With the leftover from the orcs, I mean. They don't even die forever, they just go to Mandos.

Oh. Sorry for snapping at you. It wouldn't work, I'd still have the storage problem. I get... less than a twentieth, more than a fiftieth of my total capacity from one person. The only way I could make it work for Melkor is if the effect was mostly self-fueling outside me, if I tried to take in and keep anything even close to what I'd get from a million orcs... I don't know what would happen exactly but it would almost certainly kill me.

People back home don't exactly die forever either, they go to an afterlife. Sort of. Their soul goes to an afterlife with their essential personality, everything else is erased. Is Mandos better than that?

You keep your memories and if you're - okay - Mandos'll bring you back to life, but if you did a lot of terrible things you have to repent first and most orcs don't. Repent, I mean. Also they're sworn to Melkor and Mandos can't erase that and he won't bring them back if they'll still do evil stuff so lots of them are kind of stuck.

"Okay" by what standards? I haven't been told much about the Valar, other than that they are "not overtly evil," better than Melkor, and, um, excessively merciful? The Fëanorians are good at the damning-with-faint-praise thing.

Don't know. I've never been to Valinor, they sealed it off when the war started. 

Ah.

Most gods back home claim not to have much control over who winds up in what afterlife, and won't offer to guarantee someone a particular afterlife or anything, I don't suppose Mandos might be a bit more willing to do that?  Or if there's a way to ask him that's likely to be more effective than shouting "Hey Mandos, take me when I die please?"

I was planning to petition him to send me on with Beren wherever mortals go - they don't get reembodied -

Are you sure they go anywhere? They might wind up facing the usual afterlife situation for people from my plane. How does one go about petitioning Mandos?

Uh, die and then talk to him.

...Oh. That won't work for me then. I don't think that I'll be seeing him if I die unless I get a chance to petition him first.

If Beren dies first then I'll ask him for you while I'm asking.

So you're planning to die when he does?

...It's weird to think that, barring violence, I'll outlive you.

How long do you live? And - yeah, otherwise we might end up separated -

I'm a hundred three of my years now. Tieflings usually reach five or six hundred, the oldest can - could - get to nine hundred or so. I might get some extra longevity from my heritage.

That's much better than a mortal, nice.

And yet I keep expecting the people who matter to me to live much longer. What do humans get, around here?

Like sixty.

About the same as my plane, then. I hope Beren dies old and happy.

Yeah.

How is he doing? He seemed OK when we saved him but...

I think he's okay. Assuming he'd say.

Yeah. I could try talking to him about it? I... probably wouldn't be able to tell you, if he tells me and he didn't tell you then he thinks it will hurt you to know... But it might help him to talk to someone.

It'd really surprise me if he'd tell other people things he wouldn't tell me, but you're welcome to try.

Yeah, I doubt it would help, but...

Tomorrow, maybe.

Okay. 

And they keep following the river.