Huan finds a Elf-traversable path across a large chunk of Helcaraxe and Maitimo deploys more people to help get food to the other host. They do not get shot at. He does send somebody more willing than Tyelcormo to explain that Fëanáro is dead, along with other strategically relevant information not including Maitimo's non-involvement in shipburning or Maitimo's capture and rescue. Unfriendly but non-hostile missives are exchanged. The Elves by the lake get good at breeding crickets.

Mealworms are good eating too if they can find any but they don't make noise and she's not sure where they live in the wild so they're harder to track down.

The city's not pretty enough if they're going to be eating bugs. They make it prettier.

Ee!

People really warm to Beka being happy about pretty things! It seems like clearly an Elf trait and not an orc trait! They start showing her their Valian jewelry and tapestries and sketchbooks and formal robes and illustrated manuscripts and so on.

She loves all of these things! She doesn't need pretty things as much as an Elf and definitely doesn't mind ugly things (or eating bugs) as much as an Elf, but she still gravitates to beauty and appreciates it very much.

With Maiar help the second host crosses faster. They're setting up a camp up north, it appears. Maitimo is almost recovered enough to ride a horse; he stalls until he is.

"They'll know as soon as they see the scars."

"But not sooner! And the scars aren't suggestive of current weakness."

"Well, have fun."

He rides north. Nolofinwë meets him in public; he kneels, apologizes, concludes with 'I swear to you that I tried to stop him, and that I dearly regretted having failed even before learning that your choice endangered you.' Nolofinwë is genuinely surprised. He tries not to feel insulted. He explains Angband and rescue, focusing more on the pages and pages of information about Enemy capabilities than about the 'years of being tortured' bit. But he lets it slip through sometimes, where it won't be seen as weakness.

He finds Findekáno. There's - more you might want to know. I wasn't sure. The right way to handle that would be a letter but I was too afraid it would fall into the wrong hands - my rescuer said 'Sauron's boyfriend', to Macalaurë, casually, and it was almost a disaster -

Sauron's boyfriend. 

Not willingly, except when he was pretending to be you. But you deserved to know. 

I wish that enough trust existed between us that I could ask 'are you okay' and get a real answer.

I don't trust myself that much.

I'm glad you're out.

Nod.

What do you want?

Our people united, the Enemy dead, the dead returned, a solution for orcs -

From me, I mean.

Our people united, the Enemy dead, the dead returned, a solution for orcs.  - I'll do whatever you want but I'm not - those are the things that I want. All of them.

Okay.

Enemy knows. So so does everyone he cares to tell, which includes the girl.

It doesn't sound like there's anything for them to know, that'll help. 

- there's whatever you want, I'm not refusing you just because -