"Okay. That's a lot of orcs but otherwise not too bad."

"Sauron is a problem but he would be a much bigger problem if there were more than one of him."

"How so?"

"Well, I suppose that depends. Two of precisely Sauron would mean he could divide his attention between more projects and remain effective, which would be unfortunate for the rest of us but not an enormous disaster. Two powerful intelligent Melkor-aligned Maiar with different personalities could potentially compensate for each other's weaknesses, and that would be very bad."

"What are his weaknesses?"

"He's an Ainu, they have trouble adapting to sudden changes, I'm sure you've noticed. He's easily frustrated - well, I don't have many comparison points, perhaps I'm just totally unperturbable and he is perturbable to an ordinary degree, but when he is frustrated or off-balance or has recently suffered an injury to his pride or is generally not in complete control of the situation at hand he gets snappish and frantic and does ill-considered things. If I ever see him again I will taunt him about his total inability to ever hurt me again and it will be not only personally satisfying but also strategically useful."

"Good to know."

"I am glad to be useful to you."

"I expect there are other things it'd be strategically useful to know, but I can't think of them."

"We have time to consider the question."

"Especially if we're just waiting for the Noldor to send an emissary."

"Yes."

"Want to see more of Menegroth or anything? Want to borrow some of my clothes while we sew you your own?"

"Yes, I think I would rather borrow some of your clothes than continue wearing what I used to wear in Angband. My favourite colour is pale grey," she says.

"Ooooh, I've got lots in that! C'mon, let's go to my rooms!"

Shirask is - well. Shirask will never be happy again. But the imaginary Shirask who is still capable of having emotions is delighted to follow Lúthien to her rooms and look at her beautiful clothes.

She has so many of them and will talk while she shares them, about the fabrics and the dyes and the occasions she's worn them to.

It is the sort of thing that would be very pleasant if things could be pleasant. Shirask goes through the necessary internal circumlocutions to produce an appropriate smile. She tries various things on and settles eventually on an outfit that suits her particularly well.

"Thank you. This is very nice."

"You look great. Everyone'll be impressed."

"What is the benefit of impressing everyone?"

"They'll be happy and feel more at ease around you and smile at you and maybe do you favors?"

"That seems like a good set of benefits. What is impressive about borrowing your clothes?"

"You're prettier, and look more like one of us?"

"That does make sense. Thank you for explaining."

"You know a lot of things and also don't know a lot of things, it's kind of disconcerting."