Melinda briefly regretted her unsuccessful attempt at goading him forward into volunteering more information than he was willing to bring to the table about the provenance of his intelligence. But if Starwyn knew that Zanthia could pull it out of him, and Zanthia knew that Starwyn knew, etc.... then it was all moot anyway.

"Your Holiness, this one would voice the concern that upon furnishing us with the information, His Excellency would immediately alert the keepers of the prophet's soul, and that the information which we had so dearly purchased might be made irrelevant or even harmful to us within mere hours." The bardess steeled herself to deliver the next few phrases, for which she was prepared to pay in real consequences. Starwyn might not leave this room alive, but if he took enough offense, neither might she.

"To counterbalance His Excellency's presumed interest, this one would additionally suggest that along with the information His Excellency so appropriately offers, he additionally render to the Three Sister Faiths collectively the temporary custody of one soul each, of three of his followers of our choice, as a measure of assurance that neither His Excellency nor those of his flock should further intervene in this affair against us. Custody of these souls would be restored to His Excellency upon the successful restoration of our prophet's soul to whichever Lady will receive her."

If Starwyn allows this new condition to stand in its full irony, Melinda continues, "This one would like to inform His Excellency as a courtesy that the three souls requested would be those of the champion who wielded that vile blade against us in the Cups, of his second-in-command, and of the agent involved in this very incident, whom His Excellency was already willing to sacrifice against us."