Recovering Bazett

"And on the token of your missing limb, I believe we may have a way to assist with replacement or even regrowth, if you wish." Medea nodded reassuringly.

Daichi was already starting to design magical limb replacements in his head, but this stopped him cold. "We do?" he asked Medea.

"Phillipus is a wonder with homunculi, he could perhaps use similar thaumic mechanics or whatever to make a prosthetic. Ideally with time, it could even integrate magical circuits with her own." She shrugged. "The spells I use are Divine, so I'm not entirely sure how his magic works, but it would be worth asking, no?"

"Definitely," Daichi agreed. "I'd be most interested to collaborate on that." He looked at Bazett. "If you don't mind."

"Cleansing the Grail? I didn't know it even needed cleansing." She sat up a little, having more energy. "And actually, I know someone who can bring me a prosthetic. No offense, but I'd prefer getting one from someone I know well." She paused and added spitefully, "For all that means now."

Medea bowed slightly. "As you wish. Please don't hesitate to call on us for anything else you might need, as, unfortunately, we may need to ask a... Quite substantial favor."

She raised an eyebrow. "I dunno what I could do for you in my condition, but go ahead, I guess."

"As was mentioned before, the Grail has been corrupted - even the Greater Grail. We intend to find out why, and thus require many allies. It's best to bolster our numbers, as the outcome of this War is very much up in the air, what with no one actually fighting."

Medea coughed delicately and slightly averted her eyes. "And so we must ask you to not kill Kirei. Yet. For now. Please."

Bazett was silent for a long time, then sat up slowly to put her face closer to Medea's. Her eyes were cold and full of murderous intent. "If you want me to not kill that man, you'll have to give me a much better reason than that."

Medea sat up straight with arms crossed, unbowed by the other woman.

"I swear to you, as the Witch of Colchis, spurned wife of Jason, mother of the dead, that I understand your pain, and your revenge, when you have it, will be swift as Hermes and sweet as honey. However, with the Greater Grail and the fate of the world - not just magical, but mundane - on the line, I would urge you to be patient. Without coming together, we stand on the eve of destruction, and cutting off one's nose to spite their face suits no one, my dear."

"Do you really need one person that badly? If anything, he seems to be a liability to you."

Lazarus cut in, "Waiting would be a better idea anyway, it will give you more time to plan. We're only asking that you not kill him right away. Not that you not kill him at all. Personally, I have some choice words for him myself for his actions, but he is the mediator of this war and as such killing him would make everything even harder than it already is. Also, we are rather fond of Miss Atalanta, and his death would not please her. "

Medea smirked. "One person can tip the scales between life and death. Surely you've learned enough myth to glean that. Besides, he has ties with the church, and all the abilities and trappings of a Mediator. That's leverage. Don't burn the tool until it is irreparably broken, I say."

"Exactly!" Lazarus brightly agreed.

"So you say," Bazett scoffed. "But he betrayed me, and then you had to come to my rescue when he tried to finish me off. Clearly he doesn't give a damn about the rules. So what's to stop him from betraying you again? You really are better off without him."

Phillipus peeked in with a scroll in his hand and coughed delicately. He held the parchment out to Bazett, only slightly smug.

Lazarus chuckled and let her look the scroll over as he spoke, " I can see that you're rather injured and so I'll assume that's somehow affected your hearing. You seem to be assuming that we don't want him dead at all. That's not the case. We just don't want him dead right now. Right now, despite his actions, he is useful. Feel free to kill him after we solve this grail issue. Is that acceptable?"

She narrowed her eyes dangerously at Lazarus. "I think you're hard of hearing, as I'm saying you shouldn't even give him the chance to betray you again."

Bazett took the paper anyway, puzzling over it for a moment. Finally, her eyes widened and she looked back up at Phillipus. "Is this... a geas scroll? I see."

"It is, already attuned to he-who-we-are-doubtlessly-discussing. We can take as many precautions as necessary, as long as everyone's willing to play fair - or at least holds still long enough." He shrugged with an innocent smile as Medea snorted with amusement.

The rest of the eyes in the room fell to Bazett, waiting to hear her decision.

Bazett scrutinized the terms of the geas for several minutes before sighing. "Fine. If this gets put on him, I'll stay my hand. At least until the matter with the Grail is settled."

Lazarus was visibly relieved. After all the work they went to saving her, he didn't want to have to kill her, or at least threaten to do so. Scathatch gave Phillipus an approving smile and moved to his side, "If you wish, I can put this geas on him if it's possible for me to do so. I can hide my presence, and I don't fully trust Assassin to do it."

"I'm sure we can talk him into taking it again," Yui added. "After what he did, he has no way to refuse us now. Either he lets us put it on him or we let Bazett kill him."

Bazett seemed to like the sound of that idea.

Phillipus returned Lancer's smile. "Thank you for the offer, though. This way we can at least be up front with everyone, which... At least keeps up appearances of an allegiance." Medea chuckled.

"Are we faking it until we make it, then?" She shook her head when Phillipus shrugged. They wouldn't know unless they tried.

"Alright. In any case I'll be ready if the situation happens to call for stealth." Scathatch returned back downstairs to her master, standing silent and attentive behind her. Lazarus returned to studying his books, but took some time to send some magical messages to the kids while they were away with Papa Tokiomi.