Ariel had taken care to don the same garments and arms she had carried on their previous visit, so as to minimize the risk of doubt based on changes of her 'costume'. Of course, there was an underlying, secondary reason as well, one she would not wish to admit to her companions: she had come to rather like this outfit. "Madam", the novice kept her greeting of Intias short, tipping the brim of her wide brim hat. The wire feather wobbled at the movement, reflected light briefly letting that trademark rainbow of colors flash across the ultralight dark metal. It felt .. wrong, but she resisted the urge to replicate Estelia's gesture, trying hard to maintain character.

Inellia's explanation seemed to lift the dusk-skinned novice's mood, like a welcome balm on an open wound of doubt. The novice was not used to operate in an environment saturated with uncertainty; things were just so much simpler in the convent. You would follow the words of your superiors, and they would guide you to salvation. Here, however, they had to think for themselves rather than just act on doctrine, and naturally this came easier to Estelia than herself. "Very well. We shall hear what this 'brother'", she quickly adopted their host's derogative emphasis on the word, "has to say, and act accordingly. I have a feeling that at the very least we might be inducted into at least some dark secret of this society, one way or another." Ariel patted her pistol holster as she spoke, as if to reassure those present - and herself - that she'd knew how to deal with one of those ways.

"Or perhaps rather than talking to him, it might be possible to follow him unseen, let him pursue his works and find out what he is up to? Speaking to him before might only make him suspicious", she mused. "If we could put a tracker on him, perhaps send a servo-skull." For her part, Ariel would focus her training on the art of combat, going through the moves and stances of the Sisterhood's close combat style, but also trying to become more intimate with the blade Estelia had given her. As any trained swordsman knew, the weight of a weapon, its reach and its point of balance could have a small but critical effect on how it was to be swung. "Yes, if we do choose to approach him ...", she agreed with her fellow novice. "Perhaps our guise was poorly chosen. I have a feeling this man would not trust anyone but his own. I wonder if we should have put on the rags of the destitute instead."

"I wonder", Ariel muses in response. "Perhaps we should have taken on a local guide, someone more used to life in the underhive. Someone better suited to spotting inconsistencies." The novice pauses for a moment as she reflects on what they had seen. "Do you think it is normal they do not show much deference to the Faith here?"

Mea culpa, thank you for the correction! No guarantees that it is still "current" studio stance, of course; the most recent edition of the tabletop seems to have changed a lot of things from what I heard.

'Manpower', Ariel wondered in silence. Might this be the secret they were looking for, or at least a part of it? Though rule of law forbade the capture and trade of human chattel, many worlds of the Imperium were permitted to practice various forms of bonded servitude or penal labor. Even the Emperor's own Space Marines had to be created by harvesting implanted organs from slave hosts. Unsanctioned slavery of non-mutant human populations, however, carried stiff penalties. Could the alms house possibly be involved in such a trade? The novice made a mental note to check the planet's laws once they would return to the mansion.