Elsewhere, in his magically protected office in Rahadoum, Malduoni isn't thinking at all about how he's usually right. He's thinking that he feels stupid and he isn't even sure in which direction. It just feels like either it's a terrible mistake to get Iomedae's attention now, or it was a mistake not to ask her for help a century ago. 

Damn it but he misses her. He's trying not to put too much weight on that aspect but it's there. 

Malduoni does not, as a general rule, ever pray. There's a reason Rahadoum is the country that bans all gods. But maybe that will make a loud, urgent prayer from a ninth circle wizard even more notable. She has no reason to pay attention to his mind in particular, except for that - and for the other part - 

Being terrified isn't going to help, so he does his best to let that exist in the background, and float above it. 

Iomedae. This is Aroden. I need your help. Please. 

It takes almost a full minute, and then there's the dizzying falling-into something powerful and incomprehensible and much larger than him -

- and then it stabilizes into a featureless room, with a woman sitting there across from him - maybe it's just because he's spent the last hour staring at Carissa but they don't look entirely unalike -

She is entirely still for a moment. Then - "I don't see the ship. I can ask Sarenrae what the planes She thinks She's doing and get Her to show me."

"I - would appreciate that." He can't stop looking at her face, her sharp eyes. He's kind of shaking. "I - can you tell me if it is safe to go to Nefreti Clepati - was Nethys involved in my death..." And he trails off, looks away. "I am sorry that I was too much of a coward to come to you any sooner." 

"I am not surrendering my chance to yell at you about that but I am going to save it for later. Nethys had nothing to do with it. It - it would break Foresight, if you died, once everyone had poured so much into splitting all the paths into the Age of Glory, and at the last minute it became derivable that it would do that and then some of the chaotic good gods defected. Milani did. Nethys has a workaround for Foresight, if you can get His help. ...Sarenrae says that -" handwave - "Mhalir is making lots of progress at understanding Good and She doesn't think it'll be particularly conducive to his personal growth to push him faster than this, which I don't particularly care about but I guess I can't claim to be surprised She does. She does think She nudged it enough to work out correctly absent other intervention but - at this point we've got some other intervention."

"Milani." He stares into the distance for a moment, then shakes his head and sets that aside. "What does Sarenrae think it working out correctly would look like? I think - events are already somewhat out of even Mhalir's control. He sent a captive wizard back to his own people. And presumably directions to Golarion, though the Chelish wizard he took did not know any more details." 

"She wants Mhalir to realize that it is hard but not impossible to at this point deescalate and that his enemies do not all implacably hate his entire species and it's possible to negotiate with them. She thinks if he realizes this he will have the resources to accomplish it. Probably you'll be better at it, though, and doing it sooner is very important. I do think you'll want to try to talk him around, Sarenrae does have a good eye for when people are tractable to talk around."

He nods. "And it matches the impression I was forming on my own. He sounds like a person who has had very little chance to operate in cooperative rather than adversarial contexts. And - his information state was biased, I think, in a way he did not have the skill to fully account for. Spending over a decade wearing the body of a person who does implacably hate his entire species - even if only as the result of being tortured by a Yeerk for that entire time - cannot have been good for his ability to form true beliefs about - whether negotiation is possible." 

"I can't see him," she says frustratedly. "Neutral Evil, I barely even get a shadow off that. I hope you're right. 

- I'm so glad you're alive."

He starts to ask if she can see Alloran, that seems maybe informative, but - no, it can wait, and probably she'd have said something. 

"I missed you. I–" and his throat is tight, even though this entire place is a sensory illusion it still feels real, maybe his real body back in his office is also threatening to cry. "I - should go to Nefreti, but - it feels so hard." 

Shuddering breath. "I think maybe my fear is - not entirely rational, when it comes to gods. Dying was. Very very bad. It hurt and it went on for such a long time and I was so confused and scared..." 

"I could make you my paladin," she says thoughtfully. It is a joke. Without particularly having crossed the intervening space she is there, hugging him.

For a while he doesn't say anything else. It feels very good, to rest in the arms of a friend, however briefly. 

"I was thinking," he says eventually, "about doing a Sending, to reach one of Mhalir's wizards. I think I could. I do not know what to say and I decided to wait and ask you if you think it is even a good idea." 

"Hmmm. We don't want him to jump back to join the other Yeerks, we don't want him to escalate by trying to kidnap a lot of people - though mostly because I think at some point if he tries that he'll make a mistake and get killed  - I don't know what could be said to him that would prevent him doing those things. Maybe Carissa would know." She frowns, looking through his Carissa memories. " - maybe if you did open negotiations to ransom her but that'd be such a way to start out. You could offer to exchange prisoners, that's - a bit less of one -"

"...That does seem like - not the worst strategy. It would give him an incentive to stay here rather than jumping back, at least. I think she matters to him." He winces. "More than she realizes." 

"Maybe have her do the Sending, as proof she is fine. And get her that Atonement." 

"- Can you see her? It was unclear to me whether she - wanted an Atonement, or would qualify as one, she seemed reluctant and - unsure if she still believed the Asmodean philosophy..." He shudders, burrowing his face into Iomedae's embrace, he hates what's happened in Cheliax so much. 

"I can see her. I think the Atonement will go through."

"Then I think it is worth trying. I will do that, and try to open communications with Mhalir, and talk to Nefreti - actually, do you have a cleric to recommend for the Atonement, I do not exactly have any contacts for that. If not I might take Carissa to Nefreti as well, on the off chance that the whim to help us strikes her." 

"I am not sure she is the right person to help Carissa realize that actually she doesn't really want other people to go to Hell either," she says amusedly. "I will knock someone off course while they are Plane Shifting, it will go fine."

"- I suppose I will have to take your word for that. Thank you." He looks amused. "Where should I bring Carissa, then? They will not be able to cast in my demiplane." 

"And she won't be able to Sending Mhalir. I don't actually know anything you don't about your setup in Rahadoum, it is very effective at making sure I can barely see anything."

His smile broadens a little. "Ah. I was not sure. Can you do it to my office there? It will be convenient for a Plane Shift, I have a demiplane linked to the office exactly for that purpose." He holds up the office in his head, in case that helps. 

"Yes." She squeezes him one last time, steps back. "Good luck."

And he's back in his office in Rahadoum, feeling drained but more emotionally than physically. He doesn't have a godheadache at ALL. 

Malduoni puts his head down in his hands for exactly thirty seconds, and then takes a deep breath and stands up and casts Plane Shift to return to his magic-free demiplane library. He looks around for Parmida and Carissa. "We need to go now." 

They are still having tea. Parmida is asking about Carissa's magic item enchanting which is a reasonable thing to want to know about if you are trying to decide whether to keep someone alive or not. Carissa is trying to sound very capable and very unambitious at the same time; it's a hard tightrope to walk. She would like nothing more than to be redeemed and then live in a cage somewhere making high-level magic items every day.

Parmida walks over to Aroden immediately.