"You said that if I help, a second prisoner may leave here alive. What help do you need?"
"Your mind-probe, if it doesn't require the subject to answer verbally." Cortin explained about her anomalous prisoner, then said, "It's probably nothing significant, but I don't like it. I can't find the Inquisitor who conducted the interrogation, and there are rumors the judge who sent him here has ties to the Brotherhood. If he was sent here under false pretenses, my prisoner should be freed and given compensation, and the judge should take his place."
"The probe doesn't require verbal answers, no," Medart said. "And since it may mean saving a life, I'll have a probe unit and operator come down." He paused, considering. He could use telepathy to get the answers she wanted, and her own—the small part she was calling truthsense—would let her be sure he was reporting accurately. That would be quicker than waiting for the probe; the question was whether it would be wiser to reveal his Talent or not mention it at all.
Use it, he decided. Odeon had read about the White Order rebellion and Corina's discovery of human Talent in Medart, then others; he might not know the details, but he did know the basics, and it would be logical to assume he'd passed the information along. "That'll take several hours, though, and there's a faster way, if you want. I'm a fairly powerful telepath; I can read his mind as well as a probe could, and I'm already here."
It was Cortin's turn to hesitate. Mike had mentioned Talent, yes, and had some telepathy himself, with anyone Shayan had mind-touched; the idea wasn't that odd, really, and Medart's offer would save time. Still—"Are you reading my mind?"
"No. I touched you briefly when we met, enough to learn you're not a threat, though I did pick up a little other information. Otherwise I seldom use it unless I'm invited or there's an emergency."
Her truthsense agreed, so Cortin nodded. "If an injustice is being done, it should be corrected as soon as possible; I accept." She turned to her people. "Mike, Dave—would you take that prisoner to my first-stage room, please, while I give our guests a brief tour of the dungeon?"
"Of course," Odeon replied. The two left, and Cortin turned back to the Imperials.
"I was making an assumption perhaps I shouldn't," she said. "It's your choice to accompany us or not, Lieutenant DarElwyn."
The Sandeman bowed. "I would be honored to do so, Excellency."