"Huh! Cool. That's one of the things I really like about Desna, is--finding new things you never expected. Well, I channel positive. I was going to ask someone at the convention if there was some way to make that publicly available that was, well, trustworthy, but," shrug, "the convention hasn't started yet." 

She had wanted to secure the positive channels for her monastery, but maybe she should help Nuria be as Good as possible, or at least as Good as she wishes.  So she has someone she could recommend to Nuria.  It has some risks, but some upsides as well.  Well, the same instinct that tells her to trust Nuria also likes Theopho, so she might as well trust that instinct consistently.

"Theopho, Watcher of the Runes, is a cleric of Erecura and channels positive energy.  Sometimes for pay, sometimes out of charity.  So he might have some ideas on strategies for how to effectively distribute your channels to heal people."

And now the difficult part.

"There is some complication there, Erecura is a demigod of Hell, but Lawful Neutral.  One of her domains is thriving in hostile environments.  Theopho was openly Lawful Neutral under the Thrunes, and is apparently planning on staying even under the new government as well.  I'm not sure exactly how his church will be looked on by the government and Good Churches, but Theopho seems confident and has in fact got himself elected to the convention.  But I thought I should make you aware of some of the complication."

There is all sorts of potential political complications to this, and Thea would like to explain, but she isn't very sure of them herself.  She'll see if Nuria has any questions.

"Oh, and of course we wouldn't mind a spare channel every now and then.  According to the Unbinding of Fetters, it is apparently not as useful for training as I would have thought, relying on easy healing can be a crutch that compensates for good training, but they would still be appreciated here."

Nod. "Of course, even if I do figure out how to do public channels, I can still let you know when and where, and you can bring anyone who needs it." 

Oh, of course that's the obvious solution to get both public Good and her monastery's needs taken care of.

"Right of course. Should I leave you to the book or books for a while?  Oh and I can direct you through the library's limited contents if you wish?  The quick overview is that upper shelf there is Asmodean texts, all vile with occasionally useful bits you can pull out.  I have a section on non-Evil theology texts there, and some practical books on various topics there.  Not much but I'm working on it!"

"This is amazing! I mean, maybe an established temple in another country would have more, but--this is really impressive."

It is barely three shelves, but Thea is happy about Nuria's complement, even if she feels she doesn't deserve it yet.

"I think I still have a long way to go.  I still even don't have all the major inner sea region Gods covered!  I have the most major Holy Text for Iomedae, Erastil (if you can count the very damaged book I have), Abadar, and Shelyn.  But that leaves texts for Sarenrae, Gozreh, Calistra, hmm, the proper Holy Text of Desna that I mentioned early, the Eight Scrolls, oh and Pharasma, as popular as she apparently is in the country side her clerics don't have much demand for her text."  And she wants texts for all the major Evil Gods as well, as long as it isn't outright directly against the Laws of society.

"And there are apparently a few major books that don't belong to any one faith I have yet to get a copy of like the Windsong Testament" and excerpts from the Book of the Damned.

"And then beyond that there are more foreign Gods like those from Tian Xia, and minor Gods like the various Empyreal Lords, and of course numerous commentaries and discussions of the major Holy Texts.  And that's just trying to cover Theology!  Once you start to learn how many subjects there are and how many books of each subject, you simply can't get enough of them!"

Thea is genuinely delighted discussing this topic.  She would not have thought of herself as a reader before the Four Day War, and indeed could often barely make it through the required reading of the Asmodean Monograph and less secrete mission reports of senior Sisters and various simple educational texts, but  since then she has come to appreciate books as a valuable source of information about the world around her, and if she's honest with herself (which she makes regular meditation efforts to be) to enjoy reading them in and of themselves.

"That's so cool! I hope there are foreign clerics at the convention, ones with more experience and if we're lucky extra copies of their holy texts. That would be convenient." 

It's a good lead in to the political angle.  It feels... uncomfortable jumping into politics after the nice conversation about books, but Thea is uncomfortable with politicking in general, so she'll just have to endure it.

