"You are welcome." And he goes to alert Malduoni of this. 

"Of course. I suppose there is no point in going back to our work when we will be interrupted again shortly, so." He sits down. Doesn't make any offer to invite that Leareth do the same, but he doesn't have to. "Tell me. Have you ever had a student of whom you were very proud, and who also frustrated you greatly, and - the tides of events in the worlds pulled you apart..." 

"...Vanyel. A little. Then we - made our own tides, I suppose. Or were doing our best." He can't help but smile. "Though if reality is trying to hint that Vanyel will grow up like Nefreti, I am rather dubious." 

"No, no, I think theirs are still different stories, as it seems Nethys would put it. But - I did miss her. And wondered, sometimes, if I were being very foolish, afraid of my own shadow. I - could not afford to take the risk and be wrong, given the circumstances, and by the time I was strong enough to be difficult to threaten, it had been such a very long time..." 

Nod. Leareth understands what he's pointing at, even if not the exact analogue. 

They wait in comfortable silence, occasionally making asides to each other that would sound very non-sequitur to anyone listening, which no one is because Malduoni's office is EXTREMELY SHIELDED. 

And then there's a knock on the door.

Malduoni rises to let her in. "Nefreti." He does not say 'you've grown' even though this is very tempting.

"Aroden. You know, there is a world, not this one, where I went to Heaven every Fireday to have tea with Iomedae, and Arazni, and Milani, and complain about you."

He closes the door behind her. "No, I did not know that." 

"What were your complaints?" 

She pays Leareth no attention. "In this world I never told anybody. I figured it out when I was twenty-three and I never told anybody. I don't know why. Sometimes it was because it seemed like it'd be such a shame, if they killed you before you got to do anything, if your grand denouement came in some other lifetime, after I die - I'm not old, not yet, but with them forewarned it'd have taken you ages...sometimes it was because you would have been right to fear me, if I told anybody, and were only definitely and decidedly wrong as long as I didn't. Sometimes it was because I loved you, maybe. There are a lot of stories that always take the same route, for different reasons. It feels cheap to me. But I never said a word." 

He ducks his head. 

"- I had hoped I was wrong to fear you. That is by far the better world to be in. I am very grateful that you kept my secret. And - I am sorry. For being wrong. For hurting you when it accomplished nothing. I...could not have taken the risk before I knew for sure. You must know that." A crooked smile. "Of course you know that. It does not exactly seem to have held you back, that I left when I did. I know it means little now, but - I am very proud of you. And you figured it out, too, I am so curious what clued you in. Though of course it would serve me right if you never told me." 

"I know everything. I am a cleric of Nethys. - he chose me for me. It had absolutely nothing at all to do with you."

"Of course. You deserve each other. I hear you levelled the temple once." 

"I invented a new ninth-level spell! The way you do it - I wish you'd told me you were cheating, I wouldn't have been so angry with myself for needing so many tries to get them all to work."

"I am sorry." He looks down at the plush carpet, for a moment, then back to her. "I doubt it would have mattered at all if I had ever met you, in terms of Nethys finding you. You were always going to find a road for yourself. But - it was a very happy time, for me, when the world around seemed so dark, and I will always be grateful for that." 

"We could have done it together. Sooner. Thirty years ago."

His eyebrows lift a little. "Is there a world where that happened?" 

"No. You are very yourself, everywhere."

"I suppose I cannot help being myself, by definition. I do believe it. And - I am sorry for costing us thirty years, by being so very myself. And I am deeply grateful for your aid now." His smile broadens a little. "Do you have a plan for the House of Oblivion? The pharaoh of Osirion seems to think you may have one squirrelled away." 

"I can make it open to somewhere else!"

"Impressive!" His eyes narrow a little. "Somewhere else in the material plane, or elsewhere?" 

"There are more places than that, you know."

"I feel that 'elsewhere' is a very inclusive word, really. Well, please do not dump a portal to Abaddon on Velgarth, they have enough problems. I am sure you will do something sensible." 

"Are you. I'm not going to hurt Velgarth, Velgarth is lovely. I might drop in and steal one of their superweapons but I promise only if I need it for something important."