Joy's the only one visible; the sails move without any apparent hand acting on them.

"Treason's out right now; we're sleeping in shifts in a rope trick so there's always someone awake to respond to an attack. We're not definitely safe from retaliation just yet, but I think we've probably exhausted their willingness to throw good scries after bad and I figured you might want a few minutes to orient before you have to go sit in a confined space. It shouldn't be too much longer at this point, we're only about a day out of Augustana."

Nod nod. "How long has it been?"

"Five days. We had to take a bit of a detour near Halmyris, because they found someone good enough to give chase and we didn't want to lead them right to where we'd stashed the boat."

Nod. She hesitates for a moment. "...But you all made it away alright?"

"Yes, we're all fine. I'm not even sure it's possible to track someone flying unless they figure out where you landed, so all we had to do was break contact and fly far enough to make that impractical. And obviously none of the checkpoints or patrols were a problem, we didn't have the time to go take down the soldiers we ran into but if your horse is fast enough they can't do much to stop you."

Oh good. She's not really sure why that feels like such a relief, but it does.

...Right, she was trying to say things she thinks. "That's good, I'm glad."

"Me too. I think I could probably avoid a malediction, since it's hard to hold a 4th circle wizard, but just because I like where I'm going doesn't mean I'm in a hurry to go there."

He hesitates for a moment.

"I'm glad you're alive as well. There wasn't any way to check without dismissing the spell, so I'd been fretting about it a bit."

Getting a teenager sent to the Abyss because he wasn't willing to spend a teleport scroll on it might be tactically sound, but it doesn't mean he wouldn't feel like shit about it.

It's still really weird that he cares about what happens to her when he met her today. Or, well, technically five days ago, but still. Not bad, it's actually kind of nice, but weird.

She still doesn't want to say that. ...Probably she should handle this by saying something else, rather than just not saying anything. 

"You're hoping for... Elysium?" she guesses.

"Yeah. Sometimes I read neutral instead, and it's not that I'd mind ending up in Nirvana, but it doesn't really speak to me the same way."

"What are they... like? According to, uh, people who aren't working for Asmodeus?"

"Elysium is all about freedom. You can do pretty much anything you want, as long as you’re not hurting anyone, and nobody’s in charge. There are gods, but they just live there, if you don't want to listen to them you can just go somewhere else at anytime and nobody will stop you. There's not a lot of cities, but nobody needs them, you can get everything you need without needing to. You know everyone there is good, so you can just - it's not that I'd get along with everyone, I've talked to Azata before and I couldn't stand some of them, but when the chips are down I could always count on them to do the right thing. And it's absolutely beautiful. I didn't think that was all that important when I was younger, but if I'm thinking about where I'd spend the rest of forever it feels like it would add up. And then once I've had time to get used to being an outsider, Elysium does raids on Hell and the Abyss to save people, and maybe I'd die for good doing that but it'd be because I was doing something that mattered.

"Nirvana focuses a lot more on healing people. All the agathions I've talked to have a boundless capacity for caring about people, of not getting tired or worn down by things being difficult or awful or scary. If someone’s being a dick because their best friend just died and they’re hurting, obviously the last thing anyone needs is for me to go be a jerk right back, but I’m not always very good at avoiding it, and they are. And they try to see the good in everyone, so they can show up to trial and snatch away souls from the demons and devils.”

Some of that feels — confusing? Why does Nirvana even want random strangers' souls if they're just going to have to take care of them? You'd really think there'd be less annoying ways to hurt devils and demons — maybe it's like how the Eagle Knights were willing to put themselves in danger to get her out of Cheliax, even though they'd just met her? Only that doesn't really make sense either, no one would want to keep someone like Guifré out of Hell. Maybe when he says they try to see the Good in everyone, he means something more like... they see if everyone who goes up for trial is secretly Good, even if they... used to worship Asmodeus, for instance... and if they find Good in someone then they'll go try to argue for them even if they've done some things like that? And then people like Guifré or Chosen Dalmau, who don't have any Good in them at all, just go to Hell like they deserve.

She's not sure that's totally right but she's not sure how to ask about the parts she's confused about, she can line it up in her head and feel what doesn't make sense but she doesn't really know what to ask. She hadn't even known souls got trials, she'd assumed you just ended up wherever.

