"Was that a complete list of cases where you know yourself to have tried to mislead me today?"

She thinks back through the conversation. There are a couple of things that are arguable either way but truth spells are usually generous about those. "Yes."

He sighs. "All right. I'm convinced. Will I be better served by monitoring you for signs of impending betrayal, or by not doing that?"

"By not doing that, unless you enjoy it."

That gets a laugh from him. He hands her a sheet of paper. "Okay. Here is your oath of office. It would be convenient if you could swear to it now while we still have the truthspell going."

Oh, so he does have a personality. Lilia genuinely wasn't sure. She won't conceal that she is pleasantly surprised. She'll take his oath of office.

He's… pleased, he thinks. de Montero will be a useful ally, and he's glad to not have her as an enemy and - having the chance to verify this much with her has made him somewhat less worried about her mother. And while he's still unsure that that's wise, it's not really harming his interests while he's unable to act on most things he knows about Myrabelle anyways.

"If you want to ask more questions out of pure curiosity I'll entertain them. For the sake of our working relationship and because it's a bit of a novelty, saying things and having them be believed."

"I'm afraid I'll need a moment. Most of the first questions that jump to mind concern your mother and I oughtn't ask them… You seem to enjoy your work, is it only your work or are there other things?"

Sometimes she coped with stress by turning people into statues and then chiseling the statues into prettier statues, trying to develop a version of the spell that'd keep her cosmetic changes when she turned them back.

"I picked up - Egorian - hobbies. I will probably now pick up paladin hobbies but I haven't yet and I'm not entirely sure where to start."

"They vary. Endel and I hunt together and play cards. Jan Zima spends time with his family. Heliu paints… I suppose of all those people I'm the only paladin, but I don't think paladins have a distinct set of hobbies from other people in the church."

"I expect I won't always feel this way but right now it really does feel like Evil people have more fun. Maybe I will pursue my interest in exotic fabrics."

"We are commanded by the Goddess to have fun. It's a responsibility we all take very seriously… You may want to look outside Iomedae's church for more examples of how Good people have fun. I am sure someone has come up with something you'd find appealing."

"I am impressed by your diligent obedience to your goddess with respect to having fun," Lilia says dryly. "Unfortunately I find all the other Good churches kind of annoying." 

"Do you not find Iomedae's annoying?"

Oh, absolutely. She's not going to say that. She's trying to become someone it's not true of.

"You really did impress me, with the guns. Iomedae - claims that you can win playing by Her rules. When She's losing, that's not very compelling. But - if She's right, then it's of course extraordinarily compelling. And you claim that what I did isn't incompatible with playing by Her rules, which was a sticking point because I'm pretty sure I was right and don't have a lot of time for anyone who claims I shouldn't've done it."

"It would be hard to deny that you helped us immensely in the war and wouldn't have been able to if you'd not been in the position you were in… How much do you know about the guns? Where they came from and such?"

"No comment." Not much, but Lilia likes to be mysterious about what she knows and she bets she'll figure it out shortly, she has many of the pieces of the mystery.

"Of all the secrets to keep - that one is actually important, if that changes your willingness to answer. Parts of the story are public, but parts are not and it would be useful to me if I knew how much you learned and when."

"I know that Freedom is more than your propagandist and is, actually, as young as she looks though this is somewhat at odds with the conclusion I had also reached that she played a major role in the gun project. I know the goddess worked Her miracle through her." That one took a lot of figuring out, actually. "I don't know where she got it. Actually grew up in an Azlanti colony in what is technically now Cheliax, then got petrified for ten millennia? I'd say 'from one of the stars' but she's so insistent that she's Chelish."

He would've expected her to listen to the radio more.

"I'm not intending to give you the answer. I don't know how long the secret parts will remain secret, and you knowing would probably be no great disadvantage now that the war is over, but even if it were costless you strike me as someone who would rather discover it for yourself."

"I'll tell you if I figure it out. Anyway, maybe your goddess got rather lucky, but - if Asmodean Cheliax had stumbled on someone with knowledge out of Azlant they'd have immediately bungled it unless I saved them, and you didn't."

"Would you have saved them?"

"Of course not. I did save their projects quite frequently - it's a good way to get promoted - but not a game-breaking one."

If her mother had ordered her to save a project that let Asmodean Cheliax take over the world, she would have. But her mother would not, in Lilia's best estimation, have given that order, so it's not lying.

"Are you going to want our help, later, in evading Hell?"