"That's good of you, kiddo. I think if you just say 'sorry for bringing up God, I won't do that anymore', they'll be fine with that."

"Bringing up God, is not thing I apologize for. Or - is not just God, right? Also holy warriors, honor, obedience, Heaven, Hell, good, evil, this world, next world?"

" - it's kinda all of those, yeah. Or at least the way that you view all of those."

"If I say, sorry for bringing up God, they understand that I saying all of those?"

"I think they'll get the idea? You could say 'sorry for bringing up religion', if you'd rather."

"I say that."

Iomedae feels desperately lonely, but that is her problem, not anyone else's. She spends more time in her room praying; God does not forbid her from speaking to him about important things.

At practice on Tuesday she will show up early, slightly sick to her stomach, to apologize and then swordfight. "I am sorry for bringing up religion at practice, I won't do that again," she says, in much better than her usual English.

....right, he should've predicted that there would've been some followup after Robert made her leave last practice. Of course. This isn't a response to their note, or most likely to anything they did at all. The English in that sentence sounded coached. 

Damn. He isn't sure whether to be encouraged that this means she isn't breaking the secrecy of magic, or annoyed that this means it'll be much harder to gather information about what exactly is going on. 

"That's okay. We understand you're adjusting to a different culture, and it's okay to have trouble at first," Reynhard says because he has to say something. "And having a religious persona is fine, so long as you're not talking about God saving you from hits, or people going to hell, and the like. We're just glad to see you again." 

...'having a religious [something] is fine, so long as you're not talking about God saving you from hits, or people going to hell'.

Iomedae has absolutely no idea what this would mean is permitted, though she correctly guessed two not-permitted things, so ....probably she should not change her current policy to just not talk about anything that is important. 

"I want to learn swords, sir," she says, and then unless anyone objects she will spend the entire practice doing that with alarming intensity.

Absolutely nobody is going to object to her studying the blade. Do her foster parents want to allow her to fight anyone she likes, or is she restricted to Lucy and Nicole? 

"We talked with the social worker and it sounds like it's fine for her to be in the sixteen and up league once she's sixteen, but not until then...just going off her legal birthdate, since she doesn't know her actual birthdate."

"I know she's excited to fight more people but it's important to keep in mind, with how big she is, that she's really still just a kid."

This is false but the evidence it is false is that God chose her and she's not allowed to talk about that. 

Just Nicole and Lucy, then. She will not speak except to say 'good' and 'light' and 'show that again?'.

Lucy finds this significantly more intensely distressing than being told about Iomedae's abusive cult that says she'll go to hell for disobeying her father.

"Iomedae, are you okay?" she asks after they finish fighting. "You seem... like you've had a really rough day?" 

Now how does one answer that without reference to this world, the next world, goodness, honor, Heaven, Hell, or anything else that counts as 'religion'.

...well, Lucy mistakenly thinks that this was a bad day and that is not true and it is important enough to correct that that she should risk saying something, though probably it should be a maximally narrow something so that no one is upset that Iomedae has political opinions. (She thinks 'religion' is something like 'having political opinions', which is a category of behavior it makes sense to prohibit one's slaves from.)

'Swordfighting is good'? No, she can't say that because it is an assertion about the good. 

"...today I fighted with swords! I like to fight with swords."

"Well yeah, I love swords too, but - is everything else cool? If you're mad I got you kicked out of practice last week, I'm really sorry about that." 

Again Lucy is wrong and it seems important not to let the misunderstanding stand but how - without saying anything about the world -

"- you did not kicked out of practice last week. I disobeyed."

"...but I still would like to be your friend? Have you... watched any movies you liked recently?" 

"I don't know friend, or watched, or movie, or recently."

Woah. How little English does she speak?

Lucy has been assuming that anyone capable of debating theology in English is also capable of being asked if they've watched a movie. How much of their previous disconnect was just translation...?

"Uh. My Spanish is bad. But friend is amigo - sorry, amiga. Watched is - ¿Has visto? Recently is recientemente. I think.... I don't know movies in Spanish. Stories on television?" 

"...in school, we watch, uh, the FrenchandIndianWar." Iomedae is not allowed to have opinions about thefrenchandindian war. Also she doesn't in fact have any because the television did not make any sense to her.

"Oh! Fascinating! What did you think of it?" 

Is Lucy mocking her? It seems unlike her. "Ma'am, I am a foster child, and should not discuss religion."

"...that's not religion, though? And you being a foster child shouldn't affect what you're allowed to discuss. Also I'm not a ma'am." 

Iomedae feels angry, which is not fair to Lucy who did not make the rules and is perhaps if she doesn't misunderstand objecting to them. But also Lucy should really know better than to try arguing with slaves about whether their orders are fair.

"Sword more?" she asks. 

Lucy would normally end their fight where they were at so that she has time to fight everyone else at practice, but she feels desperately bad for Iomedae and wants to make up for whatever she's done wrong. "Sure. Yes. We can fight more. - it's fight, the word is fighting. Sword is just the word for the object. And this is stab," she demonstrates the move, "or thrust, and this is slash or swing - throwing a blow, we say in the SCA. Or attacking."

Lucy is abruptly no longer worried it will be patronising to Iomedae to explain words to her. Maybe if she learns enough words she'll be able to figure out that she grew up in an abusive cult.