A lot of people even if one of them's your father? He knows to stop at "infohazard," and doesn't need to actually be able to build it if his reputation would make it believable.

That'd probably be the way to go, yes. I will tell him the reputation for working alone is paying its belated dividends.

He won't mind getting credit for an invention he can't replicate?

He'll probably add figuring out how to replicate it to his list of projects but it's a long list. If we suddenly need some of them and don't have your cooperation on building them anymore then it'd be a problem, but I'm sure we could cover for it.

The limit would be on how many we can make, which would require pretty much the same kinds of covering for it.

Everyone'd expect enchanting something like that to take minimum of a year. 

Okay, never mind. A Year is plenty of time to find the magical resources. Even the scaled-down version to what they'd find plausible rather than what they'd expect is probably plenty of time.

If enchanting were fast this war'd be much easier. I bet you could pull off heavier-than-air flight - 

- we had gliders, Findekáno was ridiculously good at it, he probably can't risk himself in one of those machines now but he'd have so much fun with it -

We can pull off heavier-than-air flight. At least basic heavier-than-air flight, I don't think I could describe a jet engine well enough to fake it with magic let alone build one.

You'd just have to describe it well enough my father could build one.

Has your home society had more time than us, or are they just more creative?

Probably the difference is mostly that it's more populous.

That'd do it. The larger industrial base - he sighs longingly. Was the question you've been working up to all afternoon the one about a more thorough oath, or is there anything else?

It was mostly that one. The other awkward question, Findekáno suggested it, was the contents of the ships. I couldn't tell him it wasn't your decision that ended up with all of it on this side. Do you think you could get away with sending it—or whatever of it should be theirs—back?

Some stuff, probably yes. Other stuff, I can get them something of comparable value but not the literal contents. It'll take a little finagling, but next time you come by I can have as much as you can carry.

On a scale involving multiple ships. Well, it's something.

I'll pass that on. Hopefully there don't turn out to be disagreements about what's important to whom.

Is Findekáno willing to talk to me?

He'd rather not. It– might very well change if he knew you didn't start the fires.

I have thought about it a lot and I think he'd tell his father and then have fun interfacing with someone else in this camp - our spying is inconveniently good, I actually can't have them keeping secrets on my behalf - 

- what is owed to who is something best hashed out over a lot of inventory lists and by people who can credibly say that their side regards the solution as fair -

- does he read the letters I write him -

I don't think so. But I did emphasize not needing to know whether he does or not, so it's possible he does and doesn't want you to know he does–

Well. Tell them I'm working on getting them ship cargo, and if they have a preference ordering over how they get things returned to them then they should communicate such.

Will do.

Was there anything else we needed to cover?

Not on our end. Thank you for stopping by, as always.

I think that was everything on ours, too. Let me know if you wind up needing magic done on any almost workable inventions.

And back to the Nolofinweans.

What's he have to say?

He didn't do it. Hasn't told any of his people or indirectly encouraged them to find clues, hasn't been playing games with who counts as his people to get around it... I really should have just asked that stuff the first time around.

And he can't guarantee all the contents of the ships themselves but says he's working on that or equally valuable things. We should send a list of what's how important.