Acknowledged; after lessons today, maybe. 

Being nice isn't okay as long as you punish yourself afterwards, you know, Pilar.

Acknowledged.  Someone may need to watch me on that, I spent half of yesterday needing to feel cheerful on behalf of spies I was telling to get out of our country.

Ione is still occasionally ending her sentences with 'Takaral'.  Has she been told yet how she's supposed to explain that part to Keltham?

It doesn't really seem worth lying about, in Carissa's estimation: the truth is confusing but doesn't speak particularly poorly of Cheliax, and fits with what Keltham knows of Nethys.

Keltham enters the breakfast hall and starts to beeline straight for Carissa, but halts even on that mission to stare at Pilar, who no longer has a sword inserted into her, Asmodia, who he last saw in a much more gruesome and also dead condition, and Ione.

"Glad to see you're all right," he says, directed at all three of them.  "Part of me didn't believe it until just now.  Ione, your problem wasn't a physiological one, are you all right?"

"Aside from an increased protective feeling towards my books and occasionally ending my sentences with the name of the Herald of Nethys who delivered my vision.  Ship's now sailed on everybody here knowing all about my personal hobbies, by the way, but I don't regret it takaral."

"Somebody ought to be paying you something for that, probably quite a lot actually, and I will make sure that it happens if it hasn't already."

That thought legitimately hadn't occurred to Ione at all.  Is it how things work in Taldor?  She's got no idea there either.  "Thanks," she says for lack of anything better to say.  "I'll start thinking about book-related magic items."

"Pilar, that was pretty badass and I owe you one temporary discarnation's worth of favor, possibly more if Nidal had plans with a next step after killing me."

"If we're tallying that, you owe me a five subjective-day trip to Elysium worth of favor.  Time ran faster there.  It wasn't terrible but I got some things straightened out while I was there and hopefully I go to Hell next time, or at least that's what they told me."

"Noted and is it bad enough that we shouldn't move the whole project to Elysium and get everything done five times faster?"

"I didn't get a lot of studying done while I was there, let's put it that way."

"Hell any better on those grounds, Asmodia?"

"I hadn't really adjusted enough to Hell or being dead to learn much, I think?  I learned a handful of relatively simple spell diagrams and that's basically it... I'm not sure I could explain why I ended up learning that rather than something else, except for the part where the devil I made my advance arrangements with had those books on hand.  Being dead was disorienting for me though it was more disorienting at the start than at the end.  No timeweirdness, Hell's Lawful."

"Okay, and, I realize this is a dumb question, but just to check, you didn't come back with any new special abilities, right?"

WHAT.

"No," she lies reflexively, they are in public here, "and if it's okay to ask in public, why are people asking me that?"

"I told them to ask.  Sorry if that inconvenienced you at all, it was something of a massively stupid idea in the first place... you can ask me about it later if you've got more questions."

Asmodia does in fact have more questions.

Carissa's not Abrogail at reading people but that didn't actually look like the reaction of someone who is only hiding that Hell isn't very nice about making you do spell diagrams.

She'll ask later. And Message Asmodia they should talk later.

...great.

Oh, well, nobody's going to ask too many questions if a Project Lawful girl suddenly needs to send an urgent message to Gorthoklek.  Actually they won't ask any.

Off to check on Carissa finally!  How does she look to his almost absolutely undiscerning eyes?

Healthy! Cheerful! She's sitting with the other girls, which she doesn't usually do, and having her Unseen Servant fetch grapes one at a time. "Morning, Keltham!"

"Greet the day, Carissa!"

"...don't rush this at all, but, any time you do happen to be very sure it's okay, I have additional questions about your own new superpowers."

"I am fit for duty but will be so bold as to suggest you get yourself a plate of food first."