She's on an ocean. There are boats. They're on fire. 

Wait, that can't be right.

Well, her confusion can wait. Those boats will soon be less on fire, as she flies upward and whips up a secton of sea into a very local, very intense rainstorm.

This extinguishes the fire immediately. More details of the situation become apparent: in particular, there's a crew of people standing on the shore. They are presumably the ones who just lit the boats on fire, and now they look a little terrified.

Simmering anger- Well, it's more like frustration, really, at why anyone would burn a perfectly good boat.

She focusses on her relatively non-sensitive water-sense, checking for outlines of bodies within the ships, people possibly in need of rescue.

There is, in fact, a person in one of the ships, not badly burned but not moving.

She flies into the ship and picks them up and carries them onto the shore. Are they breathing? Obviously injured?

Not breathing, not obviously injured. May have inhaled too much smoke.

She has no good way to heal them. No crystals, no wands, no nothing. And she's not even a proper healer.

So she carries them to the people down the beach a ways and half-shouts in an unfamiliar language, "If anyone has medical training, help him!"

The people on the beach come running. There are several thousand of them, probably tens of thousands, more stretching into the foothills. They move very fast.

She forms a smooth, slightly curved, clean stone table for the injured person to rest stably on. But that's the extent of her medical knowledge.

She hovers up a bit and just observes. These people aren't humans. There aren't any tiles here. She is very confused.

There is singing, and yelling, and some shoving. No one touches the not-breathing person, but as the singing intensifies he starts breathing.

...She knows six languages, more or less. What's a seventh before a little determination? She floats there, listening, mentally assembling an alphabet.

When he's breathing the singing stops and the yelling and shoving rather intensify.

How to get a crowd's attention. Step 1: Draw a large boulder up from the ground. Step 2: Bring it down sharply (not on anyone) to produce a near-deafening CRACK. "Calm!"

This is highly effective. They pull up in startled, awed silence. What do you want, someone demands, not in words she recognizes, but the spirit quite clear.

This method of communication is vaguely alarming. It's not supposed to be possible. But it's also not supposed to be possible to have a world that's not tiles.

She wants to be sure nobody is about to die because of rashness and stupidity, why someone was burning perfectly good boats with someone still inside them, and, in general, what is happening here, because she is rather lost.

No one seems exactly eager to explain themselves, but eventually the crowd backs aside and someone comes through, looking deeply unhappy to be the man of the moment. 

Hello. I am Canafinwë Macalaurë of the house of Fëanor. We thought at first you were Uinen but then you saved my brother. Whose presence honors us?

She lands and reveals her humanlike face by peeling back the stone. I am known as Mountain. I am glad that he will survive. We are both confused, and your group seems to be in upheavel.

Confused is an understatement, given the images flashing through her head. Her world is very different from here, laid out in rigid - triangles? 

He raises an eyebrow at that, but stays put. I know of no place like that. Here the world just - is. 

She remembers making tiles, not really intending to share the feeling, the rightness of making, but doing so anyway. It's a strong memory. And I have never known a place like this. I suspect it's a different Creation entirely. So long as I am lost here, could someone tell me about this world?

Well.

Fëanor is the wrong person to be talking with the powerful stranger, but that doesn't mean there's a right person, and it does not mean it is him. 

He starts telling the story of the Elves. We awakened beneath the stars of Cuivienen, fully grown, eager to name and explore and learn of the world, and we called ourselves the Quendi, and we knew nothing of the greater forces in our world.

She listens serenely. Our beginnings are lost to memory for most. The oldest of the Fates- the word comes with the same impression of making -May know how everything began, but they do not speak of it. Also, if you have peaceful work to do I would gladly assist for a time.

Our work is regrettably not peaceful. A power - perhaps a Fate, the impression you pair with it is the same - murdered my grandfather, despoiled our land, and threatens our people. We're here to destroy him.

...War destroys the very land we stand on, in my world.

Between the Valar, our Fates, it does that too, he agrees. But if we are the ones to fight him it may not.

I think I want to hear the rest of your story, then find your enemy and see if he is evil as you claim. If he is I think I will aid you without direct fighting. One does not destroy mountains to win a war. I would also like you to speak aloud as you tell it, so I can learn your language. If you don't mind.

"Certainly. Before the Eldar first arose beside Cuivienen, the Valar and Moringotto had warred for the continent. They built things; he tore them down. They built meadows, and he drowned them in pools of lava; they raised continents, and he despoiled and sunk them. Eventually they retreated to Valinor, to build a paradise he could not touch, and there they designed their homes, and took job in them. Meanwhile we'd been born, and Moringotto delighted in taking us from our homes, torturing us, forcing us to bear him children which he could further twist towards his designs, and so he created the orcs, our kin who are twisted by their suffering and their desire to inflict it."

Do you have an understanding of genetics?

"No. The Eldar - command our body to take our desired form. The thing you describe is not how we function."

Then it is less strange that one could create a new species in such a short time. Thank you for explaining, please continue.

Eventually the Valar warred with Moringotto and the world shook and the Enemy was defeated, but his monstrosities still crawled these lands, and they invited us to come to Valinor with them and live in safety. Some of us took them up on the offer. When Moringotto was pardoned, three Ages later, he too lived in Valinor.

...And after he was pardoned he returned to commit the same offenses again. She's not even surprised. Just sort of cynical.

Eventually, yes. First he managed to destroy our people from the inside with a series of political intrigues.

Fates like me are discouraged from interfering in politics. With varying success. I do think our powers are lesser or at least less varied than Valar. Perhaps there are more of us. Certainly at least many hundreds, spread out across all the continents.

Why were you burning boats so recklessly?

The Valar are twelve, if one does not consider Moringotto among their number. We burned the boats to renounce the possibility of escaping and leaving this continent to Moringotto. We are committed to defeating him or dying trying.

She can't understand that kind of thinking. A rush of disappointment and dislike for someone comes forward in her mind as she realizes these people are more like that shortsighted, selfish Ysender than she thought. 

It seems a waste to destroy perfectly good craft. If you do not want them, I will gladly ferry them to someone who does.

He flinches. We have many enemies, and it might not be wise to put the ships in their hands. Can we take counsel and discuss the new developments?

The fact that he has many enemies, on top of nearly killing one of their own in the fire, is not encouraging.

But, Of course, I won't stop you.

They circle around for a discussion that apparently does not involve any talking at all, but which nonetheless gives off the impression of being quite heated. When it ends, it's a different one who approaches her. 

Hello, he says cautiously. It occurs to me that we ought to explain further the events that brought us to this point. This requires finishing the story that my brother began for you. After the Valar defeated Moringotto, the lands where they'd fought were uninhabitable and the whole continent was dangerous. They invited us to come to a new one they'd raised up, and we did.

She nods. Raising a new land to replace a war-torn one is not strange at all.

He smiles broadly, encouraged. Their land was also the only place with light - is the concept familiar to you?

I have never personally experienced that but the possibility is familiar.

She pushes how her world's suns, stars, and moons work. They are fixed in place, high, high above. It would be possible for the nearest sun to be so far away as to give too little light to be useful.

That does not match my understanding of this world's genography, but on that and many other topics we have been misled. Perhaps it is so. Anyhow, the Valar lit their new continent with two great Trees whose light was at its dimmest still bright enough to read by even at a distance of several thousand miles; one could not see the stars. We lived there and trusted in them.

No, I think my geography is entirely different from yours, even if some things seem familiar.

He nods. I regret that you are so far from your home, then. Can we be of aid in returning you to it?

I'm not sure. The obvious thing to try would be destroying this form and creating a new one. I am hesitant to try it, because this visit is unprecedented in several ways.

He nods. I see. In which ways unprecedented?

I did not appear in a place I might have called home, as usual. I have never encountered your kind of people until today. And I have never heard of anything even slightly like this land.

