"I'm not sure. In my world people who were captured are rolled back - there's no realistic alternative because the captives all had their minds duplicated dozens or hundreds of times after capture, which would be one thing if the dozens or hundreds wished to exist but none of them do. So I have no preexisting solution to recommend that isn't, well, deleting all post-capture memory, which may or may not even be feasible with the different soul architecture."

"I don't know. I'm, ah, reluctant to leave this world to eventual rescue if eventual rescue might not be able to do anything for everyone who stays here."

Nod. "It's likely that I should go to Valinor and try repeating myself eventually - and I should at minimum write down the lines of argument that proved useful and which were dead ends in outline format so that someone else can try rendering them if anything happens to me - but I would like to exhaust my usefulness here first, since apparently the local Valar have a no-emigration policy about which I don't even recall a preexisting conversation to re-have."

"It's just that it went so poorly last time, see."

"I'd probably start with 'it works in my world, have you considered categorizing differently', go from there - after listening and asking questions about their perspective on it for days if not weeks - my work is honestly a bit tedious and will not get more interesting as a repeat performance -"

"I knew some people I expect would've tried if it'd been interestingly difficult." Sigh. "What can you perhaps do here -"

"We're higher tech. I worry this will just provoke escalation if deployed the wrong way - I am very confused about the state of your Ainur's knowledge of physics and it is not impossible that Sauron could match anything you manufactured and merely is choosing not to do so for the same reason Melkor chose to invent orcs when they're barely a strategic consideration for anything other than psychological warfare - but it's worth considering. If there is a way to get a message into Valinor without literally traveling there your Valar might be able to reach mine, if they were interested in doing so, and I can just straightforwardly ask mine for help."

"Doesn't that sound lovely. I think they'd probably go for that, actually - the chance to talk to others of them who can advise them - I can ask Mithrandir if he can reach them -"

"That being Olórin's new name - yes, that would be good. In my world all the Ainur can at their option communicate instantaneously with and share senses with all the others, and often do, I don't know if yours have that."

"Even if they do the Istari - the five licensed to try to help us now - might not, they were permitted to leave Valinor only with a lot of constraints on their powers."

"Wow, I bet that helps so much. Maybe there is at least some - random nature Maia - that they know how to find who can talk to someone back in Valinor."

"I think it was Eru's idea. There are some of those still. - do you make that face when explaining things to the Valar -"

"They're not very good at facial expressions."

"I keep thinking 'oh, I wish you'd met' - but you have -"

"Most likely, yes, I know a lot of people - who are you thinking of -"

"My, uh, adoptive parents."

"They're doing well, they're happy."

"That's good."

Nod.

"If you have technology useful for stealth that'd be useful - there's only one place we can destroy the Ring -"

"...it's not a going development concern. Speed, though, that I could do -"

"Might help. But it's essential to get in unnoticed."

"I certainly can't turn anyone invisible. What sort of - noticing apparatus - is set up in this location?"

"It's called Mount Orodruin, and it's squarely in the middle of Mordor - Sauron's empire. There are orcs everywhere. He can probably personally pay attention anywhere if he pleases. We expect he'd notice if Elves entered, and definitely Maiar."

"It - would be not unfeasible on my home tech base, but time consuming even there, to make a thing that looked like a bird or bat or something and could be piloted remotely. Getting there from here would be very challenging."