"I know a cipher or two. Which probably the Order of the Pike could break, if they got ahold of it, but this seems like somewhere they can be trusted. I'll use it on any notes I take."

Diana nods, though it looks like she had to think about whether she trusted the Order of the Pike that far.  "Really, the thing is that you want to have a decoy, that's - well-protected enough that they'll think they've found what they're looking for, but hides your actual secret.  Something like a rigged shell game.  Or so I'm told; there's actually a surprising number of paladins who play cards, but very few who practice sleight-of-hand."

"Hellknights are the same. I couldn't possibly imagine why."

"Not something any of us is an expert at, but Kellids aren't generally curious about magic, if we don't talk about it very few will consider there might be anything to know."

"The ones who do, though - you'll never be more surprised.  It's oddly popular with kids, apparently."

And then Ata speaks.

"...I am - really quite surprised at that, but I will certainly take your word for it.  Even if I knew I was going to be a paladin from, approximately, three, I personally was incredibly curious about how and why things worked, and that definitely includes magic.  But I don't think I think like many people."

I'll take this one, love.

"Anyone raised in the True Kellid way is suspicious of magic. Shamans are - respected, listened-to, but also, to a substantial extent, feared. Anyone else who works with magic, generally just feared. The general term is 'witch', and the tie to Irrisen and the Ugly Grandmother is not coincidence. There is a proper way to live our lives, and it does not involve magic, except as the spirits require it. We are not a traditional tribe or following, but thinking of magic as something to be explored is very much foreign. You would not - I'd guess - look into how a devil's soul-sale works, or how a demon eats souls. It is like that."

"...I mean, I wouldn't if the process actually involved damning souls forever, because some prices are too high to pay for uncertain knowledge, but if Lastwall doesn't have a black archive of notes on Malediction somewhere -

"To not understand the function of your enemy, is to invite defeat before you have begun.  And that is advice important enough that every pathbook of Lastwall's Primers has it, often in the exact same words."

"I'm no expert, but I think that is mostly a way that Lastwall is strange. Most people do not - weigh the value of possibly helping a goal against touching something taboo and decide whether it is worth it. They simply do not touch it."

She nods.  "I do think I agree, that it is a way that Lastwall is strange and I am also strange.  It is just - important that you understand that I am, in this way, strange, and - do not mean to suggest that a choice is somehow inherently wrong if I do not understand why one would make it, or something.  That magic is a powerful thing best not trifled with is, after all, very true, no matter how it fascinates me.  Just as an example."

"It's definitely worth remembering. Anyway, whatever the logic, it works in our favor here. Do you want any sort of formal agreement in advance of sending a maintenance team? Should we send Estel to teleport them?"

"I believe the Desnan that's doing our teleports for this circuit hasn't wandered off yet," she quips.  "I'm comfortable with simply having your word that if we send a maintenance team, they won't be impeded in their access to the Wardstone - in the sense that they will be keyed to any protective measures you may have in place for the duration, to the best of your ability - which is not in any way to suggest that you should actually take down any protective measures you may have that can't normally be altered like that unless it's truly necessary - and that they will be treated no worse than any other proven soldier, should they need to stay longer than the best estimates of maintenance time requirements, as far as agreements go.  If there are discipline issues, which I don't expect, but have ever had happen, the hard lines I draw are that no wounds that require something more specific than a cure to heal be inflicted, if you practice corporal punishment, and that there be no executions of my troops.  If it is critically necessary that someone be lastingly incapable of further action - Estel, do you have flesh to stone?  Which is perhaps too spooky for most Kellids, but is an accepted punishment for things that are often otherwise resolved by deaths when practicing Iomedaean justice, because it deprives the lower planes of fresh souls.  

...Theoretically that's only something I have the right to ask for my forces - which is to be read to include the whole team, in this case, since they'd be operating under my command no matter whose emblems they bear, though if the hypothetical altercation is something that would normally be resolved with something - dramatic - happening to your troops, I do wish to avoid that unless something particularly egregious happened.  Which would mostly be 'did somebody get raped or murdered, or Fall'.  That hasn't come up before, but - better prepared than surprised."

"Oh, the two of us are broad-minded, don't worry; we'll do spooky things if they're worth it. That all seems reasonable and I'm comfortable giving my word on it. They won't be impeded unusually or except as necessary, they'll be treated with all dignity and fairness, and the rest."

"My oath on it as well, for whatever it's worth."

"Despite that minimizing, she's only broken one oath in her life. But technically she reads Neutral Good like us two. In any case, my word on it as well."

Diana gives a solemn nod.  "So it shall be, then.  When's a good time to arrive?"

"I wouldn't say there's any particularly bad times. When's the next round of training break off?"

"Eight more days, unless an attack interrupts us. We'll have enough to start another round, but I usually take three days between. So, that would be - it's Starday, right? So Moonday to Wealday, not next week but the week after. Make it not Moonday, Toil or Weal, in case I have to delay a day. Or, if you prefer, tomorrow or in the next few days or really anywhere in between, we don't really need to plan it in the training gap."

Diana nods.  "I think we can make that happen.  Better to have less variables."  Just shuffle this there, that over a day, memo to give the Desnan something useful to do tomorrow...

"Alright. When you know, please give us some warning, though a few hours morning-of should be enough if you'd prefer. Thank you."

"Just let me know when your cohort's graduated, and I'll have the maintenance crew out in the next three days.  It's been a pleasure meeting you all."

"Likewise."

And so, a week later:

"Yeah, these boys will be ready tomorrow. I'll prod the mirror after dinner."

"I met a few of their paladins while I was still wandering the border. I wonder how similar they'll be?"

"I'd guess not that much. Front-line soldiers and - people who deal with magical problems - don't really pull the same people. But I guess we'll find out."

That night:

"Hello, Lastwall Watch? This is Estel of the Steel Exiles. We're ready for the maintenance crew for at least the next three days."