Then once the plan for weaving their wards is set, they can go set them up around the Lyctor's body.

Goes well enough, in her opinion. (And she does test and verify the others' wards to her satisfaction.)

If she's done, then the Ninth will head back to their rooms.

Yes, ma'am.

Good girl.

Ellyn's good girl. (Should Gideon carry her to bed?)

Yes. Yes she should.

And if she's still feeling full of energy, Ellyn can then direct her how best to tire herself out.

Meanwhile - once the Sixth are back in their own quarters - 

"We need to find out what's going on with the Ninth," Angerona admits. 

"Family drama suitcase finally too full to close all the way?"

"Yeah - though I'd still really like to stay on their good side as long as we can."

"After today's showing, yeah. One hundred percent."

Serious mood. "Okay, so, should we start with wild speculation, or with laying out everything we do know?"

"What we know, I think, and go from there."

"Background- The Ninth closed to pilgrims close enough to twenty years ago, so shortly before our two would have been born. They've always been insular, it's been- I don't know, maybe another couple decades before that since they'd sent anyone to the Cohort. Nonagesimus is a leadership name, the -hark suffix is typical of what they call the Reverend Family, the line of tombkeepers. Nav is more common, what the Third would call peasant-class. Gideon is just unusual, no idea where she got it."

"From things Gideon specifically has said, demonstrated, or strongly implied about herself: 

"The main option for Ellynhark's cavalier if Gideon failed her tests was an eighty year old Cohort veteran;

"Gideon was trained for actual, real combat, the kind of combat the cavalier of the Reverend Daughter is immensely unlikely to see;

"Gideon has, to my knowledge, never explicitly mentioned anyone else she trained with, nor any friends other than Ellynhark - despite being extremely gregarious; 

"Gideon is trained in necromancy specifically, and honestly knows more theory than the vast majority of necromancers the Sixth House turns out - we've witnessed her skill in wards ourselves, but the way she talks about the Trials suggests a deeper and broader familiarity; and, 

"Gideon has a ludicrous amount of stamina, and she recovers quickly." 

She rubs at her forehead. 

"The mysteries around the exorcism remain, also: 

"She had a haunted sword, which she hadn't known about; 

"She recognized the spirit, and possibly tried to prevent it from speaking; 

"The spirit recognized her, and called her name; 

"Gideon said 'mom' after the spirit's banishment, and seemed extremely upset; 

"The spirit was unusually strong; 

"The spirit's speech patterns showed signs of origin outside of the Nine Houses; and, 

"Whatever fucking bizarre thing happened with theorems being disrupted at the end."

"And then there's..." She waves a hand, vaguely, somehow encompassing all the fuckery. "She knew Cytherea's name, and that Cytherea was a Lyctor, and she's actively hiding how. There's - however those two were able to get up at the end and actually finish off the Lyctor. And..." She goes quiet for a long moment, before: "And sometimes, she looks at thin air like it holds something of significance."

"In short, Gideon Nav is fucking weird in a way that suggests that instead of the Ninth, she should have been born into the First."

"...Yeah." She drags a hand down her face. "Fucking - yeah. 

"Cytherea seemed to be getting at that, too - she called Gideon 'her' daughter - the same 'her' that Cytherea wished to draw back - an unknown daughter, apparently - and I think Gideon was surprised, too. And Cytherea indicated that Gideon's eyes somehow contradicted something that God swore - she specifically recognized the eyes, which are, I will admit, also a 'looks like she should be from the First' - Gideon's hair is also a rare phenotype, though it's not one the Emperor possesses." Though most portraits of the Emperor are so highly stylized that it's difficult to say if Gideon's phenotypes match on other points. 

"...It took her a weirdly long time to realize who Cytherea was talking about, especially for such an intelligent woman."

"...Cytherea was also staring at - apparently talking to - something I couldn't see, right before she died. Gideon was looking at the same point." Even raising her head had been a nearly impossible undertaking for Angerona - and Gideon...

"...Was it my imagination, or was Gideon totally healed after that fight? She lost a lot of blood to that construct - and she didn't even try to staunch any of her wounds, she carried people like it was nothing, she didn't act at all tired or like she'd been bleeding earlier. And she didn't do that earlier, with injuries before that fight - not nearly as quickly, at least." Angerona... Thinks Gideon was, probably, still bleeding right up until that point - she's not sure when Gideon stopped, though, just that it was before they started tending to the wounded. 

"No, you're not wrong. I had a better angle- when she got up to do the final cut, she didn't have any bleeding wounds on her."

"I'm just going to say it, okay, lost bastard daughter of the Emperor and some out-House personage, fled the retribution and made it to the Ninth before they shut their doors entirely."

"...It's been a myriad - if the Emperor can reproduce - and is inclined to relationships capable of resulting in a pregnancy she doesn't know about - then why hasn't she? Why now?"

"The drama," she says, holding both hands up to frame the words.

She snorts. "Real life doesn't work like that. There has to be cause and effect."

"And your theory also doesn't explain why Gideon didn't want the spirit to say anything - nor how she knew Cytherea's name, nor what she was looking at."

"It's okay, I'll just add some more epicycles."

"You're right, there are some holes. The invisible assist most obviously."

"...Could whatever she sees have been the same place she got Cytherea's name?"

"Parsimonious, nice. Makes it something capable of communicating, or otherwise a source of knowledge."