"Well, I don't hate these people and I don't hate you, either," says Loki, "but them, I can convince not to kill you in case there's a better way; and you, I can't get anywhere with because you're trapped under an oath you were forced to make as a child and you're reinforcing it in Moringotto's intent with every sentence you utter. So, hating neither of you, I am nonetheless constrained to take their side; and can't safely release you, and I don't think anybody wants you to just remain tied to this fence indefinitely."

"Sure," he says, "tell yourself you have no choice. You have many, many more of them than we do, and you're choosing Elves."

"What would you do?" she wonders softly. "What would you do if you didn't hate anyone, not like that, not enough to want them dead if there were any other way; and some of the people you met would never, ever be able to leave some of the others alone, and letting anyone die was horrible? What would you do with all these choices you think I have?"

"Leave! Stop playing Elven god! Let us go about our lives, and the Elves go about theirs, and contests between us be settled by strength, while you saw the whole world, or raised children, or told stories! If you don't have to kill people, and they're not trying to kill you, you can just go through your whole life not killing, and you're choosing this, instead."

"But if I don't get involved," she says, "people will still die. Little Orc children will still be in constant pain and forced to serve a cause they never really chose; and Quendi on this continent will still be attacked wherever they try to go, by orcs or one another or the Enemy himself; and the people in Valinor will be kept in a gilded cage ruled by arrogant monsters; and the Dwarves will live under a god who put them to sleep until it was convenient for him because their creator defied him; and the Men will get to be age one hundred if they're very lucky and then die for no reason at all; and that is not good enough. I want to live in a better world than that. And I am so sorry that there doesn't seem to be room for you and I wish I could make room for you but in your version the Quendi who took you alive would have just killed you instead. You wouldn't be alive in your version either." She shakes her head and lifts Lævateinn. "Any last requests?"

"I'll say it," he says. "I don't think it's true but I'll say it."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work the way it needs to work if you can't think the right thoughts, mean the words the right way. Someone without free will correct me if I'm wrong."

"I've got other projects. This is the one that involves killing people sometimes, once my allies here have taken custody of dangerous prisoners hoping I can render them non-dangerous. I can't read minds. If someone swears falsely, I won't know; and if they can live peacefully here until it's time to set up a colony, I won't notice anything's the matter; and if they go to that colony and then run off, that will be terrible and I can only hope that the ones who swore truly will be able to stop them. I think Vár might be able to tell who's sincere and who isn't; but maybe I can't scale this up, maybe this will have to be the last batch, maybe apart from her and her handful of true believers orcs will have to go extinct lest I shoo you all to a distant planet and then you find a way to chase your rivals between the stars. I don't know. I'm not perfect, I'm just trying."

"If you're that powerful," he says, "then she is doing the right thing for our people. But it's still not true, I still can't decide to believe it."

"I can learn to do anything given enough time. That's how I can heal; that's how I can fly. And I don't plan to leave you in Mandos's clutches forever even if I have to kill you today. But it could take a long time indeed to get that far."

"You hate the Elf-gods too?"

"I have heard exactly one and a half nice facts about them and that's not nearly enough nice things for an entire pantheon of the fucking things throwing their weight around like they're infallible."

He smiles. "Is it wise to send people to them who know that you hate them and that you grow in power with time?"

"I don't think they'll react fast enough. Or possibly at all. After all, I could be lying, couldn't I?"

"I don't think you are. I don't know how fast the Elf-gods react to learning of someone who could destroy them, or how hard it would be for them to do anything, but I do think you mean it."

She sighs. "This conversation is actually really interesting, but at this point we're not even approaching the question of what happens to you. Or anyone whose ears you've been whispering in who can't be safe now either."

"So send us all to the Elf-god, and hope he is not listening. In my position, strange one, would you have lied to your fellows, so they could live but be deceived into giving their word falsely and serving those they, if they knew more, would hate?"

"In your position I'd be grasping at anything that would get me out of an oath I swore when I was barely capable of stringing sentences together and I would try not to base anything on who I hated because the word 'hate' is in the oath and my emotions wouldn't be my own! I have a friend who's very fond of the Valar and we've agreed not to discuss the subject because if I convinced her it would damage her effectiveness at important things! Being right matters but in your position putting it first is symbolic."

"Then give me something to grasp, something that's not transparently nonsense!"

"Like what? It's the words of your first oath that we have to work with. What do you want to do - promise to, to bide your time in peace until somebody figures out a way to give you free will? I don't even know if that's compatible or if you'd collapse of contradictory oaths on the spot."

He winces. "I don't know if you can give contradictory oaths."

"Oh, well, then, should be safe to try! We could come up with a wording you like! I want to help you, help me help you."

"I swear," he says, "if I see any convincing evidence that another Melkor exists I will carefully consider to which one of them I consider myself bound, and bind myself to the one more palatable to you if I can countenance that. And in the interests of orcs continuing to exist as a people I will avoid pointing out to all of them that the lies you're feeding them are in fact lies, and since pursing the greatness of orcs is a higher priority of mine than hurting or killing Elves, I'll avoid doing the latter in a way that will invite retaliation or make it likelier that you decide to annihilate my people. How's that?"