"There aren't, like, specialist monasteries, or anything?"

"Not really. There are ones for men with abilities that require high security but - they don't prevent suicide."

"You'd think it'd be worth the money to somebody, to park her somewhere making magic items and have a non-wizard guardian who hires out the casting."

"I am sure it'd be worth the money to somebody. I am very concerned it's worth the most money to someone willing to mistreat her."

"Not totally persuaded that a marriage is that different, on that front -"

"Hey."

" - not what I meant. I mean, it all depends on one specific person while that person is selected for being someone who wants a pretty Chelish prisoner who's supposed to spend all her time under enchantments, that's -"

"The prisoner part isn't a plus!"

"I'm sure that as marriageable Osirian men go you are top percentile in all the Osirian-husband-ly virtues," Belmarniss assures Mahdi. "Buuuut she's Chelish. It's hurting us kind of a lot here that we can't openly advertise, I can think of places I'd try asking... church per se wouldn't want her?"

"For us geas is sixth circle, not fourth, there's a lot fewer people who can cast it. And - they're going to be even more in favor of the marriage plan, on the grounds that it's also better for her. - I don't know that it is. But most people are certainly going to think so. It - sounds a lot better, right, married and studying magic with her husband, compared to in a cage making magic items every day..."

"But the cage is the thing she asked for."

"I know. I can ask whether the confidentiality agreement allows me to ask."

"It's possible she'll get along famously with Mahdi but if she doesn't - and I'm not actually sure how well we can tell under these conditions, she has fewer ways to pull levers here than a drow boy whose mom gambles! -"

"Yeah." Sigh. "Same problem with trying to talk her out of Asmodeanism though that is also probably worth a shot."

"With that you can at least verify it since Atonement won't go if she's bullshitting."

"Let's meet the girl, we can spin our wheels about this just as well in her company and maybe it'll be helpful for her to see that we're - trying."

"Yeah, all right."

And he takes them down into Lastwall's dungeons.

"Knock knock, it's your matchmaker's entire adventuring party!"

Carissa smiled at the first female guard she saw and asked if they'd mind doing her hair nicely, unsure whether this was the sort of thing you get Good points for or not; the guard agreed, so probably it is, and now she looks nice and hates everyone passionately. 

She turns when they walk in and - a smile is a hard sell, and looking right at them probably isn't being meek enough - very shy smile, looking at the floor. 

 - sigh. "Carissa, this is Mahdi and Hagan and Belmarniss."

"Nice to meet you."

"We have been discussing whether there is anybody we can safely ask about you at all who would be able to keep you and would only want magic items out of you as opposed to needing the deal sweetened. Mahdi is known to us as a lovely person, at least if you like stereotypical Osirian wizards, and signed the nondisclosure on Fazil's say-so, which gives him a big leg up in the general field of competitors here, but it has occurred to us that if you can't stand his nose you might not tell us so we're trying to be very clever. - Geas is higher-circle for clerics but would the church of Nethys maybe go for it, they're often wizards too, they have that side hustle with the wine and could probably move some items too if they don't already -"

It is sort of promisingly candid, though she's mostly trying to not have feelings, which won't help; the kinds of people who prefer to buy crying slaves are generally precisely the kind you don't want. 

"I'd like that, if it could be made to work," she says evenly. "I think I can definitely make it worth someone's spell slots.

The problem as I understand it is that I have no real means to object if someone, having made that deal, decides to make it any sweeter, so Fazil thought I should get ahead of that and sign myself over to one who will have thereby acquired an interest in keeping others off. And who I can pick."

"Do you think you should do that?"

"I don't think we'll get anywhere if I lie to you," she lies. "This isn't what I wanted a month ago. I am still a little worried that we have wildly different concepts of how it'd work, somehow. But - I want the chance to be safe, and worth something, and it makes sense that the way to do that in your society is marriage, and I would be really happy, if there were a way to make it work."