Alicia is also hurried out. She might have made her prosecutor less personally uncomfortable but it turns out they really don't like song sorcerers for some reason.

She takes a few nervous steps out of the building, half-expecting to be dragged back at any moment, and then she sees Alicia and Raimon several paces away and breaks into a run towards them.

"Hi, Victòria. Do you know what's going on, because I don't."

"They didn't tell me anything, they just said — the Queen was Lawful and just and Good, so they were letting me go — I have some guesses but they're not very good guesses —  I'm really sorry, I was hoping you'd gotten away in time, I didn't tell them anything about you but Valia said they were reading our minds—"

"Oh, I'd been on my way out of town, en route to Egorian with a mail run, but they arrested me with a teleporting enchanter, and then in the middle of our lovely conversation suddenly decided I was free to go."

The Queen is sending teleporting enchanters to arrest random people who didn't do anything wrong but couldn't send them to go deal with the Asmodean priests?? Ten minutes ago that would've made perfect sense but then the Queen let her go so now it's just very confusing. Maybe the teleporting enchanter is a new hire, or something.

Glance at Alicia. "Did they explain anything to you?"

"No, and we really shouldn't be talking about this in front of the prison since that's making it easier for them to listen in. They pretended to let me off earlier to try to trick me into signing a fake confession, maybe it's the same trick."

"Where to?"

Victòria is pretty sure they already have all the information they could possibly need to have her tortured to death, but she's happy to follow Alicia to wherever she suggests.

"If you need something to eat, we could try the cafe Isarn, but I also have a meeting room at the Domique house for somewhere a bit more private."

The former has the advantage that Raimon is the only person she knows who might be able to spot a scrying sensor, but it might also get him in more trouble so there are tradeoffs in both directions.

"I'm actually ravenous, they didn't get around to feeding me and I'm going to need to intercept the note for my mother asking her to do it."

"I like the Cafe Isarn, but they'd definitely be able to eavesdrop if they wanted to. Could we maybe get some food there and take it to the Domique house?"

Sure, they can pick up some food en route; they're not too far apart because she didn't want to spend too long walking every day. Before long the can arrive at the private room she rented; since she paid in advance and the owners had no idea she was arrested, it's not even slightly awkward to get by. She locks the door, sweeps the room for scrying sensors or invisible people who are bad at hiding, and then finally sits down at one of the tables.

"So I don't know that we've actually been introduced, I'm Raimon."

Blink. "—Alicia mentioned you to me a few days ago? She said you'd be a good person to talk to about the copying spell."

"Alicia. Victoria and I know each other from the Diabolism committee, I'm a lay follower of Shelyn."

She blinks at Victoria's response.

"...I was talking about Raimon Queralt, at the cafe Isarn."

Snort. "There's lots of Raimons. I'm Pages. Though I can also Scriven, if it matters!"

"Oh. ...I don't know which one that is, I didn't ask anyone's name there."

"Is that the fellow who likes to call people things like 'Citizen Avenger'?"

"Yep, that's the one. I don't know if he does them himself or just knows a guy but he always has the new pamphlets and plenty of copies of them, so whatever it is clearly works."

She shakes her head to refocus.

"Right. So, what happened to you Victoria? Bearing in mind that if you aren't sure if something is a crime you should keep quiet about it, since this isn't that private."

"Uh, a couple of guards came to arrest me at my inn, and I didn't think I could fight them off without hurting anyone else by accident, so they took my holy symbol and brought me to that building. And then this nice friendly woman came and asked me some questions about helping to write Valia's speech. And I told her that it was legal, and that it was wrong for the Queen to arrest her for it, and she should quit her job and stop working for someone Evil. —I don't know if the Queen is Evil anymore, I thought she was at the time, but I guess maybe she really isn't if she let us go. Uh, I'm not sure how to talk about the next part without talking about crimes...?"

"I gave you a tour of one of my old haunts!" suggests Raimon brightly. "And we made a donation to the Church of Nethys!"

She starts trying to piece it together before she stops herself. She doesn't need to know and shouldn't ask.

"I'd say they must have disliked it a lot to send a teleport enchanter after you, but they sent a teleporter after me and I wasn't involved with your bit. I'd guess that they went after Victoria and I for the speech, then learned about you from interrogating Victoria, but that doesn't explain why we're outside of bars right now - you don't normally get let out of prison unless you've got someone powerful in your corner, and if even the church of Iomedae couldn't free Valia I'm not holding out hope for Shelyn's being able to manage me."

She did not manage to pick up on all of Alicia's subtext!

"Sure. So, Raimon and I had, uh, gone on that tour, like he said, on the night of the riots, which is — illegal, right, trespassing is a crime — and while she was asking me other questions to find out about if I'd been doing any rioting — I really didn't do any rioting, I didn't hurt anyone — they figured out about the, uh, trespassing. ...Probably because they were reading my mind, I didn't notice at the time but it explains a lot in hindsight. I didn't tell them about Raimon but I think they read my mind about that too. Anyways, I'd figured before that that they'd probably have me executed, they arrested Valia and she's a priestess of Iomedae, no one's going to let a random Calistrian who ticked off the Queen go even if they actually hadn't done anything. So after they found out about the, uh, the trespassing, the nice woman asking the questions told me that she needed to ... make sure I wasn't a danger to the city ... but that I wouldn't necessarily be in trouble.

