"We are very fortunate that he had somewhere to go. - I talked to the Valar about whether, in light of circumstances having changed so much, the Outer Lands might make their own decision as to the duration of his exile. They're - considering it."

"It's not their authority," Fëanáro says distractedly. "He could just show up and let Turukáno decide whether to kick him out - and he'll decide not to - Eonwë is not going to personally show up to enforce it."

"Is Turukáno still King, then."

"Well, I'm not going to rule a city on some stupid gods-bothered planet where I can't have my Silmarils and where they claim authority over whether I can have my children."

- Maitimo blinks at him, startled.

"-I haven't decided yet what I think of you but I certainly don't expect the Valar's opinions to improve matters! No, we'll found a Noldorin city here, assuming you'll have us and assuming Treven will give me the Silmarils back."

"Treven will be delighted to return the Silmarils," Telumë says, after a moment spend finding his balance. "He knows Valdemar is not in a position to make good use of them. And I can speak only for the north, but - yes, of course we will have you, and there is plenty of empty land here, if you are willing to accept the cold climate and needing weather-barrier domes. You could also speak to Treven about building a city in Valdemar, if you prefer." 

"I should talk to Foundation and make sure he's satisfactory before we set up within his remit but I don't think we'll mind the cold. What do you think of him," he says to Maitimo.

"Of Foundation? I think he is substantially more competent and decent than the Valar though it would not surprise me if you were to eventually find yourself chafing at living under any god, even one who actually knows better than you and is smarter than you. - maybe especially that."

"I mean, if he were uniformly smarter than me I wouldn't want to live under him, I'd be - redundant. I want to be somewhere where I'm thinking of things that haven't already been thought of. But - that's not quite how Velgarth gods are, right, he can mostly only see what we are ourselves inventing and doing, even if he sees it before we do."

"I would not particularly expect you to be redundant."

"I agree. I think Foundation would find your presence here of great value, actually, he benefits hugely from more clever people studying fields and inventing things here, especially if those people are willing to talk to him." Telumë doesn't particularly think of his god as male, but he usually follows other people's lead when they're discussing it, to avoid confusion. "You ought to make your own decision on it, though, and I am not in any particular rush for it. We can retrieve the Silmarils first, you need not have decided already." 

"I don't think I will, yet. It's not urgent, so long as -"

"So long as Maitimo has somewhere to go," Nerdanel finishes the sentence for him when he doesn't seem inclined to.

"I lived in Rethwellan, while I was deciding whether I wanted to be married. For about the ordinary length of a Valian engagement, really, though I admit it's traditional to do it before the marriage."

"Is he evil?" he asks Telumë.

If not for Foundation, Telumë might not be able to answer so instantly or confidently, but, in fact, Foundation exists, so: "No." Fond look in Maitimo's direction. "He is not exactly the same as before; there are some areas where he still holds opinions comparable to Sauron's, but, well, Sauron was not wrong about everything." 

He resists the urge to add that he, too, would be considered kind of evil by a lot of commonly-held moral systems; he understands the desire to do that, to try to preempt people being shocked and betrayed at what he's been willing to do, but - it doesn't really help, anymore, to constantly give that disclaimer. "Anyway, by my value system - and I expect by yours - he is not at this point evil. You will notice that I am not at all concerned about having him in my city, helping me build its future." 

"I had noticed that but I knew you to have poor judgment around him, so."

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I betrayed you, and I specifically misused - your inclination to try to decide whether I could be worthy of your trust again - and I did it to hopefully kill an extra couple hundred thousand people by ensuring the Silmarils were in the hands of the Valar. I don't know how to fix that, but it did not take me long to throw away every part of me that was willing to have done it."

"Oh, I'm not mad about that. You were evil, of course you were going to do evil things. My complaint here is that my son, who was not evil, went several hundred Years not telling us that he was capable of this sort of thing. Why not?"

"Oh. Uh -"

A lot of conflicting feelings VERY LOUDLY and then - 

"I tried, for a while, when I was little and didn't know how to want anything other than your approval. And then I got older, and I wanted things you might not like, and so it didn't suit me, for you to have the measure of me closely enough to notice if any of it was pointed in some other direction. I guess you could conceive of that as thousands of years of betrayal, if you wanted. But you always had most of me - as much as you needed -"

"Did I."

"Yes. I had set everything else aside, by the time Leareth arrived, to pursue your stupid feud. I loved a man - I didn't tell you - for a thousand years, and I had a plan to kill him, if you picked that fight, and it looked like you were going to."