[ Curufin smiles. He finds it odd and interesting to be thought of as a survivor of a fairytale world. And he understands well those remarks about the fierceness of one's own people. ]

Elves and mortals are well-matched for ferocity, I guess. It was so in my world, too. Perhaps it is not your youth as a people that causes you to be so brutal -- maybe there is another explanation. Maybe. . . [ A wistful expression crosses his face. He's a pragmatic man, but behind the intense focus on the immediate, his mind and imagination range far, into stranger worlds even than the ones he has lived in. He has thoughts that are not easily put into words, and some of them are about this problem of the violence of his race and other races. But he will not talk philosophy unless invited. ]

You have gods to guide you through the maelstrom of existence? Was this Infernian by any chance one of the gods, or something of that nature, before the betrayal? If so, our worlds have something in common! And tell me, do they really help? Or do they become part of the problem, even if unwittingly? They have not been able to protect you from this plague, the Starscourge? And what is this Crystal you speak of? -- it sounds like a holy object or concept. And the Oracle?

The battle goes on, and you must fight it, generation after generation. [ How similar are the universes! Curufin has talked to few people who do not tell the same story or a variation of it. ] And your son must fight it in his turn. [ He smiles, and it is a smile as sad as Regis's. ]

I know well how you must feel. Your Noctis and my Celebrimbor are of the same temperament. And you must have faith in Noctis, no matter how difficult is the future to which he must go. That is all that a loving father can do, once he has nurtured his child and educated him for the world he must live and strive in.

We do hope that, don't we -- that they may surpass us in strength, and in wisdom?

Is your son here with you, in Hadriel?