"Do - things that hurt now - count as injurious. Like thinking. Or standing up." Leareth supposes being in bed doing nothing all day and not in pain is better than being in pain, but still. 

"I think thinking or standing up are fine." He casts Delay Pain.

"Thank you." Leareth sits up, cautiously, still sort of expecting it to start hurting again at any moment. "Nayoki, I am sorry, I think I ought not do your Gate home." 

"I would say not! We will figure something out. I should have the power to do it if the pharaoh is not available to use his spell." 

"You should maybe avoid magic entirely for today," Tallad says. "Since you won't be able to tell if it's making it worse." 

That is true and also so inconvenient. 

The cleric is looking oddly at him. "...congratulations?" he says tentatively.

Leareth hadn't really thought through whether or not to keep this secret, but it's a bit late at this point and besides the researchers here aren't supposed to talk to anyone outside. "Abadar wished to make me His cleric and I decided to accept. I have spells that I wanted to cast today. Maybe that would be fine since it is a different kind of magic that does not cause backlash..." 

"If you want to push it I suppose that is your purview," Nayoki says dubiously. 

"May I ask around and see if anyone else has, uh, talked to Abadar without Commune up and whether they have advice?"

"Yes, thank you."

If the pharaoh just didn't tell him about the spell he was supposed to use then Leareth is going to be mildly ticked off about it, although he can't be too annoyed because it's not like he gave any indication of wanting to talk to Abadar. 

He heads off to do that. 

"Maybe you should take a nap. I will figure out transport back to Velgarth." 

"I am not–" There really isn't much point in arguing with Nayoki. "Keep me updated. You have your copy of the code-book?" 

"Yes." Sigh. "Please do not attempt this again when we are about to go into battle or something." 

"I am not actually stupid, you know." 

"Usually not! But sometimes I wonder." 

"I have an intelligence headband and everything." 

Nayoki just smiles to herself. "I will see you again soon, Leareth." 

She leaves, alerts Narva of the situation and that he can probably go back to poking things with the researchers because it'll be a bit, and then tries to find out if the pharaoh is available. 

The pharaoh can be available once he's made aware she's looking. 

She prostrates herself and waits for his acknowledgement. (Nayoki is, in general, better at remembering the protocols here and following them in spirit as well as in letter than Leareth is.) 

"You can sit. I hear you succeeded at the interworld spell, congratulations!"

"We did! Also we have a difficulty. I had been planning to leave nowish, but Leareth decided to talk to Abadar and then suffered what appeared to be a very awful headache, and should probably not do a Gate even though one of the clerics cast Delay Pain for him. I can probably do it but I will be very tired. I am trying to gauge which option is least costly, out of doing it myself, asking you for your transport spell, or waiting until tomorrow morning." 

"I think Valdemar isn't ready for transit yet and can wait until dawn; I can Gate you both back if you'd like."

"Thank you very much. I am sorry for the inconvenience."