Indeed, the office of the protectorate knew of her 'condition' (still did not like that term; it's not like she'd contracted a disease as it was).  Of course those of import knew of it, but as Ferrsi noted, few - even the Paladin herself - knew the details of her 'condition'.  She did; she'd made it her priority to learn about herself from any source she could find immediately after the first time she transformed at puberty.  This was a boon in Velma's eyes; the less that knew the details, the better her 'trump card' was...<br/><br/>And her concerns were, naturally, valid ones; Cabal had power behind the scenes, and the Defenders were not quite the zealous, magical paladins, whom betrayal would, well, it'd end poorly for them.  Corrupting them would not be nearly as hard...<br/><br/>It did make Velma laugh a bit, moving to stand and cross her arms beneath her bosom, addressing the paladin with her own grin.<br/><br/>"You look cute when you smile you know," she said, sure to make the paladin blush or fluster. "You forgot some things though: I've already killed one of the Cabal's members, my family is nothing but warriors - even my stubborn old letch of a father - , and you didn't ask if that was<em>everything</em>I found out.  First though..."<br/><br/>She produced from her pouch sitting on the couch the container filled with the polishing wax.  She held it up, shook it a bit...<br/><br/>"Your order, Lady Ferrsi," she said, taking on a polite tone. "Now strip; I haven't actually<em>made</em>'scale wax' before, so I need to see how well it works on a whole body so I can determine if this could be a new product I can market.  'As crafted for the Lady Ferrsisiaris!'"