"May her Kin receive her," she said automatically, at mention of the queen's passing. Pela was definitely getting the sense of what the handmaiden had meant, where the young queen seemed to be a prickly sort over what Pela would have assumed were fairly mundane questions for a ward-witch in her position to be asking.

But then, this kingdom had never loved magifolk. Even the types that were highly sought after in other kingdoms, like spellcarvers and vesselies seemed like they were barely called upon in Galenaea... at least in public. In private, who knew? Magifolk who had a good thing going rarely bragged about it; the thought that any of them could be replaced by someone more talented, more inventive, more loyal.

Pela got the sense she'd be walking on glass around Nausicaa, but she wouldn't let that intimidate her. Her work was solid, and she had done nothing wrong, nothing that could be seen as compromising her loyalty. The ward-witch offered a smile of confidence and obedience.

"It's never a bad thing to have them checked periodically anyway," she assured, hoping to smooth over the obviously sensitive subject. "I'll get started right away. Ahh... in the unexpected chance that I do find any irregularities... how should they be reported, Your Grace?"

Bring them straight to Nausicaa? To the King directly? Ignore them? (She hoped not, that was a tangle she didn't want to be involved in.)