Oh good, he's been looking for her. "Delegate Tallandria?" 

HOLY FUCKING SH-

- oh, it's this fucker.

She cannot remember this person's name at all. If she ever knew it, the terror has utterly washed it away.

" - delegate," she says, as levelly as she can.

"Joan-Pau Ardiaca i Cerda, count of Gandisa. Pick any part of it you like -"

Oh no, she's terrified. He seems to be failing to put her at ease.

"- I'm here to apologize."

For what?????

"Oh?"

"For nominating you to the diabolism committee. You seemed sane and I thought you'd cool down the hotheads, but it was forcing a sacrifice on you I doubt you wanted to make."

- yeah, that didn't go so well.

- also, hey, this fucker knew he was being an asshole! She honestly kind of thought that it was an attempt at doing her a favor. She's not sure if she's more or less annoyed about it if it was intended to suck as much as it sucks.

...figuring out how she feels about things is not important. Say something. 

"I understand. It's fine."

Dumbass, you're supposed to deny that it was an issue in the first place. Actually, what you SHOULD do is figure out a way of thanking him that doesn't sound insane -

Every time he interacts with Chelish commons (outside a committee) he is shocked by how reflexively terrified they are.

"Mmm. You're owed a favor. If you want a job after the convention, let me know, though I expect you'll get a better offer by then."

- oh, no, can he make her work for him? What does he have? - no, it's only that she doesn't have anything. No one to defend her after the convention. She was not included when any other cards were dealt. She cannot say no because she has been pulled into the forest, and is without friends. Others will destroy her if she refuses; he does not need to.

She reorients, reprocessing the conversation. A fairy favor, then. He moved the winds for her after she overstretched herself to move them for the Erecuran. Having accepted the first gift, you are already lost; you will be made to accept more. Compensation for all of them is owed ever after. And, having tracked her down to talk about the committee, the currency is obvious. A chess piece, a scout. She sees.

"That's very generous," she says. "The committee mostly spoke about magical ways of detecting evildoers, and whether the government ought to ban evil people in general from positions of power. I think they're hung up on determining what sorts of tests exist, right now, especially for people too weak to be detected by ordinary means."

WHAT IN THE 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

"... It's not generosity," he says weakly, "it's trying to save Cheliax from the Asmodean Inquisition, This Time With A New Name."

Hiring her doesn't do that?? What???

" - obviously now that I'm on the committee I will suggest that it do things that aren't terrible ideas." This wasn't obvious to her five seconds ago and she was actually kind of considering dropping it because it's such a deeply personally unpleasant room where she thinks three or four people might want to kill her, but she can grow new principles on the spot, it's not like anyone can call her on it.

It's a bribe! He thought she'd take it as a bribe! Most of the Chelish people he's met are aware you can bribe people as well as threatening them! "Good. That's all I wanted."

Can he flee now? This is a fundamentally discomfiting conversation.

Well, yeah, when a person who could kill you instantly offers you a bribe for something they haven't asked for yet, you have to intuit what the bribe is for, point out that it's very generous, leave it politely unsaid that they could instead crush you like a bug to get it, which would be less convenient for everyone involved. Probably. Nobody actually tried to pull this move in middle school.

She certainly won't stop him from leaving, although she's at least as confused as he is.

The bribe was for getting stuck on the Diabolist Committee! And she's under the archmage's attention! And - and - and - 

- Yeah he's out of there.

If you do it after, without trying to get anything you don't already have, it's not a bribe, it's an apology. Everyone knows you don't apologize to insects.

She goes back to wandering the stacks and looking for books on government, wondering vaguely whether pointing out that things are generous means that they won't be there if someone tries to kill you, later.