"How I prove it?"

"Can you... fix swording? Like could you do anything about this?"

Haley pulls up her tunic to reveal the bruise on her hip. 

"Not me, not today. A strong holy warrior can, not a new holy warrior.

...to check if a person who says they a new holy warrior is a literally new holy warrior, not lying or sick, priests have them use God powers to see evil. That I can do."

Iomedae said that the queen or the baroness or Nicole were evil. She'd used that very specific word - not mean, or scary, or condescending or annoying-as-fuck adults, evil.

She claims to have come a very long way from a place where there's no cars or Costco, but there's magical healing and holy warriors and knights. So... some kind of medieval alternate universe. She should not even be entertaining that idea but it's somehow easier to believe when they're huddled under the straw in the corner of a barn like urchins hiding from the city guard in a wizard novel. It... doesn't do any harm, she supposes, since she's already kind of committed to being here and she's already going to be in huge trouble if...

No, focus. She claims she can detect evil and she claims the SCAdian nobility are evil.

Haley's brain is working, putting clues together.

She's seen people go quiet when she walked into the room. She's seen people sneaking out of tents late at night, at camping events, heard wolves in the distance and seen people sort of just laugh it off, wondered why people carry real sharp steel to guard the royals when it's just supposed to be a game. She's noticed how Nicole never gets bruises, and she might just be very good at makeup or something but... 

Haley started fighting at around the same time Lucia moved here. She's got Aleksei as an older brother, and Lucia had a dad who was a superduke or something, and she thought they'd bond, but - Lucia picked it up so much faster than her and Haley ended up quitting fighting because she rapidly got tired of being bruised by bigger faster stronger people. (Maybe if there were more women who fought, but... brewing and crafting and service make her happy.) But something changed with Lucia. She got really, really serious about fighting and started being busy all the time.

She can't help noticing the way it feels like she's being scouted out by a few of the Pelicans, and people have been hinting to her that she might like to take the SCA more seriously, ever since she got her AoA. Like whatever happened to Lucia is going to happen to her. 

"The SCA isn't a medieval reenactment organisation, is it," she breathes, horrified. "It's.... some kind of evil magic conspiracy from your world, and that's why you're here?" 

Iomedae caught less than half of those words but - Haley believes her. It's like the moment she first felt Aroden's presence, having someone believe her. Finally, finally, after all of the condescending smiles and corrections and unseriousness - unseriousness from people who made her a slave, as if that's not a serious matter - someone believes her.

....now she just has to figure out whether the thing Haley believed her about is even remotely the thing that she intended to communicate.  

"The woman in the big dress, she is the strongest evil my holy warrior power ever see. I did not say anything. I was afraid. But then at the bake sale I sayed to Katherine, that I am a holy warrior of Aroden, and she - she knowed that name. People here mostly do not know it, but she did. And she was angry. And she ran off to tell someone. To tell the - evil magic conspiracy, I think maybe.

 And - Raoulin was talking to me about secrets, he said to me, maybe you the only holy warrior, or maybe the other holy warriors not saying they holy warriors, maybe it is dangerous, being a holy warrior who doesn't keep it secret. I think they know Aroden, and I think they not-friends of Aroden, and I think they keeping secrets. And evil people who keep big secrets, that we know, that we not allowed to know - kill you literally."

So Haley's in danger. That is... not ideal. She thought it would be significantly more exciting to find herself in a fantasy novel but usually the protagonists of those are getting invited to join the good secret conspiracy, not finding out that they almost joined an evil one! 

"Woman in the big dress..."

There's several of those. If she is the strongest evil Iomedae's ever seen, they should definitely absolutely figure out who that is.

Haley feels sick to her stomach. "Did she have a crown on? Like with a big seashell and a blue... gem thingy?" 

"Crown is -" She gestures at her head. "Yes."

"That's Queen Margaret, then. If she's the most powerful evil... everyone has to be in on it, the Crown changes every six months so it must be something they give the Crown. We definitely have to hide. Um, is there any way I can be a holy warrior?" 

"Yes. Aroden makes many people holy warriors. Must be always honorable and always good. Holy warriors - very good at swording. So it very very important to know when to use it, and to try not swording first. Never lie, not even to evil people. Never - get angry at people like Robert and Jenny who not evil and trying to be good. I do not know all the other parts, I not yet all my holy warrior learning. But Aroden see us, and Aroden give us strength to keep people safe, stop the evil magic conspiracy, if we use strength for good. 

...holy warriors die not very old. Go to Heaven, so not scary, but is not a safe thing."

"I don't think I can do all that? I'm really bad at swords, and I try to always be good but I don't know about - being honourable and stuff?"

