"But you're going to let the Elves kill me?"

"I don't have to let them kill you. I don't have to let you kill them."

"Elves and orcs will always kill each other. That's just the way it is. They will kill us until we're all dead, we'll kill them until they're all dead. You have to choose a side."

"I don't have to. Help me."

"How am I supposed to help you?"

Come on guess Kiri only has so many words. "I - the good thing, I can - the way it is isn't."

"You want to find a way for Elves and orcs not to fight that doesn't mean taking sides. The only one is for the Elves to go back where they came from. Then you can teach how to stop hurting, that's nice, but it won't fix Elves and orcs fighting."

"I can't teach how. It's just me. They don't swear; you swear but - but I -" Words dammit! "I don't have to let you."

"If it's just you there are too many orcs. You can't help us all."

"Maybe," Kiri sighs. "But maybe I can help you."

"I want help. I don't think you can - I can't stop hating Elves or killing them or taking them to Melkor..."

"I can."

"...then why don't you?"

"I -" uuuuugh. Can you bring me the one I worked on before?

They can, and do. The new one hisses and spits at the Elves as they guide him over.

"I won't let them hurt you," she tells the new one.

Silence.

Then the orcs start speaking very rapidly to each other. "What is she?"

"Human. I don't know. I don't know if we have orders -"

"I don't think we have any orders."

"What? We definitely do, kill the Elves, report anything unusual -"

"I don't have those orders."

"Yes, you do."

"No he doesn't. I - I didn't let him, I -" She makes a helpless gesture. "I have to do it good, help me."

"You can just - not let us do things? Like an oath but stronger?"

Nod.

"Then if you didn't let us - think of Elves any differently than we'd think of any other person, or maybe even be able to tell whether people were Elves..."

"You think that would be good?"

"No. I want to kill Elves, I don't want to have Elves all around me not knowing. I think it would work. We could still hate Elves who deserved it, but we'd hate them for reasons that'd make us hate an orc too."

Nod. "And orders?"

"I don't like obeying Melkor. I'd like to not have to do that."