"Maitimo -"

"I can't fix it, okay? I can't fix any of it. I can use you, and that's it. Would you rather I not."

"No."

"Balrogs. At range."

He sleeps for a long time and then he gets to work.

Kat continues to hang around him sometimes even when he is not singing the song.

She can sit in his lap when he doesn't need his hands.

Nibble nibble.

Hug. "You're so brave. Your mom would be so proud of you. Never swear anything, okay, kiddo- never -"

"- Mama?"

"Mama's dead. She loves you very very much."

Kat still does not seem to understand "dead". She goes back to nibbling on his hand. Her teeth are pretty sharp but she is mostly gentle.

He goes back to singing.

Kat learns more words. "Sing" and "please" and "yes" and "lake" and "Elf" and more and more until it would be hard to list them and not get surprised. Mostly Quenya.

She says "Mama" less and less but once she asks "Mama please?"

Squeeze. "She'd come back if she could. She loves you and she would do anything to be here and see you growing up."

"Why -"

"Melkor hurt her because he is very evil."

"Why."

"I don't know. Elves say that when the world was brand new he stared into the Void and became angry with the divine plan. But Elves don't know everything."

"Why?"

"Takes time to learn everything."

"Why?"

"Well, you can only learn one thing at a time. Is this really what you're curious about?"

"No."

"I killed her because she was hurting and there wasn't another way to make it stop."