"Okay." She squeezes him.

"I have mentioned the Cataclysm," Leareth says quietly. "My first life was immediately before it. I actually have almost no records from it, unsurprisingly given what happened at the end of it, so I have minimal information about what happened. I do know that I studied under a mage called Urtho, a brilliant and innovative man - he created gryphons as a species, and a large network of permanent Gates, and various other wonders. He ran a world-renowned academy for mages from his Tower. I remember little else about him, sadly, but I know that I respected him a great deal." 

She nods. She isn't trying to take notes right now.

"I know that after I finished my studies, I went back to my home kingdom of Predain," Leareth says slowly. "It was kind of a terrible place. I think Urtho did not truly understand the conditions there, since Tantara, where he was based, was prosperous and thriving. I - tried to fix things."

A flicker of a smile. "In my characteristic ruthless way, I suppose. I ended up as advisor to the King. Urtho did not believe that mages ought to seek political power and he was very against this. Even though he had been appointed Archmage of Tantara by then; I suppose he thought that had not been his decision and so it was all right? Anyway. We continued exchanging letters and I thought we remained on good terms. I had told him that Predain had no intention of trying to conquer any of Tantara; what would the point have been? However, he must not have trusted that claim, since he - started a war against my country. I do remember that it came as a surprise to me." 

"- I'm assuming I should hold my questions since you don't remember much?"

"Probably. I can try my best at the end to answer any questions you still have." 

"Okay. Go on."

"...There is not much more to it. He attacked. I fought back. It was - very damaging, to a country I had just barely wrestled into better conditions, but I suppose I saw no choice at the time, I did not think it right to simply surrender. I–" he looks down. "I wish that I had. It was not worth it." 

"Why didn't he think mages should seek political power?"

"You know, I am not sure. I assume it was somehow part of his philosophy of life. He thought humans could not be trusted with multiple sources of power, I suppose." 

"Any guess what would have made it look like you were going to invade?"

"We were expanding on other borders, I think, though that was into land that was not held by an organized state and so I consider it different. May I finish saying what happened before more questions?" 

"Oh, sure, sorry."

"We were at war. It was costly but Predain was winning; I suppose was a much better tactician even then, though I am sure I made many stupid blunders. However, Urtho had - designed a superweapon. I was not aware of this; he had done a great deal of secret research. When my army was close to his Tower, he - dispatched a gryphon strike team with the weapon, then called down a Final Strike on it himself and triggered a number of additional failsafes, resulting in a very large explosion. The weapon reached me, it must have been only hours later, maybe days - I did not have a chance to record any of it and so the memory is very blurred now. I must have known he was dead. The weapon - killed my body, and presumably all of the team sent with it. And in combination with the damage from his Tower, and the fact that they had left a Gate open nearby and linked to a permanent threshold that was part of an entire network, that is what caused the Cataclysm." 

"...eeesh."

Leareth hugs her tighter. He's quiet for a few seconds. "All right, now you can ask the rest of your questions." 

"Uh - how far in advance of that did you set up your immortality thing?"

"A decade? I do not remember exactly and I lost all of the notes on it. I know that I tried multiple different setups, with the actual one as a backup since it involves killing people, and the others either did not work in the first place or did not survive the Cataclysm." 

"Like, definitely some of each, or you don't know the mix - trying to gauge how likely one would be to work if attempted now."

"At least one was not going to work period, given what I now understand better about magic. One that I am certain does work - similar to the method with Need, though I had not met her at that time and was deriving it from first principles - is now dispreferred since it seems to have left her...not exactly intact as the human mind she was before. There are probably options that would work, but they would require unlinking my current setup and then a lag time while I finished preparations on the new one, and I have been concerned about the gods finding a way to murder me during that gap, or to directly sabotage any method they can arrange to observe me setting up, so I have not attempted it." 

"I mean for me."

"I definitely have ideas of what we could try for you. I am concerned about interference but there is not the same downside risk since you are not already immortal. Probably we ought not try one of the ways that involves killing your current body, though." 

"Not unless something real bad happens to it, no."

Protective squeeze. "We will have to take good care of it, then; I would be very sad if I were lifebonded to a magic sword instead, it seems it would be less snuggly." 

"A sword seems like a dumb choice. If I have to be an inanimate object at all I think I'd like to be a book. Which might be snugglier than a sword but that isn't saying much."