Having re-read the relevant strip, the only crime Hinjo and Miko overheard was that he faked the trial of the OotS. He also admitted to lying to his paladins by going behind their backs in secret to hire a group [the OotS] to go to one of the Gates and investigate it.
So, Miko had - from his own lips - an unknowing confession that he had staged a false trial. That was the only crime she had heard (as the other matters were matters of honor, not law: not seeking out or investigating other Gates, not lying to the Paladins of the Sapphire Guard).
From that she extrapolated everything else - that he was evil or willingly / knowingly associating with evil [the OotS, perhaps Xykon], that he had betrayed both the Sapphire Guard and Azure City, etc.
She presumed, because he had 1) been in power for 47 years, and 2) had managed to stage one false trial (to her certain knowledge, based on his own words), that the entire court system was corrupt(ed, by him) and that the laws of Azure City were corrupt (as he had had a hand in shaping them over the last half century).
All in all, she did a lot of assuming and jumping to conclusions based upon knowledge of only a single crime.
As for the timing of her prayer - she had been galloping to Azure City to warn it of the coming Army of Darkness. I somehow doubt she would have had time to stop along the way and pray for a few minutes to be shown those lying to her. Her duty would have compelled her to warn the city and the Shojo as soon as possible. Thus I tend to believe that the prayer was made sometime before she arrived at that beacon tower - maybe the day before? That would have still be rather recent (no more than 24 hours - or perhaps even that very morning).
In any case, she jumped to a lot of conclusions.
I still consider her fallen, but I don't think she will realize it any time soon. As she did not take time to Detect Evil or even use Smite Evil on the Shojo, I doubt she would use it in the middle of a battle with Roy, Belkar, and Hinjo. I think she will fight with Hinjo and the others, be forced to flee, and either hide in the city, be captured and placed in prison with the Linear Guild (for regicide), or escape the city and vanish from the strip for a few weeks - showing up later as either a Blackguard or something else entirely.
I just wonder what will happen next.
As an aside, presuming she does not atone, what other options are available to her? I can think of no other class offhand that would all her to trade out her Paladin levels than the Blackguard PrC. We know she is ~12th level, that she has 1-2 levels of Monk, 10-11 levels of Paladin. Should she go Blackguard, she will get the whole 10 level package almost immediately, I would think, transforming her to Monk 2 / Blackguard 10. But with the slew of new PrCs out these days, there must be a few I have not heard of that also allow a fallen Paladin to trade out her levels. What are they like? Could she perhaps come back as one of them as a surprise to us?
[Edit] Oh, and I second the opinion that the Cleric will be used to Raise the Shojo, especially as the point of going to that other gate was the knowledge that it was the next Gate Xykon would seek out (excluding Azure City Gate). With Xykon about to arrive at Azure city with a horde of Hobgoblins, it is rather evident that Azure City gate is the next target, not that other Gate. So, Shojo is dead, but in a few strips he will likely be raised.
The question remains - what will Hinjo do with the OotS? One of them is evil - or at least all but proven to have murdered a prison guard. The groups former trial - which allowed them out of prison - was a sham. Also, the group was there in Azure city specifically to be hired by the Shojo to take on a dishonorable mission - the seeking out and investigation of one of the Gates. All in all, I can see Hinjo not allowing them to leave the city - and perhaps even seeking to imprison them again (or at the very least Belkar). Unless, of course, Hinjo is KOed during the fight with Miko and the OotS take the opportunity to escape.
But if they do escape, what next for them? They no longer have a reason to seek out the other gate, but do they want to hang around in a besieged city? They cannot exactly reach Xykon through his horde of 10k+ hobgoblins, at least not immediately.
I wonder what will happen next? [/edit]
