Why is He talking to her. "Seven minutes, your -." How do you even title a god.

Sigh. "I was considering if I could ask you to conduct some interrogations while I continue working on researching the version of Gate we need with Nefreti, but seven minutes is not very long, I suppose it makes more sense for me to do it myself. I will geas them not to cast spells or try to harm anyone here, and then I suppose wait for them to wake up enough for questioning."

He glances at the Andalites, an eyebrow raised as though silently asking 'well do you like that better.' 

The Andalites do like that better!

Lesser Geas will do fine for this. He casts it, twice - also geasing them to obey all of his orders and answer questions he asks - and then asks Carissa and Mhalir to please keep an eye on the prisoners, and come grab him when they're awake. He goes off with Nefreti again to the other side of the demiplane. 

(He manages not to roll his eyes, at least not where Matirin can see it.) 

Carissa waits by the prisoners and tries to fathom it. 

Asmodeus said He'd killed Aroden. And apparently He sort of did but not entirely. Which - does make it seem much less likely, that Hell will eventually conquer all the other afterlives, even aside from the thing where now there are aliens lining up to destroy it and everything in it. Which still hurts to think about. 

Aroden was human, a very long time ago, He's one of the ascended gods, but He's - not human anymore. That's part of how ascension works. You can see the real playing field. It's - kind of confusing that He has a wife and children. 

It's really confusing that He and Mhalir are the same person? What does that mean. It feels more urgent to understand and also less comprehensible than before.

She wants to be safe. She's so tired of not feeling safe. Being small is clearly worth it if it means she is safe but she's not sure it does. She thinks she's somehow been dropped onto this field where if you are small you will just get crushed underfoot and you have to instead be - something else. She wishes Aroden would - let Mhalir in his head, if it's really true that that would make Mhalir like Him, and then she'd be host to a god which sounds pretty safe though also scary.

One of the stunned wizards stirs.

Mhalir is also feeling pretty overwhelmed. 

He's never, ever believed that being small was a way to be safe. He was small once. All of the Yeerks were, before Seerow came, confined to the limits of their pools and how far a Gedd could walk in three days, three-quarters of grubs eaten before reaching adulthood, adult Yeerks willing to dissolve into future children because they were going to die sooner or later anyway and dying together was better than dying alone. 

He thought he understood Malduoni's story and how it mapped to his, how Malduoni was something he could grow into, and now he's dizzy with the new enormity of it, he's strained desperately against the limits of his world and his capabilities over and over but it feels so unbelievable that he could grow into a god.

...Well, someone who was a god, and lost a war with the other gods and died, and came back so much smaller. It pains him even to imagine what that would be like, it has to be so much worse than the loss he's imagined before, of tasting the stars before being flung back, helpless, into a Yeerk pool. 

He would probably learn something from being in Aroden's head but the thought is also terrifying. As though he expects the mind of a god might swallow him whole. 

And over at the other side of the demiplane: 

"I know I seem dim to you and it must be frustrating," Aroden is saying to Nefreti, "but can you explain in concepts I can understand, what it means that if I let Mhalir into my head there would be two of me." 

“You shaped yourself like a basin. You can get to the right point from many other nearby points, from only some pieces, from only some memories. If part of Nethys were imprinted on a human mind, it would not be that Nethys was alive. Nethys is not shaped like a basin. Mhalir is on the edge of the basin. The journey to the center will be long for him, because he has so much to learn. And he is not himself shaped like a basin yet.” Shrug. “When you do it he can put the rest together very quickly.”

"...I follow the difference between myself and Nethys," Aroden says, after a moment's thought. "What I am not following, yet, is why Mhalir would even want to - find the centre of my basin. Most people are not trying to be me, or anything like me; I am fairly sure I would have noticed by now if that were common." 

“It’s common but that means it’s in lots of worlds, not lots of people. He has it, though.”

"- You are saying that he has...the nature of trying-to-grow-into-me?" Aroden shakes his head. "How odd. If there are - people like me, in many worlds, are there any where you can see how - my story," he gestures vaguely around them, "ends?" 

“It ends well for you sometimes. Not always. In most places it hasn’t ended, because the universe is very big. You could be a Yeerk and read him, if you don’t want to let him read you, and then you’d see.”

"I suppose I could Polymorph a Yeerk and Polymorph him human and do that, if you think it is worth the spells to do this. And if I am sufficiently reassured by what I find, perhaps I will let him into my head in return." 

“I don’t know what is worth what. If you show him you’ll have two of you.”

"There are other worlds where someone like me lets someone into my head and it has good results, and no worlds you see where it has horrible results because, for example, Asmodeus captures him and he knows all of my secrets?" 

“Futures don’t match that cleanly. And in some it is wrong. But not many.”

He looks at her for a long time. 

"...All right. I suppose it is a time for making gambles that are high-payoff in expectation, and if we are wrong about this instance you can - do something. I will let him into my head." 

"Good!" And she turns and shoots the stirring wizard. "We don't need them yet."

"- Why?" Mhalir says blankly.

Heavy sigh. "Nefreti has convinced me to let you in my head first, because apparently you will find it enlightening and learn a great deal." 

He glances at the Andalites to gauge their opinion of this. 

Mhalir's opinion of this is AAAAAAAAAAAAH. 

The Andalites have retreated to work on planar math. They do not understand humans but Aroden is obviously not being coerced here.

<Carissa, should I...> Mhalir is feeling like the ground is missing from under him and the shape of the world is no longer coherent. <I probably should. I am very scared for some reason.> 

That makes sense! It's very scary!

Carissa does not think directly disobeying gods to their face is a viable plan even if you in fact plan on defying them some more subtle way. And He's - human-shaped right now, so maybe there's a limit to how much of Him Mhalir will get. 

I promise if it kills you somehow I'll try to get you raised?

<Thank you. I appreciate that. I am more scared it will drive me insane or something.> 

He doesn't think the problem is disobeying Aroden, exactly, it's just - when has he ever turned down information he was offered? 

<I suppose if it does drive me insane, you can...try to talk me back from it, or something.> 

And he slips out of her head.