"You can see why we want more allies!"

"It does sound like you have a lot on your plate."

Bells ring and they clear out, speculating quietly about which of their many enemies will be a problem first.

Kyeo goes for a long walk.

The whole city of Lastwall is much like the bits of it he's seen; not rich, but tidy, and well-maintained, with children playing outside. There's a market with dozens of kinds of vegetables and fresh bread and eggs and chickens and oysters. There's a cemetary, and near it the memorial with sculptures of the dead as angels. There are parade grounds where the cavalry practices. There are churches.

He is followed by a single guard at a moderate distance; the guard makes no particular effort to conceal himself but doesn't stay right on Kyeo's heels, either.

He didn't really expect otherwise. It's still nice to stretch his legs and get some air. He walks briskly to keep warm. Skirts awkwardly around the market.

The city walls are tall and unmistakeable, at the city's edges; there are soldiers stationed on them, and a grand gate through which wagons piled with goods pass. There are barracks up against the walls. In a flower garden there's a boy and a girl about Kyeo's age, kissing, and past that some young children whacking at each other with toy swords.

Eventually the bells ring for dinner.

He meanders back for dinner.

At dinner the topic of conversation is a friend's unit which took terrible losses in a fight with a vampire on the border with Ustalav, and secondarily complaints about a neighbor's rooster, which is very loud in the early mornings apparently.

Kyeo had neighbors like that. Roosters are sure annoying.

They're vaguely surprised that in the age of starships no one has invented better roosters or anything but maybe technology can only do so much. 

"Oh, it's probably possible to get new generations of chickens incubating artificially but that doesn't mean it's as efficient."

They are intrigued by the concept of artificial incubation and agree that it doesn't sound worth the trouble for chickens. Maybe someone will figure out how to make Silence permanent cheaply, and it'll make having neighbors much pleasanter.

That sounds like a great idea to him too.

He visits Carissa again the next day.

She looks exactly the same except that someone has washed her face and hair. She tries to smile at him. "Kyeo."

"Carissa. They seem to not really want to let you go to Hell, largely for intelligence reasons. Also they seem to think you will be set on fire, if you go."

She shivers. Not about the fire part. "That makes sense. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Also they didn't say what else if anything the handcuffs do - I didn't ask outright, though."

Shrug. "It's not very important."

"If you say so. I went for a walk around the city, earlier, it turned out they didn't mind as long as I stayed inside the walls."

"Oh, that's good. Did you like it?"

"It was nice to move around. People seem to take good care of their homes even if it's all - materials and technology a bit out of date from my perspective."

Nod.

"Apparently they want to convert you but think it won't work if they're very clear about that."

"...that'd be a weird way for it to work. Good usually doesn't make any sense, though."