"I'm speechless on the object level, if obviously not the meta level.  Well, it sounds like your life-changing journey is going fine so far."

"I learned a lot of valuable life lessons, that's for sure."

"Dare I ask?"

"Any problem can be solved by submitting to the people hurting you, but maybe not solved quickly."

"I don't, in fact, know better than legendary adventurers.  They're better than me and had reasons to do things their way, and I should meekly accept their authority in the future."

"Somebody having a Lawful Evil alignment isn't enough by itself to make them behave reasonably, if they don't answer to a higher authority, the way that people in Cheliax answer to the Queen and the Queen herself answers to Asmodeus."

"Those sure are some very Lawful Evil lessons to learn from overthrowing a wicked legal government."

"I vigorously dispute that characterization of what I did.  Once I got my Splendour headband back, I gave Korvosa my best oration on how states always end up ultimately ruled by Evil people, even if those rulers pretend to be something else, even if they mislead divination spells so they look like some different alignment, even if they make secret donations to Good churches so that their alignment will genuinely detect as something else.  You'll always end up ruled by Evil people, because they're the ones who want power and because of what people have to do to keep power.  That was why Korvosa needed to choose openly Lawful Evil rulers in the future, who wouldn't have to pretend about the Evil and could be selected for Lawfulness too.  And invite in a powerful representative from Cheliax, who'd supervise the next ruler and make sure she didn't do anything too crazy that would destroy Korvosa's value to Cheliax as a trading partner and port to Varisia."

"I replaced one wicked legal government with another, got it?  I wanted to talk them into just joining the Chelish Empire again, but my Splendour was warning me that they wouldn't go for it."

"I mean, not to hammer on the obvious, but it's that whole Evil and damnation thing.  A lot of places would love to join the Chelish Empire and get the benefits of all their wealth, if the price wasn't misery in the present and eternal torture in the afterlife."

"Yes.  People are so unreasonable about that."

"Not... really."

"Anyways, I used enough high-circle divine magic in high-stakes combat, mixed with what wizardry I had, that I went up to third-circle wizard.  At the same time as I hit sixth-circle oracle, near as I could figure afterward.  And I managed to duplicate and re-cast an arcane spell using way too much divine magic, when that was unreasonably important on account of sudden unexpected actual fucking dragon, which I understand makes me formally a mystic theurge."

"You?"

"Sixth-circle oracle, but still just second-circle wizard.  Knowing as much of the future as I do makes it hard to get yourself into the right kind of trouble.  Something about the psychology of doing it to yourself on purpose... doesn't make it not count, exactly, but there sure is a discount.  You're fortunate to have that whole Snack Service setup, but then, I shouldn't complain since you're not so fortunate for needing it."

"That sure is a perspective on my life which is not my perspective."

"'Yet', she said ominously."

"Ione, if you're going to use your foreknowledge to ominous at me, I'm going to leave."

"Yeah, that's fair, I shouldn't be doing it even as a joke."

"Do anything special with the ex-Queen before you sent her to Hell?  Feel free not to answer if it's horrible and would ruin our friendship."

"Didn't send her to Hell at all, she could've had all sorts of True Resurrection arrangements."

"They Petrified her and put her in a supposedly secure vault.  I've actually got title to Ileosa, legally speaking.  The new government got a court to rule that Ileosa should be enslaved to me as recompense for those terrible, terrible tortures she put me through.  Maybe if I get powerful enough and have that much spare time I'll pick up Ileosa again and keep her as a harem slave, someday."

"...like, as a victim, or..."

"As a sadist.  I think she could be good at it with some training."

"My read on Ileosa is that she was spoiled, frankly.  It's sort of sad.  Past a certain point, she never had anybody in her life who could tell her what she was doing wrong or set her right.  About anything, including torturing people."

"You... uh... really liked her, huh."

"She was beautiful and sexual and she sincerely tried to break me.  Call me shallow, then, because I am, in fact, shallow, and I'll own that."

"You're different, you know.  Either at Splendour 21, or at sixth-circle, you're different."

"Let me guess, you liked the old me better."

"I don't think I'd put it that way.  The old Pilar was - nicer, maybe, but -"

"I don't want to make it sound - like Good is something you can ever switch off and put away.  Any more than you'd be okay with seeing Evil like that.  But we're in pretty weird circumstances, and - I guess, in light of that - I can appreciate this Pilar, for her being -"

"Well, for her being what she is."

"Is that your way of saying that you morally disapprove of me, but you know I'm hot?"

"No."