[piosenniel]

Tulë rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation and sighed. Pulling the navigational chart of the Isle's waters up close to him, he ran his index finger along the possible positions of Amandil's seven ships. 'They might be anywhere off here.' he said, pointing to the eastern coastal waters. He drummed his fingers on the map, murmuring to himself, 'How could I forget that!'

'What about this as a possibility?' he asked, looking at Mithadan. 'Can we get one of the palantíri from the ships? Perhaps even one of the smaller, hand held ones? It would not take a large one to be able to contact the Master-stone on Avallonë. What do you think? Might this be a viable option for us?'

Mithadan raised his eyebrows in response to this question, and shook his head decisively. 'Absolutely not! We can't go sneaking onto a Númenorean ship. We'd be thrown into the hold, thrown overboard, or killed outright! And beside that, there are seven ships. We have no idea which ship has the palantíri, or if they are cached on more than one.'

The elf looked at the map he had been working on and pushed it from him in frustration. 'I'm getting the idea, Mithadan, that we are nixing the palantíri plan, then, completely. Correct?!'

'Correct.'

'So what do you see as being a workable option for us, now?' asked Tulë.

Mithadan thought for a moment. 'Well, you were able to contact Angara as she flew from Northern Beleriand, and you were able to link the ship and skiffs today - is there a way you can send the message to the Teleri through osanwe?'

Tulë blanched, and rubbed his temples with his fingers. 'Osanwe?! I have never tried such a distance as that!'

'Still, I can see no other way, Tulë.'

'Well, then, I shall have to put in some practice time, also.' He smiled and shook his head at the distance. 'I hope Child has an ample supply of headache powder!'

He pulled the sea map of Númenor and Aman toward him and studied the distance to Tol Eressëa from the southern waters of Númenor. 'Our next question is, since we have agreed on the means of communication, is to figure out when to send the message.'

Mithadan looked at the map and drew his finger along the possible line of approach for the swan-ships. Above that, he pencilled in lightly the path that Ar-Pharazôn and his armada would take. 'I believe we know that the invasion will take about thirty-nine days to reach Túna from the Isle. Do you know how fast the Telerin ships can travel?'

'At this moment, I have no ideas on that. Would any of your sources have information we might use for our calculations?'

Mithadan shrugged and said he didn't know, but that he would look through them.

'Good enough, then.' said the elf, getting up from the bed. 'Let's go up on deck for a bit and stretch our legs, maybe catch some fresh air to clear our heads. We can put our heads together tomorrow to figure out a few more details.'

[ September 01, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]