Ky distributes hats on her way out. Retires to the library, sends Iskander for food, and sits in the center of the stacks, feeling her way along the imprints of the letters on the pages, reading what she needs to learn.

The party goes on well into the night, but the central mass of people is a ways away from the library and its only loud in the incidental way that lots of people interacting while some of them are drunk is, not a coordinated effort; if she just wants a quiet rest of the evening and night to herself, she can obtain that without much difficulty.

Yup. She's feeling more oriented by the time she goes to bed, though she's still read barely a fraction of the books.

Her sleep is undisturbed, as is her rising, but an hour and a half after dawn a runner arrives at the library with a message for her. It's apparently not urgent enough that he feels the need to interrupt her if she's busy, but he will stick around until she's ready for it.

"Do tell," she says, quite promptly once she is aware of the runner.

"Knight Commander!"

The soldier snaps to attention, saluting her.

"I'm here with a message from the queen; she said to inform you that she has a private sanctum available at the temple of Iomedae, and that I was to deliver the message and then relay back what time you are available for a meeting of the crusade staff there."

"I will be along in twenty minutes." That should be enough time to scare up some breakfast. "Thank you very much."

"Yessir."

With his message delivered, the courier will take off at a jog south by southeast towards the temple.

She brings Iskander on the grounds that he is basically her personal assistant.

Once at the temple, they're directed past the nave into the back areas of the temple. There's an armed inquisitor waiting at the doorway, but after quick check of their alignment and magical auras they're waived past to the sanctum. From the outside, it looks like a dark foggy mass and is eerily silent, but once they cross the boundary line they can see just fine. Inside the meeting room with Queen Galfrey are the subordinates Kybele was presented alongside yesterday - Captain Harmattan, Baroness Gaunther, Jhoran Vhane, Ramien, Wilcer Garms, Irabeth Tirabade, and Nurah Dendiwhar - as well as rather more surprisingly count Arendae, who is looking around with visible boredom but becomes slightly more animated when the two of them arrive.

"Hello there everybody!" says Ky, plopping into a seat. If there isn't a spare for Iskander she'll whip something up for him out of paper. "Daeran, I wasn't expecting you, are you through commissioning my ballad already?"

"If only I had an actual reason to be here like that. No, there's some nonsense about my having to be here as the head of house Arendae. I've got to stick around long enough to keep up appearances and then get out of your hair for your very important crusade planning."

"I'm afraid that's not exactly accurate, Count. This meeting will be very important for your future, since you'll be joining this very important crusade, so you'd best stick around."

"You cannot be serious. Cousin, have you finally learned to joke in your old age? I won't say it's not past time, but I wish you had picked a better subject to get started with."

"On the contrary. The 5th crusade will be able to make use of all the healing it can get - something you can supply in spades, but now for a far more noble cause than as a pick me up for party guests with a hangover. You've been remiss in your duties as a nobleman for far too long, Daeran, and it's past time you started doing your duty."

Daeran stares at his cousin, his jaw slack. For once, no quips emerge from his mouth; he has been struck dumb by this turn of events.

"Your Majesty, I had not been eager to employ conscription."

"Much of our army runs on conscription; of all the nations on Golarion I think only Absalom's does not, and that's more for reasons of incapacity than principle. In Count Arendae's case, however, the obligation to take up arms in defense of Mendev is one he received alongside his own noble title. If you don't think his help is worth the headache of employing him, as knight commander you are of course free to be rid of him, but for all his faults the count is a skilled healer and reasonably capable spellcaster."

"I'd be delighted to have him, it's the accompanying resentment that I fear might not make an ideal companion."

"That I'm rather less able to help you with. If I knew a way to get my cousin to take on responsibilities without being forced, I would have used it long ago."

"Do you want me to immediately fire you?" Ky asks him.

Daeran visibly considers it, before shaking his head.

"No, living my life is one thing, but people like the prelate would be even more insufferable if I outright refused it. Besides, I don't imagine that would leave me free; my cousin doubtless has some other duty lined up to foist on me that I expect I'll like even less and that doesn't have the mercy of me answering to someone mostly tolerable. I reserve the right to complain incessantly about the injustice of it though."

"I wouldn't dream of stopping you! Conscription is just a prettier word for slavery, and if we can't think of a better idea, that may not leave us with other options but it's a failure of imagination and not of the folks who want to stay at home growing cabbages and holding babies."

That'll produce a bright smile from Ramien, though almost everyone else in the room seems rather more lukewarm on the sentiment.

"That business handled, we can move on to other matters."

The queen unfurls a topographical map of the wound, with Kenabres, Drezen, and the wardstone lines clearly labelled.

"Here is what our strategic situation looks like at the present. As I mentioned, the goal of this crusade is to assess the feasibility of retaking Drezen and, if it is not too unfavorable, to do so. Of lesser focus but still great importance are scattering demon armies, tearing down their fortresses, slaying their commanders; anything that will ease up the pressure on the wardstone fortresses or make the job of the next crusade easier to accomplish. You've all been briefed on your specific roles in the crusade, but ideally all of you will have a passable holistic view of the effort; between that and questions unwise to ask or answer outside of a sanctum, I've set aside some time on our agenda to accomplishing that."