...Elysium sounds really nice. Or, well, really nice as long as Asmodeus hadn't managed to take it over, but even if you only get a few centuries there before you die fighting Asmodeus it'd still be — a place that was actually good to live? She's not actually sure if she's Chaotic Good or just Chaotic Neutral, she killed Guifré but maybe a Good person would've figured out how to kill Chosen Dalmau and her lord right away rather than waiting for someone else to show up and do it for her, but — it sounds nice. 

She's been trying to say things she thinks but she's not really sure she wants to say all that.

"I — am not sure I understood all that," she says, which is absolutely not the sort of thing she could've said in school without being punished for it, but so far they haven't hurt her at all for saying stupid things, "but I see why you'd want Elysium." Little smile.

If he was reading her mind he could absolutely be much more helpful here but he's not, it would be a horrific invasion of privacy and an inexcusable waste of spell slots.

"If you come up with any questions I'd be happy to answer them, but I don't have a second, better explanation hiding somewhere."

He's willing to risk a bit of time getting her the chance to stretch her legs and show off the unseen servants, but after a bit he'll take her into the cabin so she can climb the rope trick. As promised Treason is asleep, but Liberty and Eric have a divider up and are quietly playing cards by the light of a smokeless torch.

It has not even slightly occurred to her that it might be reasonable to object to people reading her mind! She'd rather they didn't, obviously, if anyone back home had read her mind she'd have died for it, but it feels kind of pathetic to complain about it, it's not like reading her mind would hurt her by itself.

She waves tentatively at Liberty and Eric and sits down next to Liberty.

Eric will wave back while Liberty shifts to make some room.

"Are you hungry? We've got food, but I'm not sure if people get hungry while they're under the effects of weird shadow magic or not."

"I don't think I'm more hungry than I was before the spell, but I was pretty hungry then." 

In hindsight she probably should have eaten something. They could've decided on the plan where she also rode a magic horse, it'd really suck to be trying to do that on an empty stomach. She just... didn't think to ask for permission, even though it probably would've been completely fine.

They can pass around some jerky, bread, and butter; it's dry, but they've got water and she's a cleric besides.

"Did Joy explain things or did he just send you in here?"

"He said, uh, it's been five days, we're about a day from Augustana — I'm assuming that's, uh, in Andoran — and the government probably gave up on looking for us but it's hard to say for sure. And they chased you for a bit but you all got away."

"That's the important stuff, then. Have you thought about what you want to do once we make it there?"

She is still not at all sure how to say this without sounding like a ridiculous child but maybe she can just keep saying things, like she's been doing, and it'll work?

"I — want very badly to help people like you against the Asmodeans. Before you came I had never — never even met anyone else who was trying to avenge what they'd done, everyone was just treating it like it's okay, like they were right to do the things they did — and it isn't, and you're fighting them, and I want to help—"

And there's probably thousands of people like Chosen Dalmau, or like Guifré, or even worse, just getting away with all the awful things they've done, and most of them are going to keep getting away with them, and she can track them down and make them pay, until every last one of their wrongs has been avenged and every last one of them is in Hell where they belong.

"—and I know Treason said I've probably got to be second circle, and someone people can trust," which is still a very weird and confusing concept, "and I think I probably need to, uh, know more things about the world. But — I want to... do things where if I do them then eventually I'll be able to help? But I don't, uh, know what those things are. Or... what sorts of things there are to do, at all, if you're a priestess who's not an Asmodean priestess."

"Hmm. As someone who used to be a first circle cleric, my advice would be to learn how to use a weapon. Cleric spells are very useful, but outside of summoning monsters all the best options for combat involve making you or someone else better at fighting, and making yourself stronger matters more if you know what to do with that strength. I use a morningstar, but it's also hard to go wrong with a mace or a spear. They're pretty simple to pick up the basics, and then it's just a matter of practice until making it do what you need it to is second nature. There's a world of difference between a cleric who everyone has to protect when the fighting gets tough, and a cleric who can help out in the thick of it. I didn't start training seriously until I was a bit younger than you are, and, well."

She gestures to Eric.

"He can still kick my ass, but if we spar with spells I usually win two or three fights in ten, and it takes a lot of practice to get as good with a rapier as he is. Against Chelish soldiers it's usually more than enough. The other big thing is probably working towards getting good channels. They're more useful, in most fights, and it means you don't have to spend spell slots preparing cures."

"Don't forget the armor," Eric adds. "Getting some as good as mine is going to be out of your price range for a while, but don't try to cheap out on it either. Trust me, if someone's going to try and stab you then you absolutely would rather have a layer of steel between it and your internal organs. And since you can't just become an expert at it in a day, you'll want to get started training in it early."

