The Importance of Discretion

It a nice prison cell. It had a comfortable bed, wash basin, mirror, and a small desk and bookshelf. The food was decent and the guards were polite. But it was still a prison cell.
Thoughts came unbidden into his mind. I should just blow the door open and kill the guards. They couldn't stop me. All I have to do is use the spear's power. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Eventually the feeling faded and he relaxed as Torment's Cry's influence waned.
The spear had been confiscated after sentencing but it appeared in the corner of his cell the next morning. Esut  wasn't surprised. He'd buried it, thrown it into a river, and tried a dozen other ways to rid himself of the cursed thing and it always found its way back. For now he hid it under the mattress.
"I will not hurt innocent people. I'm not a monster." Esut muttered to himself.
Yes I am.
"No I'm not!" he shouted and punched the wall in frustration. As he looked at the blood on his knuckles he felt amusement and satisfaction wash over him.
He was losing his mind. It had only been a week and he was tormented every day. He couldn't take ten years of this. Should he tell the guards? Would anyone believe him? It would be easier to give in and embrace Torment's Cry. He thought he'd done what was necessary for the greater good. But is there really any greater good or is it all just shades of evil?
His dour thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a key turning in the lock of his cell. Esut glanced in puzzlement at the food tray on his desk. He'd eaten lunch only an hour before, had he lost track of time? No, the woman who entered he didn't recognized. She was human dressed in plain black leathers. With shoulder length dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and average looks she was unremarkable. Not pretty, not ugly, plain and forgettable.
"You look like you're in a bad mood Esut. Should I come back at a better time?" her lips smirked slightly at her joke. Esut was not amused.
"Spare me your jokes and leave me in peace lady." He went to his bed and laid down as if to sleep.
"Sheesh, lost your sense of humor or did you not have one to begin with? I was just trying to break the ice. But if you prefer to get down to business that's fine." She pulled up his chair and sat it in backwards, unladylike. "My name is Terra." She held out her hand to shake but Esut merely glanced at it from his bunk.
"I'm Esut but I'm sure you already knew that."
"Indeed. I heard you made a hard call in the field and it bit you in the ass. I read about the situation and I think you made the right decision, where you fucked up is you did it in front of a foreigner who happened to have political connections. You got caught, she blames you, then Bob's your uncle and into prison you go. The lesson here is you need to have more discretion in the future." She grinned and winked.
Overcome by rage Esut reached under his mattress and grasped Torment's Cry. Terra tried to stand up but wasn't quick enough. With eldritch speed he thrust the spear's tip into her stomach and she fell backwards onto the floor. He twisted and watched with glee at the pain in her eyes and pitiful moans coming from her mouth.
"You falling asleep on me Esut? Is the bed that comfortable?"
The changling blinked his eyes open and looked back at Terra still in the chair. It had been another hallucination. His left fingers hurt and he realized his arm had slid under the mattress and he was squeezing the spear's shaft as hard as he could. Carefully he released his grip and sat up to face the woman. "Be more discrete huh? Thanks for the tip, I'll try that next decade when I'm out of here."
"Right, about that. The tribunal judgement was for show to make our political allies happy. Now that the Prince and his entourage have returned to New Cyre we can get you out of here and back to work! Wouldn't do to have you back on the streets while they were still in town would it? Of course we can't have you working publicly anymore but that's where I come in. You see, I run an organization that appreciates people who can make the hard calls. We're a, shall we say, off-the-books branch of the Citadel. We do the fun stuff, black ops and the like.
"So, my new friend. How would you like to get out of this cell and get back to work?" Terra extended her hand again.
This arrogant bitch, who does she think she is. "Do you really think I need your offer? I'm in here by choice. I can leave this cell anytime I want." He reached out his hand and Torment's Cry flew into it from its hiding place. He embraced the power and the lantern light dimmed.
He expected her to run to the door, or at least flinch. Instead she just looked amused. "Of course you could. Cursed spear, unholy power, etcetera. Asah briefed me on your situation. He works for me by the way.
You could break out of here, kill some guards, and try to flee. But you won't. Because you're a good person Esut and you'd rather use your powers for a righteous cause than commit atrocities. If we believed you were an actual threat to Breland you wouldn't be lounging in this minimum security prison. We'd have thrown you in Dreadhold, or just executed you.
So I'll ask you again. Would you like to use your powers to serve your country or do you want to waste away until that thing turns you into a monster?" she said gesturing at the spear.
Esut closed his eyes to think it over. He felt used but could understand the diplomatic difficulties of the situation. And if he stayed here Torment's Cry would eventually get the best of him. Working for Terra was the better option and maybe he'd be suited for these black ops. He opened his eyes, took her hand, and shook it. Her grip was stronger than he expected. "Ok Terra, I'm in."
Terra's smile beamed, "Excellent! First thing's first." She rose and rapped on the door. Another human came in, this one male. He bowed to Esut and then looked him in the eyes. They flashed solid white briefly and a ripple went over his face. Subtle but clearly identifying him as another changeling. Terra introduced the newcomer, "This is Donald. He's going to sit with you for the rest of the day to learn about your past, mannerisms, and so on. We need to make sure that if someone comes looking for you while you're supposed to be in prison they don’t find an empty cell. We have a number of empty cells down here and Donald fills in as needed so we can keep up appearances for visitors.
"Then tomorrow we'll get you out of here! There's new training of course since we need to teach you the ropes of our organization and about that discretion I mentioned. But before that you'll need to take a trip to Sharn and let your squad mates know you're ok. No details of course, but it sounds like they might do something rash otherwise."
Donald spun the chair right way around and took the seat. He pulled out a notebook and quill as Terra headed to the door. On her way out she gave a friendly wave. "Nice to have you on board Esut, I look forward to working with you!"