"Because the boats need radios," says Iomedae, nodding. "I was hoping it'd work out like that. I was hoping for more in the interior, too, but it didn't end up making sense to move that slowly."

So she takes part in strategic decisions, too, instead of just being the voice on the radio. Lilia wishes that the effort to kidnap and interrogate the girl had succeeded; it would have been interesting. "I will admit," she says, "I would have imagined that if a plan required letting an inexperienced if charming child go on the radio and talk about whatever she wanted Lastwall's leadership would've chosen their alternative plan which did not require that."

Iomedae is going to have to be very careful to have this interaction not be wildly more informative to the defector than it is to her. "I can see why you would have imagined that. I obviously cannot comment on whether Lastwall's leadership had any say in my plans at all."

(It's much too late to not have this interaction be wildly more informative to Lilia than to Iomedae. It was too late for that the second it started.)

"You're a paladin of Iomedae, in Cansellarion's order, based out of Vigil. Don't be clever, you're not good at it."

She would have left Vigil if they'd objected to the radio show without sufficiently good reason. She does not say that. "I'm not clear on whether you're summarizing the state of Chelish intelligence's speculation."

"Chelish intelligence knows that you worked out of Vigil. We got persistent tracking on Marusek so we could find you when she was in the room with you. I did not confidently know you're a paladin until I saw you, though once we realized you worked out of Vigil and that the passionate opinions on democracy were a distraction it was a likely guess. They figure you're lying about being from Cheliax, which would imply you're not a paladin; if they were satisfied on that point they'd be pretty sure you are one."

"And you concluded that when you saw me because -"

Because when I said it you didn't look like I'd said something incorrect. That's half the game; say things you're only mostly sure of and let the other person's reactions confirm them for you.

"Because paladins behave differently around other paladins. Cansellarion watches you like you're his, and probably wouldn't have brought you here at all if you weren't. And I was never that persuaded you had to be lying about your background. Some people make it out, and the gods can smooth the way for their favorites. You do seem - too educated to have so little intuition for Asmodeanism - but there are stranger things."

"What sorts of things betray - having so little intuition for Asmodeanism -"

"Defectors generally have more contempt, for those who remained. They know the crowd would cheer at their execution; they don't try to tell them how nice they are deep down. You act like you don't really understand what Chelish people would do to you, if they had the chance."

"I don't think I want to change that," says Iomedae consideringly, "and I'm not even sure I could. But thank you."

"See, that's what I mean. There's a - level of analysis you haven't learned how to conduct -  'thank you'? Am I doing you a favor? Why am I doing that? Do I want to see you sent to Hell? Would I have sent you to Hell? What am I hoping for, here, and why do I think you can give it to me? These are salient questions, when one meets one's enemies. What did I purchase of Cansellarion, and what did I pay for it? You're not very old but you couldn't get even that old without keeping track of those things, in some place where people aren't toothless."

"I have been told I'm very specialized," Iomedae agrees. Then realizes that this is possibly the kind of answer which makes Chelish defectors feel like you're incompetent to reason with and grapple with the world on the level on which they understand it, which she doesn't in fact wish to be. "- and I care about some of those things but wasn't treating what's personally interesting to me as a good guide to how to spend our time. Do you want to see me sent to Hell?"

"I spent a while wanting to because you were making my work environment notably less pleasant but at this point it wouldn't even solve that problem."

"How did I do that?"

"By making Abrogail incredibly upset all the time."

"Ah," says Iomedae. "I don't think I can apologize for that."  ...wow, this is an important defector. Probably she should've assumed that for a less important one Cansellarion wouldn't have indulged proposals he make odd personal requests of his staff.

"I would imagine not."

"What- are you hoping for, here -"

"I said I'd answer relevant questions and I'm doing so, and at my own discretion I'm answering irrelevant ones if I think they'll make you less tedious. If I have further purposes I've made no promises I'd share those, or that you and your order would like them." She watches Freedom's perplexed face for a moment. The girl had legitimately assumed that because Lilia gave the advice 'you should have a theory of what I want from this conversation', Lilia would tell the girl what she wanted from this conversation if asked. There is no chance she grew up in Cheliax. 

"It's possible to try to answer a question to your own satisfaction through methods other than just asking the other person and seeing what they say. You ought to try to have a guess about what I want, and I have no reason at all to help you come up with one, except to mislead you."

"That sounds like -" a system that doesn't make planes fly, or take you to the Moon. Iomedae doesn't say that. "- like you worked quite hard to get very good at a skill that no one outside Cheliax is ever going to appreciate, and like I'm also trying to wreck the ways Cheliax appreciates it."

"I think I'd do all right for myself in most places," Lilia says. "It's Lastwall that is the outlier, in how far you can get by being very naive."

"For now," says Iomedae.

Ah, so there are plans for world conquest at work here. Fascinating. It seems increasingly plausible to Lilia that there's much more to Freedom than meets the eye - that she is the genius archmage that built the radios, except she knows that the only reason Cheliax decided Lastwall had an archmage who built the radios was the Dominate Monster, for which a different explanation exists -

Well. All she has to do is keep the girl talking, which is very easy, and maybe she'll leave here with an understanding of how this project was conceived, who is in charge of it, and how the radio show fits into the rest of it. "I suppose with guns you could take more than just Cheliax."

-a  flicker of doubt, poorly concealed. "Do you - does Cheliax expect Lastwall to do that? Go conquer everyone?"