"Go for a walk," she says, delightedly. "You know, I'd confirm that, except at some point it'd be repeated to someone who has ever been to the Worldwound."

"Mm.  Rumor proclaims you a fair wizard, and rumor also says that wizards have ways of keeping warm, but perhaps one or the other is untrue."

"I was also speaking metaphorically, in such fashion as to include any number of other reasons to be one of a small handful of people going somewhere, but without intent to inquire any further."

"Endure Elements doesn't always cut it in wintertime that far north, but that's not the problem with your theory." She smiles in a friendly sort of way and takes another bite of food. Swallows. "Nor is the danger of travelling alone, though it's considerable. Perhaps if you track down a random soldier and present your theory they'll spot it, though of course you'd have to kill them, afterwards....I have to say, in the circles I've travelled in, a name being maybe punishable with final execution is a reason not to say it. But one assumes that the people here who can't stop speaking it have some justification beyond that they're very bored all the time."

Alexite Gellius Rutilus Thrune doesn't look particularly frightened.  He does wear a considering expression as he consumes more of his food.

"I think my own assessment would be that there are those wise enough not to believe your name alone that dangerous, and those less wise, who say they believe it, but don't then refrain from speaking your name."

"But if I am the foolish one myself, you will demonstrate that or not as it pleases you, no doubt."

It would please her to send him to the Worldwound for a tour of duty but this is a stupid desire that does not really advance Asmodeus's aims and she's not entirely sure where it came from. - well, if she happens to be coherent enough for speech at some point when she next meets Abrogail she can ask. 

She eats in silence.

She needs to get stronger as quickly as possible, everything is only useful to her insofar as it lets her have that. This has to be tradeable for that, somehow. 

Fox's Cunning wears off. 

"I think you're foolish, but not because my name alone is dangerous," she says. "I think you're foolish because you don't need to know this, and want to, and because fools saying something is dangerous made you decide it's safe.

And because, secure in the conviction that my name alone is not dangerous, you forgot you don't know in combination with what my name would be dangerous."

That seems like the sort of note to end on, so she stands up, nods to him. Smiles. 

He remains seated, of course, for his food isn't finished.  "You do seem new to this.  If I helped you at all, in this, it's customary to toss me a little bone of favor or knowledge.  I am content to collect it later if you don't believe me about that now.  Or if I've been of no use to you, of course, then you have Alexite Gellius Rutilus Thrune's apologies for wasting your time."  The emphasis on Thrune is barely barely noticeable.

It is noticed. 

(That advice was a favor.)

(Or maybe it was bad advice; she doesn't, actually, know how court works.)

Telling him anything true would be really stupid; the project is secret for reasons. And she doesn't have favors that aren't knowledge. And it wouldn't make any sense for arbitrary Thrunes to be able to get classified information by sitting with you at dinner - maybe it's a test? Except how many people are authorized to test her, even, at this point - 

- maybe it's the Queen? 

- no -

"I don't know if you helped me," she says, honestly. "We'll see. Repaying favors is much easier than identifying them, for ignorant girls from the Worldwound who are new at all of this."

He smiles, at that.  "I shall consider myself repaid, Sevar.  And would be pleased to deal with you again on future occasions, if you have gained skill and wish to test it, or if you have not gained skill and are willing to bargain for guidance.  Go with Asmodeus's blessing, if you do not already have it."

He does return his attention to his food, then.

Right. Okay. That was very fine and normal.

- actually, there's an obvious thing to do here, which is to report a potential Security breach to Maillol. It's so nice to have an obvious thing to do. She'll head off to do it. 

The pile of unread papers on Maillol's desk is larger than when Carissa left.

"Your copy of the contract came in," Maillol says, gesturing to where it's been carefully set aside.

"I just went to dinner and was greeted by a Alexite Gellius Rutilus Thrune who tells me that from the rumors swirling around our project - which include that I'm sleeping with the Queen and that I am a Princess of Hell and devils are executed for speaking my name in vain - he has inferred that I discovered a mini-Starstone at the Worldwound, on Asmodeus's direction, and that we've been testing it out on wizarding students in Ostenso, who it might or might not turn into pretty girls with random alignments. I'd be delighted to learn that all of this is acceptable for random Thrunes to know, or that that was Her Imperial Majestrix again, though I think she's bored of me."

She takes her copy of the contract. 

"Yeah, it's not good, but it's not as terrible as you might think.  I've lived through a couple of rampages of the rumor dragons.  I admit, this is worse than I've ever seen it.  But it blows over, and if it started in Asmodeus's inner circle it stays confined to His inner circle.  I wouldn't so much say that Asmodeus is overjoyed about random Thrunes knowing, as that part of tyranny is that random Thrunes get to delight in the privilege of knowing what their lessers don't.  People like that, you can't tell them to just shut up about everything that's none of their business, without taking away part of their pride as tyrants above the people who just have to shut up."

