“Now is better. But I want to find Lluisa after, before the committees start.”

Ducking into the family room. “We did it! We got it through the floor. Well, Korva and the nobles did most of it, but we have a right! Soon we’ll have more!”

One of the benefits of the Family room is that it has a door, which should be sturdy enough to stop anyone from eavesdropping.

Weak smile. "It's really not the law I'd've wanted to pass, if it was totally up to me, but it beats having our laws written by Evil nobles who think anyone who ever criticizes them should hang."

(She is not entirely sure how to broach the subject of what happened on the third, if it's not something he's willing to say in front of the scribe.)

"Not the one I would have passed either. But better than what they passed. I think they're really bad at repenting, if this is what they're like after renouncing evil."

"At least we have some good ones too. What did Jilia need to talk to you about?"

Nod nod nod at the comment about them being bad at repenting. As far as she can tell the Evil nobles basically use "repenting" to mean "still just as Evil, but they'll try to kill you for saying it." Her lord would've killed people for saying lots of things but not, actually, for saying that he was Evil, as long as you didn't imply that was a bad thing.

"There's a pamphlet saying the riot was actually because me and Alicia tricked Valia into saying what she did in her speech and calling for us to be executed for it." Oh, that's a good reminder, when she was thinking about who she needed to talk to during the break she forgot she needed to warn Alicia. "Except the person who wrote the pamphlet didn't actually know anything besides what they said at the trial, so instead it said the Queen should arrest every song-sorceress and Calistrian until she finds the right ones."

"I heard they already did that and then let them all go. But people will still read it and– the speech at the start said we could ask for bodyguards. We can go find how to get some, and you and Alicia and anyone else you trust can stay with each other. A few peoples bodyguards all working together can probably keep you safe."

"As far as I know they didn't arrest all the song-sorceresses and Calistrians, the Queen knew better than the pamphleteer. But, yeah, she did, and she let us go afterwards, but the Evil nobles don't care that Valia was found innocent so I don't see why they'd care that the Queen let us go.

...Delegate Bainilus also thought I should try to get some guards but I'm worried that if someone tried to kill me it would just get them killed too. I guess I can ask if the archmages would bring them back if they died protecting me?"

"If someone offers to fight besides you, that means he's ready to die for you. Or for the convention and what the gods are trying to build here. No small thing, and it's no small thing to look at someone who made that choice and turn him away. Maybe if these guards have a family and no one else to take care of them, that's a reason to, but in that case I hope a man would find something less dangerous to do than guarding."

Victòria still feels uncomfortable with the idea of innocent people getting themselves killed for her. Like she'd be saying she's more important than the people dying for, like she'd be setting herself up like some kind of nobleman, like she'd be deciding she doesn't care about innocent people dying after all—

Or they could be Evil. Not Evil like the diabolist nobles, not Evil like the Asmodean prosecutor, but Evil like Lluïsa is Evil, where they haven't actually done anything bad enough to deserve what Hell will do to them. She hadn't even thought about that, when Delegate Bainilus suggested the idea, but it settles in her stomach like a rock.

"I don't know how the archmage picked the guards. I guess we could ask. There's — a lot of ways it could go wrong, but some of them might not apply if they're the archmage's guards, rather than guards I have to pay for.

But also, I mean, I don't want to die, if I die that'll suck a lot. But the archmages will bring me back, it won't actually hurt me the way it would hurt the guards. And maybe then everyone'll realize that the Evil nobles are Evil, and they'll stop listening to them."

“I don’t actually know about that. Before I thought only archdukes or heroes from stories came back after dying. But if the archmages bring all of us back, that changes things.”

”It isn’t just nobles you need to watch out for. Normal people can read pamphlets and then make bad decisions. Some of my friends— not friends anymore– wanted to kill the archduke who summoned the skeletons, and who summoned an angel for you. Never met him, but the pamphlet said he was evil. Same might happen to you. Someone who never met you reads this and thinks you’re evil. Decides to kill you for it.”

Would people really believe — yes, people misinterpreted Valia's speech as saying go murder a bunch of innocent people, there are absolutely people who would believe a pamphlet saying she should hang, even if the only reason the pamphlet was upset about her was that she helped Valia with her speech. If some random Evildoer murders her... it'll still suck, obviously, and she won't even be able to use it to show why the Evil nobles are Evil, but it doesn't feel like the sort of thing that would be worth an innocent person dying to stop.

