[Osse]

Exactly. A Maia who serves Aule, also serves Yavanna. It was simply Tolkiens wording. Though (and this is just an example) a Maia may be Aule's smith hand, Yavanna may still call upon him for errands. It seems to me that Tolkien listed the names of both Vala if the two shared the same aspect ie. Nienna and Mandos: the afterlife, and Varda and Manwe were the chief of the Valar. It simply emplied who sent the Maia to the council, Aule sent Curumo, yet both Manwe and Varda decided to send Olorin. (The same applies for Pallando)

There should be little uncertainty here, this passage states who sent the Maia to the council, not who the Maia serves, of course in three of the five instances the Valar who sent the Maia to the council was the Valar that the Maia personally served. Also, Mandos and Manwe regularly took council with their spouses, yet Orome and Aule generally made their own decisions. Aule and Yavanna's interests differed greatly, they each respected different virtues in their followers, yet Manwe and Varda (and Mandos and Nienna) looked for the same qualities in their followers. Thus it is true in a way that both Pallando and Olorin served two Valar, but for their two masters they would only take the one action as the pairs were often of like mind.

(Also, if i remember correctly, feel free to challenge me if you think differently, or find the correct quote, because i could not find it in the Valaquenta, but didn't Aule and Yavanna live in seperate places, coming together at times but generally living where their work was?)

-Osse-