"The impression I've got from the broadsheets and pamphlets and a few conversations is that the convention is meant to primarily include Chelish people?  So I would be surprised if more than a few foreign clerics are invited as delegates?  It would be helpful if we had them... Irori's text is thought provoking and challenging, but correspondingly not always straightforward or direct in explaining Irori's teaching or his will.  And of course knowing his will towards the convention would be useful."

"That makes sense. Well, I am a cleric of Desna; after the convention I'll just have to go traveling and pick up holy books that way." 

"That sounds exciting!  At some point in the future I mean to take a sabbatical to adventure to test my skill and develop it further and grow stronger."

And now to the political part... why is she so nervous about this?  Except for potential Chaoticness, Nuria is probably one of the safer clerics to talk to.

"Of course taking a sabbatical would mean making sure the monastery is financially sound and politically secure before I leave.  I mean to propose at some point during the convention that our future constitution should make at least some legal and financial provisions for the churches and faiths of non-Evil Gods.  In particular, it seems sensible to me that the government has an interest in educated citizens, and many churches are suited to providing education, and as such should be financially compensated for doing so.  It would mean money for more books, and for taking on new students, and for various other resources for educating them.  And it sounds like you have a lot of good things to teach yourself!"

There, spiel over hopefully Nuria doesn't think she is weak or petty.  Articulate her thoughts don't suppress them without reviewing them... she is, for some reason, afraid of appearing weak and petty to Nuria.

"That's a really good idea. Replacing the Asmodean institutions is important; people need water and healing and so on. And I for one would much rather that schools," she makes a brushing gesture, "be run by non-Asmodeans." 

"Right, well that's my plan, or at least the beginnings of one.  Assuming the convention is as described by the broadsheets" and that's a big assumption she's still not sure of and will need to warn Nuria now if she realizes it is wrong "then we will need to convince a majority of the other delegates.  It should be a straightforward case for the other religious delegates and faiths.  The elected will vary heavily I think, but maybe the popularity and good sense of the idea will appeal to them.  The sortition are literally just common people, so maybe lots of individual conversations appealing to their common sense... which I'm still figuring out.  The Nobility... I don't know any reason this idea should offend them or be opposed by them, but there might be one, and it might offend their pride to be negotiated with as equals, and the nobility strikes me as most dangerous overall, so I'm still considering my approach.  And one question I haven't figured out is what concessions and tradeoffs will be asked and I should make in the process to secure the votes for my idea of funding for religious education."

And there is yet a more dangerous possibility.  She'll mention it in case Nuria is as naïve as she presents herself and needs the reminder.

"And of course, ultimately, the matter will rest on the Queen's interpretation of the constitution and her Law in carrying out that interpretation.  And well her adventuring companions as well, as 2 of them are archmages proper and one is a very powerful shadow sorcerer."

And she'll see if Nuria picks up on the implicit danger of the Queen deciding the convention needs a bit of gentle correction, or subtle manipulation, or outright archmage backed dominating.  And a danger Thea didn't think of until now is if there is some internal conflict in the Queen's adventuring party... a war amongst themselves could be devastating to Cheliax.

"But the Queen and her companions are Good, right?"

Okay, good thing Thea is addressing this now!

"Galt tried to be Chaotic Good and had almost a decade of revolutions and reprisals and lawless chaos.  And Good people... well actually you are the first properly Good person I've met as opposed to simply working at Neutral, so maybe you have some insight on what that actually means?"

The Unbinding of Fetters mentions guiding someone to the beginning of an answer is often better than simply telling them, and perhaps there is some chance Nuria has an insight that neither Theopho nor the Lawyer had.

"Good means..." she drums her fingers on the table. "So, in Asmodeanism, the ideal interaction to have with another person is one that benefits you and harms them. For Good, the ideal interaction to have with another person is one that benefits the other person, and ideally but not necessarily also yourself. Which seems counterintuitive and unappealing, on paper, except that helping other people actually feels really nice even if you don't get any tangible benefit out of it, which is a truth that Asmodeanism is desperate to cover up." 

Thea wants to shift back to the political question, but pauses for a moment to internalize and genuinely consider the idea instead.

"I want my students to benefit at strengthening and perfecting themselves.  I would want this and it would feel 'nice' even if it cost me something without other benefit to me, or even some detriment to me. I... can't really imagine feeling that way about a complete stranger, or, even harder to imagine, about someone I had a prior dislike of.  I can try to imagine if you think it will help me learn something?"

