"Well, if I'm lucky the opportunity to try things with this affordance isn't going anywhere."

"Well, I'll drink to that. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" echoes the Baroness, though with rather better coordination.

"Captain Harmattan is probably by the Queen, either directly with her or as close as he can manage if space around her hangers-on is a little tight. He's part of the queen's faction, of course, like almost all the commoner officers are, but while I don't know the details he takes it a bit more personally than is usual for people who aren't paladins."

She formulates a little paper cup, clinks it against theirs, shreds it into confetti. "Takes it personally how?"

"There's a certain amount of loyalty you see in all the officers that aren't part of the nobility, because she's our queen and goes around leading the army personally and killing dangerous demons and also because it's pretty obvious if the court had its way half of them would be replaced with varying noble scions, mostly third sons. But I tend to find that mostly it's only the paladins that tend to think of her as being one of them, someone they look up to as a person and not just for what she does and represents, and he at least gives the impression of being one of the exceptions. It's more noticeable than noteworthy, per se, but here and now it predicts that he'll be taking the chance to socialize with like-minded people and they cluster around the queen."

"I get the sense I'm going to need to brush up on politics." Still, she sashays Queenward.

As promised, the captain is nearby the queen, and is instantly recognizable from how much his appearance stands out from his surroundings; once you've seen them nearby on stage, it's not easy to mistake the person with slate grey skin and stony hair for someone else. Unlike most of his fellows, he is not currently drinking alcohol, but he has some kind of food in his hand that he's snacking on while he makes small talk with a nearby crusader.

She sidles up to them, waves rather than interrupt.

He doesn't react to seeing her, but he does seem to recognize Baroness Gaunther and finishes up his line of thought before turning to her.

"Baroness! It's a bit unusual to see you over here."

"Well, hopefully you'll get used to seeing more of me in general in the near future. But today I'm actually here to make introductions for the knight commander, who was looking to meet you."

She gestures to Kybele.

"Ah, I was wondering why I didn't place you. Kybele, correct?"

"That's me, delighted to make your acquaintance." Handshake?

It'll take him a moment to realize what she wants from him, but then he'll take her hand. On touch, it becomes clear that his skin is indeed flesh and blood rather than rock, but it's still significantly more rock-like than most flesh.

"I hope I'll be able to say the same. What brings an adventurer like you to Mendev? Glory, power, a windfall to help at judgment?"

"Would you believe I have absolutely no idea? Neither my brother nor I can remember leaving home, let alone arriving."

"I can't say I've ever heard that one before, unless you count getting drunk like the accidental god, but it'd be an odd thing to lie about. I suppose it's possible it happens more often than I know and most people just don't mention it out of embarrassment."

"It's incredibly mysterious but I haven't turned up a single reference to anyplace I've heard of before in the library so I'm operating on the assumption that there's no way home. And I do seem poised to do more good here than there."

"It's our most popular tourist attraction," he agrees easily. "As for finding your home, if the Desnans can't help you there's hardly anything I could do that would. At least Kenabres seems to be lucky to have had you."

"I'm just glad Iskander's with me. I'm sorry to be worrying our parents but him I rely on."

"I hadn't heard about them in the rumors. Is he a civilian, or just not the kind of person who enjoys the spotlight?"

"He's approximately a civilian, though he might step up a bit more under the circumstances," since there are certainly a lot of people to make a name among.

"Then I suggest you get him to agree to guards, or better yet stay outside the wardstones, if you intend to keep mentioning him. Any demon that can't kill you might decide that killing him is a perfectly good consolation prize, especially if doing it might make you less effective by upsetting you, and even if you can keep them from making off with the body raises are expensive."

"I would love to get him some guards. Can you help me source some?"

"I can find some men I trust who won't resent being taken off the battlefield for it, yes, though if you want paladins I'll have to go to Tirabade. How much do you value unobtrusiveness vs security in his guards? You can't get much of one without trading off the other, but it's probably pointless to maximize security if he's likely to drive you up the wall complaining about it so discretion might be the better part of valor."

"He will probably object if they follow him to the privy but if people can tell he has guards that won't trouble him so much, I believe."

"As long as he doesn't advertise when and where, that shouldn't be an issue. Demons can teleport into closed rooms they've never seen before but that doesn't do anything to let them know when to do it or which one to pick. Most demons are much bigger on the idea of doing evil and shocking things than they are on doing complicated planning and preparation for it anyway, so that should cover for keeping him safe.

"I won't second guess whatever security measures you take for yourself, I imagine you have a better idea of your own risk tolerances than I. But do you have your own adventuring party coming with you for combat, or do you expect to fight directly alongside the soldiers?"