"To be clear on this, I only ever played that game when I had to in order to not look stupid, and if there was ever a true word in any of it, I never repeated that part on purpose.  But pride isn't mostly the direction in which I walk towards Hell."

Contessa Lrilatha's contract is headed up by a prominent seal saying that only Carissa Sevar is allowed to read it, on pain of Lrilatha keeping any violator as a toy for their rest of their mortal lives.  This probably didn't help the rumors any.

The interior contains another note saying that Lrilatha hopes it went entirely without saying that if Sevar ever talks about Keltham's no-tricks condition as something you should even dream of demanding from a devil, or publishing one word of this contract as having been authored by Lrilatha, then Lrilatha and Abrogail can have a contest to see who ends up as the one Carissa least likes to visit.

Lrilatha hopes that Sevar will duly advise the same to any other women who end up reading and signing this contract.

- ah. So it's not a trick. And Lrilatha is annoyed that it isn't a trick. Well, Carissa would be honored to preserve her pride.

That's not the expression of somebody reading a completely innocuous contract.

Hopefully the rumor mill will convey away that when Carissa Sevar read Contessa Lrilatha's contract she looked like it was the worst news she'd ever gotten, worse even than the earlier news that her nap annoyed every single powerful person in Cheliax all at once. Maillol is too reasonable to pass it along himself, of course, but there's Security standing around in the distance.

Hopefully Contessa Lrilatha will appreciate this and continue handing Carissa nice contracts that are in fact totally innocuous. 

She pulls herself together quickly. "Next question, is there anything I'm authorized to know about Asmodia? She was vague with me."

"Crown order to determine whether Asmodia came back with new special abilities, came back negative, my guess is either somebody being stupid or somebody being careful about all the rumors.  Asmodia reported having noticed her contract devil dying, which she would, but not knowing why that happened or who owns her now.  Detect Thoughts says she's being honest.  I am devoutly hoping that Hell's business is none of our business in this case."

"Sounded like a standard stay in Hell otherwise, she was put to work copying spell diagrams, which is normal for a soul they don't want to break before sending it back."

"I wanted them to fix her. Does that take too long?"

"In a word, yes, or they'd just do that to everyone."

Maillol has a lot more he could say about this but he is not sure if he should.  He is maybe legitimately at the point where he could properly, not proactively, declare himself insufficient to guide Sevar's spiritual growth, and kick her up to a sixth-circle priest of Asmodeus, maybe one stationed full-time at Project Lawful's new worksite.

"We don't know how, do we. Or - some people make it through and turn out well as devils, but we don't know how in the average case, and Cheliax knows even less than Hell. I assumed I'd be stronger after my punishment because - I know that not all punishment always makes people stronger but obviously in this context you'd do that if you possibly could do it at all. But it didn't surprise anyone else, that I was - that you are -"

His hand comes down on the desk with a sharp bang.  "I'm going to stop you right there before you say something insubordinate.  You've been tortured, you're going to be much more severely tortured, and I don't think you need any more torture in between, hmm?"

"Sevar, you've got some kind of more-Lawful Lawful Evil vision that, I'm not saying is wrong, but whatever it is, it's as far beyond what we can do right now as dath ilani Law is beyond what we use.  If people didn't end up in the long run being more pleasing to Asmodeus from being threatened with punishment and actually punished, He'd tell us to stop doing it.  What happens in the short run is another matter.  You're apparently doing fine a few hours later, well, good for fucking you.  Expecting to be fine one minute afterwards is fucking stupid even so, unless you're Pilar Pineda and can rise up from being tortured with a song of gratitude on your lips.  Maybe someday we'll do dath ilan's thing and shape everybody's heritage into being her, but meanwhile you're not.  Don't plan on doing anything else useful the day the Queen gets around to you, and maybe not the day afterwards either."

"And you don't comment on how well you think I'm doing.  You see me making an actual mistake, you point it out, that's it."

"Of course it's good for us in the long run! But we'll be lucky if we manage to spin this out for a month, and by the end of that month the world is going to look so different that I only have half an idea what shape Asmodeus will need us in. Hell can be concerned with our long run; project governance needs to be able to operate at the very brink of what we're capable of at our absolute best."

And she can see it, then, what she should do, except -

"I propose a new project directive. No one, except me, Pilar, and one of the girls at the villa, chosen randomly, gets punished beyond whatever they do in fucking Taldor, without my express authorization, which I'll grant when it looks liable to make them better at the project, and not otherwise. Have you got some way to read my mind."

"Sounds a lot more than just slightly dangerous and heretical, but I'll hear you out as to why we'd do that."

"Every day there's fewer and fewer Security cleared to read your mind directly, for some strange reason, but I've got a Zone of Truth if you want me to believe you about something."