Where the Heart Is, Part 12

Your skin crawls as you stand there in the alleyway, trying to guess how close the enemy incubi might be. How much they might have figured out. What they might be planning. But you don't let any worry show on your face. "Thank you," you tell Refik, even as your mind races. "Your agents did good work. This information they found will likely be crucial."

After a few more moments of considering your next move, however, you decide that right now the heroines are the more pressing concern. The sooner you can start to win them over, the more options you'll have available, if and when the other enemy makes their move. Whatever that might be.

"Next, I need your people to spread word that Holy Mother Elianna needs to speak with Mockingbird in person," you say. "Do it in such a way that it will reach Mockingbird's ears as soon as possible. And make sure to emphasize that it's urgent. Maybe even imply that Elianna is in some degree of danger."

Rifek nods. "Understood. She'll hear of it before the day is out." Then the ratfolk grins up at you, some of his good humor from your earlier meeting returning. "I must admit, it's... interesting to watch you work. I'd heard of your exploits from my kin. But you're not really how I'd imagined you."

"Just stick around," you say, returning his smile. "You haven't seen anything yet."

With that, you exit the alley, making your way toward the orphanage where Elianna herself should be. It's just as guarded as before, the soldiers still not allowing anyone inside without first anointing them with holy water. Mockingbird is also keeping her hidden vigil from the rooftops, concealing her presence with impeccable stealth. But you're here for the cleric right now, and you can't let yourself get distracted by something that would require your full attention all on its own.

You won't be able to get past the guards on the door. Or at least, not as Kavia. And Kavia is the one who Elianna has started to bond with. Instead, you take advantage of the more generic form that you used to meet with Rifek to also keep a surreptitious eye on the orphanage, from a position carefully out of Mockingbird's view. Waiting for your target to eventually emerge.

And emerge she does, eventually. You see the elf exit the building, wearing her best clerical vestments, not humbler and more use-stained habit that she usually wears while working with the children. Which probably means she's headed to the Grand Cathedral. She pauses for a moment to speak warmly with the guards on duty, thanking them for their hard work and protection. She even knows them both by name.

Once she finishes, she departs in the direction you expected. You leave as well, hurrying once you're out of sight to position yourself in her path. Once you reach a place where no one is watching, you also shapeshift into Kavia again. And with that, everything is in place. If you want to work on the cleric as Kavia, you'll need to take advantage of this brief window when she's out in the open.

While you're waiting, you strike up a conversation with one of the passers-by. That way, when Elianna does show up, you can better sell the "accidental" nature of the encounter. It doesn't take long. You glance up, giving a perfect impression of surprise. "Oh! Holy Mother!" you say, as you hurry over to her.

Out of the corner of your eye, your inhuman perception catches an almost-undetectable flicker of movement from the rooftops. A sign that Mockingbird is still following Elianna. She's keeping enough distance that the rogue probably can't make out anything you're saying, but she's still close enough to keep an eye on the woman she's desperate to protect. Close enough to intervene if she sees anything suspicious.

Elianna smiles. "It's so good to see you again, Kavia," she says, walking along as you fall into step beside her. "I must confess, I was a little bit concerned that something might have happened, since I heard you hadn't return to the accommodations we arranged for you. Is everything alright? Did you eventually make it back?"

Interesting. Which means that she's spoken to Alicia again since the last time you saw them together. From how she describes it, probably either sometime late yesterday evening, or early that night.

"I did end up staying out," you say. "But I'm fine. Nothing bad happened. I was just making sure to get the word out as far as I could. I'm pretty sure that your friend will get the message soon. Probably today, even."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" says Elianna, immense relief in her voice. Even though she's good at keeping up a brave face, you can still tell it was eating her up inside knowing that her little Polly was somewhere out there, targeted by a demon and yet without any protection. "Then we can all meet tonight and decide what to do next. Thank you so much for helping with this, Kavia."

You shake your head. "It's not anything deserving of your thanks," you say, injecting just the right mix of shame and regret into your voice. "It isn't even enough yet to make up for all the things I've done. Not just the mistake I told you about, either. There's also what I did even before that. My whole life as a... well, you know. A sinner. Even if some evils were too much for me to stomach, I'm... still not a good person, Holy Mother. I never have been."

"It is always worthwhile to thank someone for a kind deed," replies the cleric, simply. "Whatever the balance of your actions across your life... that is between you and Oriva on your day of judgment. But the person I see before me is a caring woman. A woman who is willing to risk herself for the sake of others. Whatever else may be true... I think that is a good thing. I think it is worth thanking."

