A Stiff Northern Breeze by Himring

Bonus ficlet: Engineering and Diplomacy

Curufin is a genius--he doesn't need to be there to solve technical difficulties.
So why should he bother to be tactful?

These are the letters Curufin and Fingon exchanged about Fingon's building project, an episode alluded to in the conversation between Fingon and Maedhros above.

Gen.

(Curufin:)

He picked up the pen and added another set of annotations to the plans. He would not be present to supervise and could not risk Melimo misinterpreting instructions.

To Findekano, greetings. Cousin, it has come to my attention that you are building a fortress upon a cliff in the Ered Wethrin and that you have chosen Melimo as chief engineer of the project--who I am sure does well enough when he is building bridges for you. I am sending you a set of possible construction plans plus plans for necessary equipment.  Please make sure Melimo implements these correctly.

Curufinwe

(Fingon:)

He picked up the pen and wrote, smiling:

Dear Curvo, I am much beholden to you for your assistance with our latest project and indebted to Russandol for bringing our problems to your attention.  Your plans have made the process of building so much safer and quicker and now we can effectively close off a possible route of attack. The pulleys, especially, are ingenious!  Melimo’s reports to me have been thoroughly enthusiastic. He begs humbly to offer a suggestion for a minor improvement on the design of the drawbridge. I enclose an annotated copy of the plans.

Yours gratefully, Fingon.

Chapter End Notes

Melimo is an OMC (also seen in action in "A Bridge in Dor-lomin", but not named there).

More background info, if required: Fingon (Findekano) is building his castle in the mountains surrounding Hithlum to close off a possible route of attack from Angband; Curufin (Curufinwe, Curvo) is in Himlad to the east and usually avoids returning west during this period.

The prompt for this double drabble, of course, was: He/she picked up the pen.