—I didn't believe that, obviously, I thought she trusted the Queen way more than she should, but they let me go eventually so now I'm not sure?? Anyways, I told her about all the ways we made sure it was safe, and about how we were, uh, trespassing in a way that hurt Asmodeans? There was a copy of the Disciplines there, it was really bad... and after a while she brought me to where Valia was staying. And Valia told me I should write letters to some Iomedaeans she knew telling them about what happened, because she thought if the Queen understood what really happened she'd let me go? Which, again, I really wasn't expecting, but they did let me go so now I'm mostly just confused. I thought the Queen was Evil, because of how she had Valia arrested even though she followed all the laws and didn't do anything wrong, but, I mean, I'm a Calistrian and they let me go. ...Not right away, after a few hours they brought me to a different cell and sometime after that they let me go. But they already knew about the trespassing, it's not like they're learning anything new by spying on me. Honestly I'm still really confused. When the guard came and got me I thought he was taking me to be executed."

"Oh, I hope my guy was reading my mind," chuckles Raimon.

"The queen isn't evil, she was detecting good even before freeing Cheliax from Asmodeus and it seems like it would be really hard to end up evil after that. The part that confused me is why this resulted in us being let go in the first place, since being innocent isn't usually enough even in countries with good rulers and they were able to get you to confess to a crime besides. I've got a few theories, but all of them are confusing so I'm probably missing something."

"...When I said not to talk about crimes I meant that kind of description too, but if you're telling it to me this freely I guess it probably wouldn't be hard for another prosecutor to charm you into talking again anyway and this doesn't add risk."

"...I am very tired and if you want me to do something complicated you'll probably need to explain it like I'm five. I'm pretty sure it's been more than a day since I slept but none of the rooms I was in had windows so I don't know for sure. ...Anyways, the person asking me questions already knew about all the trespassing, it's not like she's going to forget just because she let me go."

"I'm saying that if you tell your friends about crimes you tell everyone who charm persons you about crimes, they don't even have to take you in to be interrogated first... probably if you're tired this is a bad time, yeah. Do you have somewhere safe to sleep? The crown might not be going after you but I wouldn't put it past a lot of the nobles to try."

"...did they Charm Person me? My mother only had cantrips, no one's ever cast it on me before..."

"They cast it on me so I assume so, it's a little less reliable on clerics than song sorcerers but you're not a powerful cleric. Uh. I'd offer to cast it on you so you could tell if it was the same thing, but I don't know if it feels like anything when we're already friends."

"I'd offer but, yeah, I'm not sure it will really illustrate the effect if I do it."

It's totally unreasonable to be upset about this. There's nothing wrong with making someone like you. It is nonetheless pretty upsetting!

"...Anyways, I think lots of people know where I'm sleeping, the Evil assassin from the Diabolism Committee was able to find me there. But I'm not sure where else I'd go. ...Also I don't want to sleep through Valia's trial, assuming it hasn't happened yet."

"In theory I have a room at the cafe and I doubt Raimon - other Raimon - would just let a noble through quietly, he doesn't like them, but I don't want to get him killed trying and it's probably ransacked anyway.  I bet the temple of Shelyn would put you up if I asked though, and if you want to repay them we could always use more channels."

"That's where I channel if I feel like walking into some other god's church to do it, but that's a big if, I usually don't. I asked about getting a Calistrian one but they said no freebies, I'd have to buy it at full price."

"I don't — Calistria usually gives people negative channels? Except for Raimon, apparently? I didn't even know she could give people positive channels until I talked to the azata."

"...I mean, She's Neutral, so it can go either way depending on the cleric."

"Yeah, I mean, that makes sense, just, before I talked to the azata I didn't realize she'd give people positive channels, like how Pharasma wouldn't give people negative channels."

"Pharasma could give people negative channels if She ever wanted to pick an evil cleric, but a neutral Pharasmin would probably never choose negative channels and I can see why one of us would've, yeah."

Blink blink. "I think I'm confused but maybe just because I haven't slept—"

"Honestly it was a pretty forgettable decision as they go, if you were really pissed off when She grabbed you it'd probably feel like not picking at all."

"I mean, yes, but I meant — I don't see why she wouldn't give a Good priest negative channels, if that's what would be most helpful, or an Evil priest positive channels if they... really hated undead or something..."

"Yeah, no idea, just one of those things. Do you want to crash in my room at the palace, it absolutely doesn't help with being spied on one bit but I can sit up if you're nervous."

"Good gods and good people always get positive, evil gods and evil people always get negative, if you're neutral on both you can choose. Or sometimes get both, though that one's supposed to be tricky. If an evil cleric hates undead there's a trick for using negative channels to control them, and then they're easy to destroy."

