With the implications of her words left to ring out about the hall, Priestess Arleen observed Daria's expression.
Daria held the woman's red-eye gaze for a few seconds before her lips twitched in an attempt to smile and ease the tense atmosphere,
"Misconduct? Whatever do you mean?" she asked.
"Acting unaware?" the Priestess started calmly, "Is that really how you want to play this?"
"Well-" Daria started to say only to be interrupted by the unrolling of a sheet the Priestess had retrieved from her concealable Spatial ring,
"It's all here in the transcript of the message you received ordering your return so think about that before mocking me right to my face," she said,
"I must say, I am quite disappointed in you. Getting involved in some local dispute... You should know better."
"I'm-" Daria started to say but she was interrupted once again,
"Imagine dragging the name of the Sacrosanct into such. And it was a Martial City too. Ugh, honestly, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking," Daria said simply.
The Priestess waved her off,
"Oh don't give me that go-to standardized response. Take responsibility."
"I am," Daria said.
The Priestess shook her head,
"No, you aren't,"
"Oh, but I am," Daria insisted, "Besides, I never dragged the name of the Sacrosanct into anything. I'm surprised news even reached here."
"Well, a so-called Local Lord by the name of Larnak sent the report to your 'designated' Sanctum where it was rightly forwarded here- To me."
"Ah, I see," Daria said in realization.
Clearly, this had been one of the means Herbert had employed to help his situation. He likely hoped Daria would get a call-back to the Church following his report. A shame the Call-back came late. A full week after his death, to be precise.
He should have known the Arcane Church would not simply take his word for it and would perform their own investigation to verify his claims. A task that was bound to be time-consuming based solely on the distance in geography as well as the usual disinterest stemming from the standard dislike between Knights and Arcanists.
Put simply, no one in the Church gave a damn if a Knight died or survived regardless of what status he or she might hold.
"Daria," the Priestess said, pulling Daria away from her thoughts, "You should know, when present in a Martial City, passiveness to ongoing events should be a mantra you live by."
Daria gave a bow in a show of remorse,
"I apologize. It won't happen again."
The Priestess nodded,
"Good!" she said and when Daria started to relax, feeling the matter done without even the use of an invasive inquest, the atmosphere in the hall intensified even harder than it had already.
Beads of sweat started to form on Daria's forehead and it would have been even worse had she not been making an actual attempt to stave off a bit of the Pressure bearing down on her, courtesy of the figure before her.
"I fear you are losing your values. Statutes you have been taught from childhood appear to have less of a hold on you now."
"And you got all that from my truthful answers?" Daria asked with a raised brow,
"Hmm," the Priestess let out, "But were they indeed truthful? I can sense it clearly; you feel free- You have lost the weight that used to be on your shoulders."
"And that's a bad thing?"
The Priestess nodded solemnly,
"It could be... Depending on how it happened. You don't even appear to be in mourning anymore," she said before gesturing at Daria's black gown, "You wear that color now like a choice rather than a duty."
"I was never in mourning," Daria said, holding her head high.
The intense pressure had now lessened and the atmosphere mellowed into a more comfortable feel,
"Oh, but you were. Your bottleneck is proof."
"My bottleneck was foolishly self-inflicted," Daria said resolutely.
"And it's gone now," Priestess Arleen said, "You found solace and you long to return. Tell me, Daria, who was it? Who helped you forget your pain?"
The fact that she used to be married, a marriage of obligation thrust on her by the Church was something Daria longed to forget. When her late husband died in his mission ordained to him as an Arcanist aiming to become a Cardinal Priest, Daria had felt nothing and yet everything.
She felt free for the first time in close to a century but she also felt trapped with the realization she had nowhere to go. No actual goals to call her own.
Adopted into the Church after the death of her parents who also gave their lives to their ordained duty, (A trend Daria was starting to notice might be following her) Daria's goals had been to accept what she was taught and use it to advance her Spirituality but to what end, she had no idea.
Before she could figure out her path, she was pushed into a Marriage, and despite her disinterest, it did one good thing by giving her a purpose but then he died and she was thrust into an internal turmoil that caused her bottleneck...
... The start of her decision to go on a personal retreat.
Evian had helped her clear her mind. Focusing on getting drilled by him melted away her internal turmoil and helped her cultivation even before she started making use of the Arahant Scripture which she also received from him.
But of course, the Witch knew mentioning Evian would do harm and little to no good so no matter what, his role in her journey was for her to know and her to know only.
"No one helped me," Daria insisted, "There was no pain to begin with."
"That's a lie," The Priestess said, "But I guess you should be afforded that much of your privacy. For your sake, I will consider this Larnak report a rambling of a defeated man. You deserve that much grace."
"Thank you, Priestess," Daria bowed, "There are no truths to any of it."
"Very well. I do hope you indeed have not wrongfully lost your way- For your own good, of course."
"I have not," Daria said standing straight, her breasts thrust out before her.
"Good," the Priestess said before turning away towards the steps she had climbed down, only pausing and turning back slightly to give Daria one more address,
"You are back now and you have attained greater heights. I am glad and proud. Whatever you did wrong while away, the Retreat still did you good.
Maybe we can make a Cardinal Priestess out of you yet."
...