"Well. I think we're ready whenever."

"My current plan is to transport my army tomorrow, with overflow the next day if necessary. It is quite a number of people." 

"Presumably we're not supposed to stage them here...I guess I should make sure I've gotten everything I want out of the pharaoh's library."

“No, definitely not! I am coordinating with Malduoni on location.”

"You should copy some sixth level spells. Just in case."

"I have done that. Though - I really hope the war isn't long. Seems like the ideal situation this lasts about three days."

Nod. "But even if it's decided that fast there'll be stuff to do for a lot longer, I think."

"There generally is. And, I also hope it was short, but - additional resources will matter especially in those scenarios where it is not."

Leareth stands up. Wrangling the order of conversations feels harder than usual when he's running this short on sleep and still has the last echoes of a headache. "I think - I will speak to Khemet first about meeting Malduoni, and then I will coordinate with Malduoni and ask him about Mindspeakers, and after that I will grab Vanyel for the diamond spell and other conversations." 

"Did his pharaohiness say to call him his name, I wasn't even sure he let his husband do that."

"Oh, are you not supposed to? I honestly have a difficult time keeping track... I do not think that one was specified upfront? I have definitely broken the protocol at least once because I had other things on my mind and he did not seem upset about it." 

"I don't think he actually cares about it at all he just follows it anyway because -" Shrug. "Anyway you can say Ruby Prince Khemet III when you need to distinguish but you're not supposed to shorten it, technically."

"Good to know, thank you." He adds it to his mental list of things he needs to remember in order to keep up appearances, there probably is some sort of fallout with the servants and researchers if he doesn't and he at least shouldn't be doing that by accident.

"'His pharaohiness' is also out," Mahdi says dryly. 

Hagan pretends to roll his eyes at him but his underlying expression is - overwhelmingly relieved. "Once I figured out how to say something in Vudrani that translated to 'his pharaohiness' under Tongues - which he has - but which I could credibly claim to anyone else was just a nice respectful title. However I have never actually had the nerve to try using it."

"Well, continue not doing that, I want a peaceful quiet retirement."

"Not a duchy in Cheliax?"

"That is a form of peaceful quiet retirement."

Leareth smiles to himself a little as he heads out and mentions to some servants that he's hoping to meet with the pharaoh again, whenever is most convenient for the pharaoh of course.  

He can see him shortly. 

They're both busy, so once the pharaoh acknowledges him and tells him he can sit, Leareth doesn't waste time on pleasantries. "I have convinced him to accept your offer of help casting Contingent Resurrection." 

- nod. "All right. Will he agree to come here, I don't leave Osirion and he can inconvenience me more trivially than vice versa, even in my territory."

"I am quite sure he will understand that and agree, since I am vouching for you. We did not finalize exact logistics though. Where would be convenient for you?" 

"Can you Gate him here? We redirect Teleports and Plane Shifts in, but not out so it's fine if he wants the option to leave abruptly under his own power, and I can be very sure there's no one else around who could inconvenience us. I can send standard terms, if he'll prefer that."

"If it would be acceptable to you for me to Gate him here, I think he would be fine with that. What would 'standard terms' be?" 

"For, you know, a diplomatic visit. We would commit to not slipping any magic past each other in various ways or having our entourage do that or knowing of likely routes by which this will be disastrous or making them likelier - I'm not actually very worried, not now that you and Abadar chose each other, but it's what we'd do if he had decided to stop by to negotiate a trade deal." He flips through a folder on his desk, finds a sheet of paper with terms to this effect, hands it over.