"That is very good. I think babies benefit from their parents not being torn between many things that need doing, so it's good for people who aren't parenting babies to step in so the parents aren't torn in that way."

"I think that's true. If thirty Liars had been pulled through the gate, we'd be having a very different conversation. But there aren't thirty of us here, so I think a lot of things depend on whether I'm at all needed after contact, if and when that happens. It's possible that you'll be so good at handling the Alteri that I couldn't possibly do anything to help, and in that case I will absolutely feel comfortable focusing on this baby."

"Even if we need your help that just wouldn't be fair to the baby. We should get whatever we need before there's a baby counting on you."

"I am pretty sure there are at least billions of other people's fates hanging in the balance here. Baby will understand." She smiles. "Besides, it's not like you need me to fix ships or haul boxes. I can totally hold a baby and answer questions about the Alteri at the same time. I bet they'll just pick up more interesting vocabulary. Taking care of Ves wasn't completely debilitating, and Ves turned out... fine may not be the correct word, but if the baby turns out anything like Ves then I will not particularly consider myself to have failed them."

Ettelië frowns worriedly. "If you think that'll work, you'd know best."

"I promise I'll be doing my absolute best to make sure the baby gets everything they need," she says, trying her best to sound reassuring. "I don't think I'll need to abandon everyone else I know in order to do that."

"I don't think you'd be abandoning them but of course if you'll be happier doing things then it makes sense for you to do them."

"I don't really think my personal happiness is the most important consideration when weighed against the fates of billions of other people? I mean - not that I'm actually going to be able to help them, I have no idea if that's possible or not, but if I can, then I'd rather raise a child in a world where fewer than one hundred percent of their extended family members are dead or enslaved." Smile. "I really do appreciate that you're this adamant about the child receiving the level of care they need. I was prepared to argue that point if you weren't, and it means a lot that I don't have to. It's just that there are lots of other babies that aren't as lucky as this one is going to be, and their fates matter, too. So if I'm in a position to help them in a way that other people aren't, I think I have to consider that, too."

"There are things - lots of things - you should trade off against other peoples' lives. Even really important things like the risk of eternal torture or permanent destruction. But Elves do not conventionally see childhood as the kind of thing that ought to get traded that way."

"That seems like a good way to think. Not a bad way, anyway. I hope someday we get to the point where we don't have to weigh different people's childhoods against each other."

"If we need your advice on something I'll let people know they should feel free to ask it."

"Thank you. I appreciate it. And I really don't expect there to be any quality of life trades at all, if I'm even capable of helping in the first place. It's possible my help isn't worth much anyway, I just - I do want to help if I can. Anyway, uh, unless you think there are other things that need to be addressed right now, I guess it's probably important to keep up the language learning?"

"I think that Lord Maedhros probably has a whole list of questions but he hasn't sent them yet. He might want to ask them himself I suppose."

"He - oh?"

Yeah. Yes. Obviously. Obviously you would want the person making high-level military decisions to have the chance to ask questions of people who are particularly likely to have answers, it'd be weird if you didn't do that. She's like, strategically important or something. She was arguing that literally five seconds ago. Keep up, Imrainai.

"OK! Well, I am here to answer any questions I can."

"Is that all right? If not we can try to work something out."

"It's totally fine! I want to help. And it's not even a problem in the first place. I'm just, uh, not used to anyone remotely important wanting to talk to me, and sometimes I forget for a second that there are, like, reasons why someone might conceivably want to talk to me right now. But there are, so it's fine."

"He's also - uh. He is a computer so he can talk to many people at the same time."

"Oh." OK. Well. "That's convenient, then." Frown. "I kind of assumed he was an Elf?"

"He was an Elf. He, uh, died, and normally when that happens we destroy the chips so the Enemy can't have them but we needed him so they figured out how to run his."

"Oh. Well - good for him for helping people who needed him, then. Uh, do you always destroy the chips, or is that just because of the war? Or - you said you could bring people back, I think, but can you only bring them back as computers?"

"The Valar know how to bring them back in normal bodies. We don't yet but we know it can be done and we know what we'd have to learn and we'll learn after the war. Right now it's only as computers. We usually treasure and keep the chips until we can restore them, but the war made that a bad idea."

She nods. "That makes sense. I hope you can win the war soon. That sounds - really really hard."

This seems like kind of an understatement, but comforting people about death when the inevitability of death isn't a constant is sort of outside her experience.

"I hope that too. Very much."

"Yeah. Um, anything I should be doing right now, in particular...?"

"I don't think so. It really is important to take care of yourself."