Not sure. Taking something in Thindarin is an obvious occasion and reason, but I don't yet speak it well enough.

I speak it pretty well at this point but I don't know what you're looking for in a name; I assume you don't want a straightforward translation...

He starts playing with words in his thoughts, idly looking for something that sounds right. A messy cascade of syllables ensues.

He registers some for later consideration. Thank you. I shall consult Macalaure as well.

Happy to help, as always.

You have been a tremendous help.

I know, he says, his thoughts proud verging on smug. It's great.

I have been amusing myself with the thought of flying back to Valinor, a decade after we limped away from them in ships, with spaceships and saying 'Enemy's sorted, but don't worry, no need to lift our exile, we're going star-jumping."

That is a deeply satisfying mental image.

Isn't it? Almost makes having spent half of the interim being tortured totally worth it.

...Having the urge to laugh simultaneously with the urge to immediately invent the electron orbital randomizer and convert Angband to a seething mass of plasma is an... interesting experience.

Miles, the King sends back, with deep appreciation. We'll get there.

We certainly will, he agrees. It's a satisfying thought. Helps him calm himself down. Rage is generally not a useful emotion. He has never been carried to victory by righteous anger; it's always been some combination of tenacity and optimism.

And my father let the righteous anger carry him off a cliff. Tenacity and optimism seem wiser.

Tenacity and optimism have carried me through some serious shit. Well, you'd know. He's thinking of Dagoola, primarily.

You're expecting yourself to recover from that much faster than I think you'd expect it from your people.

Huh?

If you sent someone on an assignment that got them tortured in a Cetagandan war camp for several weeks, I don't think you'd get annoyed with them for having a hard time thinking about it afterwards.

Oh.

Well, that's... strikingly obvious in retrospect. He's not sure how to feel about it, but. Wow. Somehow he managed to miss the fact that spending six weeks in conditions that definitely qualified as psychological torture had effects on him consistent with the effects of psychological torture. What other obvious-in-hindsight secrets might his own mind be hiding from him? He can't think of anything but he's clearly not a good judge of that.

Maitimo's not going to proffer any; they wouldn't be helpful. That one he thinks was helpful. Are you okay?

Yeah. I... yeah, he says, smiling up at the King. Thanks. I might never have come to that on my own and I would've kept right on being confused and annoyed with myself until all my problems went away of their own accord. This way seems obviously preferable.

That was my impression as well or I would not have mentioned it. I am glad to hear it confirmed. I am also glad of your wellbeing, of course.

What a good King. What a good friend. Miles appreciates him so much.

Maitimo never feels guilty about this kind of thing but in this case he also doesn't feel a nagging foreboding that if the person he's using notices he'll have a problem on his hands. It's very soothing.

Anyway, he says cheerfully, I think that's enough startling emotional revelations for today; I'd better get back to work. See you later.

And off he goes to check on assorted engineers and then put some more work into the illegal orders lecture.

The locals start to settle in greater numbers around the lake. The King can't offer them safety but he can earnestly declare that his people will lay down their lives in the defense of anyone who settles under their protection, and he can show off Miles' weaponry. The settlement grows. The Enemy stays behind his crumbled walls.