Curufin waits for Ten-Nank to speak again, his face patient and attentive. He is profoundly interested in all that the Ministry official has to say.
"Yes, I know that many types of beings exist. You are a fragment of a universe? I'd like to hear more about that, if you'd care to tell me. But how would you confirm the state of planets that have had people kidnapped who were significant to those planets? You'd have to go there and see, would you not? Is that part of your job?"
"You think I don't understand the Void's capabilities and limitations, and those of the crafts that use it? I can agree with you that I have limited understanding of the Void. But I know it both from inside a craft and from journeying through it in spirit form. I left the last world I lived in, Hadriel, by disembodying and passing through its walls into the Void. I drifted for eight months until the Voidtrecker Express picked me up and set me on the Void platform. The instant my foot touched the platform, I re-embodied. What you say about Elves is more or less true. We can reincarnate if we die, but that is not rebirth, it is re-embodiment in our own familiar forms. We can do that because we are large, powerful spirits with a physical manifestation, the body. If we die, the body remains in the memory of the spirit and the spirit can manifest it again simply by remembering it accurately. And we can disembody without dying, and re-embody without the help of our gods, though not all Elves know this. And as for the rules, I'd agree that my world can be violated by outside existences. Our gods had a renegade brother who tried to destroy our planet. But if you mean outside existences such as Voidcraft, I suppose you're right about that, too. In theory, beings from other universes could visit Arda. It's just that I never saw it happen while I was living my life there. I suppose the Voidtrecker must have gotten very near Arda or actually entered it, in order to collect my parents and two of my brothers and one of my cousins, so I can see what you mean by a rule."
no subject
"Yes, I know that many types of beings exist. You are a fragment of a universe? I'd like to hear more about that, if you'd care to tell me. But how would you confirm the state of planets that have had people kidnapped who were significant to those planets? You'd have to go there and see, would you not? Is that part of your job?"
"You think I don't understand the Void's capabilities and limitations, and those of the crafts that use it? I can agree with you that I have limited understanding of the Void. But I know it both from inside a craft and from journeying through it in spirit form. I left the last world I lived in, Hadriel, by disembodying and passing through its walls into the Void. I drifted for eight months until the Voidtrecker Express picked me up and set me on the Void platform. The instant my foot touched the platform, I re-embodied. What you say about Elves is more or less true. We can reincarnate if we die, but that is not rebirth, it is re-embodiment in our own familiar forms. We can do that because we are large, powerful spirits with a physical manifestation, the body. If we die, the body remains in the memory of the spirit and the spirit can manifest it again simply by remembering it accurately. And we can disembody without dying, and re-embody without the help of our gods, though not all Elves know this. And as for the rules, I'd agree that my world can be violated by outside existences. Our gods had a renegade brother who tried to destroy our planet. But if you mean outside existences such as Voidcraft, I suppose you're right about that, too. In theory, beings from other universes could visit Arda. It's just that I never saw it happen while I was living my life there. I suppose the Voidtrecker must have gotten very near Arda or actually entered it, in order to collect my parents and two of my brothers and one of my cousins, so I can see what you mean by a rule."