"Yeah? You can stay here. It keeps him away."

"The problem is actually that the Fëanorians are freaking out. They don't need to relocate the Silmaril, there's a way around that, but they're not going to be able to calm down without being able to convince their oath that they have it. When I have interdimensional transit if I manage what I'm going to try to manage I can hand out free will like it's candy and then they can sit down and shut up about the damn things but for now it would make them less perpetually distracted in their war efforts - which are significant, even if there were unintended consequences to the nuke and that was my idea anyway - if Celebrimbor could hang out here pretending to have custody of the Silmaril."

"They swore an oath to have the Silmarils in their possession? How blindingly, dangerously, unspeakably stupid - we can't have Noldor in Doriath, you are welcome to hang out pretending to have custody of it..."

"It was intensely stupid. I'm not going to argue with that. As soon as I have the means I am going to rescue them from their idiot mistake. I can ask if they can settle for me instead, but it's likely they can't. It's just one Noldo. You can probably ask them for whatever you want, if you feel like exploiting how stupid they are, if you make this one concession."

"I'll discuss it with my father."

"Thank you. - Please try."

"It's not that I particularly want them distracted, but I don't especially expect it to matter."

"It might. It looks like the next step in the war is me getting out of this dimension, and technically I could do that parked in Valinor ignoring everything if I had to, but when interim things come up they've been consistently excellent about turning up with help that serves shorter-term needs like 'where should I put ten thousand Men' and 'how can I see Maiar so I can kill Gorthaur' and stuff like that."

"If they hadn't committed the Kinslaying the Valar would have intervened by now."

"They've done intensely, stunningly stupid things. Unfortunately, some of those intensely stunningly stupid things are going to make it difficult to impossible for them to try to do compensatory good of any kind unless they have help."

"In exchange for one Noldo having leave to stay here pretending to supervise the Silmaril, I want them to agree to cooperate in a trial for war crimes when the war is over."

"Would you like me to relay this suggestion now or after you talk to your father?"

"I just did speak with him."

"Well," Maedhros says, "she's grown into her own just a little."

"Yeah."

"Do you think there's a counteroffer she'd accept?"

"Not sure. She's gotten harder to read and she was talking to her father, who I find even less comprehensible."

"Alright," he says. "Father, my recommendation is that we accept and I go."

"I was expecting Celebrimbor, I'm not sure if that will make a difference to them."

"He has the power to take it and leave; I don't. With him the pretense of cooperation would be mutual; I'm genuinely their prisoner." His voice doesn't miss a beat there but it almost does. "If it makes a difference to them it should be in our favor."

"I'll sit down for a trial for Alqualondë the day Elu answers me how many people were cut down by orcs a meter from Doriath's borders, knowing if they crossed it they'd die at the hands of Elves instead."

"What's your plan B, then?"