YMMV / Splint

• Older Than They Think: J. R. R. Tolkien himself was never entirely comfortable with the notion of orcs being Always Chaotic Evil and in some of his writings pondered whether it was centuries of enslavement by Dark Lords that made orcs so violent and anti-social ("deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master [Morgoth] whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery."); in one draft of The Lord of the Rings Frodo would even have encountered benevolent orcs. This fic takes this and runs with it.
• The Woobie: Rukhash. She's been a slave for much of her life and lost pretty much her entire family (either by being separated from them, or by them dying). After the defeat of Sauron, she's lived her life practically on the run, being targeted by nearly every human she runs into. A few years before the main events of the fic, she had settled down with a new clan and was living a peaceful life along with her mate and two children...until a group of Orc hunters attacked them, killing everyone but her. Before meeting Cadoc, she lived completely alone for years. Throughout the fic, Rukhash makes it clear she's tired of fighting and just wants to live in peace, but she's still vilified and targeted by some humans who refuse to accept she's anything other than evil, even if she tries to prove otherwise.

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