"She has something that is not hers. She refuses to give it to who it does belong to, or even explain why she has it."

"If someone has dwarf-made boots, I'd normally assume they paid for them or got them as a gift. I'm not saying I don't believe it's different, but help me understand why."

"Why would we give a relic to a--" she says a word that to his ring of tongues parses as "non-Githyanki [derogatory]."

"Okay. So Lae'zel thinks that no one would give a githyanki relic to someone who isn't a githyanki, so the fact that Shadowheart has it means that it was stolen, and also it's sort of... collective githyanki cultural property...? So it should be returned to the nearest githyanki. Is that right?"

"I will take it to the nearest creche, where we need to go to be cleansed of the parasites."

"--Shadowheart, do you want to talk privately with me?"

"If we can trust this one not to stab me in the back."

"If anyone stabs anyone before I get this sorted out I will stab them."

"Chk." She does seem largely willing to hold off on the stabbing.

Cayden walks with Shadowheart out of Lae'zel's earshot.

"I'm going to assume that you don't want to talk because this has something to do with Shar, whom Gale informs me is the Lady of the Loss. I don't know if Shar is Evil or just worshipped by the kind of people that the people in power tend not to like. Even if she is, there are-- reasons people worship Evil gods that don't mean anything bad about them personally. And even if you are Evil my top priority right now is that none of us turn into people with squid heads, so I'm inclined to put aside our differences and work together as long as you are. You have no reason to believe me about any of this, I know, and-- it turns out that my reputation is a lot more frustrating not to have than my ability to do backflips in combat, I also just ran into this problem with Astarion--

"I know a lot of people who pray to Nocticula, demon lord of lust, because getting a man to want you pays the rent. A lot of people who pray to Lamashtu, goddess of cripples and monsters, because-- it's not like any of the Good gods like monsters, not really, sometimes you know the Good gods would as soon decapitate people like you as look at them. Myself, I used to pray to Norgorber, god of crime, now and again, when I didn't have enough to eat, and being able to pick a pocket meant I would have dinner tonight and a drink with friends."

... that isn't the reaction she expected. Though it's good, she can explain why Shar is worthy of worship without him dismissing her out of hand. 

"It's true I'm not saying something, and it is because of my goddess, but I actually can't talk about it." She squares her shoulders. "I know it is vitally important that the artifact gets to my superiors in Baldur's Gate. I know it is important that the mission could not be compromised, by interrogation or torture or by speaking with the dead. So I have had all my memories locked away except for those absolutely necessary, so it cannot be compromised."

"...That explains why you're so cryptic."

"It has its upsides and downsides."

"...This is the kind of problem I'm bad at solving. Could you two just, like, flip a coin for it?"

She looks doubtful. "Think through it. You have someone who's only claim to it is by her birth, who also tried to leave me to die on that ship. You also have someone who has an important mission relating to it, that was given to her by a God."

"-- It's true powerful people dislike Shar. Powerful people don't need Shar. They have enough that they can grasp onto it and pretend they'll never lose it. The powerless-- those who have little to lose and no way to avoid losing more? They worship Shar. The ones who have lost everything, family and home and reason to keep living? They worship Shar. Those that have had something so terrible happen that the only option is to forget? They worship Shar. And my lady helps them."

Is Shar Calistria or Lamashtu, is the problem. 

If he were a song-sorcerer he would be so much better at this. 

"Come back with me to the group."

She follows.

"The plan I want to propose," Cayden says, "is that Gale holds the relic until we get the tadpoles out of our faces, at which point he will put it down equally distant from the two of you and you two can kill each other for it."

She smiles at Gale. "Gale, any objections to going to Baldur's Gate?" 

Gale looks very unsure. "It seems like a place that will likely have qualified healers--"

She's still smiling as she hands over the artifact-- and its a brittle thing, sharp and all teeth. "You know what will happen if you lose this, correct?"

There's a buzz in the air, like just before a lightning strike, as he takes the artifact. He looks deeply uncomfortable,  but it's in his hands now.

Lae'zel is also not pleased at being overruled, but she knows she cannot win a three on one fight. 

"Sorry to fuck you over, Gale, but of you, me, and Astarion you're clearly the most honorable."

"... I'll take that in the complimentary spirit it's intended."

"Oh, you wound me. ... and yourself."