She does so.

"...No difference, this time - I assume now that you've done this you don't need to keep it a secret, I don't know whether I can."

"I'll go talk to her and tell her. In a minute. If you're comfortable with it I'd prefer more detail than 'introspectively it doesn't seem like I was mind controlled' about what you think of her, what you think of your plans..."

"Of her I've - been trying to think about it like - if she was Good, like an angel or something, and did the same thing to me - I'd be angry. I'd wish she'd asked me. Even if she couldn't ask, I'd wish she'd told me sooner and not just when she was forced to - but I think apart from not getting to choose, and not knowing sooner, I'd be glad it happened. I'm more angry with her than that. I'm trying not to be, because it's not productive, but -

I don't think she was planning to stop, at this much control. And I think she's kind of agreed to now, and I'm really glad she did and really glad you think she can be trusted with that but I'm angry that she wasn't going to."

"My plans...I think they're the same as they've been for a long time, which doesn't mean she didn't give me them somehow - I want to overthrow the Thrunes and be queen of Cheliax. At least that far I think she and I are basically agreed, which is why I keep trying to imagine her as a friendly angel helping me - "

"I'm really glad for the time when she's a picture. I think it helps, having some time when I know she's not there, when I can think by myself. And I guess it's nice knowing I don't have to live a life of celibacy, but that's - pretty secondary. Mostly it's the time to think."

"I think you are probably right that she wasn't going to stop," he says. "I think an angel - would ask, or would do something kind of like asking where they check against a good guess and are prepared to pay for the difference between their guess and how you actually felt. And angels broadly don't murder people, or they're really good at hiding it. 

...had she demanded that you live a life of celibacy, before we worked out the pictures? That seems unjust." 

"I know she's not very much like an angel, just - If an angel, who was also an archmage, could only work in the Material by possessing someone their whole life - and wanted to topple the Thrunes - I'd volunteer. And I'm trying to - act like it's that - because that makes me less upset and being upset about it isn't very good for my goals, I think.

She didn't demand anything, just - She's a horrible person who hurt me very badly but that doesn't mean I'm going to rape her. That's just - not an okay thing for me to do. Even if she did horrible things to me."

Now Marit is kind of confused. Not in a way that suggests Catherine is mind controlled, but he doesn't like being confused in any important respects, really. 

"She - begged you not to have sex with Daeran?" This just seems like very uncharacteristic Alfirin behavior!

"...She didn't really say anything about it, because it didn't come up, because I would not do that?"

Is it an ...Osirian...opinion -

- that you can't rape a posssessing spirit, because it's not Alfirin's body in the first place?

- that even if you could, doing so would definitely have to involve the use of force or magic (neither of which are effectively employed against Alfirin)?

- that really it's kind of fine, given having been possessed by an evil archmage, to try to make them have a bad time in the body just because you're mad at them? Or as a more moderate defensible claim, that it's obviously fine to be indifferent to how much fun they're having? Evil archmages who don't appreciate this really have a lot of options.

"Your analysis is confusing to me but I do not specifically see a reason to expect that in that respect and no others you are mind controlled," he manages after a moment.

"I'm glad you think I'm not mind controlled here but - I am confused about how you are confused. And - I don't think you're a danger to anyone or anything like that but the 39th century seems to me to have some really concerning sexual norms."

"- it's not that people were in favor of having sex with possessed people in the 39th century and it has since fallen out of fashion. It's that - Alfirin is an archmage, and can make different life choices if she dislikes the ones she's making, or any of the consequences that they're having, and if she's decided the thing that accomplishes the most of her goals is to possess you, and you decide not to make that any cheaper for her by not changing your behavior so she has a better time, I don't think you could possibly be wronging her thereby. If I set up a curse that bites my eyeball out every time you say the word 'Iomedae' you are not obliged to stop saying it, like you would be to at least some degree if a third party had cursed me; that's on me for setting up this situation.

- that's my analysis, not Iomedae's. I guess I could try to produce hers though I usually these days try not to."

"Even if it were, I don't think I'd change my mind about this just because Iomedae disagreed with me. I think - people do a lot of bad things, out of fear of Hell, and I don't think that entitles anyone to torture them about it. Or rape them. Not even their victims."

"Well, I agree with that, though I remain unconvinced it's applicable."

And now he misses Iomedae, actually, who had a way of unweaving moral dilemmas and then weaving the pieces back together in a different shape to make a single unbroken thread. ...he doesn't miss her enough to try to guess what she'd think, though. Or maybe it's that he misses her too much to try that.

"...Even if we disagree about whether it's doing wrong by her, which - I can see where you're coming from, and I don't think either of us is going to talk the other around on - you must at least admit it wouldn't be very fair to Daeran, to sleep with him when there's a third party involved that he doesn't know about."

What if I told you I had some news about Daeran, he does not even consider saying. 

"Yes, that's a very reasonable analysis and probably the correct one," he says instead.

"Oh, good, I was half-expecting you to disagree with that too.  It's all irrelevant anyways, given enter image or whatever other long-term solution she works out.

Thank you again for checking, Commander. It means a lot to me that you did."

"Of course. I'm glad that you are not being mind-controlled and are arriving at whatever opinions you end up having by your own strength."

And he'll return, to have the awkward counterpart conversation with Alfirin.

"Accomplish whatever it was you wanted me distracted for?" She has some obvious guesses, but she's not completely sure of them.

"Yes, though I'd have asked for your guesses whether I wanted you distracted or not, I did want them. I went up to Catherine in an antimagic field."

"Yes, but you would probably have asked over a telepathic bond instead of when I was in a picture, or worked through them with me, or just stayed to chat. I thought it was probably that. Is she doing okay?"

"She seems - to know what she wants, have some routes to get it, and have reasoning processes that are fairly alien to me but - principled and important to her. I think she's mostly all right. - better now."

"That's good. Reasoning processes that are alien because you did not grow up in infernal Cheliax, or weirder than that? I don't think I'd ever noticed her reasoning being notably alien."

"We had a kind of bizarre argument about whether she'd be wronging you by having sex with Daeran while you were a passenger. She claimed that this was rape. I am aware I'm suddenly very old fashioned but it really doesn't seem so, to me."

"...I...suppose...if I try, I can see how she might think that. It involves me experiencing sex that I am not enjoying and do not want with a person that I do not like - which is not entirely dissimilar to rape. I prefer that if she is having sex with Daeran she do it in the times when I'm not present. But... I could trivially stop her. She's not forcing me at all."

"I assumed as much." Really Marit's sort of coming around to the stance that, what with the base rate of people being possessed so high, no one should have sex outside the context of a bond sufficiently trusting and complete that you'd definitely know of any possession. That definitely seems like not the way modern Cheliax would see such things.

"...anyway. Checking Catherine required checking you were still here, since you'd obviously be suspicious, so I handed off my remote viewing of magic auras in this office to Aaaassshenattttseeee, who could confirm the Enter Image didn't waver; he doesn't have the spellcraft to know what spell it is, thinks it's one I cast, and does not care anyway, but I'm sorry I couldn't think of a way to verify it without involving anyone while inside an antimagic field myself, and if you feel I owe you that's fair enough."

She frowns - "I think - I do not have very much to hold against you, there. We are not tracking who owes whom on that granularity. Thank you for being careful."