"Uh, to be clear, I'm not trying to recruit you? I really did just want to say hi and ask how you were settling in. If you want to fight demons, you'd be welcome, or if you wanted to get a non-combat job doing logistics work, but if you want to be done with everything Abyss-related forever and go study wizardry or something I can help with that too."

Even the person who's running an army doesn't want her help and would only take her on out of obligation Even if that were true it would be nothing less than she deserved.

"I hurt a lot of people, enough that I can't make up for it, but I owe it to them and to Desna to try if I can."

Brenda still feels like she has no idea how morality works, but she can do friendship, at least. 

"Then I would be happy to have you fighting beside me."

Arueshalae smiles, slightly.

"I won't let you down."

Brenda smiles back! "Have you met my friend Ember? She was one of the people who came to Drezen with me, but we didn't have much time to talk then, and I think you'd like her." 

"I haven't. Was she the kitsune, the elf, or the... tiefling?"

The third girl didn't quite look right for that to be the case but she's not sure what else would fit more.

"The elf. The kitsune is Nenio, who's amazing if you want to talk about magic; the one with the blue face is Wenduag, who's a Neather--that means she's from the cave system under Kenabres--and the paladin is Seelah. I'd love to introduce you to everyone, but we've got to go in some kind of order and Ember is super nice and I've been meaning to visit her today anyway."

She'd be worried about lying to them, but the people who came to rescue her already know she's a succubus.

"I'd be happy to meet your friends."

"Ember is usually hanging out on a street corner somewhere taking care of animals; if we go for a walk we'll probably find her soon enough." Especially if she's right about how Time Enough For Love seems to mess with conversations had while walking to make sure they're always at a reasonable stopping point at the end of the trip. "Have you had a chance to see much of Kenabres yet, or have you been staying inside?"

"I've gone out some, but... mostly to watch people, not to go traveling. I've seen some of the places near the temple, and near where I was staying the first day, but not the rest of the city."

"Well, we can go see some more of it. I'm not much of a tour guide--I've only been here about a week--but it's still a cool city. Shall we?"

Arueshalae will happily follow Brenda on a tour!

Ember is, as predicted, in the streets near the market square, though she doesn't seem to be currently talking to any animals besides Soot.

"Hi Ember! I thought it would be nice for me and you and Arueshalae to all spend some time together. How have you been?" And are you disappointed in me for taking a job that involves killing lots of demons.

"It's been nice. Everyone seems much less scared now."

"Yeah, it's nice to see everything getting rebuilt and going back to normal. And if we manage to move the Wardstone inward, it's less likely to happen again." Probably Drezen will gradually accumulate civilians too, and there will always be some kind of dangerous border area until and unless the rift gets closed, but at least the people living here will get to see the danger moving farther away.

"Is that your plan? If the demons have to go back to the abyss... I think they'll get hurt more, but they might also hurt other people less, and that's just as bad for them."

"I really don't know how to deal with the fact that there are infinite demons. Even if demons who came to Golarion were way better off and also didn't harm anyone here, that still wouldn't solve anything, because Golarion could fill up and build space colonies and there would still be infinite demons having a bad time in the Abyss."

"I don't think there are infinite demons. There are a lot of us - them, but there are parts enough of the abyss that are far enough out or deep enough that there aren't many demons, and most demons come from mortals one way or another. Maybe if you count the lurkers too, but I'm not sure they're infinite either."

"That's--good, I think. And a reminder that I shouldn't believe everything I read. There's probably still more demons than I have any idea how to help without, like, changing the fundamental nature of the Abyss somehow. I think maybe the most important thing, if I had any way to do it which I absolutely do not, would be to stop people from going to afterlives they don't want to go to in the first place."

"I know some demons try to steal souls from the river, but that's the kind of thing that's dangerous even for the really strong ones - there are angels and devils and psychopomps guarding it, and if you do it too much you risk making Pharasma mad. All the other ways I know of to change the sorting only involve sending them somewhere bad, like malediction."

"Do you know why the asymmetry? Both "why don't Azatas try to steal Evil people's souls from the river" and "why Malediction"?

"I don't know for sure. Whenever we talked of it amongst ourselves, we just treated it as a sign of the inherent weakness of good, and the only time I've had a prolonged conversation with an Azata was when I was trying to break them."

Auuugh she is supposed to have magic powers of not putting her foot in her mouth. Possibly what she has in this conversation is instead magic powers of being able to react gracefully to the existence of painful topics. And not asking any questions about what there was to be gained by 'breaking' anybody or whether it worked. 

"I'm hoping to get to meet some Azatas at some point; maybe we'll be able to get their perspective on it."

"I'm sure they'll have better advice for you."