The next time there's an orc army Macalaurë gets a palantir and lets her borrow his eyes so she can endeavor to identify them before they are dead.

- three sisters and a brother. She knows those two guys but they're not really friends with her and that girl there is the one sister's best friend but not really friends with her either. Why are you asking me, are you gonna take them alive -

- would that even be any better -

They're not Elves! Not everybody is Elves! It'd be fine if you can afford to keep them!

I mean being surrounded by people who they're sworn to hate, and presumably getting new orders to attack us - I can try -

They don't have to hate me or the baby we can visit them -

Elves have a go at dealing grievous nonlethal injuries and singing orcs to sleep. It takes twice as long as the survivors who they're not taking captive have less pleasant deaths but they spare three of the people she pointed out.

...she goes and finds the dead sister's body and pries off a tusk and pockets it.

And then she goes and waits for the sisters and brother to wake up.

They tie them up in the storage room. They feel less guilty about it because these ones are obviously visibly orcs.

Do you need to watch me talk to them or anything.

I'm worried they could have instructions to tell you something you swore or something. 

Do you want to tie me up before I go talk to them and then watch.

Hug. Would that make it worse?

Means I can't hug 'em. They'll be scareder probably that way. Means there have to be Elves in the room to get me out of it.

You could go in alone, let me watch.

Okay.

She opens up her eyes and ears. She goes in the storeroom and waits for them to wake up.

A sister opens her eyes first. "- you're here."

"Yeah."

"What's - why -"

"They took my baby. I took her back. I'm okay enough here."

"Where's -"

"- Teeth died. They were trying to take you four alive but -"

"What about -"

"Died."

"Why're we alive?"

"I asked for you - if you'd rather not -"

"Fuck, I didn't say that. - depends how bad it's gonna be -"

"They're not gonna torture you. They can't really let you go either though."

"Can I see the baby?"

"I'd have to go get her - later -"

The brother wakes up. "- hey, prettybutt."

"Hey, stupidface," says Beka. "You okay?"

"I dunno - am I -"

"You can't go home but they don't have to kill you."

"Where's Jaws?"

"She died - I'm sorry -"

Last sister wakes up. "- Flowers. Ya made it all the way here?"

"Yeah -"

It goes on like that.

No catastrophes. Why send them at all, though, then - just to overstretch them?

He lets them have as long as they want.

The siblings do not prefer to die over being in Elf custody with their foster sister. It transpires that the eldest sister and Beka just call each other "slut", affectionately enough. They want to see the baby.

Is it okay if I go get her and come back -

Yeah. Not once she can talk, but -

I wouldn't leave her alone with them.

"I'll go get her," she tells them, and she goes and comes back with the baby, over whom restrained orcs coo. They each pick a different nickname for her - "mouse" and "puffycheeks" and "seedling". Beka murmurs to Kat and refers to the captives as Auntie and Uncle to her.

Are you not allowed to all have the same nickname for her?

Not allowed names till we earn them. If everybody called her seedling her name would just be Seedling.

Ugh. How do you earn them-

Mostly killing Elves but if you do an inside job long enough that sometimes does it too, the blacksmith I used to visit might not have to personally kill an Elf to earn one. Kat's dad has a name.

What a mess. I wonder what being an orc was like before Melkor got loose.