"In that case we should probably introduce Laurië to a space one first, she's gonna really really want to marry herself."

"There's also the human one, who'd be less similar still. He can actually sing to Elf standards but he had to wish it on, and he's not as pretty."

"He wished to be as good at singing as his alts - actually, you know what, I'm not surprised, I'm only surprised he didn't wish to be better -"

"I'm told he did but I've been reading my alts' writeups so far and none of 'em are qualified to judge. It was a backup wish, there's things Gem's not sure if they'll go through or not so they have to be wished by people who have backups in mind."

"Anyone wished a really really indelible suicide trigger -"

"Your alts make do with a teleportation spell, is my understanding."

"That sounds - nice, but - Eru can be presumed able to cut it off -"

"Yeah, but, well, same with something purpose-designed for suicide."

"Yeah."

"When I explained about you they wanted to know what year it was - one was found too late -"

"Too late even with the terrifying mind powers? She can't just make me whatever shape you want?"

"That's not the point. I'm a therapist, not a - sculptor."

"You're undoing a lot of sculpting."

"Yeah."

"When's too late - how long -"

"Undiverted trajectory is fifty years sidereal in Angband followed by a would-be mercy-kill-suicide-mission by the Findekáno which Manwë sends an Eagle to turn into an actual rescue mission followed by centuries of miserable war and that is actually not too late - too late is - there's usually Silmarils. Three of them, and later. You and your mom and sisters would've - after Melkor violated her century of parole - sworn a not particularly well-worded oath to retrieve them undeterrably, which seemed like a good idea as long as the Enemy was the one who'd made off with them, but other people get hold of them and stupidly hang onto them and there is much more horrible oath-driven war and eventually the Valar show up and try to claim the Silmarils after not doing anything much for centuries and your alt and Macalaurië's are the only ones still alive and you have to go get the Silmarils and wind up getting hold of a couple of them and then your alt jumped with his into a chasm and spent entirely too long in Mandos and the peal got everybody out of Mandos, but -"

"- couldn't make it okay."

"I'm so sorry -"

"I knew it might not work when I started. But in retrospect it didn't have to be me personally, he didn't know any Bells or anything, never came up."

"Is there an Arda right around now in the timeline, no major tampering -"

"Closest is Shine, where Kib landed, but he derailed it like mad."

"If we happened to stumble on one there's an only-slightly-unethical way to save mass-murdering mes. If you even wanted to, I wouldn't blame you if -"

"Bell consensus on Silmaril-related mass murders is pretty much 'the ability to exercise moral agency on that sort of thing was wiped out when they swore the oath in the first place and if we find them post-Oath but pre-murder we still like them, and also, fuck Elu Thingol'. What's the idea?"

"What I'd want more than anything would be a chance to start over and do it right."