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Tumunzahar makes Menegroth look like a contract project. Which, the Dwarves assure her, it was. The stonework is astonishingly careful and beautiful, silky to the touch up close while from a distance it gives the impression of stretching on forever above, a sky of stone with crystals for stars. Vast natural cave systems are connected by dozens of perfectly smooth, gently sloped broad stone pathways from which the fall, if she fell, would be several miles down. There are handrails. "We use those to move materials carts," someone explains to her, "we're not going to be reckless."
There's an amphitheater, a place where a hundred of the stone walkways twine around to create space for a hundred thousand people to sit in close proximity, and someone is giving a lecture or a demonstration at the base of it, the seats closest to him filled with eager, tiny, bearded Dwarf-children.
And they spiral down, and down, and down, past waterfalls and egg-sized gemstones left half in the rock and halls of crystal. Everything grows gradually more ornate and more perfectly maintained and the clang of hammers fades behind them. "People say," her guide says, "that we only have a council instead of a single King because there were nine winners of the competition to design the throne so we couldn't just select one person to sit it." And they push open the doors to reveal, indeed, nine thrones so elaborate it would be hard to choose between them, and nine squat bearded people sitting them.
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purposeful_glory
"Cool. And the rest of the conversation, or should it end?"
"I am willing to swear periodically that my comments up to that point have been truthful. Swearing oneself to a future course of conduct is idiotic and very dangerous."
purposeful_glory
"Well, that sounds like a recipe that has us hanging out in this lake for hours dubiously productively," says Loki. She lifts a hand.
"Go ahead. If you get off on this I can stop by regularly," she says.
purposeful_glory
"That would make an interesting tactical change," remarks Loki dryly, and she blasts and flies away.
When she gets back it's to a bunch of very nervous Men with Orc babies, a bunch of equally nervous Elves, and Orcs giving them both instructions by yelling over an ice wall.
purposeful_glory
Loki lands on the ice wall.
"I found," she says, "the person who was reading the orcs' minds and could have updated their instructions. I don't know her range, I don't think I managed to kill her, and while these orcs are probably perfectly nice people, I cannot make them safe neighbors, and if they are sent home they'll be the Enemy's soldiers. The babies don't have that problem. Please take the babies somewhere they don't have to watch."
"I found," she says, "the person who was reading the orcs' minds and could have updated their instructions. I don't know her range, I don't think I managed to kill her, and while these orcs are probably perfectly nice people, I cannot make them safe neighbors, and if they are sent home they'll be the Enemy's soldiers. The babies don't have that problem. Please take the babies somewhere they don't have to watch."
The Elves start moving.
The Men don't.
"Don't kill them," someone says a little unsteadily. "That's not fair. They haven't done anything."
The Men don't.
"Don't kill them," someone says a little unsteadily. "That's not fair. They haven't done anything."
purposeful_glory
"I know it's not fair," Loki says. "If I could make them like you, and make it so they could choose what to do, I would do it. That's what I tried last time there were orcs here, I checked to see if they could turn into werewolves and get free will that way. Without it their innocence is not theirs to keep, they can be turned in the Enemy's hand at any moment. It is not fair. I would never have made a species that way, I would never abuse this trait that way if I were bringing up a child of a species with this problem, but they are here now, not when I could have saved them. There's a colony of orcs, southwest of here, who I caught before the Enemy changed how he did things, and I got them out from under their oath. These ones, I can't do that."
They mill around uncertainly. The Elves are firmly guiding off anyone holding a child.
"It's just," the same person says even more hesitantly, "we haven't seen the Enemy. Maybe he's so bad that killing lots of innocent people to stop him is right. But if he is - what if killing all of us somehow stops him?"
"It's just," the same person says even more hesitantly, "we haven't seen the Enemy. Maybe he's so bad that killing lots of innocent people to stop him is right. But if he is - what if killing all of us somehow stops him?"
purposeful_glory
She soundproofs the orcs in the ice wall. ...And the baby orcs being carried off just in case. She jumps down.
"I've seen Thauron. So have the earlier werewolves, although he was putting on a show for them. I've seen his victims, not just the orcs but Elves he's taken. I'll tell you horror stories, so will the Elves, if that will help.
