"That makes sense. Do you have other questions for us?"

"What are the laws, here?"

"We have twelve laws. Each law has three exceptions. It can be a lot to remember. Do you want a written copy?"

"I can't read your writing. I could take notes on my everything. ...twelve isn't many."

"Maybe your people have better memories!"

"We don't memorize all the laws."

"It seems like that would make it hard to be held responsible for breaking one."

"We have an idea of when unfamiliar laws might apply and then we can look them up."

"Okay. Well, our twelve laws are:

1) Causing harm or injury to other people is prohibited. You may be obliged to demonstrate that you are capable of not causing harm in the future.

2) Taking, damaging or destroying the possessions of other people without permission is prohibited. You may have to return possessions you took without permission, and you may have to pay for other costs associated with the taking.

3) If you lie to people in the course of forming a contractual agreement you must recompense them for this harm and for damages determined by the Dwarven oversight board For Elves And Babies.

4) You should take reasonable care to ensure that interactions with someone, in person or over osanwë, are ones they are willing to have, and respect someone's request to stop interacting. If you repeatedly break this rule you may be obliged to demonstrate that you can follow it or obliged to leave the city or the country.

5) Do not damage or deface public spaces, or make them uglier. You may have to repair damage you caused or pay for the cost of correcting other problems.

6) In public spaces, do not interact in a way that makes the space unpleasant for other people, such as by being excessively loud, being inappropriately attired, engaging in conduct that will leave bystanders uncertain whether they should intervene. You may be asked to leave the space and you may be asked not to return.

7) In private spaces, the owner of the property can make their own rules. You must follow those rules or leave, and you must leave if asked.

8) You may not interact with a boat without the agreement of the boat's owner, and you may not engage in dangerous conduct in the waters or on the docks. You may be obliged to leave the city or the country.

9) If you want to engage in conduct which causes small harms to lots of other people, you must either get permission through the government or pay for a permit issued by the Dwarven oversight board For Elves and Babies.

10) The parents of children under the age of twenty need to maintain documentation of who would care for their children in the case of emergencies, and are prohibited from dangerous activity.

11) If something is prohibited, assisting someone in doing it, or assisting someone in disguising that they have done it, are prohibited.

12) If you are not sure if something is legal, ask before doing it."

"- we aren't Elves or babies," Nelen points out. "And Amentans twenty seasons old aren't children. A lot of this seems like it might come down to definitions - maybe it's clearer in your language? A lot of our laws are just defining things for legal purposes, maybe that's why we have so many more."

"It's probably clearer in our language. We have a small dictionary for yours. I will suggest that the Dwarf oversight board rename itself."

Nelen scans his notes. "I think all my questions about this are about how the words are interpreted."

"I can try to clarify for you even with a small dictionary."

"Harm, reasonable care, uglier, excessively, inappropriately, conduct that will leave bystanders uncertain if they should intervene - there might be situations where you can't leave a private space right away, that's less an interpretation - uh, dangerous, lots, not sure, and, who you're supposed to ask."

"Hitting people is harm, throwing things at them, making their surroundings dangerous such as by putting things in their food, making the dock slippery, or leaving pins on their floor. Things that have been agreed not to be harm include telling someone they are worse than Melkor and should die and stay dead, convincing their child to run away from home, or convincing them not to vote. Those cases were - argued."

"How are cases argued here?"

"We have a big building that seats many people. Anyone who is interested can come and speak, and the issue is not decided until everyone who is interested has spoken."

"Then what?"

"Then no one gets in trouble since it was unclear but in the future the law is the way we agreed on."

"...what if people don't agree no matter how much everyone talks?"

"Oh, they do."

"How?"

"Once everyone understands the considerations they can come up with a solution that requires about as much compromise from everybody."

"What if they disagree about how much compromise an idea requires?"

"Then they discuss it some more."