"Is people dying and coming back normal here?" she figures out how to ask after a few moments.

"- oh, yeah. Well, dying isn't anymore. Orcs don't, you know, by ourselves, if you leave us alone we're just immortal. But coming back's normal."

"That's good for you guys."

"Humans don't anymore either, not in the explored neighborhood of Mîr. Buth'll tell the Empresses and they'll get on your world pronto, it's got lots of people sounds like."

"Alliance might not like it. Takes away their control. Think the whole 'verse is theirs, or should be."

"...well, what are they gonna do about it?"

"Last time someone tried rebelling they bombed the planet so hard it doesn't have a breathable atmosphere anymore. They wouldn't mind if they get to decide who gets put back or who gets to be immortal, but there's lots of people they want to stay dead 'cause they put them that way."

"Okay, but it sounds like it won't be that hard to find people to make wishes for the world anyhow."

"Yeah. Lotsa people want it better."

"So it should be okay. The Empress pretty much knows what she's doing," Kunol says.

"Too chummy with Elves," says Lagl.

"She's not an Elf, she's a magic rock," says Plumub.

"You know that's just semantics in the absence of oaths," Lagl replies.

"All right, she's not an Elf, she's half-Maia."

"Still."

"What's so bad about Elves?"

"We were at war," says Kunol.

"They slaughtered our children," says Lagl.

"War's bad. No one's nice."

"Hear, hear," says Plumub.

"Elves think they're nice," says Lagl. "And everyone fucking believes them. Even half the orcs."

"Propaganda does that."

"You'll probably meet Elves, eventually," says Kunol. "There are a lot of them around."

"They can read minds too?"

"Yeah," says Kunol.

"Not the cyborg ones," says Plumub. "Well, those can't read your mind, anyway."

She considers this. "People reading my mind's okay but my mind's not nice to be in so they might not want to."

"That's their problem," says Kunol. "If it's a problem. I'm not sure if they can stop but maybe they can."

She shrugs.

"Representative Buth's office," says a voice.

"Hello," Lagl says, "somebody got portalsnaked onto Shatog Bridge in New Kalaj, she's a mindreading human from a big civ."

"I'll forward that right up, thanks. Can someone teleport to your location?"

"Yeah, we're on my ship."

"Thank you. Is there anything else we should know?"

"Doesn't like therapists."

"Uh, okay."

"I can't choose not to read someone's mind," she says, tiredly.

"Yeah, that too."

"Okay. Uh, don't bring her to the capital planet."

"I know that."

"Gotta remind people anyway. Please hold for Representative Buth."

The image changes to show a different orc. "Hello. May I speak to our visitor?"

"'M here."