- nod.

The cloud of magic disappears and then the image with it.

"Well," Aroden says cheerfully. "Is there anything else we should cover while we are here? Leareth and I will need to discuss security improvements against laundry wizards with cactus familiars and enchanted sword hatpins. If you slipped anything else past us that has not yet come up, I would also appreciate knowing." 

"They truth spelled me during the interview and were responsible and didn't tell me when it went up so it'd be hard to fake it working and stuff but I had Enchantment Foil. I could've had it up even without the hatpins though then it would've showed up if someone detected magic on me. Uh, it was pretty easy to talk people around about schedules so I could get into places I wanted to be, you could make that more rule-bound though people will probably find it annoying. I -" and she blushes - "mostly didn't have any good plans for if the cactus familiar didn't work."

"You are very clever, I am sure you would have come up with something eventually." Glance at Leareth again. "We will consider improvements there, though." 

"I am sorry if I frightened you by making you think your familiar was dead. Did you end up figuring out a way for that to not happen?" 

"I think I have it. I was testing it with the party. I thought if I looked really well-shielded to you that'd be suspicious but maybe not suspicious enough to blow the whole thing all by itself - I had a story about a family heirloom ready if anyone asked - and if I looked perfectly normal to you then I probably had it right and could put Batty back looking like it had a normal amount of life energy. It was growing some flowers so it wouldn't look like the same cactus you noticed was dead last time."

Leareth just smiles. 

Parmida, love, is there anything else you think we ought to say to her? 

You have not actually said that she's not in any trouble, just that you wanted to figure that out later.

I should probably clarify that. 

"You are not in trouble," he adds. "Leareth and I will need to figure out additional security and so we may ask you for advice on that again later, but not at all because we intend to punish you." 

"I should perhaps consider that Iomedae did two favours in one, and offered an unbiased test of our precautions as well as...the other part." 

"Why'd you ask Iomedae. For a wife. You're a cleric of Abadar."

"I asked Abadar first but He seemed rather helpless about the question; he has never been human and so I do not think he understands human concepts of marriageability very well. Also, I - like Iomedae, I go to her for advice sometimes, and..." it feels odd, there's something here but he's still trying to dig it out of his brain and shape it into words, "and - given my background, and how it is different from the current conditions, I - think I would benefit from interacting more with Good." 

"I don't think I'm Good. Maybe someday."

"I am almost certain that you are closer to it than I am. I still read as Lawful Evil when I arrived in this world, you know, it was the war with Cheliax that brought me to neutral." Is that going to scare her away? Well, it's not a fact he can hide about himself forever, so probably better she know from the start and avoid either of them getting up false hopes. 

"Well, same, right. Except I didn't even earn neutral I bought it."

"I do not think either of us was evil, before, only Evil. Nearly everyone in Cheliax went to Hell, and I do not think it is because human nature was any different, under Asmodeus, I think it is because He cleverly social engineered it to be that way." 

"If you got top grades in school it was your job to whip the kids who got the worst grades in the school and I always got top grades in school."

"I am sorry we did not win the war sooner." 

Shrug. "I do think you might be misestimating - where peoples' expectations are? I kept trying to adjust for things not being like before and - still being surprised - I knew Aroden was trying to make sure Asmodeus couldn't have anyone but I still figured he would probably torture me to death because it - keeps the incentives straight, right. You probably want to do even more of it if you're sending people to Axis afterwards."

"Actually I do not think that results in helpful incentives at all." 

"Thank you for pointing that out," Leareth says, seriously. "It is very valuable to know."

It's also one of the sorts of things Parmida thought a Chelish wife might be able to help him with, knowing what people's expectations are when they wouldn't necessarily tell him or Aroden even if asked. He doesn't say that, though, in case it's pressuring her. 

"I mean," she says to Aroden, "in this case it wouldn't have mattered since I thought maybe the fate of Cheliax was at stake but if someone is trying to decide whether to spy on you because Taldor offered them a lot of money, it's the kind of thing I'd expect to matter?"

"Yes, I agree. Again, you have our gratitude for bringing this to our attention."