Then he should get them dinner before he sings Leareth to sleep!

This is a sensible plan!

:I love you: Leareth tells him, sleepily, and it feels good to say it, and also scary but he's pretty determined not to let the latter steer. 

And then he'll go find Vanyel.

Vanyel is in his room, working. He sets down his notes right away, though; he doesn't seem surprised at all to see Maitimo. "I wondered if you'd be by today." 

"Leareth said he'd talked to you. He, uh -" He activates his amulet. 

"He says that he wants to pursue a romantic relationship."

Vanyel nods. "He came to me earlier and - said he thought he was in love with you, and was trying to figure out what to do about it, basically. He was pretty unsure of himself about it. I said he needed to just talk to you, that you wouldn't be mad at him for bringing it up. I - well, he really caught me off guard, but I tried to give him sensible advice." 

"I'm not mad at him for bringing it up. I'm a little worried it's a bad idea. He's still very traumatized. But - he said that he wants - something in that space which isn't memories of Melkor, and I think I'd feel the same way if it were me, and I do love him, and - do you think it's very stupid to consider it -"

Vanyel blinks at him. "...Oh. I told Leareth you might not, er, reciprocate his feelings, but– that's good, I guess. Um. It seems risky? He's really vulnerable and you could probably hurt him a lot without meaning to. But, I mean - I told Leareth it might be a bad idea, but that I was proud of him for - being able to want something, I guess. I know that's felt really dangerous for him. And, I don't know, it feels - patronizing, or something, to tell him he can't have this thing he wants because it might hurt him. It's just risky." 

"- yeah. It is. I -

- I really don't want to hurt him but I also don't want to - it probably also hurts him, if we treat him like he's not competent to want things -

- it would be a lot simpler if I were not interested but he - when the amulet broke - he noticed -"

"Oh. That - I wondered what prompted him to bring it up now in particular. That's awkward. But...maybe good? If it got him to think about what he wanted, too." Vanyel shakes his head. "He was so alone, before - it didn't seem to bother him but it can't have been good for him even then." 

"I don't think it was. Sustainable, but not good for him - and now not even sustainable, maybe. And on Velgarth everyone was so young - no offense -"

"He already feels very close to you, that's been obvious for ages. That is the sort of conditions under which people fall in love. And, right, you can - well, keep up with him. Unlike all the tiny babies like me." He smiles a little. 

"You're - in a lot of important ways more mature than anyone in Arda, you know." He shakes his head. 

"If I am going to consider this - there's some stuff that I should not be simultaneously making decisions about - when he can have his magic back, whether he's stable enough to go return to his people in Velgarth if he wishes - would you be willing to be responsible for that, obviously I'll still tell you my opinions if I have them but I'll tell my people it's not our call -"

"–Oh, of course. That makes a lot of sense - I told Leareth, that was an aspect of it that seemed pretty concerning, but if you're willing to - that's much less uncomfortable. I can be responsible for those decisions. As long as I'm still allowed to ask you for advice." Vanyel frowns. "Has he spoken with Melody about this, do you know? I guess it's pretty private, but - well, if he's going to be doing things that risk running into a lot of really bad associations, it seems like a good idea for her to have context on it." 

- nod. "- I'm scared. Of people knowing. But that does seem like something he'd probably need."

“That makes sense. For what it’s worth, Melody is really, really trustworthy. She keeps a lot of people’s secrets.”

Nod. "I'll suggest it to him."

“I’m still a bit nervous about this. But I know you’ll be really careful, and,” crooked smile, “I can tell you love him a lot.”

"I am nervous too. But - 

- probably this is not as hard as fighting Melkor. And we figured that one out."

“I really hope it’s not! Er, good skill. And...you can always come to me if you want to talk through something - I’m not the best person in the world for relationship advice but, um, I guess at least I’m Leareth’s species, and I‘ve known him a long time.”

" - and your society has, uh, the concept that this is the kind of thing it is possible to do ethically at all instead of always being something it's awful to do to another person."

“...Right.“ Vanyel fidgets. “I - gods - I’m sorry. That your entire society is...like that. It’s not awful of you at all.”

"Sorry, I didn't mean to - you are not responsible for convincing Quendi to change how we think about - things -"

“I know. I’m - not trying to convince Quendi as a whole. Just...you.” Shrug. “It seems important, if you’re going to be, er, trying to show Leareth a reasonable healthy way to do this thing, right.”

" - yeah. Right. Um. I think that it matters a lot more to me, whether it's good for him, whether it makes him stronger, than - that it's not a marriage. I think the usual Quendi answer is that you can't be good for people or make them stronger if it's not a marriage. That seems false about humans. I guess I don't know if it's false about Quendi."