...

"I said I've never seen war. I didn't say I've never killed anyone."

Another distant smile. "Far be it from me to challenge your credentials in personal violence, then."

"I'm sorry. I do know--it's not the same thing. But I..." one of her hands curls into a fist. "I am as sure as I can be that I will not falter when it matters. How well I'll cope when I have a moment to myself--that I don't know. But that's not what matters, in the end. Is it."

"No." He shakes his head. "Twenty-one. Do you need anything else from me?"

...He's concerned for her, because she's so young, she realizes privately. It seems almost backwards--at least she knows that bad things happening to her is bad, even if it's less important than other peoples' lives--but it does make sense.

"No, I don't think so. Not at the moment, at least."

"Very well. I'm going to continue practicing, then." And he glares a rock on his desk into dust, starts painfully reconstructing it.

It's late, so she returns to the guest room she slept in last night. She can go take her feelings out on spiders tomorrow.

In the morning there's training in the courtyard again. This time they have left her a change of clothes. There's a dress that clearly has no practical uses, and a men's uniform, both folded next to breakfast.

She's actually slightly tempted by the dress, since if she has to engage in actual melee something has already gone far wrong, but--assuming things aren't going to go far wrong seems like a terrible idea at this point. She dons the uniform.

He nods as soon as she steps within view. "I apologize for the limited options; our people have less physical differentiation between genders than Men."

"I appreciate it, regardless. I think now would be a good time to see what can be done about spiders, and then I can come back and see what else I can meaningfully teach you once you've had more of a chance to practice with what you already know."

"Thank you. Travel safely; send my brothers my regards." This, like almost everything else, is said with an air of faint irony. He concentrates and the rock in front of him crumbles. He concentrates more and it starts to piece itself together.

Someday she is going to be a Great Mage, and someday she is going to become so powerful she could tear the earth apart, and someday she's going to destroy this Enemy utterly.

And in the meantime she can fly in a direction that will ultimately get her to a spider-infested forest where she can turn some giant arachnids into goo.

The plains eventually turn into mountains; there's a pass through them, or if her flight has enough altitude she could go over them.

She was supposed to give Maedhros' regards to his brothers, whatever baggage might be attached to that. She'll follow roughly the path that a non-flying person would.

The pass is well-defended; there are two fortresses, bristling with archers, but the message must have preceded her because they do not fire.

How did he even get a letter here? Not the point. Is there anyone visible from the air?

The archers at the ramparts are recognizably humanoid, if not identifiable beyond that.

She descends.

One of the archers pulls his helmet off to reveal rather a mane of long, blond hair. He appears to be smiling at some private joke, but it's a happier smile than she'd seen on Maedhros. "Our otherworldly visitor," he says. "Welcome to the Pass of Aglon."

"Thank you. To whom do I have the honor of speaking?"

"Celegorm son of Fëanor," he says, "my brother says you spoke to him. You're Odette Zavier?"

"Yes. He sends his regards. So far the things I have found useful to do here are teaching him and his people magic, and I'm going to kill giant spiders to see how difficult it is so as to have a point of comparison for what kinds of the Enemy's creatures I can take on and how long it will take to learn to do more serious damage to him."

He likes her immediately. "Sounds good. Spiders are thataways."

"Would you like me to show you the basics of how my magic works? Getting very good at it is a major time and effort investment, but one of the basic exercises I started your brother's people on was deflecting projectiles. For that matter, as long as I'm here, is there anyone with old wounds that could use fixing? I regenerated your brother's hand and cleared up some chronic pain issues he had been having."