"The truth is completely bizarre, there's that. What I'm worrying about is that it'll be obvious I had something to do with it, and then it'll be easy enough to guess that my fake religion actually works. That's probably too close."

"We met a Power of the Ice, somewhat well-inclined to us, who agreed to cooperate with us? Is that close enough to true?"

"Can we say a Power? I thought that meant just the, well, the Powers. If that word isn't too specific then it's all true."

"There's never been something that wasn't one of the Ainur that the word was suited to, I think it's a bit ambiguous." She shakes her head. "We'll go with that."

"Perfect.

Do you think it could apply to us now? Your cousins probably think I'm one, and it's as true of you two as me."

"Maybe we're the power equivalent of very minor Maiar."

Shrug. "If they ask and I can say they're overstating it, that might be better than saying no. 'Course, there'll be a whole host of people who know better and it'd probably come out pretty soon anyway."

"And the cousins have an annoying habit of being unimpressed by people who have the power to kill them ten times over. The Valar sent a herald to Fëanáro to tell him to turn back, and he stepped right up and gave the herald a lecture."

"That sounds amazing to watch. Reckless, but still.

Can't say I wish I'd seen it though, or then I might be possibly-doomed. Too many of those already."

"Yeah, I'm glad this is your plan and that you showed up too late for possible Dooming."

"Yeah.

It'll be a week or so before the Ice is ready, and we should probably test it in advance. How long would it take from the ice Power announcement until everyone's ready to go?"

"As long as we ask of them. The Noldor are - pretty good at getting things done, if nothing else."

"We'll still have food after crossing—we could offer some to your cousins and see if they take it—but I don't know how long we'd need to figure out a stable source. Getting there sooner might buy some time."

"A week it is." She's grinning. "I can't wait to see their faces."

"Me neither. Wish we could take credit for it, but even if we have to let them think we just got lucky."

"Findekáno says you favor asking Fëanáro to abdicate in his son's favor, and then reconciling with Maitimo."

"I told him he should delegate kinging while he does something he's better at, of which I've heard there are least one or two things, and he seemed to take it seriously. No idea what he's doing now, of course. And Artanis says that if Fëanáro's not running the army she wouldn't have to kill him.

On a world populated entirely by monarchists maybe this does amount to abdicating, but I hope it doesn't end up with who gets to wear the title being a sticking point."

"'monarchists'? And the sticking point is who gives the orders."

"Good, that's where it should be.

A lot of countries aren't monarchies, and even in those that are the person who technically reigns isn't necessarily giving the orders. Our Queen's official duties involve looking royal at important events, that was her face on the coin you used in the awakening ritual, but we elect the people who do the actual ruling."

"Father'd win if it were put to a public vote. Before the burning of the ships Maitimo would have."

"And if he knew everyone agreed he was in charge until the next election, he might then have not burned the ships. I don't know. I think you could really benefit from having already been a republic, but there's no way that's a priority right now."

"And it sounds bad for the war effort to change who's running it more often than absolutely necessary."

"Probably. Not as much help for settling succession disputes once they've started, either."

"And everyone would have united behind Fëanor if he hadn't sworn that stupid Oath. So if we'd all chosen him and then he'd gone on and done that -"

"There's that. That would be why we elect prime ministers and not dictators; nobody would have the power to swear that stupid Oath."