"Mine has certainly saved my life a few times over the years. Your other question is a lot harder to answer, since there are lots of things clerics can do. Plenty of clerics go adventuring, since it's the best way to get stronger and it can pay really well if you get good enough at it, but I wouldn't say it's most of them. There's also a lot of clerics who do preaching, spreading the message of their god or goddess to more people. We had a cleric of Milani who gave sermons in my home city, that's how I realized I wanted to be her cleric. After that, it varies more by the god. Many Abadarans run banks, Nethysians do a lot of research and writing and teaching, Pharasmins help make sure mothers survive giving birth and the child survives being born, I met a few Desnans who spend their time traveling the world and helping people they come across. With Calistrians I think it's usually stuff like working in brothels or theater or assassinations - don't be an assassin, murdering people is almost always evil."

She nods. "Okay, uh, I have a few questions. First of all, are there weapons that are better or worse for, uh, small people?" Or, like, people who aren't that strong, but it'd be kind of ridiculous to insist on weapons that work for weak people, whereas it's not like she can do anything about how tall she is. (She's a little below average for a woman.)

"Uh, second, why do Calistrians do theater, I don't really get how that's connected?" Not being an assassin makes sense, it sounds really hard to make sure you're only killing people who deserve it. Especially if you're only killing the people that rich people want dead, that seems like it'd make it more likely you're killing innocent people.

She hesitates. Probably they aren't going to decide that actually they want to torture her to death after they already brought her all this way, but from how they've been talking about channels it seems more likely they'd do it over this than just about anything else. "And, uh, for what you were saying about channels — I didn't know they could... change? I was sort of assuming Calistrians always got harmful channels."

"That's a complicated question," Eric hedges. "There aren't really any weapons that are stronger if the person using them is smaller or weaker, but there are some that it hurts less. Generally speaking, you want something with a pointy end, since it takes less force to injure someone with a really sharp point than it does to bash their head in, and more of fighting comes down to sticking it somewhere the armor doesn't cover. Rapiers can be like that if you're really good, which is why I use them, but if you don't want to spend years at it you use a spear. There's also crossbows, which pretty mostly depend on your ability to aim, but they take a while to reload and even if you get as good as Treason you'd want something to use if they get too close."

"As for the theater, I think they might just enjoy it? There's presumably a theological connection there too but I only know about if because there are a couple of famous Calistrian actresses."

"The good gods all give their clerics positive channels, which heal people and hurt the undead. Evil gods all give negative channels, which hurt people and heal the undead. It's just neutral gods like Calistria and Abadar that can give either, and for them it depends on if their clerics are good or evil."

"I've heard stories about an occasional neutral cleric who can do both, but I think those might have been made up."

"Maybe. It's not most of them, at any rate, usually neutral clerics just have one or the other consistently. But positive channels are much more useful unless you're a necromancer or a solo adventurer, and even then you'd probably still want to heal yourself. The channels go with cures and inflicts, so I can turn all my first circle spells into Cure Light Wounds instead of Inflict Light Wounds."

So she's... Chaotic Neutral, then? That's — a little upsetting, actually, which is sort of bizarre. Most people are Lawful Evil — well, no, actually, maybe that's not true, they did say earlier that most people don't actually go to Hell. Still, though, there's nothing wrong with being Chaotic Neutral. It's just—

It's just that she wants to be Good. Wants to be the sort of person who'd show up at a manor full of strangers and give every servant of Hell what they deserve. And she's working on it, she killed Guifré, but — well, it's not like there weren't plenty of other servants of Hell around. 

...Doing Good things on purpose to channel positive feels like it's kind of missing the point, though. She's not really sure how to explain it, even to herself, but it feels like... the wrong reason? But — well, if she had a group, she can see how healing channels might be more helpful, and it's not like she wants to be worse at killing Asmodeans. If she's doing Good things for the right reasons probably she'll end up channeling positive anyways.

...She doesn't actually have any idea how to do that if you only just got to Augustana and don't know who there deserves to die yet. Probably there's a lot fewer of those in Andoran anyways. If she looks inside her soul for the answer it mostly just wants to skip to the part where she's ready to go back and make the servants of Hell pay for what they've done, which is not really very helpful.

"That all makes sense. Are there, uh — I don't — I've never been to Augustana, obviously, what sorts of things can you do there that help with channeling positive?"

Wow, that was a terrible way to ask that question, it sounds pathetic and it probably made it seem like she was secretly Evil or something and it's not even exactly her real question.