"Yes, really."

"...gosh."

"It's - 

my grandfather was pharaoh. That made all of us potential heirs, so we were supposed to be raised with all the right political education and influences and so on. And with girls. The rules aren't the same as for the rest of Osirion, you're supposed to give Abadar lots of choices and it's not like we had to worry they'd starve. They were slaves, in my grandfather's day, they're free now. I didn't happen to like any but I didn't - I just got lucky, there, I could've liked one - I'm not explaining very well -"

- she's not sure she's actually got all of that, but she nods.

" - do you, like - need another hug - "

He looks slightly bewildered. "- maybe? Why -"

"You just, I dunno. Look sad about it."

"Haven't told anyone before. I guess I just don't know - what to expect." Hug?

Hug.

"I don't - have a really clear idea of what it means, I guess. Or whether it - has any implications, if we do find a gate someday - "

"Shouldn't. Can't inherit, you gotta be within a step of Abadar. I was really relieved once I was powerful enough Fazil could get a read. And there's - gods, fifty more qualified people by now? A hundred? But if we went back to Osirion they'd consider themselves entitled to the children. I think we just - shouldn't."

Nodnod. "Okay. That won't - you prefer it that way, never seeing your family again?"

"I love them. They're - they're trying really hard to do something that needs doing. But I could never do that to a kid. It was - it was very bad for me. Maybe if the kids are someday all firmly out of Abadar's reach -"

Nodnod. "Then we'll do it that way.

" - why're you out here? Like - adventuring. In the first place."

"Dunno. At first I was just running. Trying not to get caught. Bit of a game, I guess. They couldn't punish me, no one could do that but my grandfather and he was old and sick and didn't know all of our names. I got good at it. Eventually they didn't catch me and I had to figure out what to do with myself."

"Wow. And then at some point you met Fazil and Mahdi?"

"I was doing tomb runs with people for money. Figured it'd kill me eventually and then my family would get more serious about reining me in but - it was nice. Met them. Learned - what was wrong with the palace, from Fazil. Knew I couldn't go back, after that."

"What precisely was wrong with the palace?"

"Uh, he didn't know what he was explaining to me, he thought I'd just been badly raised by northerners or something but - the girls. It's wrong not to expect anything of men, it's bad for them, and it's bad for women to have sex without commitment with people who treat them as interchangeable."

...nod.

"So you wanted... not that?"

"Yeah. I figured I just wouldn't marry."

"Mhmm. And then we got stuck in the deep plane, and you figured - ?"

"None of it could reach you here. I couldn't have been expected to get their approval."

Nod.

"And when we leave - if we leave, I know we probably won't, but - you're not going back, not going to decide the other thing sounds nicer?"

"I hated it."

"And you're sure? You're not gonna - get ten years more mature and cynical and realize that all that really matters in life is hedonism, or something - "

"We could put it in our vows, if it's important to you, that I can't have anyone else. They wouldn't help me break them. - also I won't change my mind, but if you want more than that -"