Nodding at that, Alyx's pale lips curl to a sweet little smile.  "Your perception is admirable, elder.  As is your certainty.  One must be willing to plant stakes in the ground before attempting to plan a foundation."  She steps forth, her slippered feet emerging very daintily from the dusty hem of her habit.  In the morning light, her shadow falls over his face where he sits, and she opens her arms, the sleeves falling away from her slender wrists and her etched leather bracers beneath, showing her long, empty fingers like pale feathers extending in arched repose.<br/><br/>The temptation is there.  It would be easy to charm them, or to stoke the embers of male sexuality that surely glowed within their temperance-forged shells.  She could flip their hearts and stiffen their cocks, but that would be fruitless-- it would only serve to harden their resistance, and their mission would certainly fail.  "It saddens me that you and your brethren would reject our goodwill, for it is not to offer you gifts, or to subject you to fealty, that we have come to your abode."  She smiles very, very sweetly, her confidence bolstered slightly be her benign aura (note: hide alignment for someone who doesn't think they're evil really should be just a 'tone down ego' spell).<br/><br/>She kneels there in the dust, staring into the eyes of the old man, the pale unseeing orbs staring back.  "My company may depart if that is your wish, but please... there is<i>so</i>much more at stake than profit or piety, for you hold within these walls the means to bring life and peace to these plains, for what greater gift can man receive than to commune with the natural order and to guide life's harvest?  My own childhood was spent sowing seed and reaping grain, brother... I am fully aware of the temperance and peace that comes from such self-sustaining and humble work."  Her dark eyes glisten, her face frames a perfect mask of earnest, gentle entreaty.<br/><br/>"Whatever you have heard of me... the accusations of whorishness?  The vile aspirations of my sisters?  Please... judge me not based on the lies of politicians and jealous men of base desires.  Know me for what you see now."  Their move.<br/><br/>"Rygl and Ansalia, do as you will.  But for the sake of those who will come after, I am duty-bound to be these men's aid."  She glances back over her shoulder at Rygel and tries to link to his mind.  (telepathic bond-- resist?)