"I feel that way about some people."

"I do trust them. Mostly, anyway, and I have plans for the most likely situations under which things are likely to go south again..."

"Oh? What's that?"

"What if anything do you know about the Oath of Feanor?"

"Nope. I - know Elves can make oaths, and I know the Feanorians are reckless..."

"They literally made an Oath to retrieve the Silmarils at any cost, which is fine as long as Morgoth has them, but if he decides to hand one over to--say for example Doriath--and Doriath declines to hand it over--well. I get to either steal it anyway or physically restrain my friends from invading."

"How astonishingly stupid."

"I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. Most things do."

"How could that ever possibly seem like a good idea."

"Under circumstances where it hadn't occurred to anyone that someone other than Morgoth might be in a position to withhold a Silmaril, I can only assume."

"Elves."

"Elves."

"I can see the city better now."

"It's not all the way finished, I should probably mention, but it's habitable and defensible and that seemed like the important bits to have done before inviting people to live there."

"I was not at all worried. What's unfinished?"

She describes some of the things Illia wants to have put in later and left room for that has thus far gone unbuilt.

"This is going to be great. Your sister is a thoughtful planner. Ambitious, but she has you, so..."

"I think it's possible she would be less ambitious if she wasn't in the habit of thinking bigger to keep up with me."

"Influencing your sister into being the first ruler of a mortal kingdom seems like being a good sister to me."

"I take full credit for this despite the fact that it would never have come up back when I was doing it."

"Because all the kingdoms already had mortal rulers?"

"Exactly."

"I think it'll be good for you both that that was true. You won't have the - humility - associated with feeling like it's a privilege just to be talked to."

"Sheesh. Seriously?"

"They're so much more than us, and they know it, and they were in charge."