It's new to us also. You see, after many Ages in paradise, the Valar decided to release the Power they had warred with. He - hmm. We had a government, and he set to creating evidence that everyone in the government was scheming for the deaths of everyone else, until centuries-old bonds of trust had frayed and everyone was afraid. Then he murdered our King, and people refused to follow the King's designated successor because of the lies he'd spread, and he destroyed the land of paradise so it was barely habitable any more for our people, and he fled here.

We decided to come here, fight him, and find a new place to live.

It seems a worthy cause and a deserving enemy, to hear you tell it. But I cannot simply accept that without investigating myself.

Ordinarily I would strongly caution one against that. But you have strengths that in our world only powers have, so perhaps it's safe for you. The Enemy's fortress is north and east of us; his servants roam the continent freely, as far as we know. It is our hope we have arrived in time to save some of our kin, who did not accept the trip to Valinor or became lost on the way and who remain here, if they're still alive.

And you were burning the ships to deny their use to Moringotto?

That was chief among our reasons, but not the only one. I've elided several complications to the situation, namely that after the succession crisis there was nearly a war between those who followed the King's appointed successor and those who desired a different King, a war we're trying to prevent by keeping the two parties on separate continents. 

Civil war. Of course. She sighs. You realize that I know I am not hearing an entirely unbiased story.  

Pause.

Perhaps if I helped move them so that your mutual enemy is between you and them the only fighting will be with these so-called Orcs.

Not a war. There's been no fighting, not with them. We're just afraid that it could come to that and trying to take measures to ensure it doesn't.

Putting them on the other side of the Enemy is a very tempting solution, if it's safe for them there. Can you check that?

It may take several weeks, but yes. I would... Store the boats somewhere you cannot burn them and they cannot use them, then speak to them, before checking.

Bleeding through, she's used to mediating conflicts and doesn't find it very enjoyable. Necessary, though, plenty of that.

We really, really cannot afford for the boats to fall into the hands of the Enemy. If you have the capacity to move people around continents at will, perhaps you can send the boats to the harbor of Alqualondë on the opposite shore? He sends a mental map. They would kill us if we travelled within range of them but the boats would not be used by anyone to do harm, there.

The fire was also to draw the Enemy out from where he is currently besieging our kin, if they're not already dead. I don't suppose you can do anything comparable? Are boats sacred in your culture? This is a great deal of work to protect our possessions from us.

Pointless destruction is against my personal code. I could cast a great deal of dust into the air, if you think the effect is similar enough to smoke.

And I am very new to this place, so I am hesitant to destroy or allow destruction of anything or anyone until I learn more.

It's not the smoke that would be visible, but the fire. Dust doesn't seem similar. We can try making a great deal of noise, perhaps.

Here it is generally understood that people have the right to destroy their things, and while none will have the strength to oppose you, they will be very bothered if you step in to prevent them from tearing down their homes or so forth.

My concern is the possibility that these boats are not rightfully yours. I don't think this is particularly likely and I will not interfere if you wish to set them alight again. However, if you burn them and later I find that they belonged to another I will be annoyed.

Do you have more story to relay or should I visit Alqualondë and the Enemy and other such informative places?

There's a great deal to say, but I don't know how much of it will be usefully communicated without really starting from scratch - for example, you seem to have a different concept of 'rightful' than ours, and 'belonging', and several other things. I'd happily sit down and discuss philosophy, but at the moment we're scrambling to get the attention of our enemy so he stops harassing the less-able-to-defend-themselves people who we hope still live on these shores, and that's a higher priority. If you're inclined to collect more information, can I encourage you first to collect the information that would help you decide whether you'll join us in that fight? It's going to be an ugly one.

I have no doubt that our concepts of rightfulness and belonging are different, perhaps radically so. Two cities of humans will sometimes have different enough definitions of belonging to cause a war. I will focus on understanding the conflict, as you say. She floats into the air.

Well. She didn't fly into a rage and kill them all, which is good, and her examination should conclude that their side of this war is justified, which is good, and she can get the other host here safely without sending the boats back, which is very good. But it doesn't seem like there's a way to get the boats back to Alqualondë without her going to Alqualondë and hearing a story that will then probably make her fly into a rage and kill them, which is bad. Perhaps they can win the war here first.

She is actually not the principal complication here. The principal complication is that Father, while he'd been dissuaded from talking with a Power from a different world who'd just calmly stopped them from doing this, would probably not stay dissuaded, and that having the cousins on the other side of the continent seems like an unstable compromise, and that he's not sure if she can hear him while he's trying to stabilize all of that.

The Fëanorian tightrope, Findekáno used to call it. It was a wider tightrope before you denounced my father and named yours the King, Maitimo wants to say, but that can wait.

Mountain flies high above the continent and towards its interior. She fashions a crude telescope with diamond lenses and investigates possibly-inhabited spots. The optics are tricky but managable with something that has that high an angle of diffraction.

There are creatures of the kind he sent mental images of through the continent, in some areas clustered in great numbers and in some areas walking about alone. There are walled cities in the far south. There's a fortress in the north.

Fates can fly very, very fast. But not so fast as to visit all these places in a day.

She descends and tries to talk to one of the creatures, a lone one.

(Did they set the ships on fire again?)

They did not. 

The creature snarls and then cowers when she tries to speak to it. They don't seem to have a common language.

She lands a ways away and tries to appear calm and nonthreatening. Removing the bulk of her rock-armor and keeping only enough for decency might help. Right?

Seems to alarm the creature, honestly, but it still doesn't make a move.

She attempts to replicate the talking-without-talking thing. I mean no harm.

It relaxes slightly. 

Strange rock-stranger. Why are you here?

Someone told me about people who look like you. They said your kind are dangerous and hostile. I wanted to see if they were right.

Warily. "They're lying. You should come speak to our commander Melkor, he will tell you of them and their crimes. This land is safe from them, as far as I know."

I would be glad to speak to him and hear his side of this story.

The creature becomes at once more serious, and starts walking toward the north. "Melkor lives in Angband, the cradle of our people, protecting the children. He will be pleased to meet you."

How far is it? I can fly us both, very swiftly. Here is an impression of just how swift.

"About a hundred miles," the orc says. "Yes, please do."

I can only safely carry you at high speed if I make a shell of rock that covers you entirely. Are you alright with this or should we just fly slower?

Slower, please. He's looking at her in awe.

She lifts him up on a short platform of rock, with more rock in front of it. It has a chair, which she indicates he ought to sit in.

When he does they both lift into the air and head north. She speeds up like a horse going into gallop in five seconds. And keeps speeding up. She's high enough not to be in too terrible a risk of hitting something, and flying at this speed it shouldn't be more harmful than a very stiff wind.

The orc is extremely impressed, and points them towards Angband.

She heads that way.

I am unfamiliar with this land and have only the word of the few people I've talked to so far to know its history and customs. This will still take the better part of an hour. Enough time to explain things to me if you can think of anything to explain.

We are the people of this land. They are coming to take it. They have their own land, far away, but they wasted and despoiled it and blamed us so they could justify taking ours.

They say it was theirs before it was yours, and you expelled them. I deliberately do not believe either side of this conflict, yet. Though wasting things does seem like them.

I have no idea how they tell it; they arrived on our shores very recently, and I haven't met them. They had their continent. It's the other one.

I haven't visited it yet. Fly, fly, fly.

Inconsistent histories, how predictable. She should have been taking notes. She scribes close-packed letters into wafers of stone as best she can remember her conversations so far.

And they approach a towering stone fortress.

She slows down and lands about a mile off, and investigates its structure through the world-sense. Please be well made. Durable things made by people who are not her are so rare.

It is extraordinarily well-made, with great care. It's also very very large.

