“- Right. I had already gathered that. …Although Iomedae did directly advise me to literally sleep in her literal bed if I would ‘sleep better there’ - and to ask her for a hug, at an earlier point? I am not sure if either of those falls into the area of concern here. I meant to at some point clarify why, with Her, but apparently talking to gods is not good for my head, and it keeps not seeming to be the most urgent piece here.”

"I am confused about what would be going on there but it's possible she can foresee specific things being a good idea? I wouldn't, uh, overgeneralize from that to other things also being a good idea, though."

“I have been trying not to! I am mostly not doing any other thing— I suppose I have been attempting to convince her that caring about the flourishing of all sentient beings is compatible with having and achieving goals? But I was already trying to do that, almost from the very beginning. …I think I am making some amount of progress? And empirically she did prefer staying here and working with me over returning to Cheliax and probably being tortured to death and going to Hell. Which is - something, even if she is not yet willing to say explicitly that she thinks Hell is bad.”

"It seems to me that were Asmodeus able to communicate orders to her, He would have told her to stay," Ignasi says, "because she can learn a lot more and gain a lot more leverage here, and is far more useful to Him when she has your trust and the run of your facilities."

“Perhaps. But - we are fairly sure that Asmodeus did not communicate any orders to her. Because - well, we were with the Valdemarans, who did not trust her and were reading her mind, and then she helped me escape to my own people. Who have been reading her mind, again, though not constantly.”

He frowns. “- And, I think the part where Good has an advantage to coordination is relevant, here? I do not think Carissa can independently deduce what Asmodeus would ask of her, and carry it out on her own. Because Asmodeus does not - try to make allies of mortal humans under His remit.”

"Asmodeus doesn't try to do that, but conceiving of oneself as a - servant, rather than as a ally - would produce nearly the same result, I think. And I have known Chelish people to be very competently capable of that."

“I mean, I…am aware that currently she is sticking close to me because that is the best option she has available to achieve her goals - where her main goal is continued existence.”

Leareth thinks that this is SUCH a reasonable thing to want!

“And - if her incentives change, she would - right now - probably return to Asmodeus and betray everything she has learned about me to Him. So - it is on me and my staff to make sure that she cannot escape? I know that. Just, I also think that it would be very good for the world - for our chances of winning - if she could be convinced to truly join our side. And I think it is possible, and - that I am making progress there. That is worth nonzero risk.”

" - all right. As long as you have a plan to ensure she doesn't betray you that doesn't rely on her goodwill."

“- I am sorry, this is - somewhat rude, probably, but - being comfortable ever relying on anyone’s goodwill is - approximately the factor that Iomedae thought was my greatest block, on being able to work with Good people. I think that ‘making plans that rely on my somewhat-enemies’ goodwill’ is…not actually a failure mode that I am prone to?”

- he chuckles. "All right. It's possible I'm accustomed to people who are too determined to see the good in people who have been - maliciously optimized towards being dangerous - rather than people who see everyone that way."

…Nod. 

“- I suppose it is worth flagging that I have been - very off-balance and under a great deal of stress, in general, and that…could plausibly mean that my ability to be careful here is - impaired. …Though I do have to say, I think that not feeling fear will help with this very much.”

- nod. "Perhaps before the invasion we can discuss the details of your plans and make sure they seem adequate."

“I think I would appreciate that. Is there anything else that you think we should discuss now?”

"We've covered quite a lot. We're - proud to have you on board, and I'm sure one or both of us will think of more confusions later on, but - not right now."

"I am glad you feel that way. I am also very pleased about -" and his voice catches slightly and he has to swallow and take a breath, '- about - having allies." 

And since apparently he's now resolved all the extant concerns, he's going to go hunting for Carissa. 

She's not in her room! She's apparently - in a Work Room with Rashee doing population statistics?

....Neat, and also kind of adorable? 

Leareth heads in that direction, and tries to slip in quietly without disturbing them.

Carissa, who is very intensely attuned to Leareth's mood at all times, absolutely notices and is distracted by this but she's very good at behaving normally. She and Rashee are trading off the headband while Carissa attempts to explain the Chelish understanding of statistics. "- which is also the distribution of success rates for scrying, there's a couple different theories of why but no one knows for sure."

…Leareth is coming into this conversation in the middle of things without any context, and he’s still immediately fascinated. He resists the temptation to jump in with his own example, and leans against the doorframe to listen.

"You don't get this with magic item making, that you just get better at, so it's got to be something specific to spell interactions that's random but - if it were a single thing that was random you wouldn't see this pattern, right? Anyway it's an unsolved problem and we're probably not going to solve it even with a headband but it's why I always preferred items, they just work."

Leareth is really appreciating seeing Carissa engaged and excited and (apparently) happy, and the conversation he needs to have next isn’t going to make her happy at all…

But it’s not really optional, and eventually, when it seems like they’re a good place to interrupt, he clears his throat and tries to catch Carissa’s eye.

" - but I should let you get back to work." Carissa extends her hands for her headband. 

…Rashee gives it back. Sooooo reluctantly. 

“- Leareth, have we figured out what spellsilver is and how to mine it because we really need more of these - and Carissa can make them she just needs materials -“

“I had not forgotten.” (Honestly, he kind of had.) “I realize how valuable it is and I will make sure somehow that we obtain more of them.”

And he switches to private Mindspeech. :Carissa. Can we talk:

Yes. Am I under arrest, if so I should just let Rashee keep the headband.