"Doesn't harm them in any way, and I don't owe them a damned thing."

"I was planning to return to the other host to ask after Curufin's progress on biological decay. Will I end up being the one to tell them?"

"Go ahead, though I expect he'll just resent being interrupted."

"We worked pretty well together when he was just getting started, and I catch up fast. But we'll see, I guess."

"You will." She looks almost sympathetic. "They're quite compelling until the knife sinks into your back, aren't they? And sometimes even then."

"'Quite compelling until the knife sinks into your back' is... a label I'd put on some people I've met, but not these ones in particular. A story for another time, maybe."

He smiles, waves, and trudges around the lake.

Maglor greets him. "Miles."

"Macalaurë. I've been meaning to speak with you since I got back from Angband, but things kept coming up. Comes of trying to do everything at once, I suppose. How have things been here, generally?"

"My brother is alive."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Thank you for that."

"You're very welcome." He pauses, then adds, "The folks across the lake assaulted Angband. The Enemy collapsed a mountain on them and thirty people died. I don't have their names with me, but it seemed the sort of thing you should know."

An eyebrow quirks. "Considerate." He frowns. "I no longer have a library, but shall we find somewhere we can sit down?"

"You don't? What happened to it? I was planning on copying those books into the readers sometime soon - but yes, certainly, let's sit down somewhere and talk."

"It is currently in use as a sickbed. This way." He starts walking.

"Ah." He follows. "Well, the books can wait, then."

"You have given us a great deal to think about in a very short span of time," he says. "And given the Enemy even more to think about, it sounds like. It is good and welcome news that he's closed his own front doors with the rubble of a mountain; he must be very nervous. What are your goals now?"

"Get electrical generation going to the point where I can fully resupply my shuttle - that's going very well so far. Bring assorted technological benefits to everyone around me as fast as I can think of implementable ones, assist the folk across the lake in not starving - also going very well. Get your library copied onto the readers - that can wait. In the immediate future I was planning to catch up on Curufin's progress in thwarting biological decay and see if I have any useful insights to offer, which I expect I will at some point even if that point is not now. I think that's most of what I mean to accomplish in the near future but it's very possible I'm forgetting something. Did you have any suggestions?"

"Building replicas of the weapons you've supplied our people with is a longer-term objective?"

"Yes. I thought of a different style of weapon that's much easier to build than the three I supplied you with, we started in on them across the lake this morning, it's looking very promising but there are a few problems left to be solved, I brought notes to share."

"Thank you." He leans back. "I am afraid I am, at the moment, poor company. I do not wish to discuss my brother's health, but is there anything else you would ask of me?"

"If your brother's health is something I can conceivably help with, I am eager to assist, but otherwise I agree that it is none of my business. On other subjects - nothing springs to mind on the scale of the next few days, and that's where I'm currently focused. I'll probably start thinking in the longer term once I've got power to my shuttle again, or in a week or so, whichever comes first. Are there any problems you'd like me to direct my attention to before then?"

"The brevity of your lives seems to have dealt you some advantages in outlook, if that's the longer term. We have food and supplies and do not expect retaliation from the Enemy, and are in any event well-prepared for it; if your weapons can cut rock, I really ought to send a small team out to Angband to aid my uncle in recovering his people from the rockslide. If they cannot, nothing comes to mind."

"A plasma arc will do it. Tyelcormo knows how. It's hard on things adjacent to the cut part of the rock, though."

"Perhaps not ideal for rescue. We should try anyway. Tyelcormo, will you ride out?" He does not raise his voice.