It's sort of beautiful, despite the foreboding. There's just something about a solid, lasting structure. Which is why she builds them so often. 

Much as she wants to see the place on top of feeling it, she's not so incautious as to walk into the place of power of a possibly evil Fate-but-possibly-more-powerful-and-definitely-more-flexible.

I like this fortress. It's a good fortress. think I would rather wait and listen here, though. I would not be offended if your master chose to relay messages rather than coming out, or if he asked me to leave.

I expect he'll want to see you, the creature says anxiously, but I'll go in and he can probably speak directly, from here.

Yes, I think I will wait here.

A minute later, she hears the voice, low and powerful and instantly identifiable as coming from the maker of the fortress; it has the same character to it. "Welcome, stranger."

"Thank you. Hello. I am new to this land so I wished to speak to any important people here. I am known as Mountain."

"I am known as Melkor. You are new to the land; I helped shape it and thought I knew everything there was to know of it, but you are strange to me. Do you like it?"

"The land itself, I don't think I've seen enough of it to judge. It's very, very different from how I am used to land working. I do know I like your fortress. Simple, elegant, extremely sturdy. The best sort of construction."

Deep, rumbling laughter. "Thank you. It endured for thousands of years while I was in prison, and remained here when I escaped. Good craftsmanship is its own reward."

"Indeed."

"I've heard of your imprisonment from others." Fairly damning stuff, too. "And I came here with the intent to give each side a fair hearing. Not that I necessarily intend to interfere one way or the other in local disputes. Just know that I'm going to be trying not to make friends or enemies until I think I've found the truth."

"A courageous commitment. 

This planet was the personal project of a power called Eru. He's told his people that he is the creator of all the universe. I think the Elves may believe it. The Valar know better, but as lies go, it advantages them. Eru had a plan for exactly how the world would play out. I have different aesthetic sensibilities than he, and altered it. To my surprise he told me that my alterations were all to the good, and were in fact themselves part of his plan. He remains convinced that I am an agent of his will for this world; I am unsure of that myself, but I have space to create new and astonishing peoples, to build great and enduring things."

She listens impassively, nodding occasionally. She seems to be doing a lot of that today.

"I am happy to talk in more depth of my projects, but I expect you're waiting to hear a refutation of whatever they have said, and it might save you some time to tell me what that is."

"Various war crimes, for the most part. They also claim that the Orcs were created unwillingly. Through torture."

"You are welcome to ask every orc you meet about that. They were created by designing them from scratch, because they're well-suited to the world and I wanted something like them to live in and care for it. How would you create a species by torturing one?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never created a species even by selective breeding. But there is much strange magic, here, I am trying not to assume anything."

"I would urge you to try it for yourself, but I doubt you'll be able to find volunteers.

The Elves have been told that only Eru can create life, so anyone else who creates life didn't really do it. I think that's how they drew their conclusion. But it's untrue that only Eru can create life. You could attempt it yourself, and thereby verify that I had the power to create the orcs from scratch? Or do your abilities lie in different directions?"

"I believe we are fundamentally different. My direct abilities, those that separate me from humans and similar, are possibly greater in power than yours but narrower in scope. I can raise continents and create oceans, given time, but I can't directly create or alter life. I can't speak to someone far away like this except through tools."

"Hmmm. In that case, no obvious avenue occurs to me to satisfy your curiosity. Except, again, speak to the orcs. Though you don't have my leave to sentence any of them for past war crimes. They were certainly committed on both sides, but the Elves don't regard theirs as such and I'm not going to kill my people for things they did to save their children."

"I will make no oaths to anyone yet, but I always refrain from judging people for things they did not, themselves, do. The purpose of punishment is disincentivising harm, not revenge for it."

"Well, while refraining from judgement Elves and orcs seem unable to live in harmony. I will tell you that they regard it as a sacred duty to kill all of us, they will probably tell you likewise about us - we do not, incidentally, but there's certainly bad blood - and the situation was resolved at last by having an Elf continent and an orc continent. Now they seem to have invaded ours."

"Thank you for explaining. I want to explore this continent for now but I may visit again. Is there anything I should keep in mind aside from common courtesy if I do?"

"I am unconfortable with you roaming at will across a continent when you accompanied the invading fleet that just landed. I will require significant more basis for assuming good intent before I can in conscience tell my people that you can be trusted."

"I am not associated with them by anything more than coincidence. I wasn't intending to walk straight into your fortress in any case. If you insist, however, I won't visit again and will ask an Orc to relay messages for you if I have any."

"My objection is not that you visited here, which was wise, but that even if you disclaim involvement with the people you arrived with, you and they do not have leave to wander around our nation at will. Please stay and tell me more about yourself, your abilities, your goals, and so forth."

She is becoming somewhere between nervous and annoyed. No Fate would dare claim an entire continent.

"I would have abandoned this form already in an attempt to return home, but visiting an entirely different world is perhaps a one-time opportunity. I have deep control over stone and metal, and somewhat lesser control of water. My goals here are to discover interesting things, or perhaps build some, and meet interesting people. And I am used to Fates not claiming lordship over the land directly. It's an unsettling thought."

"How is it done where you're from?"

"The land is a void. No land and no ocean. Fates, perhaps three to ten on a continent, create tiles," mental impression of the concept, "That extend into the endless void or replace tiles that fall into void due to calamity, rifts, war and so on. Sometimes mortals settle the area. Most of the time, actually, at least sparsely. It's... Inappropriate to become too involved with them. To control them directly. Chastising them for burning forests and the like is accepted, as is building a mountain or two for them to mine if you like them, but declaring oneself ruler and managing them is very much not. Other Fates... Explain the error of their ways to any who try, and if a Fate misbehaves consistently it is everyone's duty to see them expelled to the edge of the known world, or destroyed."

"I see. Do you ...create the mortals? Do they understand you? Do thy seek guidance from you? Do you know how they are managed, and by who?"

"No, yes but only if you trouble yourself to learn the local language, occasionally, and they manage themselves under a really quite staggering variety of different systems. Kings are common among humans."

"Actually, most Fates were originally mortals. I was, myself. What causes the transition is not entirely clear but it seems to be related to doing a great work of magic. The six most ancient Fates do not resemble any mortals alive today, and refuse to speak of their origins."

"I see. The custom here is that the creators of people have obligations to provide for their governance and their safety. The habit of nonintervention of your people seems harsh on the mortals. Would they not benefit from your guidance and the foresight lent by age?"

"I have not made much study of politics. It's not my skill, magic is. I create magic items for various peoples to benefit them with my strengths rather than go against my peers and my own skillset to possibly benefit them more or possibly cause a war."

"Perhaps that is the wise course, given the landscape of your homeland. Here, everyone is active in sheltering and governing the people they concern themselves with, and to withdraw that aid and demand they govern themselves would be unkind and unjust. I'm curious about your skillset. What do you do? How does it work?"

"Oh, it's quite varied, and seems random at times. Let me just-" She creates three gemstones, symbols carved into them, and squeezes.

"...........It's not working. At least some of my magic doesn't work here. Damn."

"I am terribly sorry. Might I be able to help in some way? I specialize in things that amplify and coordinate existing tendencies..."

"If you helped, and got it to work, you would have learned my magic, and I would either need to be sure you are in the right or go teach it to everyone else."

"While there are some Elves I respect, they are reckless and foolish and I don't recommend teaching them your magic. But I already have abilities that must at least equal yours; surely we can be allies in advancing our own studies?

"The problem is that magic can scale. Even a seemingly insignificant piece of magic can shift the balance of a conflict when every soldier on one side has an effectively infinite source of water that weighs less than a pound. I was trying to make a very crude smoke crystal. Harmless as can be, not even effective for concealment, and hard to generalize just from seeing it... Anyway, the point is, things can be told later, but cannot be unsaid."

