[quote]"Piripiri looks baffled. "What does deserve have to do with anything?"

She smiles and hums along on the chorus of the song as Giriel responds, but she's focused on the witch. There's a disconnect here, and it's important."[/quote]

Giri ponders that, herself humming along with the Banneret of Miles, whose song feels infectious. Does it make them travel a little faster? She lets her mind drift briefly to wonder whether humming this song would speed other travel even without the heavenly spirit's direction. 

But then she returns to the question at hand. This is an important moment, how often would she ever have such an opportunity for conversation? "I think" she says slowly, "that I don't understand how you view loyalty at all." She pauses, pats her thighs as she's thinking. "It is a...strange thing, loyalty. We tell most people that it's the highest good, even here in the Flower Kingdoms where we so highly value our freedom. If a person commits to their oaths and serves well, they will be rewarded in this life and the next. But...when there is a corrupt and evil lord, we ask why their soldiers served them, why their servants did not leave. Shouldn't loyalty be a choice, of sorts? A choice to trust someone else's choices because they deserve that trust. My oaths as a witch were a choice to trust my [i]mother's[/i] teachings, and the teachings of her masters before her because...because I thought it would help me accomplish good in the world."