The girl reading the Acts of Iomedae has been very quiet for this whole conversation.  The Sisters don't exactly gossip much, but for what gossip they do have this feels like prime material.  She trusts that Thea is tracking that she is hearing this conversation, but no point giving any reminders that might cut off the stream of gossip fuel and get her a direct order not to spread it around.

"I think mostly just wanting to benefit the people close to you is okay for Neutral? But wanting to benefit strangers is Good." 

"That makes sense?  I'm trying for Lawful Neutral, but it would be worth it know how Good thinks and overshooting on Lawful Neutral wouldn't be that hard to correct compared to getting to Lawful Neutral in the first place." she almost shows a wince as she realizes how that may come across.

"But back to the political question... the Queen could mean to benefit everyone but that could be in fact be very hard to do so we should be prepared to do everything we La-" she remembers Nuria isn't Lawful "reasonably can to support the Queen and help the convention work out that way."

"You're right...clergy are only part of the convention. The nobility is...I'd rather extend everyone I can the benefit of the doubt, but, uh, hope for the best plan for the worst?"

Thea has thought some about this.

"If it turns to outright civil war I assume a legendary adventuring party like the Queen's puts an end to it as swiftly as they won the Four Day War.  I'm planning on having enough food ready to survive a week or two sealed up in the monastery if it comes to that."  And she'll elide over truly worst case scenarios where the Queen decides to give up on Good and purges the entire convention for now at least.

And a bell rings clearly through the room.

"That's the bell for a half hour before dinner.  I need to go cast my stew thickening spell and oversee the conclusion to the day's exercises." she smiles a bit as she says this "You can come with me or stay here and read for a bit.  Lilly"  the girl reading looks up quickly "Yes Abbess".  "Are you fine leading Nuria to the dinning hall from here on time?"  The girl replies quickly "Of course Abbess!".  Thea turns to Nuria  "Lilly can guide you to the dining hall if you would like some reading time."

"I'll read, then. Thank you so much for your hospitality." 

"See you at dinner!"

Lilly glances up from her book again, then resumes reading intensely.

The Library has a moderate selection if there is anything Nuria wants to read besides picking through for the Desnan and Caydean writing within "A Denouncement of the Pathetic Scribblings by Slaves of the Weak and Undisciplined"!

There are a bunch of Asmodean texts on a top shelf in the corner.  Among their titles (and appearances):

    Basic Exercises and Education for the Newly Empowered Faithful of Asmodeus (moderately worn)
    An unlabeled text (with some alarming stains on the exterior)
    The Asmodean Monograph (a standard copy)
    The Inferior Flame (roughly made, but in good condition)
    And Several Commentaries on the Asmodean Monograph (in varying level of wear and age)

There is a closer middle shelf with theology texts including:

    Another copy of The Acts of Iomedae, (the girl is holding a new but cheaply made copy, this one is well worn and old)
    The Unbinding of Fetters (well used and aged)
    Theology for the Intermediate Armiger of the Godclaw (Good condition and well made)
    Manual of City Building (new and reasonably well made)
    Parables of Erastil (partly burnt and very worn)
    Melodies of Inner Beauty (new and cheaply made)

And another shelf with practical texts, including several on spellcraft, a book of riddles, a book listing common cleric and wizard spells, some standard educational primers on basic mathematics and reading you might see in any Chelish school, a cookbook, a dictionary, an Almanac with weather predictions from 10 years ago, an Almanac on common herbs, and... another cookbook "Cooking Almanac of the Inner Sea".

...She's going to peek at the unlabeled Asmodean text. 

Lilly, glances at her and starts to say something, but then thinks better of it.

It is a guide to how to hunt down various clerics of other faiths, especially Good ones!  If she is willing to keep reading... she will see some descriptions of unique domain powers and spells provided by Good Gods... along with tortures designed to be cruelly ironic given the cleric's God.  The chapters aren't well ordered, one will focus on a particular God, one will focus on a set of patterns of behavior of clerics, one discussing what drives people to betray Asmodeus to Good Gods.  If she is willing to read a chapter on Desna, she might learn some interesting things...