Where the Heart Is, Part 6

Confronted with Alicia's questioning, you have only a moment to decide on your reply. Only a moment to juggle risk and reward, to consider all the possible ways this could go wrong. How much can you get away with? Might the paladin have some supernatural way to determine the truth of your answers? Might that be how she caught Janessa and the others in the elf village?

At the very least, you decide it's a risk to outright lie. But it's also a risk to be too blatantly evasive as well. You can tell just by looking at this woman that she has a ferociously keen insight. Whatever approach you take, it's going to require all your skill in deception to get out of this in one piece. As such, you decide to stretch the truth to the very breaking point, without technically crossing the line into outright lies.

"If... if I can help the Heroines, the people of Nelin, and however many innocent lives are tangled in this creature's web by helping you capture him... then yes, of course I'll try to help you catch him," you say, doing everything you can to project a faltering, uncertain sincerity. Technically, that shouldn't be a lie. You would willingly let yourself be captured... if you thought you could leverage that imprisonment to better lure all those innocent lives into sin and uninhibited sexual indulgence.

And really... what better help could anyone give those innocent lives than the delicious corruption you offer?

"I don't want this demon to make anyone into a... corrupted parody of themselves," you continue. "To twist them until they can't tell right from wrong, o-or until his magic makes them feel so good that he could make them do anything and not even care." Which is also true. All the heroines you've corrupted are still fundamentally themselves, and you have no interest in changing that. Only in showing them what they've been missing all this time. You're a tempter, not a mind-breaker.

Lady Alicia leans slightly closer. "That is a very noble sentiment," she muses, her expression betraying no hint of whether she finds your words convincing or not. "Though I must admit... it is not one I would have expected many in your profession to espouse so fervently."

"I have spent much of my life in the shadows," you acknowledge, not contesting her point, but rather leaning into it. "But... I want to believe that I could never tolerate a violation like that. I'm not as brave as a Heroine. But I have to do something to help."

Here you allow your voice to get a little heated... only to pretend to falter at your next words, inserting a flicker of fear into your act. "Though... If there is an incubus involved, I... can't claim that I couldn't ever betray you in a moment of weakness. But I'll do my best to be strong, and not do anything that would harm any of you."

You let your shoulders subtly shrink in a little bit at the admission, as though you're weighed down by the terror of losing yourself to the power of that vile fiend. "Don't worry," Elianna assures you, interjecting her soothing voice into her friend's questioning, out of a desire to ease your fear. "We won't let him get to you."

Lady Alicia, however, is more blunt. "We will indeed do our best to make sure that no one else falls to that craven predator," she says. "But if you do truly wish to aid us... then I cannot in good faith promise you that it will be without risk. The question, then, is what manner of aid are you willing to offer?"

You take a deep breath. "He's here to seduce heroines," you say. "And he has information about Mockingbird. I think we should warn her before anything else, and make sure she's safe. Maybe... I could help with that? Put the investigation I did for him to a good use?"

"Mmm..." The paladin seems to consider it, at least. "She is, admittedly, often hard to contact. Usually Mockingbird is the one to seek us out. And she's been keeping to herself even more than usual of late. But doing this could also put you right into the devil's sights, if you cross paths."

"I'm willing to put my life on the line, if need be," you say aloud. And that much, at least, is the farthest thing from a lie. In fact, you're doing it at this very moment.

Still, what Alicia said is interesting in its own right. If Mockingbird is increasingly distancing herself from the other heroines, it may imply that she doesn't trust them to resist your charms. It may mean that she thinks that she's the only one who can protect Elianna from you... and only if she remains hidden, without giving you any way to find her until she strikes.

Too bad for her that she has completely underestimated your ability to locate her, despite all her precautions.

Alicia regards you in silence for several long seconds, carefully considering everything you've said. Then, finally, she speaks. "And the matter of his... allies?" she asks. "Did he have anyone with him?"

Once again she hides it well. But her desire to know more about the fate of her friends is too achingly raw for even her iron composure to entirely conceal it from your eyes. Rather than engage directly, though, you take the opportunity to drop a warning about a different issue.

"I thought he was going to seduce her by himself," you say, frowning. "But... recently one of my contacts told me that someone else has been asking around about Mockingbird lately. A human man whose description doesn't seem familiar to me. Can men really... be enthralled by an incubus?"

Alicia coughs. And for the first time in the conversation, she seems genuinely surprised. That probably wasn't a question she was expecting to be asked by a supposedly-worldly rogue. "Ah, yes," she says, recovering quickly. "Yes, there are certainly men who would be naturally drawn to his allure. And even for those not naturally so inclined, the demonic power he wields has the potential to... erode inhibitions."

"Oh," you say simply, your eyes widening a little. "Then... are you saying that... I mean..." you fumble a bit, acting ever more embarrassed with each passing second, before looking down at your hands and speaking in a small voice. "Are you saying it isn't... unnatural... to feel that way about someone who's... the same as you?"

This approach is a bit of a gamble, as you don't know the precise views in Nelin on relations between members of the same sex. Does this nation harbor the same sort of opposition to it that drove the elder of the elven village to summon Lekariel all those years ago?

Still... regardless of what the official doctrine is or isn't, you're willing to bet that the same desire for children and lineage that influenced those long-ago elves could, at the very least, plausibly lead to individual families instilling a sense of shame in their daughter over any preferences that might deny them that. Perhaps even leading to her running away from home, to a life on the streets?