"...Do you need guards? I don't know what happened to you—"

“I don’t think so. Maybe one, if he knows how to read and I can ask him to do that too. But what happened to me was my own fault.”

"...What happened to you?"

“Pretty sure I’m not getting arrested but still best not to say too much, unless you really want. Thought I was about to die, that night. Then thought I had to run or get arrested, in hiding for a bit. Met some of the families out here, some decent people. But it’s all okay now, thank good. I’m back, and ready to fight. Not actually, unless we have to, but ready to argue in committees and on the floor and all.”

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, if I get arrested again — not that I'm planning to! — they might read it out of my mind. But I don't think the Queen would have you punished for whatever happened if you weren't doing anything wrong. She might have you arrested, just to find out what happened, but—

—when I got arrested, I thought I was going to die. I knew the Queen had arrested Valia, and that she was angry about the speech, and Valia's a priestess of Iomedae so I thought she might end up being okay but I'm not. No one would hold it against her if she had a random Calistrian executed, they'd all just assume I'd done something to deserve it. And when I got arrested I had started to think that the Queen was Evil, but even if she were just Neutral I'd've expected her to have me killed there.

But it turns out she actually is Good, and so she let me go. So I think she'd let you go, too, if you didn't do anything wrong."

Enric knows better than to assume things are okay just because someone was released. Sometimes a noble will drag someone away and then let him go. Then drag him in again and have everyone who gave him hospitality beaten. (Enric still thinks it was worth it, giving the man some extra bread and eggs.) Then let him go, just so he has to sleep outside and starve. Then take him in again and feed him like a noble for a few days. Then release him into the forest to be hunted for sport. 

It doesn’t seem like that’s what the queen is doing. There’s all the public fair trials and the actually being good. Better to stay safe, though. Good queens are still nobles; it’s dangerous to come to their attentions 

”I don’t trust that being arrested is safe, not as much as you do. Even with a good queen, there’s also still nobles who… well you heard them in there. I also don’t know for sure if I did wrong or not—“

It was dark, he can’t remember how many moments it was, how many moments for it to stop being defense and start being revenge. Enric knows she probably thinks it’s good either way. Makes him want to tell her even less. 

“But— Thank good that you are okay. I think they shouldn’t have made you scared you were going to die the whole time. I forget exactly how the cleric said it, but, good should be safe for other good.”

"I don't really think there's anything they could've done that wouldn't have made me think I was going to die, except not arresting me in the first place." She thought she was probably going to die even before they found out about the arson. "The woman who asked me questions told me they weren't allowed to mistreat me and I didn't believe her, I hadn't figured out yet that the Queen was actually Good all along.

—also, uh, it turns out I'm actually Chaotic Neutral. I thought I was Chaotic Good but apparently Good priests always channel positive and I don't yet. And I mean, I think the Crown should be safe for Neutral people too, but it wouldn't really be surprising if a Lawful Neutral queen, or even a Lawful Good queen who wasn't trying very hard, wasn't safe for Chaotic Neutral people."

That makes sense. In rights, she seemed halfway from evil to good. Good ideas for rights, but needed to be convinced that torture and hell are bad. 

“I heard that, in some places, they have paladins go from village to village to be the law. That works for people knowing they’re safe, since paladins can’t hurt anyone innocent. Doesn’t matter much what I think, though. They took judiciary. But at least they gave it to the paladin archduke.”

”About you being chaotic neutral, I think I found out something like that too. I’m a radical now. Not a chaotic neutral one, radical but on the side of heaven.”

Enric wasn’t sure if someone could be radical and also for heaven, but he realized Valia was. So Enric can try that, except instead of giving speeches and denouncing people, he can be on committees and try to get more rights for everyone.

The paladins idea sounds really good, way better than what was happening under Asmodeus. Maybe they can just keep doing that forever. (Is there a way to get that through the Rights Committee? "People have a right to have their trials decided by people who definitely aren't Evil Asmodeans?" The Evil nobles will obviously be against it, but if they have to explain why surely all the normal people will realize the nobles just want to get away with hurting them.)

"I'm honestly still not totally sure what they mean by 'radical,' like as far as I can tell they're basically just using it to mean anyone who thinks nobles shouldn't be allowed to just hurt anyone weaker than them as much as they want and get away with it because they're nobles."