"Hello, Select, it was beginning to seem an oversight that we had yet to meet."

She gives him a three-fingered wave. "I'm Select Stasia — I'm sorry, I don't think anyone's told me your name yet."

"Blai Artigas." It is getting to be kind of too late to change his name. He hopes it doesn't turn out he really needed to do that. If no one has told her his name that probably means that also no one has told her why he is badly catechized. Maybe she won't even ask. Seelah can't even read. "You're actually the first other cleric of Iomedae that I've met, the paladins are so disproportionate."

Stasia's heard a few theories for why that is (the other gods are handling clerics so it's more important for the Goddess to choose paladins? Only Iomedae's followers are Good enough people to be paladins without falling? Wise people follow a god that's less demanding?) but she doesn't feel confident speculating about which ones are true. 

"It's nice to meet you. I wasn't the only one in the city, but I think the demons got Heinrich."

May Hell be denied a wrong prayer. "Heaven keep him. Do you do catechism lessons? I've read the Acts - and the Lastwall disciplinary handbook - and gotten some clarification on a few matters from Ser Tirabade but I haven't had anything systematic."

"I teach people in Kenabres about the Goddess, and I've read a book of sermons. ...But if you've already read the whole Acts I'm not sure how much more I can teach you."

"I'd actually really like to see the book of sermons anyway, if you still have it."

"I lent it to Kyado — lucky thing, really, I'm sure the cultists would have just burnt it. —Kyado's Rathimus's apprentice, the Erastilian."

"I'll ask him, thank you." He wants to know what the training and selection process is like when you're in a normal place like Mendev and not a bizarre place like an Asmodean Worldwound fort but it would invite the reciprocal question. He wants to ask what was surprising, from her background, when she read the Acts, but then she might want to know his own background. He should be operating openly but he is not sure that extends to offering lines of questioning that will lead to confessing that he spent twenty years serving Asmodeus while standing in a pantry. What can he ask... "Would you say the Prelate is a typical example of an Iomedaean inquisitor? I hadn't met any of those before either."

Stasia hesitates for a few moments. She bites her lip.

"—I have only met the inquisitors in Kenabres, and Liotr — Inquisitor Hawkblade — studied in Lastwall and says there are many things they do differently there. Hulrun has been an inquisitor for longer than I've been alive, and he's very good at noticing when something could be a plot by demons or cultists, even when they've gone to some lengths to hide it, but sometimes he thinks something is a plot when it isn't and Liotr has to talk him down. ...And he's better at fighting than almost anyone in the city, that's another way he's not like the others."

"He wanted to summarily execute one of the Desnans and probably will still execute him but in a few days. Is Inquisitor Hawkblade expected back soon?"

Her eyes widen a little. "The Desnans are our allies," she says, a note of horror in her voice. "—Inquisitor Hawkblade had business in Nerosyan, but I'm sure he'd come back once he heard about the demon attack. He might be travelling with the army, if it's not safe for him alone right now."

"I hope they're here quickly. Did you not hear about the business with the Desnans at all?"

"No! I knew the Prelate doesn't trust them to keep the city safe, but I didn't know he was trying to execute them!"

"They don't actually deny having broken in to perform a ritual on the Wardstone without any official authorization, I didn't mean to elide that."

She pauses for a second.

"...I wouldn't have expected them to do that, either. Desna's concerns are not my own, but that doesn't mean her people are usually that foolish."

It — sort of makes sense, when she thinks about it, if they were hit with a Suggestion? Supposedly there's an especially-powerful succubus leading the demons' forces, and it wouldn't be surprising if she could enchant them into going after them. And... she doesn't like the idea of executing someone just for what they did under an enchantment, but she thinks Prelate Hulrun would probably say that they can't afford to spare them just because they might have been enchanted, when any cultist could use the same excuse.

"I believe they may well have been acting under genuine divine guidance - there are now mysterious butterflies around their temple repeating a message - but it does contextualize the Prelate's reaction, especially before the butterflies were present to corroborate, albeit that it is still one that does not seem right to me."

Nod. "It — doesn't seem right to me either, but I don't think he'd listen if I told him so."

"I'm nonetheless glad to have your confirmation; I do not have a lot of practice at this sort of judgment."

"One of the sermons I liked, one of the Iomedaean ones, was talking about how — it can sometimes feel frustrating to work with the followers of other gods, because they'll want to do things differently than we're accustomed to, or spend time on things that aren't as important as fighting the demons. But if we get mad at them for not doing things exactly the way we would, it doesn't mean they'll just start doing them exactly like we do, it means they'll go somewhere else that won't get upset at them if they want to spend hours trying to talk wrongdoers into repenting or laying the dead to rest. I think working with Desna might be a little like that — I don't see why she wouldn't just warn the people in charge of defending the city, or at least Anevia — but if we execute her followers for it it doesn't mean she'll do something more helpful next time."

"- well, if no one lays the dead to rest you have a problem that can even in extremis take priority over the demons, I had to deal with zombies this morning and shadows yesterday, but - yes, that makes sense to me. I do not particularly understand Desna's priorities but I want Her budget to go as far as it can so long as it remains aimed at the good. I would make a terrible Abadaran but admire them and appreciate that they are present. And so on."

"—I think it was talking more about situations where Pharasma's people will be more focused on laying the dead to rest than on making sure more people don't join them, of course it's good to make sure everyone gets a proper burial if you can." These onions are all definitely still fresh; she starts moving them into a basket to hand off to the girl who's going to slice them. "Goddess willing Liotr will be back soon."

Blai's not really sure the goddess has the budget to micromanage that sort of thing but maybe she does in this universe. "Amen."

"Was there anything else you wanted to know about?" 

(Stasia is kind of hoping that there is, sorting and Purifying their food stores is really boring work, but of course she doesn't want to take the Select away from more important responsibilities.)

"If you can think of anything else I might need to know, about Kenabres, or about anything else I might not be able to get from the sermon book alone, I would very much like to hear it, but I am out of specific questions."