"I know that! I'm sure she knows that too! It's not about the pharaoh thing, it's about - about how when Mahdi took twenty seconds to teleport he called him a useless idiot, and when somebody came in wearing pretty stuff cause that's protocol he snapped at her to take it off because she shouldn't'a wasted his time, and how he keeps walking around like a robot or something, and - you can take a lot more shit from people if you know they're on your side, y'know?"

"Yes. I think that the pharaoh is not really on our side and yet needs us to be on his."

"This seems like an awful lot to ask, given past experience with lawful evil deities."

"Yeah."

"It's real bad for people, to listen to everything that lawful evil deities tell 'em to do."

"The - deity - part is lawful neutral. It's the - Hagan - part that's lawful evil."

"Well, she can't exactly listen to one and not the other right now, can she."

"I don't really know how she would do that."

Sigh.

"M'supposed to ask if you know anything new about how the helmet's affecting him."

"I think he is much more frustrated by people - or maybe he was always that frustrated by people but less inclined to threaten them over it. I think he would find it very upsetting to be disobeyed. That is - difficult for people who knew him before and have grown accustomed to certain ways of interacting with him, of course, but it's not really unreasonable - if you were for some reason working with a pharaoh who you didn't know, you wouldn't be very surprised that he expected to be obeyed, right -"

"Well, no, but I'd also try to get away from him as fast as possible."

"Imagine you had an important reason to be working with him, like preventing a war between Osirion and Cheliax."

"Then - you know like when archers are trying to hit other archers so they wanna make sure they have cover that lets 'em expose as little of themselves to the enemy as possible so they don't get hit?"

"Sure."

"You do that, 'cept with words and getting things done, until you can get away, and then you get away."

"I don't think it would be very healthy for Korva to be thinking about how to get away because she can't do that."

"Oh yeah, she knows she's pinned. - you know the way she was acting when you guys first kidnapped us - "

"She seemed pretty quiet."

"She lied about her favorite color."

"I don't think she needs to lie to the pharaoh about her favorite color."

"Why, because it's wrong or because you don't think he'd hurt her or because you can't think how you would hurt someone by having control over all of their possessions and also knowing their favorite color?"

"Because.... he has only lashed out at me for things that would also have bothered the old Hagan, though he'd have been more graceful about them. Or - that's not precisely the right description. But I don't think he would make someone wear only colors they didn't like, specifically to spite them, it's not the kind of thing I have seen him do."

"See, that's useful information. I think - she kinda doesn't know how not to piss him off, though. So she just kinda figures anything could do it and that if she does piss him off he'll - 

" - well, Asmodeus tortures people."

"I think the pharaoh is not Asmodeus. He is - he does not have a lot of merciful impulses to temper his impatience when disappointed, but I do not think he would hurt her for fun or as punishment."

Sigh.

"Anyway. You think she should do everything he says. And that if she doesn't he'll be pissed."