A plan? Have you [i]met[/i] Kalaya?

She's not really following a plan right now as much as just doing what her heart is telling her. It's been her modus operandi since before the teahouse after all and, right now, it's shouting out that Petony is [i]not [/i]an enemy. It's yelling that tucking up and going home is the [i]wrong [/i]move. The more she dwells on it, the more right it feels - she hasn't failed unless she gives up. 

What happened on the barge was all kinds of bad, yes. Does she wish it went down differently? Of course. But, importantly, does she accept the blame for it? Hell and Flowers, [i]No![/i] - it was the fault of whoever placed that curse on her sword; the Rakshasa, Cathak ... Girel? She didn't know who exactly, but the list of suspects was short and had the key aspect of it [i]not being her[/i].

So the objectively right course of action was to either sneak or fight her way out - leave Petony in the dust and find a way to track down the Rakshasa on her own. If she were listening to her brain then she'd be doing something like pretending to sleep and then ducking out when their guards were down.

But her heart was saying that Petony was her mentor and her friend. Ghosting her in the middle of the night felt wrong. So here she was, unarmed, in the middle of a potentially hostile retinue, and instead of doing the smart thing she was trying to talk to her. To convince her to take her side in all this madness. It's a sign of trust, of hope, a branch extended to one of the first who saw her potential and joined her on her journey. Kalaya's solid facade cracks a little as she glances at the other woman's face, trying to puzzle out her words.

"It has to have been more than that." she replies, a hand coming up to the other woman's shoulder. Gently turning so that she'd face her.

"If it was only about knocking heads together you could've done any of a dozen other jobs; Guard, bouncer, gang member. But you didn't. You [i]chose [/i]to be a Knight because it [i]means [/i]something." she says, voice pitched softly, just for the two of them. "You don't have to lie to me. I've never hidden what I thought to you."

[Figure out a person - 4 + 6 - 1: [b]9[/b] How can I convince you to trust me and let me go back? What are your feelings towards being a Knight?]