"The timing's pretty close to inexcusable," nods Boots.

"Anyway, Miriel'd been dead six Years when he remarried, and Fëanáro stopped talking. At all. For about four years. I'd started on alphabets by then, and I'd write him notes, and he'd write back, but -"

"Oh no."

"And when he started again it wasn't any better because he and his stepmother would fight - it was always Fëanáro starting it but he - he's a good kid if you figure out how to communicate with him, and she couldn't, for whatever reason - anyway, he'd accuse her of being a manipulative whore who'd thrown herself at his grieving father before he'd pulled himself far enough out of his depression to chain two thoughts together, she'd say 'I make him happy; you make him miserable' -"

"Ouch."

"He avoided his sister as much as he could when she was born, and when his brother was born he ran away from home and we didn't see him for fifteen Years."

"Where'd he go?"

"Mahtan's. He sent us monthly updates, we knew he was safe, but at Fëanáro's request I did not visit and every time his father tried Fëanáro was forewarned and ran away. Apprenticed with Mahtan, apprenticed with Aulë, married at forty-eight in some tiny mining town up north, returned back home to tell his father he had a grandson."

"...how'd that go over?"

"Finwë's matured. Too late, but. He apologized to Fëanáro for remarrying, apologized to him for failing to be there for him, said he was honored to meet his daughter-by-marriage and grandson. Fëanáro wanted a public essecarmë - the naming ceremony, at six weeks - four days out. He said it was fine if Indis and his half-siblings attended. The whole city did.

And he announced that the child's name was Nelyafinwë."

Sigh.

"And Finwë welcomed Nelyafinwë, his first grandson, and Fëanáro's half-brother burst into tears and ran off crying, and Fëanáro and Nerdanel bought themselves a nice place on the outskirts of the city and gradually Fëanáro repaired his relationship with his father but he never even tried for a relationship with his two half-brothers and two half-sisters. The youngest of whom, Arafinwë, himself ran away underage to Alqualondë, married there very young, and rarely returned to Tirion."

"Hasty relationship decisions run in the family, huh."

"Fëanáro and Nerdanel'd known each other well for fifteen Years at that point. Getting out of a bad home environment by marrying into a different one runs in the family, and is just as unhealthy."

Nod.

"Anyway. Fëanáro and Nerdanel have six more; Nolofinwë marries and has four of his own, Arafinwë does as well, the cousins all get along well enough that there were high hopes Fëanáro and Nolofinwë'd eventually be forced to get along just by the cheerful pressure of eleven highly energetic young people. And then the Valar pardon Melkor."

"Who proceeds to ruin everything, of course."

"Yes. Very subtly. All of those relationships fell apart, bit by bit, and once everyone'd been maneuvered into not trusting each other he arranges for Fëanáro to hear that his brother's going to try to get him disowned and arrested, and that if that fails he should expect to die in a convenient accident. And he arranges for Nolofinwë to hear that Fëanáro's trying to get his family exiled from Valinor, and that if that fails he should expect an attempt on his life. And so Nolofinwë does go to Finwe and try to get Fëanáro arrested, and Fëanáro walks in on their conversation and pulls out a gun -"

"...sorry, gap in my education -"

"Phaser but it throws small metal objects instead of beams."

"- okay, go on?"

"And Fëanáro tells Nolofinwë not to speak out against him again, and Nolofinwë ignores him and walks out - which was the correct way to handle it, incidentally - 

- Finwë bans everyone from carrying weapons, tells both his children that no one is getting arrested or disowned or exiled and to cut it out, and seems content to leave it at that, Indis appeals to the Valar and they sentence Fëanáro to a hundred twenty years in exile."

"- did she, like, consult anyone before she did that...?"

"She and Finwë had a lot of fights over whether he was handling it too leniently. Which he was, obviously -"

"There is nothing so lenient that it can't be tilted the other direction by involving panicky Valar."