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"I caught some orcs. I cannot turn them into non-orcs, but I can do the next best thing, which took long enough that I stayed with Fëanor's people to sleep after that. And then I found the kingdom of Doriath and stayed there overnight. You should not attempt to find the kingdom of Doriath with the possible exception of descendants of Olwë, whose cousin and possibly also uncle wish to meet them."

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"Fuck."

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"I'm not sure what of that warrants this response."
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"Olwë. We murdered his children."

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"Oh. All of them?"

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"...no. Probably not. We didn't stay at the harbor afterwards to see who was going to survive their injuries."

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"Then I'll see if there are any to be found in the Fëanorian camp when I am there tomorrow to check their orc accumulation. And you and yours definitely should not seek the kingdom of Doriath."

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"There definitely aren't any in the Feanorian camp. My father's brother - full brother, not half brother - married Olwë's daughter. Neither of them are here, because they turned back and repented after Alqualondë. My cousins on that side fought on the other side at Alqualondë. Some of them are here - crossed with our host, because they still wanted to leave Valinor. That's one of the reasons Fëanor gave for abandoning us."

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"...This is all hopelessly complicated and any day now I am going to mix something up and hope I don't do it in front of someone easily offended," she says. "At any rate. The queen, who is a Maia, wishes to investigate sorcery with me; she let me test some of it against her magic and we both found that interesting. Unfortunately, the results of the test suggest that my simple idea for stemming the tide of orc production will not work even if I am willing to risk the Enemy's attention." And Loki explains orcs, orc conversion, and the silence thing that she will not be able to keep up for long against resistance.

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"That is impressive. What should we be doing? We do not currently have the means to either confine orcs or use them for forced labor, which makes the risks associated with taking them alive harder to justify to my people."

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"And I suspect none of you speak their language and they won't tend to speak yours, either," she says. "If I happen to be handy I will take as many as I think the Fëanorians or some future converted orc colony can absorb, myself; if not all I ask, when live capture is not safe, is that you refrain from using the word 'Elves' to refer to anyone who lives on this continent - 'Quendi' is an option but it doesn't matter as long as it's not 'Elves' - nor 'Melkor' to refer to the Enemy. 'The Enemy' is fine, or Moringotto or Morgoth. That way if any of them run home and talk to other orcs it will be easier to convince them of the necessary revisions for the re-oath to work."

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"...Fëanor managed to convince you that not calling the Enemy Melkor was a necessary step of orc rehabilitation?"

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"He's mentioned by that name in the oath as someone the orcs swear to serve. Do you have a better idea?"

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"No, I don't, and I will communicate to my people that we ought to abide by it. I just -



- did he ask about Maitimo this time?"
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"What would he have asked? I haven't any avenues of information."

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"So no.

I'm not angry with him, you know, he is what he is, and it sounds like this time he came up with something that will make things better.

Do you want to talk to Olwë's grandchildren? I could find them for you."
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"Yes."

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He starts walking.

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She follows.

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He stops about halfway down the host, at a small knot of blond people with several packed wagons of supplies. "Artanis?"

The woman turns around.

"There is something that you need to know," he says, and steps aside.
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"Olwë's brother is the king of a kingdom some days' travel that way," she points, "and may wish to meet his relatives - according to the princess; I do not have this directly from the king and advise you to confirm at the border before trying to enter."

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"I see," she says. "Findekáno -"

"Artanis," he says, "please don't tell them."

"Obviously not," she says, "I'm not an idiot. I just want to make it clear that you should go away."

They stare at each other. He starts walking off.
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"...Should I also go away...?"

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"Did you murder any of my family members?"

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"Not unless some sort of relative of yours is an orc. I killed some orcs a few days ago."

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