"Fair enough. I have no similar concerns, so may I teach you my magic, so that, should it be relevant, you can use that knowledge to reconstruct yours?"

"I am interested. How long do you think it would take to gain a basic grasp? But, perhaps later. I still wish to determine the major players and pieces of history of this world, from as many different sources as possible. I plan to visit the place the invaders crossed the sea from next."

"A comprehensible desire, but as I've just said, I'm not comfortable with you wandering my land with unknown capabilities in the middle of an invasion by people who you arrived with." He launches into a grave explanation of how his magic works.

Mountain... Listens gravely. And takes notes on more stone tablets. How much of it makes sense?

There are major differences in their capabilities. It seems internally coherent, but to be coming from a very different theoretical structure than hers.

Is there some basic exercise she can do to confirm that she can use the principles?

"Your word seems faster paced than ours. I've tutored people in expanding their capabilities before, and never seen any results within a week."

"I see... I will have to decline further instruction, then. At least for now."

"You say I do not have leave to wander your land. I will consent to be told to leave, but not to be told to stay. If you wish to tell me what areas you consider yours, now would be the time."

"You've been here less than an hour. Are your errands so urgent we must immediately part on bad terms?"

"I would be delighted to stay and learn your sort of magic if I had not been dropped into the middle of a conflict of unclear-to-me causes with no understanding of anyone involved. I cannot allow myself the luxury of this degree of ignorance, uncertainty. If in my investigations I conclude that the elves are indeed reckless despoiling invaders I will return and do my best to apologize for being mistrustful and attempt to prove myself harmless or make amends."

"Understood. Can I at least have your commitment that until we've spoken further you won't help them with the invasion?"

"I will promise to not build them defenses or weapons or homes or to tell them anything about your fortress and the layout of the passes and so on, at least until I speak to you again. If I encounter any open combat I intend to nonlethally separate everyone involved by as much a distance as seems warranted, Orcs and Elves alike. Is that sufficient?"

"The distance that is warranted is the ocean that was between our two peoples before the invading army landed."

She sighs. "I was thinking more like fifty miles."

She lifts into the air slightly, about to fly away.

"Safe journeys. I will delight in learning more of your world and exploring what we can teach each other of our capabilities, once you've explored the situation to your satisfaction."

"Thank you, and farewell for now."

She zooms off. Towards the city on the far side of that ocean.

Though she does land outside a smallish settlement of Orcs to greet them and explain herself and ask some slightly subtle questions, like what they think of Elves, of Melkor, how old the oldest one is (history onle goes back to living memory after all).

They hate Elves. They love Melkor. The oldest one is several hundred years old.

Why do they hate Elves? (Does it seem any more complicated than being told they're evil from childhood?) Do they mind answering these questions? She'll leave them alone if they want.

Elves hate them, the Elf-god tortures them after they die, Elves want to eradicate them and have the whole world. They don't seem to mind an opportunity to rant about Elves.

She takes their religion with a high dose of skepticism, but otherwise listens patiently to the ranting for a while, then continues heading for the ocean.

The Elves she saw earlier are heading inland.

She doesn't bother them. Merely flies by at the same just-short-of-sonic-boom speed, heading for the city they told her about.

There are islands surrounding the continent across the ocean. Around the islands there's some kind of miasma of magic.

She slows down  and observes carefully as she approaches the strange effect. The wards she knows couldn't do this at all.

Their effect seems to be intended to misdirect; ships will run aground or sink, flying things will be sent in circles or find themselves turned around.

She attempts to fly through anyway. It doesn't work.

...Perhaps if she goes high enough it'll stop. It's not like she needs oxygen.

Indeed, the effect lessens higher up and by the time she's ten miles above the ocean there's practically nothing left of it.

So she can fly into this land easily enough.

She uses her telescope again, trying to identify the city the other elves mentioned.

There's a harbor on the coast, yes. 

She descends toward it.

...Shouldn't the suns have stated warming up by now?

The sky remains dark and cold.

...Unnerving.

And those giant trees the elves mentioned aren't glowing either.

She lands outside the harbor city's walls and spends a short while re-reading through the notes on this place she's taken so far by the light of red-hot rocks.

And then a voice echoes in her head, not coming from any particular direction.

"You trespass in Valinor, stranger."

"Hello. I was told I was trespassing in the other continent as well, by Morgoth. Am I not allowed to exist? I am entirely new in this land, and seek only to understand."

"Valinor is sealed against strangers, as they might serve the Enemy who has done us such great griefs. And none are ever welcome here without invitation."

Such paranoia. "The Enemy is Morgoth? I have sucpicion of him myself. May I stay just long enough to have a conversation and hopefully find the truth?"

"You can converse with us outside Valinor. Depart now."

"I did not know that." She rockets into the sky and back out to sea. Not bothering to refrain from breaking the sound barrier this time, since they want her out so eagerly.

Then, floating two miles above the ocean's approximate halfway point, "Can you still hear me?"

"Yes. Now declare yourself."

"I am the Fate, Mountain. I appeared on the ocean, not deliberately, a few hours ago, and am still trying to learn about this land. It seems troubled in several ways."

"Yes. The Enemy has dealt us a grievous hurt and destroyed the light of this world. He has marred also the hearts and minds of some of the greatest of the incarnates. Did Eru send you, stranger?"

"My form was destroyed and when I manifested again, which I do by myself usually, it was in this world and not my own. It looked like a random accident to me. I don't know if Eru could have arranged it, but if that seems like it might be in his power, perhaps."

"In that case you are welcome, though not in Valinor itself lest we be deceived or people who have been greatly injured suffer another injury."

"I will stay out of Valinor barring a great emergency, and then I will endeavor to explain the problem and ask permission first. But you say Melkor truly is as foul and evil as the elves claim."

"Please let me know if my questions become tiresome. How many others like you and Melkor are there? Who is Eru? The boats on the far edge of the sea. They were going to be burned and now, I believe, lie abandoned. Who do they belong to?"

"There are many thousands of us, the greatest of which are called the Valar. Eru is the creator of the world, and all occurs according to his design. The boats you may return to Valinor; they are a treasure of our land."

She kind of doubts this Eru brought her here. No way to tell though.

"Yeah, I thought so... I will return the boats. And I would appreciate the chance to speak to the other half of their host, after, if it can be arranged without my entering Valinor."

"They departed our lands; you can speak with them as you wish."

"Ah. Thank you. Where did they depart to? Does the ward that tries to turn me away mark the extent of Valinor so I need not worry about entering it accidentally?"

"Yes. The protection of our lands marks its borders. They are in the north."

"If I bring the boats to the borders, will the wards allow them in instead of turning them away or destroying them? How should I return them, if not?"

"Yes, we'll take the boats back in."

"It will be a few hours. I am not as strong with water as stone."

And she zooms off toward the boats. Presuming they're still intact, she starts extracting water from them and floating them back off the shores.

They are. Their occupants have left and gone inland. There's sounds of fighting. 

Her hearing is not all that great, she's by the ocean, and not high enough to see clashing armies. Unless it's particularly obvious and nearby fighting she probably won't notice.

In that case she'd probably just notice that they've all left the shore and headed inland. The boats can be preserved.

And they are, and delivered near the irritating repelling ward after nearly four hours.

And then she heads north and up, using her telescope to search for large groups of travellers.

They're not hard to see; vast numbers.

So she presents herself to them by very obviously flying overhead and then landing about a mile ahead of the leading edge's path.

They send people out, eventually, warily, and stop a deferential distance away and bow.

She bows as well, greets them in what little of the language she's learned while pushing thoughts out, "I am new to this land, and visiting all who seem troubled by it, learning. I am possibly willing to help, once I feel I've learned enough."

"I've been told there was a succession dispute and fighting between you and the elves now on the other continent."

He looks suspicious. "There was. They sent you for us?"

