"He was very focused on winning the war." Sigh.

"Okay - what things exist that might, if they so chose, have waylaid Olórin, then we can sort in order of likelihood - it is unlikely that the literal hand of Eru descended from the sky to squash him but Olórin himself could not have prevented it, by that standard what things -"

"Curumo. Sauron." Sigh. "Tom Bombadil. The Valar. Some forces from your world, transported here like you somehow."

"Tom Bombadil?"

"Maia of indeterminate but probably enormous power - he's one of those who does the 'one specific patch of land' thing -"

"Would Olórin have passed near it?"

"No."

"So what seems most likely - that a 'single patch of land' Maia up and left home - that Sauron acted in a way that left no trace of which word has reached here - that the Valar left home without even a year of work, let alone thousands - that Eru decided that the story he wanted required multiple points of intervention by means as inelegant as 'random snake monster' - or that something is the matter with Curumo such that no word has reached here?"

Nod. "It's possible he saw an opening that required two Maiar and urgency."

"Would that likely have left us more informed -?"

"Not necessarily, if it was urgent enough."

"It would have to be both urgent and somewhat time-consuming, at this point."

"Other option is that Curumo attacked him."

"Well, if Curumo were ever disposed to do that at all this would be the time, but as I said I'm unqualified to judge his character."

"It does look likeliest."

"Which means we need to try to find an alternate route to contacting Valinor - I don't suppose Tom Bombadil might be willing to serve as a communications device -"

"Worth sending someone. I can ask the Eagles, as well."

"Ought to at least be able to talk to Manwë in particular. We should probably have parallelized this more to begin with - is there anyone else -"

"Tom Bombadil has a companion sometimes. Uinen still talks to Círdan sometimes, but him I already apprised with the letters meant for Valinor. The problem is that it's hazardous to send people out - I lost my wife that way -"

"I'm sorry. I keep wishing you had the Internet but I suppose that could be sabotaged like any other infrastructure -"

"Seems like the fall of Gondor would be hard to fake or hide, but for things short of that yes."

Sigh. "At what point would you expect to hear confirmation from Círdan? How do you get in touch with the Eagles? If you think it's not worth sending people to Tom Bombadil you have more accumulated wisdom than I as pertains to that -"

"Eagles you send people hiking. Confirmation from Círdan should be within the next week. It's relatively safe to get to Tom Bombadil's from here but my expectation is that we'll simply be unable to find it, or that the messengers won't get back for half a century - might be worth it anyway -"

"I osanwë-broadcasted to find Galadriel. If someone gets close enough to Tom Bombadil that may not be as good as asking in person but it's better than nothing - what would keep them for half a century -"

"He forgot to keep time behaving itself."