Haley thought that people like Raoulin and Lucia and Layla and Isenburn were probably the most honourable people she knew. If they're all in on a magic evil conspiracy, she is rapidly reevaluating.

(Is she reevaluating? Is Iomedae even telling the truth? If she is then Haley needs to run for her life, and if she's not then Haley is already in way too deep to stay out of... really really bad trouble. Might as well.)

"Also I lie about like, whether the dog ate my homework and stuff. Can they use magic to hurt me if I'm not a holy warrior?" 

"It is more easy to hurt people who are not holy warriors. If you lie about ...dogs...and bad at swords,  then you no can be a holy warrior, but there are other things that are also good, like, you know more than me about how they look for us, being a holy warrior not the only way to help people. I think you are good, you tried to talk to me when you did not understand the problem, lots people not try that with a foster child."

She thinks she knows more than Iomedae about how they're looking for them. If her job is to be the not-very-magical sidekick who actually owns a phone, she.... feels kind of awful about that actually, that sounds like she can do absolutely nothing to protect herself if people show up with magic and swords... but she can do that.

Does she know how they are looking for them? She knows absolutely nothing about magic. 

"Do you think they can do anything to look for us if I turn my phone on? Like can they find me that way?" 

"I don't really know about America. In Taldor, if you looking for a running away foster child, you look with dogs, and if you follow them to the lotstrees you give up, say 'well they dead anyway'. With magic can go faster, make a horse, talk to the birds, talk on the wind. Lots more things I did not see, probably. Holy warriors not chase running away foster childs but if they also sworded someone or something."

Okay, that sounds like Taldor doesn't have phones, so they probably don't have a way to track phones. The government has ways to track phones, but... Haley has got to assume that the entire government isn't part of the evil magic conspiracy from Taldor, because they're just going to get caught and killed anyway if that's not the case.

She pulls her phone out and switches it on. 

She has eleven missed calls from Ludmila, three from Nicole, and a lot of texts. The gist of it is: Where is she? Where the hell is she? Can she please call them back immediately? Is she aware that the police are looking for them? Is she okay? 

"They've been trying to contact me. Should I, like, say something? I could say we're somewhere else, try and throw them off the scent?" 

"Holy warriors no can lie. You can say no thing, probably smart saying no thing, or you can say that we going because of the magic conspiracy and we no plan to hurt them or say anything to anyone, just leave for a place where holy warriors of Aroden not have to be secret, and I sorry Robert and Jenny and will pay them back for the food they gived me when I am far away and have money."

"Iomedae.... that would be lying. There is no such thing as a place where there's holy warriors of Aroden that aren't secret. Like, nowhere. We can't go somewhere like that." 

"Taldor is like that. It is very far and I not know how to get there but maybe God have a way, or I think of one. You can say we go into the lotstrees but then they scared more, yes?"

"I don't think - when you say it's very far I feel like you're still thinking it's just somewhere you can get by walking, and we definitely cannot do that. It's not like Mexico, you must have gotten here by magic... I'm not a holy warrior, I'm just gonna tell them we went for ice cream because you were really stressed, then they'll think we're in town." 

Haley opens her phone and starts typing out a message. 

"I think that still lying!" objects Iomedae. She's not sure the exact rules but she'd strongly expect that to be how any reasonable holy order rules it - you don't want paladins to be the beneficiaries of their allies' lies, even if they can't restrict their set of allies to people who don't lie at all, which she can't right now, so - you have to at least try not to be the beneficiary of any lying. "I don't want you to lie for me."

"I'm lying for me though. I'm the one who can't detect any evil or protect myself with a sword." 

If Iomedae spoke English properly she is pretty sure she could convey this but - 

"I want not that, but I no in charge of you, and this a scary thing for you, you may die, and so it is no honorable, me to more than say I do not want that. The not lying is - very big to me. If it were me, not me and Haley, and I knowed I could lie or die for sure, I would die."

"What if I say, sorry we are away so long, Iomedae is very stressed and we decided to get ice cream? That can be true. I am upset and sorry I had to run so far and you are very stressed. We just have to decide that, like, I will buy you ice cream if you overthrow the evil conspiracy. Which I absolutely will because what else is money even for. Ta dah, true and not lying."

Haley starts wording a message to Ludmila which carefully talks around any mention of their current location.

> heyyyy ✌️ sorry about the delay! I keep my phone turned off at sca events!!! as should we all tbh... 😛 Iomedae was like really super stressed. like. SO overwhelmed 😔 I decided we should get ice cream. Don't worry about us enjoy the event! 🙌

She turns her screen to Iomedae. "How's that?" 

"- I no can read English," says Iomedae, "but I think not supposed to 'not lying' lying."