"Is having some fun at our expense while fulfilling your matchmaking request? Yes, rather. I think you will like her, she is awfully impressive for such a young person." 

Leareth nods, makes a 'hmm' sound, and holds out his hand for the Plane Shift, taking Khemet's hand as well. 

I'm impressed, Aroden said, and something inside Carissa's heart swelled with hope for a second before she realized that she was an idiot. 

She took a class on interrogation at university. Decided it wasn't the career path for her, whatever, that's the end of it. But they'd said, in that class, that that was a tactic that worked shockingly well. I'm not upset, I'm impressed with you! What a clever criminal you are! Most people would never have thought of that - say, tell me, how did you pull it off...

It'd seemed implausible to her at the time, that anyone would be dumb enough to believe an interrogator saying that. The book had said that establishing rapport is surprisingly easy, because people who've been engaged in illegal worship or defiance or whatever have been keeping their secrets for a long time, are often desperate to have someone to talk to - and they're scared, casting around for any kind of story in which they were clever rather than stupid -

- it's astonishing how well it works even knowing that she could have read the line out of her textbook, she wants to believe it, she can feel the warm embrace of the world where Aroden is impressed with her and sees her not as a common criminal but as a clever person worth preserving. 

She's not an idiot. 

Aroden is not impressed with her. 

She sits in her chair and waits for him to return.

When Aroden returns he does so with three other people in tow. Leareth, the pharaoh of Osirion, and his wife. 

"Well, we should all sit down," he says, his voice still warm. He bustles around for a moment moving chairs, pulling one out for his wife. "I will get us all some tea and biscuits, they should be in here somewhere..." 

They are, in a cupboard. A minute later all of the new arrivals are sitting down in a little circle of chairs around the nice coffee table in Aroden's private library, which is also his magic-free demiplane. 

Leareth looks briefly dissatisfied (it's about the lack of magic, he still hates this), but folds that away quickly enough. He's giving Carissa an intent, piercing look. 

He sits next to the pharaoh. They're holding hands. Leareth figures there is no point whatsoever in hiding that, in front of the person who may or may not end up being his future wife.

Whatever the success condition for her talk with Aroden was, and she's not totally sure that there ever was one, it was probably not 'Aroden immediately tells Leareth everything and now Leareth and the pharaoh are here'.

She takes some tea. She kind of wishes he'd just get to the torture but this is a stupid wish that speaks poorly of her, probably. 

"I owe you an apology," says the pharaoh, taking some tea. "I was rude to you when we first met."

What. 

"I figured it was the thing where Osirians don't think women are people."

She did not mean to say that but maybe it will help her get her wish about the torture starting sooner.

"I figured you would figure that. I am sorry nonetheless."

- you know what, why not. "My cactus is fifteen days old and didn't know any better and if you're sorry you can take care of it for me. If it doesn't revert to being a normal cactus. I think they grow well in Osirion."

"Sweetheart," Parmida says, "Aroden's not like this with people he's planning to kill. He doesn't like pretending and he doesn't really need to."

Leareth glances over at Khemet, smiling slightly, then returns his eyes to the woman. Whose name he realizes he doesn’t even know. He feels - awkward, nervous even? He has no idea what to say, and can’t even ask Khemet because his Mindspeech doesn’t work here - actually, wait, no, Telepathic Bond is Aroden's spell so that should still work and so should Khemet's mind-block. 

Parmida, love, how should we - tell her... He’s nearly certain now that his guess was right, just based on how Leareth is looking at the young woman.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself."

Carissa looks bewildered. 

"Iomedae is our ally. She helped Aroden with something important just last week. If She thinks you ought to be here, then you ought to be, but we should figure out why."

"What is your name."

"Carissa Sevar. Your majesty."

"Did you grow up here?"

"Corentyn." Being shy is just going to make them angry. "I learned weapons enchanting. I made magic swords and armor for our soldiers. I spent a couple of years up at the Worldwound to learn from - the forces from other countries, and lots of high level adventurers would show up there with interesting stuff...I was back in Corentyn when the war started or I guess I would've been turned into a statue." She doesn't look at Aroden. "I got an Atonement when they were offering it. A week after that Iomedae picked me. I was reading lawful neutral before that, not Good. I didn't tell anyone because," shrug. "Didn't know that much about her. I was going to try to research it. The visions started two weeks later."

"You have third-level spells?"

"Fourth now. I got fourth when I started working on -" Telling the story in an outrageously disorganized way is also going to make them dislike her. "I got the visions. I told his majesty that I thought they were from Her but I wasn't sure. In the visions it felt obvious they were from Her and very important, in a dream logic sort of way. And there was the same sort of feeling of something else being there as when I get my spells.

They were of - Leareth, and occasionally also the pharaoh, though it took some research to figure that out. Walking around, doing magic, talking with people. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I tried tracking down other people Iomedae'd called, but I only found a few and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about though admittedly I was very vague. I wouldn't have told me, if someone was asking questions as vague as I was. I figured I should try to figure it out. I sold all my possessions and moved to Egorian and applied for a job at the palace usingmycousinstestscores - she didn't know what I wanted them for, I'm mostly pretty trustworthy, I don't think it was her fault -"

He glances at Leareth.

:...I am finding her shockingly attractive!: Probably has more to do with the brilliant spying than her face, though her face and her expressions, carefully-controlled and mostly not revealing the terror she must be feeling, are also startlingly appealing. :Also I am rather angry with Iomadae. I assumed she would ask if the woman in question even wanted to marry me - it would be so awful if she felt forced into it and I am not even sure how to bring it up in a way that is not - more pressure on her...: