She returns with the money that afternoon.

He lights a stick of incense, and prays to Abadar, and then asks her to repeat every transgression she mentioned during the consultation. He has a list written down, in case she's forgotten them. She recites her misdeeds and leans into the sinking feeling in her stomach and wonders how Abadar could ever want her in His realm.

When she finishes, he takes her hands in his.

"Holy Abadar, Penèlope has forsaken You and all the righteous gods and turned towards darkness. But now she seeks to set aside this Evil and join you in Your realm in Axis. I entreat you to see her as one of Your own, wiping away the taint of the past until none remains. Let her soul shine henceforth with the light of Lawful Neutrality."

He drops her hands and takes his holy symbol in his left hand. Through the window, the light glints off the brilliant blue stone (or perhaps metal, given how brightly it's shining) of his ring. He recites words of power, and performs a few gestures, and touches her gently on the shoulder.

"Abadar has cleansed you," he says.

She feels brave, and whole, and healthy. She can barely explain it. It would have been unfathomable a few moments ago. She hadn't been sure what to think, when her friend told her about the weight of her wrongs being lifted, but now she knows exactly what they mean.

"Thank you," she says.

She leaves with a light heart and a light step, sure of her place in Axis.

Carles's spells sell unusually well in Siurana. He stays a little longer than a week, until he's satisfied he's squeezed as much money from it as he can, and then heads to the next village on his list.

On his left hand, set into an extraordinary well-crafted ring, an azure coin with etchings too fine for almost anyone to see catches the rays of the sun.

It's amazing what people will pay if you tell them it'll get them out of Hell.