- nod. "Thank you. Uh, I'll try not to take too long researching."

"You need not feel rushed on my behalf." 

"Though it is reasonable to try to be efficient, for Cheliax's sake if not for Leareth's sake personally." 

Nod. 


"....why do you trust him," she asks Aroden.

"It is a somewhat odd story, and may be difficult to believe. Early in his time in this world, Leareth met Nefreti Clepati, a powerful cleric of Nethys, and she made some cryptic remarks. Which, combined with my history, he pieced together and realized that - we are in some important sense the same person, the same pattern and story told across different worlds. I was skeptical at first when he proposed this to me, but we are so alike, it did not take long before I believed it. And so, I trust him because I trust myself." 

" - okay. Thank you. I guess I wasn't going to guess that one."

"You might have had you learned enough details of Leareth's past, but - no, probably not, it is too bizarre." 

"Your life is very bizarre. If I tried to tell anyone that Iomedae manifested - she didn't properly, right, it must've been only a little bit of her -"

"Yes. An entire god is very large." 

"I do not think I want there to be any more of Her here right now. Maybe once I have my character references." She turns to go, pauses. "Do I - bow - in what order -"

"I personally recommend coming up with a concept of Law which considers it fine to be arbitrary and flexible there, because not doing that is a pain."

"My existing concept is that the point of all the protocols are establishing mutual information about who can kill who and how trivially?"

"Aroden can kill people most trivially and Leareth can kill people more trivially than me."

"See, there, now in my system we have all just bowed." And she Dimension Doors out.

:Khemet, help, I think I like her too much already. What if she decides she does not want to marry me? I will be so disappointed: 

:She has obviously already decided, she just needs to go get a sense of what she is signing up for and she'll feel better about it if she hasn't actually committed while she's doing that.:

:How do you know that she has already decided? It is not obvious to me! Is that just your mysterious ability to always know what other people are feeling?: 

It's not mysterious! ...I should load you up with magic items for sensing other peoples' intent, see if that gets you there - anyway she's attracted to you and she is tempted by the prospect of being Queen of Cheliax and she is in general - trying to find her balance about being around gods, rather than trying to have it happen less, she's not going to decide to walk away from that.

:It is possible I have not practiced sensing people's intent the usual way as much as you, since in important and high-stakes situations I would just read their minds: 

He's relieved to hear Khemet's opinion here, and also so, so confused. 

"I think that went about as well as it could have," Aroden says. He glances at Parmida to see if she has any opinions to voice on the matter. 

"Fourth-level spells, and she's twenty-five. Were you that quick, dear?"

"That comparison seems a little unfair since I did not start until I was twenty-eight! ...Well, technically I was zero years old, depending whether you count. Does have me wondering if it would be possible to resurrect the poor farmer I, well, displaced, though I suppose he has likely been in Axis for a long time and may not wish to be hauled back." 

Aroden feels a little less regret about it this time, because the man was so likely to have died anyway in the ensuing famines, and if not he would have ended up under Asmodeus and gone to Hell, but...still. 

"This was a really entertaining interlude but probably we should reassure people about the disruption to their dinner party," he says to Leareth regretfully.

"Yes, I had just been thinking that." 'Entertaining' is perhaps not the first word he would have used, but it's down there on the list. He moves to stand. 

And they can head back to the state dinner so he can reassure his very unhappy security.