"We're sorry! Please! We know it was wrong, we just thought we had to, we had no choice!"

"Sounds like they were hoping to become inquisitors," Gord says darkly, although he's still not convinced they aren't Baphometans with an excellent bluffing ability.

"Ramien? Are you, uh, sure that's Ember? I was afraid maybe" - he gestures in embarrasment.

Ramien hums, walks over to Ember, and looks her in the eyes. Then he smiles, and gives her a hug.

"It's definitely Ember. She has a quality no demon could ever imitate."

Soot gives him an approving tap on the head.

"What do you want to do with these two? Someone needs to set their heads straight about Iomedae and it's not going to be one of us. I'm tempted to hand them over to the paladins, even though that's probably a terrible fate they don't really deserve. - Yes, yes, I know, Ember doesn't want us to hurt or punish them for what they tried to do. But they're going to hurt someone else at this rate, or -" he glances at Ember - "they could hurt themselves."

"We'll be good! We swear!!" They sound pretty panicked.

"You should stay with Ramien, or the paladins. You'll be less scared, and safer, and they'll help you help other people like you wanted to."

They, uh, they'd rather go with the paladins, if that's all right? They're Iomedaens and also, in a crisis with demons, paladins (plural) on your side are more reassuring than one or two clerics, however powerful.

"Alright. The paladins are at the Defender's Heart, and they're telling other people to go there for shelter. I guess you can come with us if you want to, just don't - do anything without checking in with me," because this party is getting really unwieldy. "Thank you," he adds for Ramien's benefit.

"Can I come too? If there are refugees they might need healing."

Wait, she's actually - "so you really are a witch? And you can heal people? - and yes, you can come with me if you want to." Gord doesn't know much about witches, but he'll trust anyone Ramien vouches for.

"I guess I am? It's really Soot who's magical, I just know a few tricks that he taught me. Like healing people!"

(The party sets out yet again for the Defender's Heart. Can they make their way there without further... accidents? Horgus Gwerm has by now resorted to quietly praying about it.)

It would be - pretty insensitive of him to ask why she's horrifically burned all over, wouldn't it.

"Do you need shoes?" he settles on. "Mine are too big but I can probably figure something out with bandages..."

"Thanks! I'm used to this, though. You should give them to someone else who needs them more!"

'Used to it', she says, but her feet are half scar tissue...

"Why are you burned all over?"

Wenduag doesn't know what tact is, and all this talk of burning witches as sacrifices sounds like something she ought to know about.

"When my father and I came to the city, many years ago, the knights tied us to stakes and lit a bonfire. Father died, and one of the knights changed his mind and pulled me from the fire, but then he died too... But that was a long, long time ago! I barely remember what it was like before then." 

The rage bubbles up again. Gord clenches his fist, not noticing until the fingernails nearly draw blood.

This. This is why he had to kill Hulrun. Even if it doesn't help anything, and his replacement is just as bad.

"You shouldn't be angry with them! I'm not. The knights really, really wanted to protect their city, they just got all mixed up about who was good and who was evil."

"Where" - he has to clear his throat and start over. "Where do you live now, Ember?"

She smiles. "Here and there, on the streets! Kind people give me food. I had some friends, but they all got bigger and I... didn't."

They what - wait, she's an elf. Gord doesn't know how long it takes an elf child to grow up, but she's implying -

"When you came to the city... was it back during the Third Crusade?"

"I think so? People were talking about a crusade, and then there was another one later..."

This child. This child has been wandering the city, burned and barefoot and abandoned, since before Gord was even born.

'Help the people in front of you' and 'grow ever stronger to work your will upon the world' both feel so inadequate, some times. Like he can't look Ember in the eyes without apologizing, for something other men did or for something Gord hasn't done yet.

"But you can heal people," he manages, "surely you can afford to live in a house - maybe one of the temples -"

"I don't sell healing, silly!"