"I don't think she has a phone number. Or a phone. Or a Facebook account. If she has an email I'll eat my cloak." 

"Do we have any magical options for me to get to talk to her for a few hours that don't involve either Robert and Jenny needing to approve me having a secret conversation with her, which they will not approve, or memory editing Robert and Jenny, which I do not think is called for in the situation where they are fostering a cult victim out of the goodness of their hearts?" 

"Nobody in the local area has time dilation, no."

"Could try getting her to an event? Lots more time to talk, lots more ways to distract Robert." Raoulin assumes Jenny would not accompany him. 

"We just had Sacred Stone Birthday and Rip Rap war. So we'd be looking at Southern War Practice or Battle on the Bay and I doubt her parents are keen to let her go to either South Carolina or Maryland. Unless you want to try the day event on the 15th." 

"Gabriel, can you invite her? Offer to give her and both parents a ride." 

"I think Jenny really does not like me." 

"Okay. Talk to Robert at his work, tell him about the event, and tell him that I've got room in my car for Iomedae and potentially for one guardian. I'll borrow one if I have to." 

"You know you can always borrow my truck." 

"Aren't you a therapist or something, couldn't you just find a way to make sure the foster system thinks Iomedae needs a therapist and then - I don't know, volunteer?" 

"I work in prisons. Do not even suggest that we get the kid sent to juvie so I can be her therapist." 

"Again, not suggesting that!" 

This time Gabriel is absolutely on board with not suggesting that. 

It's a topic change, but Cináed has been mulling over this thought for long enough that he's willing to jump in and say it as soon as there's a lull in the conversation. 

"As the, ah, resident expert in this experience - if she was raised by the fey or something then I do genuinely really think she needs to be introduced to the SCA as a mundane organization first before we tell her about magic. I don't think already knowing about magic changes that, I think it makes it even more necessary." 

"Hmm. Can I ask what part of your own experience you're speaking to? Not to question you, but - is it the aspect of needing to be able to separate an Atlantian king from a fey king in your head? Maintaining modern values? Just because I'm not... sure if she has those, or if we can force her to get some."

Cináed pauses a long time, looking anxiously down at his hands but successfully managing not to fidget. He stares at the delicate silver ring on one finger. "Partly that, yes, remembering that the SCA crowns are only crowns for six months, and our barons have less real power than our seneschals, and you can't actually get executed in court, and all that other stuff that seems analogous at first glance but isn't. And partly the way people sometimes treat me like I was grandfathered in and didn't actually get read in because I was ready."

"I thought you were ready since your first day," Gabriel reassures. 

"That is - with respect - exactly what I don't like and what I don't want to put Iomedae through."

Nicole winces a little. "I hear you."

"I just - look, there's a lot of hypotheses but they all simplify down to two and I don't see a third option. Either she's a recruit, and we bring her in and tell her about magic, or she's not a recruit. If she's not a recruit, I really hope we can just tell her not to talk about magic, but... she seems pretty insistent on talking about the supernatural at every possible opportunity. I hate memory editing but people who know a lot and absolutely refuse to shut up about it are exactly the people we have memory editing for." 

"And we're assuming she knows about magic because she just seems to really believe in faith healing? She hasn't done any faith healing. She's said nothing that indicates she knows the fundamental equation of magic equals morality over time." 

"What if we did a sale?" 

"...you've lost me, Raoulin." 

"A bake sale with memory loss potion lemonade?"

Reynhard is inclined to let Raoulin cook (he's smart when he's not busy being humble) but he cannot help cracking stupid jokes. 

"No, at - what's the event on the fifteenth, Fencers' Fete? There's gonna be merchants and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be some people just with tables of cheap secondhand stuff. I have tons of stuff I'm not using in the attic, we've got some stuff in Baronial storage we meant to sell - let's take up a load and sell a bunch of cheap stuff. Iomedae can volunteer."