She hugs him.

"I couldn't have brought myself to do it either. It's a good thing we have Maedhros for things like that. I said to him 'you are asking us to give away our names' and he said 'I am asking of you anything that stops the Enemy and how do you argue with him on that?"

"Is that why he specified only one name when he and I introduced ourselves to each other?"

"The name my father gave him referenced our place in the house of Finwë. My cousins never used it and now he doesn't either."

"I'm sorry. Losing a name--I agree with him, really, anything to stop Morgoth--but losing a name, that's terrible."

"He was right to do it. They were wrong to ask."

"Sometimes people who are hurting do things they shouldn't."

"Yep.

Anyway, Maedhros choreographed it all very gracefully and insisted that even if there were no grievance between us Nolofinwë was the King of the Noldor by right - don't ask me what right - and then he moved us all east so we were in more danger and out of their way and we had a united front."

"Do hugs actually, like, help, in the short term anyway, or is hugging you a thing I should feel okay about doing when I want one but not bother with when it's you who's upset."

"Helps. You're pretty great. It's nice to not have to be so so careful to tell stories in a way that doesn't imply that, you know, they were painful for me, or that that would matter if it were true -"

"Of course it matters. I mean. I don't--expect your cousins to be sympathetic. But. I'm not them."

"Aredhel got it. But she was pretty special. Fingon gets it, though he's - I don't really understand what motivates him half the time, honestly. The other half the time it's wanting to kill the Enemy. At least that I get."

"I'm so glad I landed near you guys. I--I need to stop judging Thingol. If I had landed in Doriath I might be sympathizing with his mistakes and condemning yours instead of the other way around and I am not okay with operating in a manner that means I would disliked you if some chance beyond my control had gone a little differently."

"Very principled. And if you'd landed near the Enemy I bet he'd put up a friendly front, so, yeah, talking to the enemies of the people you're hearing from is a good idea."

"I'm not talking to Morgoth. I have my sister's word that the orcs are all being tortured, that's more than good enough for me."

"Yeah, obviously that'd be incredibly stupid. I just mean, if you'd landed with them you could check out us."

"Yeah, just--mental images. Anyway. I think Fingon suggested to Illia that Doriath might not have let me leave, which. Kind of obviates any chance that I would like them better, probably, if it were true, but I don't know if I ought to think it is."

"Depends, really. Thingol's impulsive as hell but usually his impulses are 'go away' not 'stay safe', I think."

"I was imagining less 'stay safe' and more 'be our magic resource instead of anyone else's' but I do in fact not know these people..."

"Yeah, and neither do I. Things are basically at the point where the people they're on terms with are by definition not people we're on good terms with, so I get everything third hand. Melian might in fact be able to stop you if she wanted to, I'm genuinely not sure of that either."

"Gosh, I'm half tempted to do my absolute best to get along with them just to defy the idea that people get to stick me in broad definitions. I certainly hope she couldn't, but obviously it would be best not to have to find out."

"I mean, Finrod's friendly with Maedhros and Thingol, it's certainly not literally unheard of. And yes, do try to not find out. If she's insisting you stay, playing along and sneaking out later is much wiser than having a confrontation."

"I hope I can at least persuade them to allow some leeway in the Quenya ban for people who died before getting the chance to learn Sindarin."

"Thingol will ask 'you mean the ones who were stopped while slaughtering my family at Alqualondë?"

"I'd probably say something like, 'no, like the ones who died on the Ice, or alternately Finwe.'"