She actually smiles. By the look on her face, she's suddenly a lot less sad, and even a bit less afraid of him. Even with the looming.

"I won't try to tell you that. But I'm really glad you asked! I was sort of worried, when you didn't ask before threatening me. It's nice that you wouldn't have gotten me exiled if it turned out I definitely wasn't hiding anything. It would have been sad, otherwise."

Christa is hiding something that matters, after all. Even if it was justified, well, she does know something that the law would be of interest to the law. Throwing the book at her to get her to talk makes sense if they make sure to check whether or not she's doing anything bad first. 

How dare she. Sylar's face goes flat and hard. He slams his hands down on the table.

"Listen, you common slut. I don't know who you're protecting, but I'm going to find out. You will regret this insolence."

He shoves himself out of his chair and slams the door to the interrogation room shut behind him as he stalks out.

This makes sense of him! He thinks she's doing something bad!

Entirely valid response for an inquisitor to have, really. 

Her life is still going to be destroyed. But. You know. It just makes sense.

She knew something like this would probably happen when she walked in.

Why isn't that helping?

He's going to get complaints from the budget department but he doesn't care. The royal portal mage and the local Merchant Guild's portalmeister were rather reluctant to work together, but he forced the issue, and you really can't argue with results, even if these whining children are giving it a good try.

They shove a Levitating Mirror through the portal, and reuse the recorded direction-and-distance calculation to lock a scry on to it.

Vergil stands before a small viewing-glass, surrounded by luminous rune-structures, looking down from far in the sky above on an orgy of thousands upon a bed of flesh. A yonic orifice the size of a city block opens onto a slimy tunnel of living terrain, and around it thousands of humanoid and tentacled figures writhe together in ecstasy.

This, apparently, is what a call-to-arms looks like, in the Pink. Vergil doesn't know why he expected anything different.

It does introduce a complication, however. While he is firm in his conviction to have the Dragon Empire keep its finger on the pulse of this Tentacled resistance movement, he is somewhat less sanguine about who to send into such... indignity. And, pragmatically speaking, temptation. Any agent who would not be tempted would not tolerate the indignity, and any who would not be indignant would be unacceptably tempted.

It is a puzzle.

When the Lord-Commander receives the news that Alard's alleged victim has turned up alive and turned herself in to the Inquisitors to clear Alard's name, he almost laughs.

He sends someone to collect Alard.

Then, he learns of the girl. Christa Lens. Apparently detained on deviant-promiscuity charges of all things.

Apparently, yes, this girl bent over and took dragon cock of her own free will.

...hm.

Gathering an escort, the Lord-Commander ventures out to once more visit the Inquisitorium.

This is going to cost him several pieces of blackmail he's been saving, but not even the Inquisitorium can stop him from getting his way. Perhaps, he can accomplish several objectives at once.

When finally the door to Christa's interrogation room opens, it is the Lord-Commander himself who walks in and calmly seats himself across from her.

"Do you know who I am?"

She does. She recognizes his face from a book she read at Library Gemini, a collection of short biographies of important people accompanied by sketches of their features. 

This is the blackmail part, then?

Out loud, she says, "Yes, Lord-Commander."

"Hm."

"I understand you're in some trouble, Christa Lens. I may be able to help. But before we talk about that, I would first like you to look at something."

He pulls the viewing-glass---still Bound to the Levitating Mirror in the sky above the Deep-Heart-Glisten-Palace---out of his coat and and sets it on the table.

That sure is a lot of sex!

And wow, that massive opening in the Pink is cool. She's never seen anything quite like it. It's like a massive inverted building! And, um, also rather a lot like something else. But this is the Pink, so perhaps that goes without saying.

Wait, the Lord-Commander is here, she mustn't get distracted.

She looks back up from the viewing-glass at him.

Yes, that sure is a reaction far on the "tempted" side of things.

As expected.

He places a copy of the Tentacled warning message on the table next to the viewing-glass.

"What you're looking at is the gathering point mentioned in the Tentacleds' warning message. We have located it, and we wish to send representatives of the Dragon Empire to... participate. Your sheer perversion," he says without judgement, "and your telepathy, make you a strong candidate even while lacking in other qualifications."

This strikes her as true.

She nods.

If this is what he's blackmailing her for, she's coming out of it well, she thinks. She hasn't been asked to do anything bad at all. 

