"...so this does make sense to you," says Iomedae, "and is - Clepati conveying something to you, through me?"

"I think so. I would apologize for her rudeness but I actually suspect she was being decidedly reasonable within her constraints. And I am glad we had the chance to meet," though that may well have been Nefreti arranging Lilia compensation for what is otherwise fairly obnoxious behavior. "I enjoyed our conversation. Your -" Cansellarion picked the word 'partner', a slightly strange one - "fiance is very fortunate."

"Thank you," says Iomedae. She is pretty sure Lilia got a lot more out of this conversation than she did and it's a slightly disconcerting feeling.

And now she should go report to her mother. "I think I've given you what I said I would," she says to Cansellarion, "and would now like to have my hands free, and to leave if that's a necessary prerequisite. You can do another truth spell before I go if you want to confirm I haven't lied to you." That sentence is carefully crafted to not, itself, be a lie. 

He does the truth spell. Asks whether she's lied to them or attempted to mislead them with regard to Cheliax during her time here.

She denies having lied to them or attempted to mislead them with regard to Cheliax during her time here. 

Great. She can be released back at Cansellarion's estate. The teleporter will take Iomedae back to Vigil in the same circuit.

"Nefreti," Lilia reports, "knows of you, because of course she does, and requests your help with Lorthact."

"Nefreti was there? Did she say anything else, like that helping her with Lorthact will make a difference and not get me killed?"

"She was not there. She had apparently given Cansellarion a series of absurdist and cryptic prophecies which he could make no sense of but which amounted to - there's someone who could help her defeat Lorthact, that person isn't decided about whether to do so, and if he fulfills the absurdist and cryptic prophecies it's more likely that they'll decide to do so. I figured that all you really needed to know was that she already knows you exist and there's not much additional risk incurred by just talking to her."

Myrabelle sighs. "You're right. The woman can cast sending as both a wizard and a cleric, but if this is how she decides to deliver that message that's her prerogative I suppose. I assume you told Cansellarion everything about Cheliax' operations. Did you learn anything?"

"Not from him. But the fulfillment of the absurdist prophecies involved a meeting with Freedom, which was - interesting. I believe they don't just have her as the face of the radio project, she feels some responsibility for the whole of it and expects it couldn't proceed on terms unacceptable to her. From that one would naturally infer that she's not really a teenage girl, but I think she is. She's also a paladin of Iomedae in Cansellarion's order, too weak to be fearless, wealthy - she owns the headband, rather than borrow it for broadcasts, and wears an exceptionally good cloak, though one would really hope they'd arrange her that given how much time Abrogail spends trying to give her nightmares. She can't be lying about having been born in Cheliax but I'm nearly sure she wasn't raised there. 

- Nefreti told Cansellarion that she ought to invite me to her wedding, but considering that this was clearly an elaborate distraction to avoid telling Cansellarion he could reach a powerful potential ally through me, it seemed inconsiderate to accept."

...No, that seems likely part of the message. Freedom is getting married. There is the obvious guess as to to whom, apart from the fact that they are both women...they are women as rich as Mammon, and can find a way. She is not going to ask more about that and betray to her daughter that this is any interest of hers.

"Curious. You did good work, thank you. I think I am off to speak with Clepati now."

Lilia nods, as expressionless as she's been since she was Freedom's age herself. It used to be possible to see in her eyes that she was proud, when Myrabelle thanked her, but it hasn't been for decades. "I'll report Wealday."

Myrabelle teleports away and Catherine appears on the threshold of the temple of the all-seeing eye. "I'm sure I have an appointment," she says, and clicks her heels together and flies up to the top of the tower.

"You're nearly late," Nefreti says to her, cheerfully. "Come in, come in, I have tea. And coffee."

She raises an eyebrow. She prefers tea. Catherine, when Catherine was still a separate person, preferred coffee. She does not know whether Nefreti is in fact sending her coded messages or just offering beverages.

…she takes the tea.

It's definitely the former. Nefreti also takes some tea. Drinks it in peaceable silence.

"Okay. You want my help to defeat Lorthact. Are you claiming that this will work out well for me?"

" - well, together we can destroy him and raid his false realm of all its souls. I am not a philosopher; I do not know if this is the pursuit of the good, for you."

"Does it involve me dying in any substantial way? Does it involve drawing more attention of the sort that I'd prefer to avoid, or is that a lost cause by now anyways? I'm interested in doing it, if it can be done, but I want to know the cost."

"You won't die, or not very much," Nefreti says. "It is certainly the kind of doing to which attention will be paid, but so is this conversation, and so was your adventuring in Vigil."

"A lost cause, then. Oathday night, in Almas?"

"We will have to travel to his false realm, and when we do he will return there. We can start in Almas but there is no real reason to."

"All the better, I suppose. Are we using my way in?"