I thought it odd at first too but thinking about it, Lae'zel does not have a very self-sacrificing nature and becoming the thing she hates to save her community seems to be where she draws the line. Karlach and possibly Gale offer to die for their friends' sake, in Karlach's case because she thinks the end is near anyway and in Gale's case because of his chronically low self-worth, but both of those choices, I feel, are not really presented in a positive light - and even if you eat the bullet yourself, it might have unfortunate consequences later on.
I do see your point my thought though is that if you take Lae'zel down the path of defying Vlaketh her motivation become to defend Orpheus to the point that she threatens Tav at any hint he/she will betray Orpheus as she now sees Orpheus as the only one that can save her people. I'm not saying that she would willing sacrifice herself for anyone but it just feels like at this point her devotion to Orpheus would superseed any feeling of self-preservation because she sees Orpheus as the only way her people can be free of Vlaketh. After all she has a meltdown if you side with the Emporer and what that means for her peoples ablity to throw off the tyrany of Vlaketh. She is after all on her way to being Illithid anyway.
Just food for thought. It was something that struck me the third time through when I wanted a way to save Orpheus for the sake of the Githyanki as a whole.
The Cat Herder
