost like having Timothy at his shoulder, nudging, nudging -