“And I - should probably go back to Cheliax and catch up on what I have missed.” Leareth isn’t entirely sure why this previously seemed stressful and is now fine. Maybe just that his baseline stress levels are right now at almost zero.

Kiss. “This was very delightful.”

"I am glad. We should do it again sometime. Maybe while you're in town working on my Gate to Aktun."

“I would like that! I will send over a proposal for the Gate that you can read over.”

"Thank you."

Leareth kisses him a final time and then - waits, slightly awkwardly to be dismissed, it's bad for Khemet's Law not to follow the protocol. 

Khemet looks frustrated by that fact about the world, too, but he dismisses him and smiles at him and goes about his day.

Leareth is still smiling and in a very cheerful mood as he heads out to look for Vanyel and let him know that he's headed back to Egorian and they could go together to save on Gates, if Vanyel wants. 

Vanyel is in the library, and can't help smirking at Leareth's expression and manner. 

"What?" 

"Someone had a good night, I think." There's hardly any pang of jealousy, there, being jealous of Leareth of all people feels like a categorization error. 

"Perhaps. I am returning to Egorian. Would you like to hitch a Gate back with me?" 

"Of course!" A very effective good night, too, he thinks, if Leareth is now relaxed enough to leave the Dome without it stressing him out. 

They Gate back to Egorian, and Leareth does his best to resume his usual, serious mannerisms, though he's still smiling more readily than usual.

After alerting everyone that he's back, he checks in with Taver on the state of public opinion toward Aroden and Aroden's infrastructure projects. 

People are kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop but not in a way where they're trying to bring it down on them any faster. There's a big shortage of services usually provided by high-level casters because most of those Teleported well out of town and are waiting to come back until it's clear whether anything bad will happen to either them or the money they earned in the service of Asmodeus. People understand why the education system is being ripped out at the roots considering it was mostly about how to be a worthy slave of Asmodeus but hopefully the replacement will be in place soon.

Aroden meets with Leareth as soon as he's available to discuss priorities.

The education system is coming along; they can get it partly functional in another couple of months and almost fully back to speed within a year, he thinks, albeit only by importing really large numbers of teachers from Leareth's various organizations in Velgarth and from any other country in Golarion that wants to send people for some very well-paying temporary work. The Temple of Astera in Velgarth is a scholarly order that runs a number of schools in Valdemar and other places, and is spontaneously offering to somehow rustle up several hundred experienced teachers for various ages of children, in exchange for just room and board plus the opportunity to visit another world. The bottleneck there is language; giving everyone permanent Tongues isn't feasible. Most Velgarth scholars speak multiple languages and can likely pick up the local one quickly, but 'quickly' is still several months. The other issue is with teaching wizardry, since no one in Velgarth will be arriving with preexisting experience. Leareth's organizations do have a disproportionate number of very intelligent people, though; most of his mage-scholars who were previously working on the building-a-god research are eagerly trying to learn arcane magic just out of sheer curiosity. 

In the longer run, they'll want to train teachers locally - maybe even reinstate some of the previous staff - but Aroden doesn't want to do that until they have their own system up and running enough to supervise said staff and make sure they're not still teaching six-year-olds how to grow up Evil.

Aroden isn't sure what to do about the high-level casters and particularly the money aspect. The goal of minimal disruption would imply leaving it alone, but - he's also concerned it leaves them with an excess of Evil, due to the stupid monetary system, and just swapping out their fortunes for the new currency that Osirion is minting for them won't help. 

Leareth can ask Khemet for his (and/or Abadar's) opinions on that the next time he visits Osirion. 

For some reason this makes Aroden smirk a little. 

"Nefreti dropped by the other day and we have some preliminary thoughts on the Pelagirs," he says. "I will likely be dedicating substantial time to that, for the next few weeks to months, and also to plans for removing Urtho's superweapons from his Tower. We are very grateful for your advice the other day." 

"Is there a plan to deal with the damage left around the Worldwound? I suppose if you and Nefreti work out a combination of magics that can be boosted with Wish, the same spells might be effective at the Worldwound, and could be done at a more leisurely pace if you prefer to save on diamonds." 

"I am planning to worry about the Worldwound after the Pelagirs are dealt with. The situation will keep, since the ward-stones are in approximately the same place they have been for nearly a century, it is not providing any new inconvenience. And, yes, we ought not be too profligate with diamonds even though Vanyel is ever more impressive at churning them out with your spell improvements." Thoughtful look. "Do you think you will eventually have a spell that weaker mages can also use?" 

"I have actually been wondering if the kinds of spells and magic items that boost mental abilities or reflexes in Golarion, could also with the appropriate design boost the strength of mage-gift potential. It seems...more akin an innate mental or physical ability than your wizards' spell levels, which are mostly based on experience." 

"Fascinating! I had not even considered that. It sounds like a very involved research project and I already have enough duties on my list, but perhaps we can find some other researchers to throw at it." 

"I do not expect to have it soon, but it could be very, very worth it in the long run. Anyway. Coming back to the permanent Gate network..." 

They talk for a while. Aroden does, eventually, mention that he's planning to ask Parmida about organizing a big dinner event in the palace, as part of their plan to start establishing themselves as approachable and non-terrifying.

(And also, maybe, to find Leareth some candidates for marriage, since his being in love with the pharaoh of Osirion, however adorable, doesn't actually cover all the reasons a Chelish wife is a good idea for his future position as King.)

The pharaoh of Osirion does a True Resurrection and some plain Resurrections on most days, bringing back the war dead in favor of Valdemar's Heralds right now because he's waiting for word from Valdemar about the conclusion of their investigation which will also be information about how strained relations are.

He designs a demiplane; three different demiplanes, really, but linked. In two of them magic is dead; one is a bountiful forest that appears to stretch on forever, and the other one a comfortably appointed apartment with two bedrooms and a sitting room. There's art on the walls. There's a locked door from the apartment to the part of the demiplane where divine magic works, which contains some conference rooms and a dining room and a study.

There's no dungeon but that's fine. There doesn't need to be. It doesn't accomplish his goals.

(He spies on the investigations in Valdemar a lot.)

Then he can eavesdrop on Savil arguing vociferously with the King and others about whether they should send an investigative team down south to question Karna, the Scrollsworn scholar/historian who accompanied Starwind and Moondance into the Tower and was presumably at least aware of, if not actively involved in, sneaking the artifact out.