"Oh, say some Countess wants me to subdue her enemies, take them back to her court, and then, you know, burn them alive, or something.  To put it in terms that might be more common around here, it's just not my kink."

"You're not going to get it, and shouldn't bother trying."

In Opalyn's experience, when a person comes up to you and talks to you and then tells you that you shouldn't bother trying to get what they're saying, you should listen to their body and not to their words.

"You don't want to be used as a tool to oppress the powerless on behalf of the powerful. Like, not at all, but especially not in such a cruel way."

"It's--not even who's powerful or powerless it's about what's--pointless--"

"I don't know.  Close enough.  How did you get even that much?  Are there actually other people like me, around here, do they all end up in prisons, and nobody else like us comes to make us offers because the great Princes don't want people like us being allowed to gather?"

"'People like you' meaning people who try to... do the right thing?"

"People who think that burning people alive is not the right thing to do, to the point where they would think that killing other people about that is the right thing to do."

"Sounds like you don't approve of me! Can't say I blame you, really!"

"I was actually asking, before. You said you like to straight up just kill your enemies. How do you do it? I don't really know a better way than the fire thing, but I'd appreciate some tips."

Opalyn is not sure if she has a bunch of killing people in her future, but she does tend to agree with Terfallen that setting people on fire is a fairly awful way to do it, if you've gotta.

"After you've knocked them unconscious, instead of then binding them and later setting them on fire, you just cut their head off with a simple spatial slice?  You don't try to make it interesting, at all, you just kill them immediately?  You could even just directly kill them instead of knocking them out?"

"...This is not really the conversation I was hoping to have, but, fine, I guess this is my life now."

"Oh! I wasn't knocking them unconscious. I was just burning them up, all in one go, during combat. Did you, like, sneak up on them and knock them unconscious, thus completely avoiding combat in the first place? That does sound more humane and also safer, if a little unsporting."

Opalyn can see that this guy is suffering, but is not sure how to be comforting to him when 1) he believes she's a horrible unethical monster and 2) they're talking past each other. She's hoping she can at least fix the second issue, though the first may be insurmountable.

"I think I must not be understanding something.  How do you burn somebody up while you're fighting them?  If the two of you were still fighting, why wouldn't they just... not let you set them on fire?"

"Not let me? How would they stop me?"

"By stepping off of the wood you'd piled up, thereby avoiding getting burned when you set the wood on fire?"

"...this is all a bit, where you're trying to get me to ask you to describe in great detail exactly how you go about setting a person on fire, isn't it."

They are definitely missing each other. Assuming Orphan's memories haven't been corrupted somehow, and that she's understanding them correctly, there's some great big disconnect between Opalyn and everybody else here. And she kind of thinks Orphan would be having a lot of the same disconnect, though she would probably be a lot less curious about it.

She is not really worried at all anymore about this guy thinking she's weird. He already hates her because he thinks she's a sociopath. She might as well try to figure out what the disconnect is.

"No, I'm not trying to get you to describe anything, but I am trying to figure out why we're not getting each other."

"So. When I was in battle, I would cast a fire spell that would set my opponents on fire. They were awake at the time. They were not standing on piles of wood. Some of them were wearing armor and carrying weapons and running towards me. Others were sorcerers who were trying to cast their own spells back at me, though they didn't really get much of a chance to do that. Once I had cast my fire spell, my opponents would be ON FIRE and then shortly thereafter they would generally be DEAD. That is how it worked for me."

"Can you please explain the part where you thought they wouldn't let me?"

"A fire spell?  Like, you take oil, set it on fire, and then try to translocate the oil at your opponent?"

"No no no no. A FIRE spell. Like, I would shoot jets of fire out of my hands. At my enemies. And then they would be on fire."

"But what is on fire when you do that?"

"I dunno, man, it's MAGIC? How does magic even work?"

"NOT by making FIRE come out of NOWHERE without anything being ON fire--"

"Okay, you're just messing with me, I get it."

"I agree that magic is mysterious! There are many magical things that don't make sense to me yet! I don't even know what the shape of an underlying set of rules that could possibly explain this magic could be!"

"It sounds like, in your experience, fire without fuel doesn't work? Even with magic?"

"I wonder if the magic conjures some fuel for the fire in addition to conjuring the fire... maybe fine flammable particulate matter?"

"It's fine, I get it now.  I'm not actually that stupid."

"Have a nice meal.  I'm sure we'll get plenty more chances to mess with each other later."

He nods his head to her and turns to go.

It is dramatic prison after all!

Opalyn lets him go and continues eating her food, still wondering what is actually on fire when she casts a fire spell. Her money's on some kind of flammable dust. If magic can transport her digested food to a big pile somewhere, surely it can import dust.

Or maybe it's HER OWN SHIT that's on fire. Heh, that'd be neat. Though she doesn't remember the fire being smelly, other than the smell of burning flesh.

Nobody else will molest Opalyn as she continues her meal!

Overheard from a couple sitting down at the next table over:  The man explaining that he's new to prison life, is sort of worried he'll never be able to get emotionally attached to anyone, and is looking for someone who can send him a lot of mixed signals and maybe break up with him at the worst possible moment if his prison stay isn't going well.

Opalyn has no difficulty refraining from jumping up and volunteering for the role.

As Opalyn is finishing her meal, a fully-dressed man in black approaches her table, his bearing managing to convey both dominance and officiousness.  "Healthy-Orphan?" he intones.

"Yes? You can call me Opalyn. How can I help you?"

Is it finally time to charge some lightlines?

"Iilasir has requested you to be present for his lightline-charging.  Due to your relative rank we would not ordinarily displace you at his request, but there is a charging station open.  You will fill it."