The Lord-Commander smirks behind his laced fingers.

"The charges set against you will be made public tomorrow morning. You have until then to decide. If you agree, you will be sent by portal to the location of this Levitating Mirror, and you will be expected to use the mirror to keep me apprised of any events or major decisions that get made by the Tentacled resistance. Beyond making those reports, you will be free to do as you please."

She doesn't, actually, think she needs the time.

"I'll do it, Lord-Commander. But, um. Just to be clear. The charges get dropped if I do, right?"

She feels a little like covering her mouth with her hands after just blurting out a question at the Lord-Commander, but she manages to stop herself.

"Yes. I will see to it that the charges are dropped. You're making the right decision, Christa Lens."

He peers at her for a long moment, unreadable (in both senses).

"About Alard. Satisfy my curiosity, if you will. What do you feel for the boy?"

Should she lie? 

She's not too good at that. She thinks she'll just tell the truth. It's not that interesting anyway, she thinks. Certainly not worth disappearing her over.

"I can read his thoughts. So, even though he's not loud, I think I can see a few things there that might not be noticeable to other people. He's very good at focusing through distraction, pleasant to talk and listen to, most people only manage one of those at best, and a shockingly good cook. I'd like to be his friend. He's also very cute, so I think I'd actually like more than friend, although given his station that isn't really a possibility. And, well, he sort of feels like he might not be anyone too special now, but he's got all the ingredients, just waiting to be put together. I'd like to be able to see that when it happens."

"Hm."

The Lord-Commander really does have a good poker-face.

"Thank you."

He stands, collecting the viewing-glass but leaving the warning-poster.

"You will be sent for at nightfall. Good evening, Christa Lens."

Hopefully that 'good evening' was not code for 'and now I will have you murdered'. The Lord-Commander really is the single most ominous person she's ever encountered.

And now she just. Sits here. In a room. 

This is going to be a very boring rest of her day, isn't it.

Meanwhile, back at the cult's sanctum, Aire is becoming concerned by the absence of her Christa.

How did she even manage to become absent?

Who saw her last?

Dia did, Mistress.

And what went on, over the minutes prior to the last time you saw her?

They had a rather odd discussion, actually. Christa seemed to be concerned for those who had hurt her, and Dia made sure to let her know that she didn't have to pretend, here. 

A bit later Christa asked where she could use the washroom, and Dia told her. She didn't follow after because she seemed to want privacy.

Dia is aware that this is most likely when she either left or was captured by hostile forces, and accepts full responsibility for her poor decision-making. 

Aire controls her immediate emotional response of anger and fear, and thinks.

It's unlikely Christa was captured. Most likely she left of her own accord, and the most likely reason, given the conversation she had almost immediately beforehand, is concern about Alard and Yui. There's the obvious additional possibility that she simply wanted to say goodbye to Annabelle, and didn't expect to be allowed to do so, but that seems far less likely. And less likely still is hostile forces managing to snatch her up from the cult's doorstep.

Aire was the individual who had the most insight into Christa's mind. Aire was the one who left her to be cared for by Dia without providing explicit instructions that she be followed at all times. Aire was the one who left Christa aware enough to think while Rele was absent and she was not wearing Aire, and so neither could notice Christa forming the intention to leave.

This is Aire's mistake far more than it was Dia's. Any mistakes Dia made are smaller, lesser versions of one's Aire made beforehand.

Aire does not go so far as to say that out loud. She does, however, ensure Dia knows that she is forgiven. 

What would Christa do, if she wanted to demonstrate Yui and Alard's innocence? Go to the Inquisitors, most likely. Going to the Dragoons first would be less likely, given that Aire mentioned the Lord-Commander's likely response of blackmailing and killing them both, were he to get the opportunity. 

She can send out people to scrape up any recent rumors, as she has before. The inquisitorial cook should still be working at this time of day, but she can do as she did yesterday and send a cultist out to see if she knows anything.

Are there any new rumors, in the hour or so since Christa was last seen? Has Yui been moved, or anything of the like? Does the inquisitorial cook have any better information than rumor can provide?

Nothing yet. Even the cook hasn't heard anything. On the other hand that isn't too surprising, and wouldn't be odd even if the Inquisitors did have Christa. If she walked straight there, the Inquisitors would still have had her for perhaps an hour, after all.