"...I thought I was Chaotic Good but I guess maybe I'm actually Chaotic Neutral? If — if you've got to be trying harder to make Good, and I kind of just put things right back home and then stopped, until I heard about the convention—"

—I just want you to know you're walking the path to the Abyss, and that you should keep your eyes open while you walk it—

—but she hasn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, hasn't even hurt anyone who was trying to do better, she was careful with the fire, careful with — mostly careful with — leading the servants against her lord—

—she used to worship Asmodeus? But she hasn't worshipped him in her heart since she was thirteen, which feels like most of her life even though it isn't—

—probably she's just Chaotic Neutral. It makes perfect sense, if Good means being like Valia, that she's not quite Good. She's just — inexplicably terrified for no reason. That's all.

Alicia will offer her a hug.

"It can be hard to tell. I wasn't ever certain I was good until I learned I wasn't actually a cleric, because even the good aura might just have been Lady Shelyn, and I still don't know for sure when I started counting. But if you're really trying... I'm not going to tell you that's everything, because it's not, but it's the step most people stumble at."

Hug.

She is trying, she's been trying since she was thirteen, or fifteen, or slightly-younger-seventeen, depending on how you count — the ones who try to hurt people because they have it coming go to the Abyss — the right thing to do is to kill him, for whoever he goes after next — it's going to be harder to try to do much of anything for the next while, the guard's got to be keeping an eye on her after what happened— 

"...I think I'm still not sure about some things but it kind of makes my head hurt to think about anything complicated. Probably because of the not sleeping. I — Raimon, do you know if there's nobles staying at the palace? If there's a bunch of nobles there it won't help with not getting attacked by nobles."

"There's some, yeah. My next idea was my mom's place if you'd put up with it but I cannot guarantee there will never be nobles there."

She absolutely does not know how to say "if I do that, is everyone there going to assume I'm a whore?" without coming across as more insulting than she intends. 

"I think — if the thing we're worried about is me getting murdered by a nobleman I don't really know how to prevent that. Because a lot of them are stronger than me, and better at fighting, and they have guards that could help. ...I know the archmages brought a bunch of people back after the riots but I don't know if they'd bring me back." Because of the arson, and also because the Queen is upset about the speech.

"Yeah, I don't know. - I could pick up another bag of mail, bring you with me on a trip, sleep on the road. We'd have to pick a short route, the horses won't go as fast riding double, to be back in time for the convention, but if you can stay awake another hour till I can grab something meant for Westpool and haul us thataway, that'll get us out of the city."

"I think probably if they want to kill me now they'll still want to kill me when the convention is going. ...And actually it'll be easier, because they can just follow me when I leave. But I might be missing something obvious."

"Well, you don't have to come back from Westpool, if you don't want to, but I wouldn't be much more help to you past that point."

She could leave. She could run off to Westpool, she could try and flee to Andoran or Galt or Lastwall — she doesn't actually know much of anything about Lastwall but Valia is cool so maybe it would be okay even though everyone in Lastwall is Lawful. Probably it wouldn't be worth the Crown sending a teleporting enchanter after her, if they're not planning to execute her.

And if she leaves, especially if Valia is executed but even if she's not, there'll be one fewer person on the committees saying no one should be able to get away with rape even if they're a noble or turning people into undead is wrong or it's wrong to punish innocent people just because the Queen is mad at them.

"I think — maybe I'll change my mind when I've slept, but I think I want to stay. And probably I should move, so that it's harder for anyone to track me down, and if someone kills me the first day back that'll suck, but — lots of things are dangerous and still worth doing."

"Okay. Double up in my room at the palace or someplace else?"

"I could try to stop a casual attempt to kill you if I was there but if the nobles try hard enough they can just kill me too, I'm not that strong of an adventurer. That's why I suggested the temple, because if they send armed guards in to murder someone there it'll absolutely be a scandal even if they're a noble. But I think the palace might also work since them killing you there would be embarrassing to the queen and with two of you there they probably can't do it quietly."

"If there's nobles staying at the palace then probably the temple's better? If they'd still let me stay there even though I — channel negative."

"Yes, of course they would. Even if they thought you were evil - that's what Lady Shelyn is about, helping evil people become good, it wouldn't make sense to throw people out until they've already succeeded. They'd be happy to have you do water if you wanted to but you wouldn't have to do that either if you don't."

"I can do water. Or, I'm not sure if I can do water today, I'm not sure how that works with the not sleeping and the not praying for spells because I didn't know it was dawn. But I can do water tomorrow and all the days after that."

Then once they've finished covering everything they need to Alicia can take Victoria to lady Shelyn's temple and get her a room in the back to lie down in. Hopefully this isn't just a cruel trick to get them dragged back into the jail tomorrow and mocked for their naivety.

She asks someone to wake her up in time for Valia's trial, if that ends up being today, and then curls up in bed and (somewhat to her surprise) manages to fall asleep.