"It seems the pharaoh of Osirion has been offering you substantial help. What is his goal here." 

"To help conquer Cheliax? He has his doubts that it is possible even given the resources you have - I assume you have copious additional secret plans, I would, but I did not tell him that. I suspect he also hoped to benefit from being on friendly terms with the mage from another world, which he did." Glance at Hagan. "You might be able to guess more." 

" - he's my brother," he says to Aroden. "I think that's probably pretty much it? Leareth can do reasonably cheap permanent teleportation circles - well, an equivalent thing - and they've got the Healers - he wants to build Axis in Sothis, now he's closer. I don't think he'd guessed when we left but it wouldn't surprise me if he's pieced it together before we get back."

"Also Nefreti said to Hagan 'your brother would love him, if not for the burdens they have both taken up and cannot put down'. And said that Abadar loved you, and that Leareth would be safe here even if he recognized him."

(He had finally started to be less confused and now he is more confused again and still does not especially like it.)

"So that is why you came here," he says, heavily. "To offer your help. I can tell that you are not lying, but it nonetheless seems - rather too convenient." 

"Yes. I know. The existence of other worlds - the fact that the first person to come to this one had a very specific relationship with me, but also made a much better first impression than I would have... I am not sure what it means. Only of the facts I observe. I do not think my existence was engineered by the gods of your world, much less whichever one betrayed you." 

"Buncha things were convenient. Vanyel has to fight a dragon, the day he arrives here. The adventuring party that gets sent to help includes, uh, me. We find the buried palace of the pharaohs of ascension, which gave us the crystal ball and the way to kidnap Leareth. But it really kinda looks like if anyone was steering here they were steering at - you succeeding. If Abadar knew enough to do all that and wanted to fuck with you he could just, uh, sell the information to Asmodeus."

"It does look that way. Though, sometimes the gods' plans can be very indirect - less so since prophecy was lost." 

"It is not lost in my world. The gods use it quite effectively." He frowns. "Nethys, we think, sees all worlds. Thus recognizing the similarities in our stories. If any of your gods could have engineered this, it would be Him, but - my impression is that He is not so much one for engineering things at all." 

He goes still for a moment. "I see." 

"I don't suppose you could fix our headbands."

"I cannot re-enable yours while you are here - and I hope you will understand why I wish you to stay here awhile so I can think. I can lend you some of my own spares, if lacking them is distressing to you." 

"I have only had mine for a week, it was a bribe from the pharaoh, but - all else being equal, yes, I would like that." He is incredibly not surprised and can't muster any offence that Aroden is intending to leave them here for a while. 

"I would too." He is only slightly more surprised.

Surprised is the wrong word but he likes it when people who are imprisoning you put bars and say 'because I can', instead of putting libraries and saying 'I hope you will understand'. He doesn't say this; it won't help.

He goes to one of the locked cabinets beside the locked bookshelves, unlocks it presumably with some sort of magic, and takes out a couple of headbands, which he offers to Mahdi and Leareth. "Hagan, did you want one as well? I should not be too long. An hour or two." 

"Uh, sure, why not."

He can have one too, then. 

Leareth notices right away that the headband is definitely better than the one the pharaoh gave him. Interesting. 

"I will return shortly." And he Plane Shifts out. 

"Could've gone worse. I guess. Presumably you have a better read on how likely he is to panic and turn us into stone statues until his war is over."

"I think unlikely. He was definitely reading all of our minds while he was here, and I default less to massive overkill the more information I have about what exactly is going on. I suspect a great deal hinges on whether he believes my claim that we are alternate version - I could say alts - of the same person. I believe it, though, and he would have seen that."

Leareth's eyes narrow slightly. "I suspect he is uneasy about Nethys - and Abadar though less so. I do not think he is so spooked by this that he would refuse our help. He might want to place us under a geas, I suppose." 

"'s just - trimming," he says to Hagan.

"And there's a kinda trimming I'm allergic to and my life has been nonstop that, lately."