"...do you believe this makes her dangerous to us?"

"Fuck, head, I dunno. I really don't have any idea but I'm freaking out."

"I wonder where she got the rumor from."

"Could be anything, I don't know the story. Shit. I think I'm gonna bail, walk for Bordertown... Wait, fuck, if I do that, she'll think I'm reporting her to someone."

"Is she a wanted fugitive?"

"That question doesn't even make sense out here, head. Wanted by who? For what? I'm pretty sure Tower or the Ohio Army would take her in if she walked up to them like an idiot?"

"...and their stated reason for doing so, if this occurred, would be...?"

"Probably smuggling. Or 'terrorism', or 'spying'. I- This is the badlands though."

"Yes, I know."

"Fucking fuck. I'm just gonna... Go sit way over there. You don't want to get on the Pumas bad side. They keep grudges."

"Understood."

Para Bellum does not immediately come out of the church at this time. It's another few minutes, during which his translator paces at the far end of the old overpass.

She carries herself with an ineffable energy, especially now that she is not quite so miserable. Like she owns the place and can kill everything in it, and like she can see right through you. The apparently recognizable gun has silver and steel filigree. It does look pretty distinct, with the big drum magazine and partially wooden build.

She calls out firmly, "Gentlemen, do you two consider yourselves men of your word?"

His translator holds his hands out wide. "Only on some things, but not pissing off dangerous people? Is one of those things."

She nods and stares at Blai.

Blai has been specifically interested in Law related vocabulary since it's the one theology thing he's even slightly qualified to preach about. "I would sooner die than falsely give my word and once it is given no choice remains."

"You know who I am. I could hear you discussing it- I am highly augmented. I would like to buy your silence. I was never here, you didn't heal anybody, you know nothing more than the usual rumors about me."

"I do not lie."

"Perhaps you can practice patient confidentiality. A policy of neither confirming nor denying the healing or visits of specific individuals unless said individuals agree to such disclosure."

"I do not have studied this enough. It would make sense if, agree first, then healing. Healing, then ask, I must think about it."

"I understand. If I have to shoot you both to ensure my safety, I will regret it, but I will do it."

"I would sooner die than falsely give my word. I do not speak for him. He can promise what he promises."

"Hey, I was asleep the whole time, Bellum. I've fucked around and found out once already this week, so..."

Her hand clenches. "...Does a lot of money change your mind, healer? Or a time limit after which the secret elapses from desperately secret to merely please don't proactively spread it around? Sixty days should be sufficient."

"The time limit helps. I must still think."

"I suppose I shall wait while you do, then. For a while at least."

He nods to her and picks up his Acts to page through, praying.

It would have been straightforward if she had mentioned, first of all, that she had this need, and had suggested that he adopt a general policy which would only incidentally cover her. He would probably have agreed that it sounded like a good policy if it's a thing people were likely to want. The fact that she is clearly threatening to kill him makes it harder, not easier, to adopt this policy; now he has to figure out whether his preference not to die is contaminating his application of Law.

He doesn't really care about the money. It can presumably be used to buy things but only things that people happen to bring by his church, at least until such time as he has somebody willing to run errands to and fro, and if someone happens to bring a thing by his church, he can barter for it with spells. He would really have made a terrible Abadaran, wouldn't he. So at least the money is not contaminating his application of Law.

He expects that properly competent Iomedaeans can promise confidentiality. Iomedae does it sometimes, in the Acts. He knows slightly more about how Abadarans do it because he has been responsible for enforcing rules protecting Fiducia Boian's offers of confidentiality to let his men report anything they thought might be a safety issue with the fort. It was important to be able to offer that, because ultimately they were allied toward the goal of holding the Wound, with the subgoal of the fort functioning: not just Blai and the Fiducia, but anyone who might have chosen to report, and anyone who might have formed the suspicion that they were being reported on, all benefited from this being possible. Are he and Para Bellum allies in any important way? Clearly not in very many important ways. More thoroughly allied parties would do this in the correct order. If they failed to do that, maybe because they were brought by friends while unconscious and the friends didn't understand the need, they would... well, it might depend on the strategic picture. It does at least suggest that Para Bellum does not perceive herself to be allied with Blai if she is moved to, rather than go into more detail on what she needs and why, resort to treating him like a single-use healing scroll to be disposed of once deployed.

If she had been brought unconscious... let's say by a nonspeaking summoned creature who thereafter went back to its own plane, to avoid the loose end in the hypothetical... then he would have healed her, and would not have the nagging concern that she ought to have gone about this more professionally. It seems to be a feature of his aims in establishing this badlands church that he would like to be able to take in and heal people without needing to know much about them first. He wouldn't have demanded to know her identity or have a look at her more distinctive possessions, if she'd arrived in disguise, or if he'd been alone without someone who could recognize her. So it - well, now he's back to thinking that she didn't go about this very professionally. But he isn't trying to be solely a healer of professionals.

The policy she proposes is Lawful and he thinks he would have accepted it without duress. A lot of Law is about being able to do things out of order, a little bit; to time travel, a little bit. He can go back to himself before her arrival, and tell him to adopt patient confidentiality, and then it's solved. The puzzle completes neatly that way.

He shuts his book. "Your patient confidentiality idea is good. I will do that. You do not need to pay me to do it. I will do it for everyone now."

Her relief is barely visible to a Chelish person paying close attention. She does not, actually, want to kill random people she encounters who help her, but any risk that the State of Ohio finds out where she is, before she can get to Texas... And he clearly takes this deadly seriously. Her empathy enhancer agrees, even if it's having trouble. The other one is just a coward- She'll have to put on a bit of a show before leaving...

"Good. Regardless, I will pay you two thousand dollars for the healing and another two thousand if you can do it again and five thousand if anything else you attempt helps with - an undisclosed problem that I will be able to immediately discern improvement to."

Her backpack has pre-measured bribe money rolls, actually. Among various other depleted sundries. She tosses one.

Catch. "I can do it again. I can try other things tomorrow when I have new magic."