"Thank you, Ma'am."

    "It's very important that Deskyl not be disturbed by anyone but me; she's likely to react violently if she's startled awake. I'll generally be available to get her, if you need her for anything; I don't need to sleep."

“Will you be watching the prisoner, then?”

The guide really hopes the answer to that question is yes, because ‘leave an enemy combatant completely unobserved in the ascendant cloister’ would be such an absurd order that she’s not sure she could/should be willing to follow it.

    "- Ma'am, she was serious about it being safe to leave the prisoner locked in with her while she sleeps. She's effectively very heavily armed - she defeated her SLAYER in single combat earlier today - and has magic that will wake her if she's in any danger. Do you need time to make sure that the prisoner can't leave the room or cause any trouble from within it?"

Magic.

Okay.

"I'll make arrangements. Will you require anything while she sleeps?"

Deskyl looks away from DZ's signing, into the bedroom. The chair lifts itself into midair, then floats toward them, spinning lazily to an upside-down position. When it gets close, it stops, and then the back violently detaches itself from the seat with a loud crunch; the pieces hover in the air for another moment before dropping.

    "She's very sure that her magic is sufficient, Ma'am."

"Very well."

(Emotion Read: silent alarm.)

"I hope you both enjoy your stay in the cloister."

    "Thank you, Ma'am."

Deskyl is already headed into the room, where the first thing she does is look for obvious surveillance cameras. DZ follows Devika in, shutting the door behind them.

Actually no surveillance camera here.

Really.

It's a pretty sparse room. No advanced electronics, no mirrors... if someone wanted to hide a camera in here they'd have a pretty hard time?

Huh, okay.

She relaxes, then, gesturing for Devika to sit on the bed while DZ tidies the chair parts into the most unobtrusive corner.

    "Are you all right, Ma'am? She's sorry she had to act the way she did."

"I understand the need for discretion here."

    "That doesn't mean it isn't unpleasant to live through."

"Does the way the dragon here treats her slaves surprise you?"

"Perhaps the last dragon you stayed with understood your importance as a playing piece, and made arrangements to ensure you saw only best her territories had to offer. Perhaps what we're seeing here in this place is the true way of things, when they aren't trying overmuch to impress a crucial guest."

    "This is bad, yes. But she really is sure that it's not all like this."

    "She doesn't want to argue about it. She wants to heal you now - when she sleeps she's going to lose her memories from the last several degrees, and it'll be easier for her to do while she remembers why she wants to."

"Alright." What a situation. She wouldn't even know where to begin as far as asking clarifying questions. So she won't. Instead she'll just ask: "Do I need to do anything?"

    "For right now, just try to relax. She needs to meditate first - it'll take at least half a degree, maybe closer to a whole one - and when she's done, she'll make a ball of blue light; you touch it, and it will heal everything."

"Okay. I'm ready."

Deskyl nods at the translation, and then signs at some length to DZ.

    "You should know that the masks are surveillance devices; we have privacy in here as long as we're alone, but I'm about to tell them that they can come in while Deskyl is meditating to do whatever they want to do to make sure it's safe for you to be unsupervised in here. It is unsafe to disturb her while she's asleep, too; she's going to do something to make it safer for you in particular, but you still shouldn't touch her, and it's safest not to get too close. I'll see if we can get a new chair, and we'll be getting a bed for you soon - it'll help solidify her position if she waits a day or two and claims that you've earned it, but we can do it sooner if you want."

“Later is fine.”

"All right. Would you like me to stay with you while she sleeps?"

"Yeah. This place gives me the creeps."

She nods. "Deskyl gave me a few errands to run, but I should be back before she's done meditating. Do you want anything, while I'm out?"

"A meal would be good."

"Maybe something hot, if they've got that?"

"Yes Ma'am. Do you have any preferences or needs that I should know about?"