Do they... all pray now, or... "Shelyn, please bless us with wisdom and insight and let Goodness and love spread across all the land as inevitably as the songs of birds."

Lluïsa bows her head and silently prays the same thing just after him, memorizing it since she doesn't want to take notes during the prayer. Not a minute has passed and this is already educational.

She watches the room attentively.

Desna, grant me the wisdom not to botch this too badly. 

Well, if they are saying a bit of prayer, Thea will follow along.

"Irori, guide us in how to teach the virtues of our Gods to the Chelish people."

Lictor Rouen Stought normally wears full Hellknight armor everywhere she goes. Endure Elements is for weaklings - by the time you can punch owlbears to death with your gauntlets, if you happen to have left your weapons behind, you really don't need it.

She'll take the helmet and gauntlets off, though, because she might need to write things.

"May Irori, Abadar, Iomedae, Erastil, Torag and all the gods of true Law guide us to the annihilation of the Asmodean heresy and the - reeducation - of those of its supporters capable of being reeducated."

Yeah Nuria is not sure how she feels about a Hellknight being here. Absolutely none of her romance novels feature them as good guys. 

Oh good, a Sarenrite and another Shelynite; she's feeling at home already. She's less sure about the others, especially the hellknight, but she's not going to be alone in the room. She'll follow along with both prayers, and add a bit of her own to Laia's.

"Eternal Rose, help us to show everyone the good in their own hearts."

Wait, is it just the clerics praying out loud or is it everyone? Enric freezes and his breath starts. Even a year later it doesn’t feel safe to pray out loud in front of strangers. 

“Erastil- Erastil guide us true through this wilderness. Erastil help us do right by our home.”

Those two are the simplest ones, that his grandfather made him memorize. The wilderness one might not be right here, but it feels right as he says it.

Eumenes, who appears to be a boy of seven or eight, bows his head and prays, sure that he is among friends. "Erastil and Jaidi, protectors of the Summerlands, please help us show the people of Cheliax how to be good to one another, and be all right again."

WHY IS THERE A TINY CHILD HERE. 

Several faithful (or possibly Sowers) of Erastil?  Thea is relatively more confident in how her pitch will sound to them compared to a Sarenrite or Shelynite, so that's helpful.  And is that a child? Chosen by Erastil at such a young age?  They must be a prodigy at his faith.

Why IS there a tiny child here. "Are you... a delegate? - did that thing Archmage Naima can do turn you into a child?"

Lluïsa is really undignified in her instant fondness for the small child for not being taller than her.

(A small noble child isn't really weirder than a kobold. He probably has a very light-touch regency.)

Small children have no place in the halls of government, even when they are adorable.

Drevnic suspects that an innocent child might be less wicked than everyone else in the room, himself included. Good pick.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I have a county on the coast. I served in the armies of heaven for the last several years, but I was very small when I went."

With that settled, Tetula prays, "Cayden Cailean, please help us to build a country where everyone can feel joy and no one has to be afraid."

It takes Thea a moment to put it together, and then she is interested.  Heaven may not be as perfect as Irori, but they are probably still very skilled at shaping petitioners into outsiders, and lack the wanton destructiveness of so much (all?) of Hell.

Enric recognizes an outsider when he sees one, even before it admits it. This child is too calm and too clean, like one of those stories they tell about seeing a child in the woods and it’s really a ghost or fairy or angel. Sounds like a good one, if he knows the summerlands and was sent from heaven. 

"The first task of this committee must be to nominate a chair - who should, given the nature of this committee, be a cleric of a Good god, chosen by the gods and not merely Her Majesty the Queen to take on this task."

He steps back from the chair. "As a mere lay preacher, I am not qualified to fill this post."

"If the majority is set on a Good cleric, I favor Nuria, second circle cleric of Desna.  I trust her to work to see to the perspective of the chosen of many Gods.  If this committee is more open on who they will consider, I would put myself forward."

She gestures towards Nuria.

This would be a wonderful occasion to helpfully nominate a cleric of a Good god if she were sure which people those were. Not the monk of Irori, at least.

It's her own fault for not memorizing more faces in open session.

"Are we sure we need a Good cleric? I thought this committee was for virtuous churches, not just for good ones."

(She really hopes that Cayden meant for her to be here and not in the slavery committee.)

She nods towards the man who stepped back from the podium.

"The man speaks sense, though I am similarly disqualified. Solandra, I've heard them mention you on the channel rotations - have you thoughts on the role?"

"- well, I'm not second circle, but I can certainly pretend to chair a committee until I've worked out how to stop pretending at it."