It would not be out of character for the Enemy to track down the rescuees and learn what they can from them; what would they learn if they did?

That I can teleport - already known to Sauron - and that I look weird, and that I did not have a pleasant childhood. Probably will have enough to piece together that I am not a Maia if he hasn't already. If they get Lúthien alive, also that I can change other people's shape and... the general shape of what I would use to kill Melkor, probably with enough details missing that it would take them a long time to develop it. That is actually a very worrying prospect.

Is Lúthien still at all inclined to the task that would bring her directly into Morgoth's reach -

She is not; Beren is. He agreed to wait and see if I could come up with a plan. I think we have at least a year and I will probably talk to them again before then. And then I can tell them that I'm planning to kill Melkor within a few years and that he'll have a better shot at getting a silmaril when it's only all the Noldor who would be trying to kill him for it. Or who knows, maybe I'll pull another Miracle out my ass and Thingol will give them his blessing and release Beren's obligation.

But it sounds like it would be a disaster if they made an attempt on Angband and were captured?

It would be pretty bad, yes.

...If you're plotting to murder or imprison them because of this, be aware that I am going to take issue with that.

I will probably attempt to stop them if I learn they're going to Angband. But I was actually thinking how it'd go over if we sent some people down there for protection in case the Enemy does decide to pursue them and learn what they know of how they were rescued.

That is a very reasonable course of action, forgive my paranoia. Ruthlessness from someone in your position would not be surprising and seems quite characteristic of the one member of your family with whom I've become acquainted.

I am surprised he acknowledges us as family, it used to be a point of serious contention. Shall we talk politics? Nargothrond would be an interesting place to get your first sketch of the landscape there.

...I am not sure that he acknowledged you as such but he described a family tree for me in the course of telling me what not to do to avoid tearing this alliance apart.

Yes I would love to be caught up on politics from a different perspective.

My cousins were until now our best hope of figuring out a way to win the war and they are completely impossible to get along with. But that you must have noticed already. Thingol wouldn't help us even if he liked us, he's too conservative. His occasional threats of war suit my cousins because they like having their enemies be so unlikeable and suit him because he gets to appear to be taken seriously. 

The Silmaril oath is less manipulative than it looks; my uncle in addition to the qualities he shares with his children was also terrifically paranoid and demanded the oath of them so he could trust that they wouldn't turn from the war, and they took it because he could have ended the war two hundred years ago and they thought it'd be better to be trusted by him than not. But the Enemy, knowing that, killed him, and here we are.

 The House of Fëanor has issues with authority even when they are, in every sense, authority; ruling them is herding cats in the best of times and only tractable at all if they believe their brother to be secretly running things; everyone else will barely tolerate being in an alliance with them, despite the fact that every major technical advance of Elven history has been Fëanor's or that of his children and grandchildren. So everyone who needs to believe that Maedhros rules the Noldor believes that, and everyone who needs to believe that I am entertaining Maedhros in the belief that he has any role in the strategic decisions of the Noldor believes that. You'll forgive me for not clarifying the truth of the matter; I can't promise I'd be honest. 

...Are only Fëanor's sons bound by the Silmaril oath? Because I was definitely lead to believe otherwise.

I would imagine that the situation between you and Maedhros is not so simple as either of those extremes, relationships rarely are.

Very slightly raised eyebrow. That's a fairly fraught thing to say even if you don't specify who it is you're insulting. And only Fëanor's sons are bound by the Silmaril oath, but their people would follow them.

...what?

- to which part?

"A fairly fraught thing to say even if you don't specify who it is you're insulting"?

Yes. I don't know who you heard it from, but they intended an insult.

Uh, some humans in Nargothrond were gossiping. It didn't sound like it was meant nicely but you're both men so what is the problem, exactly?

- that? Are there very different norms where you're from?

What. Wait, really? I thought they were upset because you were cousins. That's. What. Why?

The gods have communicated that it is the will of the one that intimacy be reserved for marriage. I am - surprised that this is surprising, to be honest.

Your gods are shit. Also your form of marriage is weird.

Um. There is no such taboo in Kalzir, or the Jade Dragon Empire, or Bael Turath. Growing up I heard that it's really bad for people to sleep with their opposite-sex cousins and closer relatives because inbreeding like that leads to really strange and usually bad manifestations of, um, tieflingness? They send an unpacking of the concept. I guess I don't know if that taboo carries across to Kalzir or the Empire and I guess you're not tieflings so I didn't really have good grounds to assume it would be the same...

That's frowned upon here too but - not the insulting portion of the accusation, not at all. I have been unimpressed by the priorities of our gods on many occasions.

I have yet to meet anyone who wasn't unimpressed but that's probably a selection effect.

If I were gay I would be very tempted to be very open about it and throw it in people's faces but I am not, so I cannot.

So, politics. You spend your time herding cats because the Fëanorians are immature but also still your best hope of winning. Apart from me. Things between you and your boyfriend are complicated and unofficial because your gods have terrible priorities, and hopelessly muddled up in the practical running of this alliance because you are cousins and hereditary succession is terrible. Thingol is hopeless and because gendered hereditary succession is extra terrible doesn't even have an heir so we're stuck with him. If he somehow actually gets his hand on a Silmaril this does not mean inevitable war, merely that six people need to be removed from power. Did I miss anything important? Do you see any reasons it might be bad for me to teach a bunch of your people magic?

It'd be pretty inevitable war, my cousins' people are very loyal to them. We would almost certainly have to kill them and there'd be at least a minor civil war. I do not see a reason not to teach my people magic. I am, should it actually be relevant, not even involved with my cousin; incidental touch gives him panic attacks, our rumored activities would probably outright kill him.