"Oh." He does not say he is honored to make his acquaintance, because he has already met the man and - this only makes more certain his previous model of Aspex's - Marit's - character rather than changing it. "Thank you for telling us. I can see why She wanted us to know."

"…The only other matter is that Lastwall would like to establish independent diplomacy with your Crusade, and they sent me because we've worked together even though, if I'm being frank, I have other matters that other people cannot handle as well, and other people would be much better at this than I would. Do you have any opinions on what sort of man I should recommend to replace me?"

"I find Iomedaeans uncanny," says Marit flatly. "I realize you can hardly send anyone who isn't one. I do not expect any catastrophe to result if they just send someone who is reasonably intelligent, can keep secrets, and does not work for Baphomet on the side."

"Acknowledged. We will pick someone not from Mendev, most places have much less of a Baphomet problem. That was all, unless you have any requests of me?"

"No. Go do your more important work. Tell me, if the rest of us ought to join you at it."

"I will. It's a very impressive group you've put together, if a bit…mixed." He did not mean to hesitate there but he also could not think of a polite word to end that sentence with.

"If I get five years I can afford to be picky. It doesn't seem clear if I'll get five years. Careful around Daeran, ask your Inquisition if you need more details, that was in fact the likeliest way for yesterday to be a catastrophe."

"...I will make sure my replacement is appropriately briefed."

Lastwall is a bit challenged by the request for an ambassador who's not Iomedan. It didn't seem like Marit meant specifically priests and paladins to be excluded, so they can't accommodate him simply by sending an unempowered diplomat. They do have any people who aren't Iomedans, but they tend to either be less trusted or have other important duties. Eventually they give up on the request, decide to consolidate personnel requirements, and send a commune-qualified priest. The top two candidates are named "Arnisant" and "Marit" respectively so they go with the third.

The first thing he does, after presenting his diplomatic credential to Commander Marit Aspex is to find Seelah. "Hello. My name is Aarind, I'm a fifth-circle cleric of Iomedae and Lastwall's new emissary to the Crusade. I'd like to speak with you."

"Oh! Well, welcome to the Crusade! Sure, I can talk, did you want to right now?"

"That would be best. I haven't been assigned diplomatic quarters yet - not that that should be a priority, but it means I don't have a private meeting space. Are there ones you're authorized to use?"

"Oh, sure, so long as they're not in use, though they're kind of universally dreadful. I suggested to the commander at one point that he could put in a houseplant and he said that the houseplant could spy on us. He had the same objection to fireplaces." Seelah has access to the whole secured third floor of the castle proper and can wander down its hallways trying doors until they find a room not in use. 

How reasonable of the knight-commander. The room is as promised dreadful; it has three wooden chairs and a table and an everburning lantern and absolutely nothing else. Aarind confirms that this is the number of chairs the room is expected to have, then sits in one and takes out a notebook and pen and inkwell.

"Tell me, from your perspective, about the events following recent operations in the Midnight Fane."

Seelah leans back uncomfortably in her chair. "Well, I don't want to criticize anyone, and I think the commander didn't want any gossip that'd have people unnecessarily worried. He and the Queen had a little bit of a dispute but I think it's settled to both their satisfaction."

"You don't want to criticize anyone because nobody behaved in a less than ideal manner, or for other reasons?"

"Well, we're all on the same side. The enemy's the demons. I don't think it's called for to go complaining about our own allies, when the demons are right there and would love to hear us at it."

"Do you mean that metaphorically or do you believe that the demons are spying on this conversation?" He writes on at the top of a page 'nod if you think they can hear us but not see us' and shows it to her.

"What? No! There's all kinds of guards on the citadel itself, and these rooms are protected on top of that. I just mean, any time we spend complaining about our allies, we're not fighting the demons, and it's pretty clear who comes out ahead from that."

"I see. In Lastwall, we reserve criticism for our allies, because learning from your mistakes is one of the ways you stop making them. That's why I'm asking, because - Lastwall is one of the parties that made mistakes here, and one of the mistakes we've identified is not having independent diplomacy with the Crusade and not paying attention to the political situation between the Crusade and Mendev so when one of our senior paladins was in a position to arbitrate a dispute between two of our allies he had absolutely no context on the history or the terms of the existing arrangements between you. So now I'm here, conducting diplomacy with the Crusade, and I'd like to understand the history better, so I'm asking the paladin who was there and understood what was going on."

"Well, I guess that makes plenty of sense," says Seelah reluctantly. "- so, the Midnight Fane turns out to open right onto the Abyss, and I think it was making us all a little foolish, so there's that. But what happened is that after the fighting was done, Queen Galfrey told the Knight-Commander that we ought to take the fight right into the Abyss, and track down the powerful demons that have been giving us trouble - demons no one's organizing aren't too bad, right, but at the Sanctum and in the Fane we were dealing with demons who someone'd managed to get in line.

…anyway, the Knight-Commander told Queen Galfrey that no, he wouldn't take us into the Abyss, we weren't ready. We weren't ready; we were mostly very low on spells and out of healing, and besides that I think a good night's sleep would've done us all a lot of good. But Galfrey didn't trust him, and didn't like his answer, and told him she'd made up her mind and wasn't arguing it. And then he said ‘Your Majesty, this is an assassination and you’ll have to do it with your damned sword' and - I'm sure it must seem appalling and ridiculous, but some of the people who didn't have weapons drawn already went for them, at that point, afraid I think that he was going to attack the Queen -"

"Mm. Did you think he was?"

"It would be very unlike him. It'd have been a disaster for everyone. But - it was like one of those nightmares where you only realize afterwards that nothing you were doing made any sense. She wouldn't step clear of the door, and he really did look - like a man planning how to win a difficult fight, never mind that the people standing in front of him were all paladins."

"If it had come to a fight, would you have stood aside?"

"- it depends how it came to a fight, I think. If the Queen started it, it's my duty to protect him. If the commander started it, well, it's also my duty to protect him from doing terrible things that don't help our crusade. And if I can't fathom what anyone's thinking then I absolutely shouldn't kill any of them. He said afterwards that he'd have asked if Ember and I could stand aside, before he tried to kill her."

"You have a horse?"