"That's probably a kindness. And not what I'm referring to."

"Then no, I have not."

"Then stay." She sits back down. "They're alive? Olwë never knew. We grew up knowing - you have family across the sea, in terrible danger, it is inappropriate to desire to do anything about it."

Loki sits. "The king - everyone has so many names, I can't remember which one is the one you'd know - met a Maia and they apparently stared at each other for three hundred years, and then got married and at some point came into possession of a kingdom. They have an enchanted forest and a charming daughter."

"I am overjoyed to hear it." She indeed almost smiles. "And Findekáno presumably collapsed into paroxysms of self-flagellation?"

"A bit."

"He apologized and we refused to accept his apology and we figured that we'd just civilly avoid each other, it's a big host. But he's been hard to avoid, these last few days, he's either trying suicide by overwork or just thinking that the sooner he fixes literally every problem anyone has the sooner he can try suicide-by-Melkor."

"It will be easier to rehabilitate orcs if you get into the habit of referring to the Enemy by any name other than that. And Findekáno was very distressed to hear that Maitimo was captured."

"Mm."

"What's Elwë like? What's my mother's cousin like?"

"He is a... conservative ruler and fonder of the Valar than most people I have met so far - and a good singer. Lúthien, his daughter, is very friendly, less formal. I think in some ways her mind works like mine."

"Smart, magical, eager to fix stuff, tends to think of people as obstacles instead of -" she waves a hand - "I never really understood what you're supposed to think of them instead?"

"She seems smart, magical, and eager to fix stuff. I don't think she tends to think of people as obstacles, at least principally. She volunteered, unprompted, very empathetic reads of actions that she might have reasonably resented instead." It was attractive.

"I'd like to meet her. The complication, of course, is that it'd be a betrayal of the host that my uncle lead across the ice, some of whose members are innocent, to tell my great-uncle Elwë that the new arrivals betrayed and slaughtered and robbed his family and set their stolen gifts on fire on the opposite shore. And it'd be a betrayal of my family here to let them try to decide whether to trust us without knowing that."

"I think your great uncle is already biased against trusting anyone who participated in the fight in Valinor, so he may not need the extra information if that is the only reason you'd bring it up."

"Well, he also deserves to know the fate of his family."

"It may be that his conservatism and responsibility to his subjects would win over any impulses to act destructively on the information, I suppose; I don't know."

Nod.

"Can I ask a question that will probably anger and offend you?"

"Yes."

"What's it going to take for you to regret saving Fëanor? I promise not to say 'I told you so' when the day comes, I just really want to know what day I'd be right to say I told you so. Not to you, to Findekáno, who apparently had no objections when you asked him."

"I will regret it if I think that the likeliest result of letting him die would have been better, all things considered, than whatever comes to pass in this version of reality. Presently his being alive enforces his oath on his people and gave me someone to think of something I could not when I and my first captive orc had run out of ideas on how I could safely let her live and earns me the goodwill of his faction, which I have partially converted into the return of some of your host's possessions. The rest may be delivered by converted orcs, who ironically are least likely to start a fight in so doing."

"So, not until he kills a lot more people."