"- Interesting. I suppose True Resurrection might work for that, though it would be an uncomfortable first test. I suppose if nothing else I could rework the spell slightly to be only descendants of this body, instead of Ma'ar's, and then...father a number of children..." Leareth does not seem enthused about this project at all. 

His face is so sympathetic. "I really really hate fathering lots of children, it's horrible. There are some ways to live forever in a single body, though if Aroden doesn't know them I can't imagine who would."

"I mean, he did, in the centuries before his ascension - his method that resembles mine was the original one, and still existing as a backup. I am just not sure if it would work for me without my investing decades in becoming a powerful wizard or something, as though I do not already have enough kinds of magic to deal with."  

Nod. "If I were you I'd want descendants on as many planets as possible anyway, now that we know there are lots of planets. But - I do understand the reasons that would not appeal." Gesture. 

"Yes, I should do it." Sigh. "Why is it that your resurrection does have a time limit, anyway? Apparently this did not come up in any of my past discussions. Do your people's souls go elsewhere after a time?" He shudders very slightly. "I suppose if they go to Abaddon they are generally eaten, or destroyed for fuel, at which point I assume they can no longer be raised." 

"They change over time. Eventually they're too different for the spell to recognize. And yes, if they're destroyed they can't be raised, which can happen from any of the afterlives but happens pretty uniformly in Abaddon."

Leareth nods. "I really do not like Abaddon." 

"I don't think anyone likes Abaddon. Pharasma goes out of her way not to send them their souls."

"I wonder if it is possible to destroy an afterlife plane. Or - at least block it, I suppose, prevent any souls from going there. And rescue the souls already there. It sounds very, very hard, but..." Leareth trails off. Shrugs slightly. He's not giving up just because it sounds impossible. 

"I have learned my lesson about telling you I don't think something can be done."

"I have the impulse to give advice but of course you have been running countries for much longer than I have. Do ...let me know if there's anything I can do to help, though? I know that a lot of the work of taking Cheliax back is ahead, and it's a lot."

"I will do that. I appreciate - everything, you have done so far, it has mattered a great deal." He looks away, briefly. "And - if you do in fact return Urtho to life, even if he never wishes to speak to me, words cannot convey how much it would mean to me."

Nod. 

"Then I will certainly have to. Because I find myself rather wordless about all of the last month, and had better repay the favor."

Leareth nods as well, serious. He can't think of anything else they definitely ought to discuss - his mind is mostly busy having emotions about Urtho, which is inconvenient of it - so he waits to see if the pharaoh will dismiss him. 

He has noticed the distraction. "You can go. When you have a bit more time, I'd like us to sit down with some of my advisors and compare notes about economics, but there's no hurry on that either."

"That is an excellent idea." Leareth stands up. "Perhaps I can send a message to arrange when is a good time, rather than showing up by surprise as I have been doing lately." 

"That is more traditional and will be more convenient, though I will confess that I enjoy your popping in."

"Good, I am glad I have not been irritating you this whole time."

And he heads out, departing by Gate as soon as he reaches the underground Teleport zone.

Aroden waits another two days after Leareth's return from Osirion, arranging the various logistics for temples of Abadar and the provision of metals to mint the new currency, before, once again, returning to his demiplane.

He prays. He hopes Milani is paying some amount of attention to him, given the circumstances, which would make it easier to get Her attention. 

Lurching, falling -

- and then standing before a woman, half-elven, silver-haired but otherwise looking very young. Her face is still and glassy for a second while the fuzzy grey background of the metaphor is made to stop distractingly swimming, and then her attention flows into it.

She falls to her knees.

"I'm so sorry."

"I am not angry with you, Milani." What would be the point? "I - do wish to make sure I understand, truly, why you made the choice that you did." 

- nod. She takes a moment, trying to compose herself.

"I told Iomedae - I think Foresight is a weapon Evil can wield better than Good. Because the most powerful sources of coincidence are - disease, untimely death, dangerous magical accident - we assassinated people so much more often than we saved them for some greater destiny, it was cheaper - and the paths to conquest always easier to see than the paths to freedom and democracy and discovery - and so much of it wasn't Good or Evil at all but just self-serving, people got crushed because they were making it hard to see, or because they might threaten our long-term plans, someday, and it was so much cheaper to get them out of the way than to try to bring them on board - I think when we have to work through mortals those of us who have more goals in common with mortals will win more.

And then there's - you checked lots and lots of worlds, right, before you became a god and again as a god, for ways to fix Golarion - Foresight works everywhere, right?"

He nods, slowly. He has things to say, but he'll hear her out first. "To a first approximation, yes." 

"So this had the potential, suddenly, to be the only place - that gods couldn't steer. The universe hadn't had that, and on most trajectories wasn't going to have that, anywhere, ever, and - it was important to me, that it exist somewhere, a world that was free in that way. 

I didn't think you'd survive it. I'm glad you did, obviously, but I wasn't - doing it thinking that everything else would be recoverable. I figured it wouldn't be."