And this hastily-improvised development of Kavia's backstory has several advantages. It suggests that—however hardened Kavia may be in terms of a life of crime and espionage—she's still sexually inexperienced. Which should create even more mental distance between how they think of her and how they think of the incubus. It also opens up a possible point of vulnerability and sympathy... and even better, one that could naturally lead to discussions of sexual topics later, if followed up on.

Elianna's reaction to your words, at least, is about as perfect as you could have hoped. "There is nothing unnatural about such feelings, my child," she insists, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. "Nothing whatsoever. It... may be true that Selal restricts the sacrament of marriage to between a man and a woman. But that is only because it is a union meant specifically for procreation and the raising of children. She does not forbid the pursuit of love outside those bounds. It is... a distinction that is sometimes misunderstood."

Very interesting. She's clearly trying to comfort you, to assuage her shame from what she assumes you've been taught. But you get the sense that Elianna herself isn't entirely comfortable with her own goddess's prohibitions on the matter of marriage. Even if, from your perspective, it's far from the worst such restriction from a deity you've come across.

Though to be fair, you've never understood the appeal of monogamy to begin with.

Either way, you capitalize on it. Tentatively, you reach up and place your hand atop the cleric's, holding tight to it. "Thank you," you say. "I... I'm not... I just... Thank you."

Lady Alicia regards you carefully for a few seconds more, then nods. "Please forgive my questions," she says. "This is a very dangerous game we are all playing. And against a foe such as this, I'm afraid that we cannot afford the luxury of letting down our guard. Still, if you are willing... I think that working with you may give us the advantage we need to turn the tables on this fiend."

Even now, you find yourself unable to read her, unable to tell just how much of your story she truly believes, or how many lingering suspicions she might have. It's clear that every second spent around her is dangerous, even ill-prepared for this meeting as Alicia herself was. But even so... you can't deny that it's been a thrill to finally confront the leader of the heroines. To meet your opposite face to face.

If you truly want to ensure Lily's victory, then more than any other heroine, this peerless holy warrior is the one you'll need to somehow corrupt.

But for right now, Elianna is your goal, and you decide to keep your focus. "I understand," you say. "It makes sense why you would need to be suspicious, considering what the incubus can do. If... if I ever do encounter him, are there any... prayers or supplications I can say, that might persuade Selal to help me resist his wiles?"

You turn to the holy mother, the very picture of a lost sheep looking for guidance. Elianna smiles apologetically. "I'm afraid that truly calling on divine power requires a long period of consecration and ritual," she says. "There are strict limitations on when—and to whom—the goddesses may lend their strength. But... a prayer can be still useful to remind us where our duty lies. To remind us that we are here to serve something greater, more holy than ourselves. That can be a form of strength unto itself, when dealing with a foe who would like nothing better than to twist and defile our very souls."

You chew on your lower lip for a moment, then act as though you're gathering your courage. "Could you... teach me one of those prayers, then? I... never learned any of them when I was younger."

"Of course, my child," Elianna says, without any hesitation. "It is never too late to discover the peace that comes from faith in the divine. Come, kneel and repeat after me."

You kneel down beside her, just close enough to increase the sense of intimacy a little bit more. It's more clear now than ever that while both Elianna and Alicia are holy servants of the same goddess... even though they're both heroines opposed to Kovora... Elianna is no warrior. Alicia has acted with caution at every step, and even now you're not entirely sure how suspicious she still might be of you. But Elianna...

Elianna is driven entirely by her overflowing compassion. For her friends. For the children she's taken under her care. And for you, a stranger she barely even knows. Even what anger you have seen from her has still been rooted there. True, that was obvious from the beginning... but you're now seeing just how vulnerable it can make her, as she freely opens her heart to you, leading you in supplication to her deity.

There's obviously a limit to how much you can do with Alicia watching, and you don't dare attempt anything even slightly sexual while she's in the room. But that doesn't prevent you from laying more groundwork, taking advantage of Elianna's trusting, open heart to worm your way even deeper. The poor, frightened lost soul who is trying so hard to make amends for her life up to this point.

Of course, the real trick will be finding an opening to turn this sexual, without causing Elianna to pull back because of her principles. And all without Lady Alicia catching on.

You do catch a glimpse of the paladin, watching you as you pray with Elianna. And while she's normally unreadable... that doesn't apply when she looks at her friend. You can tell that Alicia deeply respects and admires Elianna's gentle, motherly spirit. That she's determined to protect her and keep her safe. Even if that means she has to be the suspicious one, even the paranoid one, to make up for it.

Eventually you reach the end of what you can feasibly accomplish in this bonding time with your target. You're satisfied that you've developed the strength of your emotional connection, in ways that might be useful later on. You rise back to your feet, to see that Alicia is ready and waiting to talk business.

"You mentioned that you might be able to help us find Mockingbird and warn her," the paladin says, her gaze watching you closely. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

A good question, to which you can see two main answers. You could offer to reach out through the contacts that you've made, which would give you much more leeway in terms of having time to prepare and set your pieces in place... but at the cost of not giving you any time with your targets directly for this phase. It would give you the opportunity to do some of the things you haven't gotten around to, like contacting Kovora's ratfolk spies in this city, or seducing the vulnerable cleric to give you a food source who could also act as an inside woman to a certain extent.

Alternatively, you could claim to have gathered enough information to search the city directly. Of course, you know exactly where she spends most of her time, thanks to Rysanial's efforts. Which means you could approach her alone, giving you a chance to talk to her and work on her without anyone else watching. Or you could ask to bring Elianna along for protection, which wouldn't give you any time alone with Mockingbird, but might allow you some time alone with Elianna if you drew out your search.

There are benefits and costs to each, but you'll need to make a decision. What will you tell Alicia, and what will you plan to do tomorrow?