"They want nothing to do with you. I want to find the truth and hopefully fix the entire damn mess once I know enough to not make it worse."

It's possible she's frustrated and impatient, by now. Being tossed around in an unfamiliar and unstable place will do that.

Powerful beings who are impatient with you are dangerous.

"I apologize. We'd be happy to answer any questions you have, provide any proof we can, and assist you if we can." At least on everything Melkor already knows.

She confirms that they'll tell her the same story she's heard already - evil Melkor, Orcs are tortured-and-bred Elves, succession dispute, and they're heading off to fight him.

"Yes."

She gives a deep sigh.

Staying neutral and not getting involved in the fighting does not work here. A Fate's mere nearby presence doesn't keep the conflict to a low simmer. The local version of a Fate is perpetuating the conflict, according to everyone but the man himself and his personally created species.

"I wonder if I could create a third continent. Probably not, and it wouldn't even solve the problem."

"If you have that power, you could give us the means to reach the far continent, so we can help stop Melkor."

"I could... I am used to wars being a tragedy not that much lesser, posing a danger to everyone nearby, not just fighters. Shattering entire continents."

She remembers seeing one fall. CRACK. A line of violent red, lava and miasma, sprouting suddenly. Earthquakes. Stars falling to the ground, burning anything in their path. Crack. Cra-CRA-CR- into a ceaseless chain, vast areas becoming empty void in moments, feeling like it was ripping at her soul as the world fell apart around her. She saved as many people as she could. It wasn't that many.

"But indecision is not helping. And I am sure enough that Melkor is evil, now. I will make a map of the land and if you select a spot far enough from your fellows so as not to risk conflict with them I can transport you there in a matter of days, and build you a fortress, and possibly weapons or other knowledge. Though I intend to grant approximately equal advantages to the other elves, and I hope there is some chance of resolving your tensions with them peacefully."

"I think everyone will cool off given time and a common enemy, yes. That offer is extraordinarily generous and we are grateful."

...It just now hits her that they're all terrified of her. That's why they're speaking so formally. She felt most comfortable in the presence of Melkor out of anyone in her time here so far, he's the only one who talked to her like an actual acquaintance might. Not that she'll let it fool her.

This is giving her a headache. And she should probably learn how to stop doing the mental sharing at some point.

"Can you think of anything I maybe ought to know and don't yet?"

"You returned the boats to Alqualondë? You've met orcs and Melkor and know what he is? The Valar said not to come in? They told that we've been exiled? Nothing else about the situation seems urgent, my lady Mountain."

"One last thing. This is a harsh place. Is anyone in your group in danger from the exposure?  I can provide temporary shelters, fish drawn up from the sea for food, a large slab of rock that will remain warm as a campfire for several hours."

"We'd - be deeply appreciative of any of those things, but none of us are near dying of exposure. We expected to be out here for a while waiting for the boats to return."

"Then with apologies, I will make a map for you first. Working with ice is tricky and time-consuming, it would be better to send you to some new place rather than attempt to build here. I expect to be back in a few hours." She starts hovering, ready to leave unless they have final comments.

"Thank you very much."

And off she flies. High, higher, higher. Until she can see the whole of the continent, or near enough. No air up here. It thins out a lot faster than it would on her world.

....The world appears flat at least. Perhaps it's not as strange as she thought. She makes a quick and crude map of the continent marked with different sorts of stone. Though it's a bit too dim to make a really good map. On the way back, she delivers to Melkor a giant boulder dropped from a great height onto his fort. She thinks he'll get the intended message.

They nervously watch her fly off.

And then she's back. She presents the map, marks the location of where the other host landed and Melkor's fortress and other visible settlements and explains how the different stones correspond to what sort of vegetation or lack thereof she could see through a telescope from high above. They would know more about climate trends than her.

"I need to discuss this with others. How soon do you desire an answer?"

"I'll leave a copy here and show it to the other host, then perhaps explore some more, I'll check back every day or so take as long as you need. It's gonna be your new home not mine after all."

"...thank you very much, my lady Mountain."

"Though I would appreciate it if you can find someone to properly teach me your language, at some point, and explain various things I am confused by. Like, what exactly this talking-without-talking is, and how I can stop doing it if I ever want to."

"We would be happy to have someone do both of those things, whenever is convenient for you."

"Next time I visit, probably. Thank you. If there's nothing else for now?"

"Not at all."

He is really really curious what had happened on the other shore, but this is not obviously a disaster and he can't hear Maitimo across an ocean so they will have to hope.

She's doing a lot of flying today. She flies to where the boats landed and follows that host's trail inland.

They're in the middle of a fight with orcs.

Oh bloody hell. She starts working on a light source, kneading rock over and over 'till it glows white.

What does the battle look like? Scattered bands over a large distance? Strict regiments lined up? Archers? Magic?

The Elves are clustered into some kind of ragged formation, mostly in a valley, moving very slowly forward as a host. They have archers. The orcs are streaming in from all directions. They also have archers.

She doesn't actually have all that much strength left. Not enough to just bodily lift the entire Elven host in one go. Dying takes a lot out of you.

What is the most efficient use of her power... She makes herself look as imposing as possible. Impractically bulky rock-armor, glowing from yet more kneading and throwing globs of white-hot stone to start reasonably small fires that she can easily put out later near the highest concentrations of incoming Orcs. 

And she tries to find someone in charge who hopefully knows nonzero tactics, to communicate how she has sided against Melkor and wants to help, preferably by driving the Orcs off instead of killing them but the latter will do if needs must.

They have definitely noticed her. Hello. Learned the things that would permit you to decide how to involve yourself?

Yes. Melkor is evil and must be driven off or destroyed. I do not know the tactics of this land, how best should I help?

She sends a summary of her current capabilities - raising a (very) crude fortress right under their feet would take about ten minutes, taller barricades against archers specifically in slightly less time than that, crushing Orcs or physically scattering them is doable, as is continuing to sow chaos with small fires but those could quickly get out of control-

We were trying to fight our way to the lake and build a fortress there where we can shelter and rest while the fighting continues. Can you clear the path to there, and raise something there for us when we reach it? We can maintain this indefinitely, then.

Yes. However, I will need to leave after an hour or two and rest between now and when you're likely to arrive there.

No problem. Do you have a place to rest?

I will make one easily enough. I doubt any Orc can tunnel through fifty meters of rock to get to me.

And she puts out the slightly less small fires with globs of turned-up dirt before heading off in the host of elves' direction of travel, scattering the Orcs in that direction as best she can with relatively gentle exertion of earth-power.

They take advantage of the opening, and push faster towards the lake.

She does this for about an hour, then flies off and rests.

Then returns and does the same thing some more.

How and when do you need rest? What in general are your capabilities? That would be useful to us in this fight.

I need rest to sleep once every two or three days, and rest to regain power after exerting it overmuch. I will not likely need rest again until I raise a fort. My abilities are a deep connection to stone and metal and to a lesser extent, water. I could cause a flood or rain with the water from the lake but not at the same time as clearing a path, for example. I can produce weapons. Hundreds of identical low-quality swords with rough stone as handles and guards. Little else of use in combat comes to mind immediately.

We're armed. Walls to take shelter behind while this goes on is more urgent. Thank you for your aid. 

She raises barricades and unfoots Orcs strategically, aiming to preserve her strength at least a little. The elves should be able to advance at a fast walk instead of a slow one as long as she's here.

And they do. They are very battered and a little panicked but definitely advancing faster.

She is not particularly good at selecting targets. There's so many Orcs that this doesn't really matter, though. And her steadily advancing line of barricades are doing their job.

They're going to make it out of this a lot sooner than anticipated. And then confront the stranger who is presumably still upset about the boats, very powerful, and vaguely promised to relocate the other host.

