I think there were lots of opportunities for people to understand and it's the Valar who would have needed to get it and they're - dense.

And they don't even want to be better. Or not badly enough, anyway.

Melkor uses all the good things about people against them. The wanting to talk, wanting to understand, wanting to trust - wanting to do the right thing - and I'm not saying you should fight him by giving up on talking and understanding and trusting and doing the right thing but - but I feel safer, when they treat us like strangers, when they act vaguely bewildered at the reminder that in normal interpersonal interaction everything they did is pretty far out of line -

I guess that's a good reason to be set up that way.

If they haven't gotten there in a couple of years then we can be disappointed Fëanáro's children turned out with such poor judgment.

All right. I guess I should have that much patience by now.

She pauses. She looks up at him.

He looks back at her.

- he blushes again.

"In my notes it said you were the one who told me about adulthood starting at fifty," she remarks.

"I think I didn't really think it through very much!!"

"I was going to just - wait out my remaining eleven years and then maybe seek clarification on whether they counted for the full amount of time or if the timeslide should count against me - before even thinking about it -"

"We can do that if you would like!"

"We obviously cannot since I have already thought about it!"

"- hmmm.

I guess there's nothing for it, then," he says, "and we should just kiss."

- she laughs, and floats up to kiss him.

Oh good!! This is the best thing that has ever happened!

It might well be!

Once the debrief is done and it seems like things have quieted down, Leareth looks for Maitimo.

(In the background, he's quietly frustrated about the entire interaction with Bella. It seems like he can't do reasonable ally things even when he's trying, and it's also impossible to communicate about it without just making things worse, and at this point he would kind of prefer to ignore the situation for a while and let it cool off rather than try to address it again, even though he probably should try to address it eventually. There has to be a reason why it didn't actually seem like a live option to talk to Bella first, but he doesn't have good enough recall of what he was thinking at the time to unravel it.) 

"Do you still need me here?" he asks Maitimo once he tracks him down. 

"No. You're of course always welcome - and might want to seriously consider relocating some of your operations, you wouldn't have to tell me where but should probably tell me whether to reserve a chunk of the continent - but I think we've checked everything anyone can think of related to the evil gods being gone, and the orcs almost certainly won't be organized enough to challenge us and if they do Vanyel will have an unpleasant day but the city'll hold.

If you send my father an overview of your plans he'll be able to figure out who we should be recruiting to take a look at them."

The offer is confusing and kind of unsettling, for reasons he doesn't fully understand, but Leareth nods. "Thank you. I will consider it, and let you know as promptly as I can about any continent reservations. If you need me to return urgently, Vanyel knows the inter-world communication spell and ought to be able to contact me with it, or of course Bella can use the earcuff if she is here." 

Nod. "Good skill."

"I wish you the same." And Leareth searches around for Bella's mind, taps on her shields to see if she's busy. 

She has eventually stopped kissing Rúmil and headed back to the infirmary for straggling patients, but like she said, that doesn't take her full attention. Yeah?

:I would like to return to my Velgarth, whenever is a convenient time for you: 

Come meet me in the infirmary and I can do it between heals.

He heads over. 

She nods at him and teleports them both to his place. "Rúmil's there and knows the spell too, so I can spare a minute for your alt now if he's up for it."