"That's how things work where we're from; the only one who can make demands of a Sith is a stronger Sith. Even then, they kill each other over it regularly."

"She doesn't think it's better to live somewhere with real rule of law?"

   "It hasn't been an improvement so far, she says."

"What is her plan now?"

    "She expects to be ready to travel in a week or so; she's skeptical enough of the other gentleman's claim that things will be the same everywhere that she intends to try at least one other city first, but living away from people will also be acceptable."

"Another city in Cefax? All of the Temple-Guilds in Cefax are loyal to the Queen and agree to use their magic only in licit ways and stop rogue mages."

    "No ma'am."

"All right. Is there a way she can be kept under control here?"

DZ doesn't translate that. "It's not a good idea to try to control a Sith, ma'am. But-" sign sign sign sign sign "-she would prefer to stay and keep working on dwindling, if there's a way to arrange it so that she doesn't have to put up with hearing people suffer. And I don't expect you to find her behavior objectionable under those conditions."

"People are sometimes unhappy anywhere you might go."

"Yes ma'am, she understands that. The problem is when it's egregious, and when someone is trying to stop her from doing something about it."

"Is that how it works for everyone where you're from, or does everyone just let mages do anything they like where you're from because there's no one who can teach them to obey the law?"

She doesn't translate the last bit of that, either. 

"Laws do apply to people who aren't Sith, yes ma'am. And they do police each other, in a sense, but that's unlikely to work here."

"Why is it unlikely for mages policing her to work?"

    "She'd rather leave than follow unpleasant rules, and she doesn't think you'll be able to stop her if that's what she decides to do." Sign sign - "she wants to make sure you know that it's already a concession that she's planning on leaving rather than starting a fight over it."

"I really did mean it when I said I wanted to talk to you, specifically, in your capacity as her attendant," the woman says.

    "Yes ma'am." She signs to Deskyl for a minute, and the Sith moves off to watch them from across the street.

"I understand that her alternative to working something out with us is fine with her, whether that's finding some place that doesn't care very much about vigilantes attacking its civilians without oversight or living alone in the wilderness. Is your read that she is at all motivated to find a way to stay?"

"Yes, ma'am. It may help for you to understand - Sith are explicitly trained to follow their own preferences and ignore rules; their magic is strongest that way. She likes you, and she very much does want to solve the problem of dwindling, but it's not that she doesn't know how to follow rules and needs time to learn or to get used to the idea; it's that that goes against what it is to be a Sith."

"Hm. I think that if we had a kind of mage that - to get the nearest equivalent - lost the ability to comprehend that some things were against the rules, we'd need to give them attendants they were closely personally attached to as prosthetic rule-rememberers to transmit the information in a palatable way - maybe as hostages, in extremis."

"No, ma'am."

"I can ask favors of her; that's deeply unusual, but she allows it. But - I mentioned that I'm not actually her attendant in the sense that mages have them; what you're suggesting is incompatible with my actual purpose."

"What is your actual purpose?"

"I'm her servant; my purpose is to help her achieve her goals."

"Attendants often combine the two."

She shifts subtly, making her discomfort clear, and Deskyl shifts in response, from watchful to ready to react.

"If she wanted me to, I'd do that, ma'am."