"You have free will. You can never be made as indelibly dangerous as these orcs are. You would have to make choices to get there, choices they don't have. The reason I'm here is so that you can have your first while existing as a species without Thauron whispering in your ears; but even if I weren't here and all you knew was what he told you, there would always be the possibility that you could change your minds later. I think the orcs would if I knew a way to let them. I wish I knew a way to let them. I don't."
"I've seen Thauron. So have the earlier werewolves, although he was putting on a show for them. I've seen his victims, not just the orcs but Elves he's taken. I'll tell you horror stories, so will the Elves, if that will help.
"You have free will. You can never be made as indelibly dangerous as these orcs are. You would have to make choices to get there, choices they don't have. The reason I'm here is so that you can have your first while existing as a species without Thauron whispering in your ears; but even if I weren't here and all you knew was what he told you, there would always be the possibility that you could change your minds later. I think the orcs would if I knew a way to let them. I wish I knew a way to let them. I don't."
No one's arguing with her.
No one looks happy, either.
"This," someone says, "would sound kind of like a horror story, if someone told it to your enemies."
No one looks happy, either.
"This," someone says, "would sound kind of like a horror story, if someone told it to your enemies."
purposeful_glory
"If they left out the right parts, yes. What parts do you imagine I could fold in to a description of mutilated prisoners dangling from a cliff face by one arm, only two of many clinging to life, to make that sound like the Enemy had no choice? I remember it quite clearly, I can make an illusion if words don't cut it. I cannot keep the orcs prisoner, I cannot let them go, but I am not torturing them. Orcs are born in constant pain and I fixed it."
"I think there are lots of people who'd rather be hung from a cliff for a while than lose their babies forever."
purposeful_glory
They don't really have very good imaginations, do they.
"I imagine the orcs would rather their babies not go to the Elves-and-orcs afterlife with them, but I can ask, if that would make you feel better."
"I imagine the orcs would rather their babies not go to the Elves-and-orcs afterlife with them, but I can ask, if that would make you feel better."
It doesn't, not really, but she gets a wary nod.
purposeful_glory
She climbs up again. Desoundproofs the orcs.
"Would you prefer to bring your children to Mandos with you or leave them here?"
"Would you prefer to bring your children to Mandos with you or leave them here?"
"Please don't kill them."
purposeful_glory
She amplifies this for the benefit of the Men.
"That's what I thought."
She jumps down again, replaces the soundproofing.
"That's what I thought."
She jumps down again, replaces the soundproofing.
None of the Men look inclined to intervene in orc slaughter. They still mostly look confused and deeply unhappy.
purposeful_glory
You'll understand when you're older, she doesn't say.
"If any of you come up with anything to get around the oath problem, please, tell me. I needed help to think of my last solution, too. I don't know everything. But the problem is real and right now I have nothing. One day - one day I am going to invent a resurrection spell, figure out something to release them, but I can't do it today. They'll keep. Not the way they ought to, but that wasn't something I took from them."
"If any of you come up with anything to get around the oath problem, please, tell me. I needed help to think of my last solution, too. I don't know everything. But the problem is real and right now I have nothing. One day - one day I am going to invent a resurrection spell, figure out something to release them, but I can't do it today. They'll keep. Not the way they ought to, but that wasn't something I took from them."
Some people walk away. Some people keep watching.
purposeful_glory
The ice is kind of cloudy. It's not opaque.
"Do you really want to watch?" she asks. "I can cope. I wouldn't ask this of you."
"Do you really want to watch?" she asks. "I can cope. I wouldn't ask this of you."
"If you're telling the truth and this is the right thing, then it doesn't need to be a secret. If you're lying and this is a horrible evil, then it's better that it be witnessed."
purposeful_glory
"It's not a secret. It's just not pretty."
She climbs up.
She apologizes to the orcs. She tells them what she told the last batch about her expectations of Mandos for them. She asks if any of them would like to name their babies.
She climbs up.
She apologizes to the orcs. She tells them what she told the last batch about her expectations of Mandos for them. She asks if any of them would like to name their babies.