"Well, come with me." 

The Heralds have some more questions for her, though they still seem unclear on their agenda. They want to know more about how Leareth treated her; how Leareth treats his people in general; they avoid asking about specifics of his army and resources but poke around the edges of that. 

And then, after a few candlemarks of meeting just with the senior Heralds, she's introduced to Queen Elspeth. 

Leareth treats her well. She's aware that to Good people she probably seems to have very low standards, but if anything that makes it more notable; she wouldn't have considered Leareth out of line if he'd hurt her, but he still didn't. His people seem very loyal to him; that's enforced with a compulsion, agreed to voluntarily before they get to do anything important. The ones working on secret projects don't talk about them. She doesn't know much about his resources, but the base she was held in is one of many, she thinks, and had a dozen mages and some Healers and Farseers and Mindspeakers and a smattering of miscellaneous other gifts. Nayoki, who arranged her return to Leareth last time, must be a Mindhealer, though Carissa didn't know it until that incident.

She is intimidated by Queen Elspeth and settles back on being very small and polite. "Your majesty."

(The Heralds are unsurprised that Leareth has a Mindhealer; they gathered this from Nayoki's, well, interventions. They seem very intimidated about it, and trying to hide this but Carissa can tell.) 

Queen Elspeth makes a very slight face about being referred to this way, but doesn't comment. "We appreciate your willingness to come back down for this. I wanted to ask you about..." 

And she has a few more questions. Mostly she's watching Carissa closely, with a piercing look as though trying to see through her skin to her insides. Taking her measure. 

The meeting adjourns at lunchtime and the Heralds let her be again for most of the afternoon. 

Probably they're reading her mind. She's not really trying to pull off anything complicated but she suspects they were hoping for a different sort of person.

She mostly stays in her room in the afternoon but heads out for a walk while there's still light for it, half to see if this is allowed. She doesn't go far.

No one tries to stop her. Some Companions are wandering around in their field, and glance over at her. 

She smiles back at them. She is harmless and not up to anything. Wanders around the grounds a little.

Savil comes to find her that evening. :Carissa? We're - still figuring out what else we're hoping for, here, but if you were up for meeting some more people tonight - more than just the senior Heralds, I mean - we think that'd be good: 

:Sure!: It seems very odd to tell her that they're figuring out what they're hoping for? She doesn't know anything about diplomacy but she thinks you mostly don't share that you are confused or uncertain or things like that. You mostly don't do that in regular life. The paladins did also do it a lot? Maybe part of Good is constantly agonizing about what to do?

:Who would you like me to meet?:

:Some of the Healers and Bards, to start, and various others we tend to work with, is what I was thinking. You could join some of them for supper, maybe: 

:I can do that.: It's very frustrating that she cannot read their minds and learn what for but she's not going to chance it here.

Savil nods, and ushers her out and over to a different building, which contains a large dining hall and various people in different uniforms - Heralds' Whites, green robes, or crimson tunics and cloaks. 

A teenage girl in robes that are a paler shade of green glances up from the table where she's sitting, and waves. "Hi!" 

Carissa really wishes she understood what was going on so she could stop feeling like she is wandering around barefoot and blindfolded and might step on broken glass at any moment. She sets this aside, casts Tongues, and smiles back. "Hi!"

"I'm Shavri!" the girl says brightly. "I'm a Healing-trainee here. You're - visiting from up north, right?" Based on the pause, and her expression, it sounds like she was correcting this description from something else more uncomfortable to say. 

- giggle. "Yes, that's right. I was sort of Leareth's prisoner and then I grew out of it and then I got asked to come here. I am not sure I'm what they were hoping for, the place i'm from is really different from here."

"Oh? What's so different about it?" 

"Uh, mostly that everyone's Evil."

The girl's nose wrinkles. "What does that mean? That's - I don't really think 'Evil' is a real thing, there's just people." 

"Where I'm from Evil is a real thing! It means not trying to help people and make things nice for everyone all the time and also when you die going to Hell instead of ceasing to exist."

"- That all seems like - a really bad idea just from common sense? Er, how - sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive, but, um, how do you even get an entire country of - people like that...?" 

"Asmodeus is an Evil god and he partnered with the rulers of the country to make it produce better servants for him. It ....works okay. I guess it sounds unappealing to people who like helping other people."

"- Do you not? Helping people is the best thing!" Shavri bounces a little. She - doesn't seem judgemental about it, at all, just a bit puzzled, and eager to explain this very important fact to Carissa. 

" - huh. I don't particularly like helping people? Sometimes it's a useful thing to do? What do you....like about it?"

"Well, I'm a Healer, right? So - I get to do a thing I'm good at, and then people are better and - if they were in pain they stop being, if they couldn't get out of bed now they can - and it's the most satisfying thing in the world. And then usually they're really grateful and happy about it too, but - that's not really the point, I don't mind grumpy patients, it still feels good to - fix them, and know it was me and I made a difference in their lives?"