Ireva reaches out to grab her husband's arm, but subsides at his response, more measured than she'd expected.

"You do not need to defend me here, love," she says mildly. But the tension that had subsided before has returned. Her back is very straight, her posture stiff, as she looks at Skandi.

"Yes. I did. So I know exactly what a Solar can do to people's minds, and how easy and how tempting it can be to impose your will with Charms, rather than doing things the slow hard way."

She bites off more words. Skandi doesn't know what happened on the Lucky Starr: doesn't know that she knelt before an Immaculate and asked Zhou to recount what had happened because she didn't trust herself to tell the story true. Doesn't know about the nightmares, and the details of the memories, and this is not the time to tell him.

She breathes out, slowly. "Skandi - if I thought there'd be a battle tomorrow, I'd gladly stay, and prove myself that way. I'd already asked Zhou, before you came here, to stay as long as the morning briefing, see how Fire Orchid behaves. If it was just a flash of anger - well, hopefully it will have cooled a little by then."

She turns to Zhou, her voice softening. "He does have a point, love. If these soldiers will fight against the Mask, every man they lose is a loss for Lookshy. Fire Orchid was speaking pure, undiluted truth when she spoke of her intentions, of her children, of her loyalty to her city. When she named herself Kazei. In that much, we can trust her. Think of her soldiers as Lookshy irregulars: it's probably very close to true, at least so long as Fire Orchid herself remains faithful."

Back to Skandi, face set in a mask of calm. "But Skandi, if you are asking me to wait for a month, more than a month, until she meets the Mask at the walls of Lookshy, if that is my first chance to win a chance to do more than march in line -" She shakes her head. "Then it will be too late, for my skills to change the outcome much at all. Which I cannot accept. Quite literally - it's a violation of a sanctified oath, as I informed Fire Orchid, and breaking it will ensure I am not worth a hundred swords at Lookshy, quite the contrary. It would be sabotage to my own side to have me fight, in those circumstances."

Her mouth twists. "An additional piece of information, for you both. This camp is full of creatures of darkness, condemned of the Sun. They're clustered in one particular area, but scattered through the camp as well - not ghosts, or if they are they're riding humans, our guard greeted one as a friend."

"Now, maybe Fire Orchid's just been recruiting every Ghost-Blood and Demon-Blood in this part of the Scavenger Lands - it would be sensible, if she wants officers who can use Essence. She would know what it can mean, to people outcast and shunned for their abilities, to be offered an honored place and a chance to make a difference."

"But... maybe not. Would the Mask interfere, do you think, with Fire Orchid escorting his agents safely to the walls of Lookshy? I'm sure she's in contact with her mother, however unofficial. Would the Mask object to Lookshy expecting reinforcements, that when they arrive, turn out to have a chain of command thoroughly infiltrated and suborned by his creatures? Or substitute 'Mask' with 'Yozi-Chosen' - I still don't know what Primal Elegance's role was in all this."

Her voice rises a little, rough with emotion inadequately suppressed. "Do you think I can afford to wait for Fire Orchid to trust me, Skandi, to believe that my skills might have value, when if you're right, the conditions for that trust are based entirely on choices our enemies make?"

She rubs her forehead, looking back and forward from Fire Aspect to Lunar. "I think this army is worth trying to save, Skandi, as you say. Zhou, I honestly think he's right about that - you can't throw away the potential gain to Lookshy of thousands of trained swords. It is more than you could accomplish by returning to Lookshy alone. And if we leave, I think we throw away that chance."

"But Skandi... that argument stops making sense if Fire Orchid is going to refuse to believe anything we say, and shut down anything we do to try to help."