You blush, looking away, as though unable to meet her eyes. But you don't stop there. The whole way to the Grand Cathedral you continue the conversation, expertly playing on Elianna's caring, open heart to wind your way deeper into her thoughts. More and more, you subtly work to grow the concern and care she has for you. And then... as you reach your target's destination... you make the most important push of all.

Mockingbird's surveillance makes it tricky; if there's one interaction you'd prefer she didn't see, it would be this one. You aim for the moment just after you and Elianna enter the outer courtyard of the Cathedral. The agony of being near such a heavily consecrated ground is already ripping away at you... and you know you can't get much closer if this is to work. So at just the right moment—when the outer wall of the cathedral courtyard obscures Mockingbird's vantage point from the rooftops—you reach out to clasp one of Elianna's hands in both of your own.

"If it really is like you said before... if it really is always worthwhile to thank someone for a kind deed... then I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me," you say quietly, not meeting her eyes. "If you hadn't been there... if you hadn't had faith in me, had faith that I could make up for what I'd done... I don't think I would have found the courage to change. So thank you."

Then you look up, chewing on your lower lip. "And... not just for helping me know what to do about my sins, either. What you said about... about not being ashamed of how I felt about other women... that was really important to me! I've... I've never had anyone tell me that before."

As you speak, you let your thumb trace down the inside of Elianna's palm, just a bit. Perfectly measured so that it would seem innocuous... but also perfectly measured to give just that bit of tempting sensation. Especially when combined with just the tiniest hint of your aphrodisiac.

You're not trying to make her desperate, or otherwise sway her right on the spot. No, this is a move that depends entirely on its subtlety. You use the absolute, least-suspicious minimum that will still ensure that her thoughts now go there, in a way that could easily be mistaken for merely her own desires, reacting to what you just said.

Which is fortunate, because this close to the cathedral itself, you probably couldn't have managed much more than this anyway.

Either way, with this you've crossed the most difficult threshold. You've planted the idea in her head. You've lit a small flame of Lust, burning amidst the kindling of her neglected yearnings. Now you just need to set it ablaze.

Elianna's immediate reaction is grow adorably flustered, the unexpected emotion breaking through her normal serene-and-motherly air. "I... ah..." she says. On reflex, she pulls her hand away. Then she instantly regrets it, as you give her a confused, hurt look. Now she feels the guilt from both pulling away, and from having such thoughts in the first place. "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just... I have to go and... Alicia asked me to—"

But then she cuts herself short, visibly wincing. "I mean... I have an urgent task that I must attend to in the Cathedral," she says, quickly regaining her composure from the brief lapse. "We can speak at greater length tonight, once we're all together."

And once she's had a chance to collect her emotions and try to steer them away from the ones she considers "wrong" for a cleric of Selal to have, especially toward a petitioner. Though she doesn't admit that part out loud, of course.

"I understand," you say, waving goodbye as the two of you part. Her deeper into the cathedral, and you back out into the city streets.

Even as you walk, you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck prickling. Without needing to look, you can already guess that you've drawn extra attention from Mockingbird. Despite how you managed to conceal most of the truly suspicious exchange from her direct view, you have to assume that she will be wary of any new associates cozying up to the woman she's trying to protect, just on principle. You doubt she's happy with you, and it probably wouldn't take much to draw her into a confrontation.

Which raises the question of what to do for your evening task. Technically, you could go after Mockingbird next, drawing her into the confrontation she almost certainly wants and using the charged encounter to make some progress on her as well. That would mean that the task you assigned the Thousand Eyes would be rendered superfluous, however.

You could also use the evening to search for any other potential foes trailing you, making a concerted effort to identify any ancient incubi that might or might not be stalking your steps. The fact that you know so little about the capabilities and plans of such a looming threat is definitely cause for concern, all on its own. You quite simply have no idea how or when they might make their move. An investigation could give you more insight on the danger you face, and additional avenues to deal with the threat.

Finally, you could also follow up on that interesting detail that the flustered Elianna let slip. It sounded as though Alicia has asked her to perform a task when they met yesterday. Even more... from the way Elianna reacted, it sounded as though Alicia did not want you to know about this task.

If you act now, this could be your one chance to get ahead of whatever the paladin is planning. You could slip out of sight, then shapeshift into a form that could infiltrate the Cathedral. That would allow you to spy on what Elianna is doing... and perhaps even prepare a countermeasure for whatever tactics they intend to employ against you.

Either way, you'll need to move quickly if you want to make use of the remainder of the day, before it's time to choose a safe place to sleep. Which objective will you undertake?