They are at the specified spot near the lake soon enough. She raises what she considers a very, very basic fortification. Just one wide, high, thick, slab of a wall with ladders here and there, no watchtowers, not bothering to sink the foundations, no crenelation, not even a proper gatehouse. Enough internal space to fit them all laying down, but not that much more than that. It can always be improved or moved later if she decides they deserve it.

So now some people can rest while the rest of them fight. And there's water. This is a vast improvement.

To the spokes-elf, I will likely return in a few hours. The other elves expected me back by now and I don't want them to think I abandoned them.

Thank you. They're still fighting; he can't spare much more.

Flying off once again. She mutters the local language to herself along the way, as practice.

The other host has selected several locations where they'd like to be.

Does their opinion change at all when she explains the running battle and indicates where she raised walls for the first host?

"I thought they suggested we be put far away from them? I think that's probably wise. We'll talk things out in a year or so once there's less scarcity to worsen things."

"So, perhaps here? I could lift your entire host at once, but it would be pushing my limits and greatly reduce my speed. There would be a very small risk of failing and plunging you all to the earth or into the sea. Perhaps one in a thousand, but still present. Making two or three trips, or building carts and a road for you through the ice, would both be safe."

"Let's not do anything with the very small risk of our deaths, if it pleases you, my Lady Mountain."

"As you say. Roads and carts, or carrying a few thousand at a time?"

"Roads and carts would I think make us feel more comfortable."

"Then roads and carts it shall be. Is anyone an engineer? I can discuss the carts' design. I don't exactly have a standard for this exact situation." Not least of which because a lot of her magic doesn't work here or she'd just make a bunch of flying platforms.

"We should be able to follow."

"How many horses do you have? There's two basic ideas - horse-drawn carts are nice and simple, or I could do a sort of pedal-power thing." The mental image is a three-wheeled cart with a set of gears that would let someone in a sitting position drive a cart's wheels faster and more comfortably than walking while hauling it behind them.

"We don't have horses, they'd have died out here. We have sledges. We can do pedaled carts. The bigger problem, if there's anything you might be able to do for us there, is the cold."

"Right." She's not used to being concerned about things like 'temperature' or 'oxygen' or what have you. "Hm, all the best solutions I could provide to that are bulky or hazardous in other ways. I could make miniature furnaces and a supply of coal. Pumice as walls for the carts, to keep body heat in. Asbestos is an excellent insulator, but it frays, microscopic strands of the stuff get into your lungs, it's a health hazard. I can do closed-pore aluminum foam, but not a lot quickly. Much slower than most of the rest, lots of detail work and metal is a step away from earth already. And it's not actually that great of an insulator, the advantage is that it's very light."

"Can you make rocks warm, lastingly so?"

She shakes her head. "I am not a - whatever Melkor and the ones in Valinor are. I cannot produce inherently magical objects. There are rocks that are lastingly warm as a natural feature of physics," Uranium, plutonium, thorium, and so on, "But they are also potentially very dangerous."

"All right. If it's only a few weeks' crossing we can survive the cold. Thank you."

She's still dwelling on accidentally melting a hole through a continent while trying to figure out how uranium worked. That was not a fun week.

"Right. Shall I make a prototype cart and have someone try it out? I'll make it with a wide gear ratio, for calibration."

"Thank you very much."

"You don't need to thank me so much."

She holds a hand out and looks like she's concentrating. Her thoughts are indistinct and relying on an unfamiliar sense.

He's seen the Valar at work, she's helping them, he can keep his head down and save the panic and confusion for later.

After a few minutes, narrow pillars of some kind of stone emerge from the ice, pushing melted water out ahead of them and managing to not crack the frosted ground open. These mushroom out into a road. Once she has a stone surface to work from, she generates various pieces from it - stone slabs of a frame, extracting metal and forming important parts with it. Wheels, she considers, might be a problem - no oil or rubber is readily available. She kludges it with ball bearings and ridged, grippy mineral edges on metal wheel frames.

The cart takes shape rapidly. Is nobody curious enough to ask her about the process? No, of course not, fear is boring.

They are definitely fascinated - they're the Noldor, after all, and this isn't how Aulë works, and they're going to look at it more carefully later - but no, they're not going to pepper her with questions. Fëanor probably would but he's off across the sea already.

"Here we go. First prototype, expect design flaws." She hovers herself into it and demonstrates how to pedal and steer. It's a wide, squat box with two sets of pedals that move as one, but only one steering bar. It has more wheels than is strictly necessary, which makes it unwieldy and difficult to steer but less prone to slipping around or tipping.

"Let's see if it works. Would you mind trying it?" It would be pleasing if her first try on this was mostly acceptable. All the pieces she's used before, it's just assembling them in a different way, but still.

And they go ahead and test it out.

It's somewhat hard work, pedalling, and hard to steer. But the thing does move, almost as fast as a horse once it's up to speed.

"This will certainly get us and our supplies across the Helcaraxe very quickly. We are tremendously grateful."

"I plan to make a few hundred, not enough to carry all your people, but perhaps the sick or small, and supplies. And the road. Roads are relaxing to make."

"I am glad to hear that," he says. "We can walk, especially if there is a road. It won't be a particularly hard journey."

"Good, good. What is this whole thought-talking thing, by the way?"

"Osanwë? Is it not known to you?"

"No... I forget if I explained how I am from a different world entirely, to you. I am visiting, somehow, and I don't miss my home enough to attempt to return quite yet. This place needs help."

"Yeah," he says, "yeah, just a bit. The fire on the other shore, was that you?"

"They tried to set the boats on fire, ostensibly to attract Melkor's attention but later they admitted it was to keep them out of everyone else's hands. I arrived just as the fire was burning and put them out - they had left someone inside the boats when they lit up for Cap's sake - ended up returning them to Valinor."

"Okay. Thank you."

"So. How do I stop doing it?"

"I'm sorry. Stop doing osanwë? You're - a Power, you can presumably just will it -"

"If I am a Power, I am a Power of a very different land."

She tries it. Her thoughts are her own. This thought is shared. This thought is private. (It's quieter, but not gone.)

"I'm sorry, I don't have any idea how to teach things to powers," he says apologetically. "You can see in my mind how we do it."

"Thank you." Hm. She tries to read what he's sending more closely. She can do arbitrary mental states once she's learned them. You have to, to enchant... Even though enchanting was never her strong suit.

And then tries again, remembering her home.

[nothing]

"Did you get that?"

"No, lady Mountain."

Her thoughts start coming through again almost immediately. "Then it seems this is a skill like any other, to be mastered eventually. I wish everyone wasn't quite so formal - the only one who acted remotely like a friendly acquaintance is an evil overlord who started and is sustaining an unjust war. I am a bit of a loner I admit, but it's tiring. Of course, inflicting myself where I am not wanted for my comfort is not called for."

"I should go make you a few tiles," four miles each, her thoughts say, "of road and see how the other host is doing. They said they'd hold their own but still."

"They do tend to overestimate themselves," he says. Well, she'd asked them to be more familiar.

Slight smirk. "Sounds familiar. I'll be back to run off a batch of carts and more road in about a day."

And she's off. Roadbuilding, a calming exercise for the whole family. Aaaand back to the presumably-ongoing battle...

Which has actually gotten way more manageable. They were prepared to survive it on their own, and are doing well with the unexpected help. They've sent Tyelcormo south to break the siege on the cities there, they're pressing towards Angband as soon as there's an opening -

Mountain doesn't know they're going to make a charge if they get a chance when she starts trapping entire groups of Orcs in obnoxiously quicksand-like stone.

Strategically speaking they should probably rest first, but they came here to charge Angband and as soon as the way is clear they are definitely charging Angband.

