"But Prelate Hulrun is after you, and you figured he," she jerks her thumb at Daeran, "was the best place to hide. And were quite correct, at that; Daeran even asked Ramien why he didn't come hide out with him."

Aranka bites her lip. "So he's after Ramien, now, too?" 

They had been hoping that keeping Ramien out of the plan to fix the Wardstone would protect him from the Prelate's ire, but that was never a sure thing even before he swooped in to save them from being caught. 

"Yep. On the plus side we think a demon got him with a Suggestion to think that this one hole in the ground was deeply suspicious and he should guard it instead of running around murdering demons. Well, no, that's not good news actually, but it's circumstantially convenient for not getting caught by him."

"Oh, I...see." Aranka realizes that objectively Hulrun is really valuable specifically for murdering demons purposes, but also...if anyone deserves to be sidelined into hole-related time-out instead of doing any things, it's gotta be him. 

Part of her wants to see it, although that is objectively a deeply unwise part of her and she should in fact stay as far away from him as she reasonably can. 

She takes a deep breath. "Alright. I'll come." 

"That's great! Do you have any idea where the others are?"

She hmms uncertainly. "We didn't tell each other where we were going...harder for Hulrun and his goons to force the answers out of us one way or another. But...if I had to guess...I think Ilkes would probably hide out somewhere near the temple. He's always felt the safest there. And Thall...where he is I have no idea, but what he's doing--there's no way he just went to ground and stayed there even after the demons showed up. He'll be helping people in some way." She hesitates. "Even if Hulrun is mostly stuck in one place...there's no reason to think he won't throw off the Suggestion or whatever at some point... I'd really rather not run around trying to get recognized. How about--" she takes off her shawl, "you hold onto this, so he can see it, and he'll recognize that I sent you. It was a present from him, so he'll definitely recognize it." 

Lusilla accepts the shawl carefully. "Thank you. I'll be sure to return it in good condition." 

"As long as none of us end up dead," whether on the end of a demon's claws or an inquisitor's blade, "I'll consider that blessing enough, no matter what state the shawl is in afterwards." 

"Well, fair, but I'll still try."

"I do appreciate it." 

They were here to sleep, right? There's no reason they should have to deal with the crowded and, frankly, none too luxurious on a good day accommodations that the Defender's Heart offers. The amenities in Daeran's mansion are fancier than remotely necessary, and, at least at the moment, he's feeling generous. 

"Just looking at you pains me, Ember. Why don't I do something about your appearance? What do you say to a bath, some new clothes, and a comb for that hair?"

"Thank you, but I like the way I look. Why don't I do something to your appearance? How about I use soot to blacken your hair? It will be great!" 

This is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to him, bar none. Not that he's not going to take advantage, obviously, he's not stupid. 

Mmmmm baaaaaath. Worth even hanging around the comedic beggar-rat duo. Probably. 

Lusilla, on the other hand, finds a storeroom containing a lot of lovely scented fluids, probably used for bathing or other things like that. It smells amazing. 

She decides to find out what it smells like in her other form. 

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

She ends up passing out for the night in the storeroom. Being a human-shaped person in a bed is overrated. 

Despite not needing to prepare her spells, Lusilla rises with the dawn; morning finds her in the room the demon fight took placed in, perched on a table, wiggling her fingers in the air and giggling. 

Well, that's not inconveniencing Woljif in any way, so he's just not going to question it. 

Camellia walks into the room and freezes, staring at her. 

"Something wrong?" Lann asks dryly. 

"Nothing wrong--excuse me." This potentially complicates some things!

After Lusilla is done with the thing she was doing she hops down from the table and goes after Camellia. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Also, what was up with that? 

"...You can talk to spirits too?" 

"Yeah! It's nice, to have someone to talk to no matter what."

That's such a bizarre take on the subject that Camellia really has no way of responding to it.

"Usually, I'm the only one around who has any idea what the spirits are saying." And this is VERY CONVENIENT because it means nobody can double-check what she's claiming they're saying. 

"Oh!" Lusilla's first instinct is that this explains why Camellia is so weird, but actually no it doesn't, talking to spirits has no correlation whatever with things like trying to resuscitate a mangled corpse but not caring about dying civilians nearby, or being a huge snob, or anything. Maybe there's some indirect way it does though??? Lusilla will keep an eye out. "That sounds lonely." Because it does.