" And what is your role here, sir" the monk asks Gerard, " that you answer for the lord's daughter, or do you speak for the lord?"
"I speak only for our group of scholars and traders. Out of habit as one of her teachers, I interjected for Lady Constansa, perhaps discourteously, I apologize, milady." He bows his head slightly.
"Indeed, well, although I am prevented from blessing the meal, might I suggest we each take a moment to observe our own prayers before we eat?" This seems to be the end of his interrogation.
"If I may, milady?" Gerard asks Constansa, and assuming she indicates assent, he rises and recites the Lord's Prayer in Latin, then takes his seat again and commences eating.
"Go ahead," she says with a nod, follows along with his prayer then starts to eat as well. "You said you hadn't been given much direction as to where to look for these heretics right? Were you told of anything to be on the lookout for?"
"Well, I do have some direction, it just covers a very large area, and yes... I have been given a few things to watch out for." He looks around and then casually asks "You mentioned your father isn't in a hurry to see you married off, if he not concerned about the temptation to sin? Or is he worried that marriage will lead you to that selfsame sin?"
"If I had to wager it's probably the latter," she replied just as casually. "That's exactly how it happens in the tales of courtly love you hear so much here down south. The unobtainability of the knight's beloved lady is precisely what lures him in."
"I have to wonder, at least from time to time, if that infernal book was meant as some Cathar intrigue to undermine to values of good Christians." The monk replies. "After all, all love is forbiden to me, yet I do not find myself falling for every woman who crosses my path. Then again, according to the rules of this supposed courtly love abstinence is the ultimate transgression, isn't it?"
Before Constansa responds Alienor interjects, “There are many stories, father. In some a young woman is unobtainable due to station rather than a marriage or its promise and she maintains her purity despite her love of the lowly knight. These stories can end in the Knight committing some act, often a very good one, and increasing his station to allow their marriage. Constansa’s father loves her and will not force her to marry someone she would not choose but the Knight she loves has not proven himself yet, but he will, with Constansa’s withholding of her... um, bounty, he will be inspired to become the man she needs him to be, that her father would approve,” Alienor lies and continues to lie, “in my case I am now much too old to be a desirable bride but when I was young and desirable, not the old spinster you see before you, my chastity was taken from me by brigands it was known in the keep where my father was employed. The outlaws were hunted and killed but I was with child and I was accused of being a slattern who went to the woods to entice the leader of the band,” Alienor feigns anger about this, “so my father sent me away, somewhere that would accept me despite the shame growing in my belly. My father was not a wealthy knight, he had no land of his own but he wanted an heir. At the time I was an only child so sending me to the nunnery was not an option for him. My son, Éléazar, was born and I raised him. He survived the crib but died of consumption not long after. And meanwhile my mother had died suddenly but my father took a new, younger wife who gave him a son... and it was as if I never was born, so happy he was with his new heir.”
[EDIT: 10 on Com+Guile roll]
The brother nods and finishes his meal in silence. When the meal ends he stands up and pronounces "I do not know exactly what is going on here, but I do know that none of your stories have the ring of truth about them, and each contradicts the others. I will retire to my room, but should anyone wish to meet in private, so I may take your confession, I believe that does fit the task I was set by the Pope, and as such would not be a violation of the interdiction." before he departs for his assigned chamber.
Jerome never managed to keep up with the tall tales spun on the spot, and keeps sagely quiet until the last brother has left, and then he ruefully asks, to anyone staying behind, «what just happened?»
Constansa sighs as she sees the priest walk. "Did you already have a cover story ready for this eventuality? Because I'm certain I wasn't let in on anything. We could've done so much better if we'd actually rehearsed."
«No, we did not have a cover story. What's wrong with the truth?» asks Jerome plainly.
"Are you daft? Priests looking to burn heretics finding out we are wizards?"
Gerard shrugs. "You may note, what I said was true, I didn't wish to lie to a monk. I believe he came here with a purpose and would not have believed anything we told him."
«What you said, Gerard, was all that made sense to me. You see, Alienor, speaking truth does not necessarily require all the truth. And if you want to spin lies, you had better agree upon the lie beforehand.»
"Some of what I said was true, Éléazar [the name of her magpie familiar] is like a child to me," Alienor weakly argues. "He seemed to be saying exactly what Constansa said was leading towards his pronouncement of heresy. Despite the noble Troubadours being most disagreeable to the Cathars."
"There was some truth in what I was saying too," she defended herself likewise. "Those Cathars really are soiling the reputation of these lands, are they not?" she said with a sigh as she stood up. "I don't think I'm in the mood for performing my songs tonight. I'll retire to my room and will see the priests off tomorrow. As always, I'm at your service if you need to interact with regular people."
As she walked off, another magus came, his hair dripping on the floor as he looked around, sensing the tension in the air. "Did I stay out for too long and miss dinner again?"
«Yes. I envy you so much.» Jerome answers wryly.
"So what should we do? Should one of us go to him and get down on our knees and confess our modest sins? Perhaps prove to him we are not Heretics by partaking in the sins of the flesh should he so ask?"