"I should have warned you to be more careful. I feel lucky to be hearing this from you rather than from whoever the Enemy would have cared to make it known to if he'd killed you."

"He did not choose to attack me at that time."

"Lúthien said that also. May I ask what he offered you?"

"A respite to the suffering of orcs. All of them."

"It ...speaks very highly of you, that that's the bribe he'd reach for. He would not be offering if he didn't expect your agreement to somehow make things much worse."

"Thank you. After some thought and some consultation I came to the conclusion that he has far too much informational advantage for it to be plausible to outmaneuver him and come out ahead. I let him think I might consider the errand he wanted for proof of good faith and thereby talked him up to a two-week free sample of the bribe, but I am not planning to do anything sufficient to keep up the charade for further increments, distressing though it is."

"That's the right assessment, and I commend you on reaching it. I imagine it is very distressing indeed."

Nod.

"What did he want in order to maintain the charade?"

"The return of one of the two prisoners I took from Angband."

"I see. You know already, I assume, that we are capable of deceit and that the Enemy's servants revel in it."

"He produced some oaths over the course of the conversation, although I am not satisfied that their wording would have been exact enough even if I did wish to treat with him."

"It sounds like you handled the situation wisely and survived it, each of those alone being more than I'd expect from anyone. Do you have a plan to ensure such a situation doesn't arise again?"

"Not as such. I believe I've probably attracted a substantial fraction of Enemy attention; I don't know if Lúthien mentioned that earlier there was a servant of the Enemy in one of the newcomers' camps and it was there for some time, impersonating various people, before it was discovered and turned into a Balrog and I killed it. It seems to have had other goals than merely accessing me, but it did deliver Gorthaur intelligence on my disposition. The Enemy's likely to consider it unacceptable for me to be alive and yet unsuborned."

"I agree. And outside Doriath, it seems he has a great deal of latitude to strike at you."

"To the extent he knows where to expect me to be, yes."

"It seems he can also generate situations that are sufficiently interesting you're inclined to be there."

"I do not regret being available to kill the Balrog and mediate the conflict it was attempting to stir up."

"Of course not. But if next time he decides to attract your attention by, say, taking a few hundred people hostage? Or injuring-but-not-quite-killing people important to you?"

"I am aware of the strategic considerations suggesting that one should not respond to such threats, but if he makes them anyway then I have already failed to present a sufficiently impassive front for that strategy to protect anyone."

"My proposal was that we make it known that we've decided to keep you in Doriath. My husband is notoriously stubborn and wouldn't let you out even for such a situation, should it arise; it may therefore be less likely to. Obviously if it does you can then go handle it as you see fit."

"Those seem like something else that would be best kept among those who can protect them."

"Yes, distribution was always intended to be limited."

"If this distribution allows you to maintain contact with your friends and concerns while not traveling predictably to places where the Enemy can find you, we are eager to enable it."