Cut to Mountain hovering over them, shoving Orcs around as opportunity arises, shouting in her own language and projecting thoughts as much as she knows how, "You idiots, the place is unassailable, and a total hive of Orcs, and Melkor's place of power, you need artillery or something! Or at least some rest and a better plan than 'charge'!"

This probably should deter them from charging, but being called an idiot has literally never deterred his father from anything.

Ugh. She- Can't make bombs on such short notice, and she's not sure she wants to.

She sends as much of the layout of the mountains, the fortress, likely avenues of Orc attack, and a live view of the battlefield from above, as she can. And follows them in, conserving strength for when she inevitably has to lift the entire group out of this death trap.

The Enemy sends Balrogs. They have no idea how to stop Balrogs. They throw themselves at them anyway.

No that is not what is going to happen today. These balrogs can go away to the other side of this pass, the ground under their feet forming spheres around them and being flung away, still under her command even as it melts into lava.

Then she meets the nearest one with a half dozen giant spiked stone hammers and starts smashing. This probably won't kill it easily, let alone forever - this thing smells like the same sort of creature as Melkor and she, sort of.

Not easily, no, but it can only hit back at her with whips of scorching fire and those don't do as much against stone as they should.

Well, her stone is just plain old regular rock - there's just a lot of it. Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash.

How are the elves doing? Because at the very moment they look like they're giving up this suicide charge, she's going to lift them the hell out of here.

The Balrogs do seem to have prompted them to reconsider the attempt to take Angband.

Is the one she was wailing on dead yet? No? Fine. Out with you, have fun flying through the air for a minute or two.

She goes and puts up a short wall to defend the barely-coherent mass of elves from further attack, then works on cracking the ground under them free as a solid plate.

The Balrogs stand back. They're clearly not used to having even opposition on the playing field.

And then the elves and some soon-to-be-former Orcs that got caught on her platform are moving back towards their walled fort on a flying platform of rock.

"If you lot stop showing such terrible judgment I might, some day, explain how to make artillery. As is you'd probably blow yourselves up with it."

"We have more experience with engineering than with war," he says, but not very heatedly, because moving through the air at high speeds by someone slightly irritated with you. "And thank you."

She sets them down near their hasty wall.

"Can the Orcs plausibly be spared? Depending on their own willingness to go peaceably, which might be limited. They are - rather hateful, those I've talked to."

"We haven't had the chance to interact with any peaceable. What we were told back in Valinor is that orcs are Elves who have been tortured and magically bound into the service of the Enemy, and they despise him but still serve him, and they are in constant pain. It's probably kinder to kill them."

"I'll keep this in mind when interviewing prisoners. If you're decent at engineering, someone will have plans for an improved fort sooner or later, yes? While I'm getting fed up with your lot's... Decisions, you still deserve decent walls."

"I can send you what we were going to build, if that's helpful."

"I will probably at least help with some of it."

She mutters mnemonics about her own magic, to calm her frustration.

"Defeating the Enemy is a task of terrible urgency and totally unknown difficulty. We decided long ago that we preferred to die fruitlessly than miss a hope of success."

"...But your hope of success dies forever if you do." Sigh. "Here, have a copy of a map I made while flying." It appears, engraved in stone. "I'm going to go talk to some trapped Orcs."

"Yes, we realize that. But unless our hope of success is going to get better, dying sooner achieves as much as dying later. Have fun."

She probably can't do much about 'constant pain'. And she's decided that Orcs are on the bad end of morality, so now she has to stick to it despite vague misgivings unless she learns something that overturns her decision. But that doesn't mean she needs to kill helpless prisoners, hopefully.

She flies over to the nearest group of trapped Orcs and addresses one. "Hello. Your attack has, obviously, failed. I object to killing prisoners if an alternative is available. Unfortunately, returning you to Melkor is not acceptable. Are there any alternatives?"

They look confused for a minute. "You could drop us off elsewhere?"

"The problem becomes - how do I know you will remain harmless? If I can't be sure of that, I must choose an 'elsewhere' far enough away that you can't return easily. Which is difficult. There is only so much land."

"There is a great deal of land. It's a vast world, and mostly unoccupied."

"And you would rather be sent to some distant island and given some small help to build a home there, and stay there peacefully and promise to never attack elves or anyone else again?"

They look bewildered. "We can't promise that. Obviously we'll attack Elves if there are Elves."

"Why? Is your hatred so great that you cannot imagine ever setting it aside?"

"Yes," they all say unanimously. 

"We're orcs. We swear to hate Elves."

"...Is swearing binding?" They're all like the Irene, aren't they.

"Yes, of course it is."

She lets out a deep, deep sigh. "I could deliver to you a new home, or make one. But unless you will swear not to seek out elves, to merely hate them from afar and only attack them if they approach first, I cannot justify it."

"We cannot swear to do that; you can't give your word in a way that contradicts past oaths." They're staring at her, a bit confused she wouldn't know that already.

"I cannot allow you to go free to hurt elves later, as you would want, and it would be very difficult and I suspect also not to your wishes if I supervised a population of captured Orcs and prevented you from hurting elves whenever you tried. Can anyone think of an idea, a way to get around the oath's exact wording perhaps? ...I was told Orcs are always in constant pain, is this true?"

"Why would we want to betray our people and community for a stranger we've never met? You're not asking because you want to figure out how to resolve this peaceably, you're asking so you can feel no guilt when you kill us. This is our land. They invaded it. We have no desire to get around our enmity for them, nor they for us."

"Morality is a complicated question. The Valar other than Melkor insist that he and his creations are evil. Without having grown up here to have a fuller view of the question I choose to believe the overwhelming majority along with the evidence of your oath to hate elves, where outright hate is far beyond a desire to defend your land. You're right. I'm not sorry. It's a tragedy of the highest order that this fucking war exists at all, but I have to choose a side if I want to see an end. And I have. Do you have any funeral traditions or last requests that don't involve hurting elves?"

"Yeah, we like to ask our murderers not to monologue about how justified they are and the terrible price of war."

And then there are no longer any Orcs trapped in stone.

Damn it all.

They set to treating the injured and enchanting the fortifications so they stay that way.

She looks at the stars. Maybe she should have just left. Refused to get involved. No, she doesn't mean that, not really. But now she can't leave, it'd bother her for decades.

...Ignorance is bliss, isn't it.

She looks at the stars some more.

She builds a short, unmarked memorial out of sheer granite, stark against the local stone. Building things is more soothing than it ought to be. It's the one thing that is not so uncertain.

And she goes and asks the elves what changes they might like to those fortifications.

The Elves have a lot of requests, but don't know which it makes the most sense to prioritize. If she lays the foundations like so they'll be able to have plumbing.

Normally, she'd be dispensing civil engineering advice here, but she's in a very foul mood about how conflict seems so damned unavoidable sometimes. She'll do about a half of a town's worth of foundations before flying off.

That's fine; they were expecting to have to do it all. They're not sure they wouldn't have preferred that. Temperamental powerful deities were easily as dangerous as living in Beleriand without walls.

What a fucking mess. An entire continent of tragedies, an entire race she's condemning by taking this stance. But she has all the information available.

Or does she? Probably, yes, but it's a cheap test.

"Eru Ilúvatar. If you are listening, I would greatly appreciate it if you spoke with me."

Eru Ilúvatar is not inclined to be helpful.

'The ends justify the means' never quite sat right with her. Its cousin 'suffering now, benefit in the long run' is only slightly better.

But both of them are better than allowing such a powerful being who has crossed the line several times over to just keep on finding new lines to cross. The long run is worse off with Melkor in it.

She goes back to the elves and apologizes for her foul mood and abrupt departure, and finishes the foundations and asks if anyone would be willing to teach her the local magic, probably as a trade and hopefully as a start to a less tense working relationship.

The Elves like teaching their magic! Does she eat? She's welcome to come in and have something warm to drink, if so, and get the lecture...

