Nod. At least it wouldn't be for very long, she doesn't say. "If there are things I can reassure you of that do help in that way, please tell me about them."

"Thank you."

"Is there anything else?"

"I don't think so."

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"Explaining to me what's going on in your head? Not forcibly overwriting mine, which I take it you could do if you wanted?"

"I couldn't, not really - even if it were known to work like that -"

"I'm glad."

"Anyway you're welcome." And this seeming to have been a dismissal she gets up.

She shivers a little and stares at the ground.

...and Annie can't hug her so she goes.

...everything okay?

I think so. Or like, as okay as seems reasonable to expect. Are you going to tell her about the oath thing soon, I didn't bring it up, I don't know how.

Yeah, me neither, because it fits the thing she's so scared of - I might wait until it looks like someone's got a Silmaril again, unless there's reason to think that won't happen in your lifetime -

She seems to think it's unlikely.

I'd think so too but we are doomed.

You aren't doomed very quickly and I'm a human and probably not immortal.

Well, at some point in your life we'll have to raise it with her - uh, if it does reciprocals and can't come off how horrible is it going to be to be her for the rest of eternity once you've died?

...bad.

So maybe that's not such a good solution. ...we could just sit on her. Oaths don't pull you if there's nothing you can do about them.

...if that were doable why hasn't anyone done it before?

Well, we were also oathed, and being sat on would be horribly traumatic for her and possibly kill her but that's still maybe better than putting her in magic eternal love with someone who's going to be gone-forever-dead or letting her kill other people.

But it was just your family who was oathed. Why hasn't anybody else stopped you before?

Some people tried at Sirion. But - some people wanted us to get the Silmarils back, because then we could have a shot at Melkor again. And - they fought with us for five hundred years, they'd find betraying us really really hard even if they thought it was the right thing to do - could you stab her, even to save her from herself -