" - yes, but he was dead already, it'd been a long day. Ember is a witch, and a little girl. Well, an elf, so older than any of us probably, but a little girl for an elf." 

"Oh - Yes, I know who Ember is. But you have a horse, so you don't have a weapon bond, so I'm not recommending making your sword merciful if something like this ever comes up again. So, it didn't come to a fight - how did that happen?"

"Well, Catherine said that surely we could talk it out and figure out who was in the right instead of having all these good or at least lawful people murder each other, which was the first sensible thing anyone had said in some time, and suggested we get the church of Abadar involved, or Sir Cansellarion if we couldn't get them, and the commander said he'd abide by that, and then dropped his sword, and then Sir Cansellarion looked it up and explained that the Queen can't order us into the Abyss, nor block the door like she was doing."

"And then everyone put down their weapons and came back upstairs?"

"You'd really expect! But no, Queen Galfrey was upset, and said that if she fired the Knight-Commander then she could refuse to let him into Drezen, and did that. And the - Aspex, who I guess was temporarily not Knight-Commander, said fine but he wanted his things returned to him, and started discussing with us where to go, and then I guess realized that the Crusade would be doomed if we all kept up at this, and so then he went over to apologize to Galfrey and ask if this could all be cleared up. And Catherine intervened again to ask if we could be taken as prisoners to Nerosyan and be out of the bloody Abyss, which was making everyone behave absurdly. And then in Nerosyan they finally had a proper conversation and cleared everything up, and the Queen agreed to reinstate the Knight-Commander if what he said was true, and it was."

"Do you know more about why the Queen didn't trust the knight-commander?"

"From the conversation in Nerosyan I got the sense it was mostly because some of the people he put to death as traitors were spying for her, and because he doesn't explain anything about himself or where he's from, and because of politics to do with Daeran, who is her cousin and sixth circle by now. But really it was mostly the influence of the Abyss, I suspect, because none of those were a good enough reason."

"At what moments in this chain of events could you have done something different that would have averted or peacefully resolved the situation?"

"Me? I guess I could've thought of involving a neutral arbiter sooner than Catherine thought of it, but I wouldn't have thought of that because I hadn't really heard of any such things. I could've said something to the Knight-Commander when he seemed to be ready to start a fight, but I wasn't saying anything on purpose because I didn't understand what anyone was thinking and I didn't want to make it worse. I guess perhaps it would've helped if I told the Queen that I'm really quite sure the Knight-Commander's on our side, but, you know, she's the Queen. One doesn't usually just go strike up a conversation with Queens."

"That makes sense. Did you notice any signs of tension between the Queen and the Knight-Commander before you all entered the Midnight Fane?"

"The Knight-Commander seemed a little surprised when he got the message that she wanted us to wait for her for the operation, and suspicious, but - the Knight-Commander's suspicious of everyone. He told me once that he doesn't trust Iomedae."

"I see. Do you think there was a moment when the knight-commander should have done something differently?"

"Well, clearly he should've been working more on making sure the Queen wasn't worried about what we were doing and knew she could trust him. …if I'd been in charge, I'd've gone to the Abyss, if the Queen said to, even though it sounds right to me that she doesn't technically have the authority. Because if it's between going to the Abyss and dying or attacking the Queen of Mendev and a paladin of the goddess, I'll take my chances with the demons. So she shouldn't have told him to do it, but I guess I think he should've done it."

"Is there anything else I haven't asked that you think I should know about this?"

"I don't think so. I expect Sir Cansellarion can tell you all the same things, he was there."

"He has, we like to collect separate reports from multiple parties when this kind of thing happens. That reminds me, though, is there anything you think Cansellarion should have done differently?" He already has some items, but Seelah might think of something new.

"Well, I don't really know all the politics. I assume he didn't want to tell the Queen she shouldn't send us to the Abyss lest she be irritated with Lastwall about that, and didn't want to tell the Knight-Commander he should do as the Queen said lest he be irritated with Lastwall about that. I can see how one might end up just preferring it not be Lastwall's business at all. We did come rather terribly close to the whole Crusade falling apart, though."

"Alright. I think that's everything, then. I'll make sure you get a copy of the report, it should be about a week."

Seelah looks faintly baffled by this idea, but nods. "Well, good luck to you, then!"

Iomedae, Marit tells Catherine the next time he's had an opportunity to slip her and Alfirin a Telepathic Bond, has told me to stop keeping my identity secret from Her Church.  He thought about it and he thinks he has some obligation to talk to Catherine somewhat more than he's inherently inclined to, what with how there is no one else she can talk to about the secret situation, and what with how he's personally benefiting from the respect in which she has been arguably wronged. Given that I suppose I'll answer your questions, if you have any; it seems silly to have it known only by strangers.

Why the telepathy? Are we being spied on?

Well, I don't know, but if the spies are competent I wouldn't.

So, only telepathy for talking about your mysterious past, got it. Is there some way I should signal you if something related to it comes up or are you just planning to do this every day - it seems a waste of spells -

I wasn't planning to do it every day and if we find ourselves frequently inconvenienced by the lack of it we should just get a permanent Telepathic Bond. You can ask to speak to me privately about my past the same way you'd ask to speak to me privately about a tactical matter.

Alright, well, since I haven't done my reading yet - who are you?