"I do eat, though I don't necessarily have to. Thank you. I might like to give a lecture of my own, once I have a better idea what of my knowledge is new and useful to you and - safe to experiment with."

"We'd enjoy hearing it." And they describe how Elves do magical items, in more and more depth as she demonstrates conceptual understanding. 

She sips whatever hot drink is on offer and takes notes in very small script on thin slate tablets. She seems to be leaning heavily on a different set of concepts for analogies, and admits that her sort of magic does not appear to work in this world, which is rather a shame because it appears to be easier to learn- though somewhat less tractable to producing arbitrary results with enough effort.

There doesn't appear to be an elementary display of magic she could manage in a few hours as a proof-of-concept, so she probes for likely fields of knowledge that she would know enough about to give a lecture on. Civil engineering, waterworks, and the art and science of building things, perhaps. Or metalwork, or chemistry, or mining, or biology, or languages and her world's history if they want interesting over useful though perhaps that category ought to wait.

They would love lectures on any of those things though are sort of overwhelmed with tasks, having newly arrived on the continent. 

In that case, she thanks them for taking the time to give her an introductory magic lecture and hopes that her construction has made the tasks number somewhat less. She will leave for now and think about what to lecture on and perhaps be back in a few days.

Lovely! The other host, are they safe wherever they are?

"Last I checked they were safely walking along the stretch of road I made for them. No Orcs for hundreds of miles, and no terrible danger from the cold. I believe they plan to settle here." Mental impression of pointing at a spot on a map.

"Thank you."

And off she flies back to the north. There are other visibly populated areas, right, she should probably visit those eventually even if there will be language trouble if they're not elves. She knows a small but decent amount of - whatever this language is, she doesn't even have a name for it...

How are the north-elves doing?

They are crossing the road with supplies and all due speed!

Lo, the end of the road which they were fast approaching gains another two miles before she swings down and casts her mind out to ask, Hello. Before I produce more carts, I'd like to know what design flaws you've discovered in the prototype. Because there are going to be design flaws, that's just a fact of engineering.

They do have some suggestions, presented with more confidence than any of their other requests of her; engineering is different that negotiating with mysterious powers.

Some requested changes insightful, some are reasonable, some are problematic and she lands to produce sketches and explain how and why - the chain would be subject to shear stress if she did that, the roll-bar could be liable to attempt to occupy the same space as a pedal in sharp turns if... Actually it already does that, any suggestions on how to make it not?

(This is fun)

They're also tremendously enjoying it, and the suggestions get more confident and more parties involved.

Soon they will have a very elegant set of sketches for bicyle-cart thing mark two. She keeps two sets of plans evolving alongside each other - one tooled for being easy for her to make and another meant for people with less innate control over metal. The constraints contrast interestingly. Her natural inclination in engineering leans towards extreme durability, the kind of thing that ought to keep working flawlessly for centuries as long as nothing too far outside the intended use case happens to it.

She might be dragging this out a bit, continuing to refine well after it meets her approval for what was supposed to be a very quick project - but it's relaxing, and a good chance to actually get more familiar with some of the people involved here.

It is pretty stabilizing to do engineering rather than politics; he thinks it's good for everyone on their end, too. Perhaps she can do this for Fëanor. Perhaps he'd find it therapeutic.

Possibly but who even is Fëanor, this person who she had known as Maedhros?

At any rate, this particular engineering project is sufficiently done for her to decide to produce thirty carts. She intends to leave the first one as-is, as a relic, unless someone wants it updated.

They'll keep it, put it on a pedestal once they have a nice city on the other side. Thank you.

Since with these carts they are no necessarily longer limited to the pace of their slowest walkers and supply-haulers, she paves a long stretch of road, gently sloping up and down or forming bridges to deal with cliffs and rifts.

...She kind of wants a break from talking to these two warlike bands, even if engineering is relaxing. So she takes a tour of the continent, flying at supersonic speed perhaps two miles above the surface, refining her map and trying to identify any populations she hasn't interacted with yet.

There's a forest that's hard to look at directly, there are walled cities along the coast. She's not going to be able to see aboveground signs of the Dwarves.

Well, her world-sense extends a few miles in a sphere around her. It's not inconceivable to discover them if she is lucky enough to fly directly over a Dwarven city, but for now she still does not know they exist.

The repellent forest is interesting, potentially worrying. It's the same sort of thing as Valinor's ward. She investigates the walled cities first, slowing to a stop several miles outside one and trying to project vague greetings.

This makes the people of Brithombar, who've only just broken the siege; very anxious; they gather armed on their walls, and ask Ulmo what's going on.

I come in peace, I mean no harm unless you're allied with Melkor, I am from another Creation and want to stop Melkor, I would swear it but I am not a type of being that can meaningfully swear the same way elves and orcs can.

Well. Being hostile probably won't save them anyway. They communicate their greetings and gratitude. 

She asks about what has happened recently, because as a visitor she is thoroughly deprived of all the history of this world. And relates the story of the two (separate) hosts of Noldorin elves that are crossing from Valinor to fight Melkor as well. One has already arrived and is getting established, one is still travelling.

If someone will swear to her that this walled city opposes Melkor, she will be extremely glad to beef up their fortifications a bit, and perhaps more aid when she knows them a bit better.

They are happy to swear that. These are the Falas, and Ulmo protects them so her aid is perhaps more needed elsewhere. They've already met the first host of Elves, one of their princes rode here with cavalry and helped break the siege on Brithombar.

"Strengthening walls does not take too much time, but I would certainly appreciate it if you tell me of places that may need my help more urgently."

As far as they know the only people with walls to strengthen are them and Doriath, and Doriath is probably managing though now that it's clear they'll send messengers.

That's good. But reinforcing the walls is not really difficult to her, even impressive walls like these can still be improved, surely?

They would be grateful for her aid and improvements. Doriath probably wouldn't be, they don't have stone walls and it wouldn't fit their aesthetic.

Then she'll help where she's wanted and not where she's not.

She could strengthen the existing walls without changing their shape at all, or discuss siegeworks with someone and work out ways in which it would be desirable to extend them. The first thing is, obviously, much faster, and she rather likes the sentiment 'If it isn't broken, don't fix it' at least in some circumstances.

Yeah, they're pretty content with their walls under the circumstances, stronger but not more complicated seems the way to go. If that's all right?

Perfectly fine. She approaches the walls a little closer and evaluates how they were built and maintained.

Carelessly; they were clearly trying very hard but didn't know what they were doing.

She keeps up a running mental lecture on how-to-make-wall as she goes through, for anyone who's interested enough to listen.

It's not bad work, exactly, but not starting right has done this and that and the other thing... Without terrakinesis they'd have to tear the whole thing down, clear it, and start over. Cracks caused by water faults can be closed up, the foundation properly sunk in, access tunnels reinforced, unseen faults in the bricks or the ground accounted for, proper drainage installed, places where the walls have sunk shored up, the cracking mortar between bricks replaced by a much more weather-resistant sort of substance... She finds it very relaxing. It takes almost a full day.

"Thank you for the opportunity to do something constructive."

"Thank you for helping. We've been under siege for years, it's been desperate."

"Wars that last for years are outside of my experience. I don't know what is needed during them. In my home though, among others like me, there are lines you do not cross or you. Lines like destroying continents and torture and starting wars. Melkor has done all that and probably more. How else can I help oppose him?"

"...that's really hard to answer. Go fight him? We're not - we wouldn't stand a chance, but perhaps something like you would..."

"I plan to periodically harass him but I believe a direct assault without assistance is unlikely to succeed. I am not a Vala, the battle is not fair. So what I want is backup and to be a force multiplier without that making things worse. Would Doriath be offended if you told me how to visit them and introduce myself?"

"Probably not - afraid, maybe, but not offended - " and they point her towards Doriath.