Ma'ar is looking very thoughtful. 

"It is kind of gross and I sort of think it might be sticky? If you stop compelling all your servants one day then you're fine to begin with because nobody tried to be your servant in order to assassinate you but sooner or later you have to hire a new one and that one has probably heard that you're the only person in town who doesn't, and maybe that gets you some perfectly normal gardener who just doesn't want a compulsion on but maybe it gets you an assassin, just because all the other targets are harder to reach, so nobody will be the first to stop and it would be better to find some other way to solve your assassins problem."

Ma'ar is frowning. It's hard to find the right words for the point he wants to make, and he wouldn't even try with the normal teacher, but Lionwind is smart. 

"I...think it'd be stupid to do in Tantara where mostly there aren't assassins anyway," he says slowly. "And - it seems sort of bad to do to servants serving nobles, because - the nobles already have more power than the servants, right, they get to make the rules, they have other options. But...okay, if it's the city Guard, not in Tantara where they're mostly following the rules but - in Predain the Guard is really corrupt and - and that's sticky, I think, it's - it pays horribly and it's not fun if you're a person who - cares about things being nice and the law being followed, I think, because they're not. And - and the Guards are the ones who have power over everyone else and they use it to hurt people and take their money and - and rape them, because they can get away with it, they're stronger." 

Shrug. "Just, I - think it'd be different if someone made a rule, all right, if you want to be a Guard who's allowed to carry a big sword and arrest people whenever you feel like, and have them be scared of you, the rule is you need to have a compulsion not to rape anyone. Because then that would be the thing that was sticky, and - and I don't know how else to get away from the problem where it's hard to make the Guards not corrupt and horrible because mostly only people like that want to have most of their colleagues be like that..." 

Lionwind's expression is very carefully controlled and everyone else including their regular teacher looks COMPLETELY HORRIFIED. 

"I think it might be good to read more history in this kind of class? And try to figure out why it got like that in Predain in the first place and why it isn't in Tantara, in case there's something else you could do instead. - also you'd have to be really careful with the exact kind of compulsion even if it's only on people who are like 'yes go ahead I want this job anyway' - for them, of course, but also if one finds a way around it then there being a compulsion would mean nobody'd believe their victim -"

"Yes, that is a good point, Aza," Lionwind says, looking grateful. "And, yes, I think this type of question is mostly about history, and ethics and some philosophy, rather than anything specific to magic. ...To be honest this is true of Mindhealing as well, many problems that patients can have depend on their life situation in context, which has a great deal to do with the history of the world around him..." 

This is extremely a digression but it's interesting enough to get the room's attention onto something else, and then Lionwind segues into asking whether the book Ma'ar read had other types of illegal magic listed. 

Ma'ar is feeling very scared right now because it feels like he said something wrong but he isn't sure what. "Uh, demon summoning. And making artifacts that secretly murder people, and enslaving elementals. All of them seem like they should just be illegal, I think? Unless elementals aren't people but I think they are."

"This is well outside my expertise now! I think I will prevail on your usual teacher - do you know the answer to his question...?" 

Lionwind keeps almost-but-not-quite glancing at Azabel, like he very badly wants to Mindspeak something to her, but he doesn't through the end of the class. 

Ma'ar is still and quiet and doesn't talk again. 

Aza has uncontroversial opinions about those three illegal kinds of magic. She loiters a bit to let Lionwind say whatever it is, after class.

This is somewhat awkward because the teacher is also loitering, apparently angling to talk to Lionwind too, and - she makes an abortive movement as though to go after Ma'ar and tell him to stay behind, but shrugs and does not do this. 

Lionwind sighs very heavily. 

"I apologize," he says to the teacher, "I have another commitment - if you wish to speak to me I do have office hours for that..." 

:Aza, could we talk for a bit: 

Ma'ar would really like to talk to Azabel! However he really would not like to talk to either the teacher or Lionwind! He flees to his room.

:Yeah, of course:

:Let's walk to my office - unfortunately I really do have a session in half a candlemark, this ran longer than I'd expected: He starts walking; he seems more distracted than usual, because he walks too fast for Azabel at first and only catches himself after ten seconds. 

She catches up when he slows down. :Is everything okay?:

:That did not exactly go as I expected, and...: Another sigh. :I know exactly what that teacher wanted to ask me and it is very awkward. Is Ma'ar a friend of yours? He kept looking at you specifically: 

:We practice together a lot and stuff, yeah:

Another heavy sigh. :Then this is especially awkward and I should arguably not be having this conversation with you at all, but - that exchange earlier would trigger the usual protocols to have a student speak with a Mindhealer, to...see if they are all right and whether some - very bad thing that others are not aware of happened to them. And, having been there for it myself, I am - actually quite concerned already. However it is not especially appropriate for me to ask you for your impression of whether your friend Ma'ar is...okay. However, that is the matter on my mind: 

:...well, it would probably be appropriate for me to tell him that you said that? And then he can do whatever he's comfortable with from there?:

Lionwind considers this for a few moments, then nods. :All right. Sensible plan. Anything else we ought discuss before I head on to the office?: 

:He's shy. Is it definitely out of the question for me to be seeing patients by myself yet, if hypothetically he could use it but he's not okay with going to you?:

:I - hmm - it's not entirely out of the question but I would be much more comfortable if you came to me with summaries afterward to discuss. I think you do still need mentoring even if it does not need to be real-time supervision. Would that work at all: 

:I could hypothetically ask him:

Nod. :Hypothetically, you could: