"I think you should study the history of Golarion. It is very long, and contains lots of examples of - things that could have led you to infer that Tantara would go to war with you. I think you should study magic, because you like it and are good at it and have the best person in the world to learn from and being good at magic gives you lots more options. And I think you should learn about your world's gods. They aren't hostile to you yet, but they are difficult and you'll need to work with them to fix your world."

"I'll try to do that. Is it all right if I come talk to you again, if I'm confused later? I don't know how expensive this is for you." 

"This is moderately costly. Gods do not widely advertise that we could do it, because it would be very costly to do for many of our followers, and people would - treat it as evidence of not being valued. But if you do it once a year on the occasion which seems like the most important that will arise this year, that won't be a problem at all, and if something that feels more important than that comes up you could do it freely."

Nod. "Thank you." He hugs her, and then steps back and takes a moment longer to look at the stars as seen through the window of Urtho's Tower; he doesn't know when he'll next see it again. 

After that he's not exactly sure how to leave, but maybe if he just thinks that he's ready to go back now -? 

Then suddenly he's alone in his head, and only the slightest bit dizzy.

He still wants to talk to Aroden, but - maybe in a bit, he isn't sure if it'd be bad for him to talk to too many gods in a row, and also he's not entirely ready, he has thinking to do first. 

After a bit he gets up and goes looking for Carissa; he's realizing that he has no idea what his routine is supposed to be, here, whether he'll go to a new school or have a tutor or something else entirely. 

She's in the bath!

Rich people don't like bathing in front of each other, he remembers, so he doesn't actually go in, just calls out to her that he's going to go see Dierne and after she's done he has questions about living here. 

Rich people with particularly good reason to not want Ma'ar to come in appreciate it. She comes looking for him in Dierne's room about fifteen minutes later.

He's playing with Dierne, or at least, he's shaking her magic rattle from Urtho above her head so it lights up, while she blinks confusedly at it. 

"I wasn't sure if I'd be going to school here," he tells Carissa. "Iomedae said I should study history and magic." 

"We will definitely get you tutors. You should attend a school of wizardry if you want to improve at wizardry but that's probably not your best priority right now....I think you'll want Leareth and his mages teaching you, for mage stuff."

"That makes sense." Learning magic from Leareth sounds amazing. "Are there other things I'll be expected to do?" 

"We should think about how we're explaining who you are, but I expect that'll be enough to keep you busy, really, and most other things you can take back with you to your world, when it's time for you to go. Which will not be any time soon, I shouldn't think. When you're grown up."

"Mmm." He nods, seriously, and then puts the rattle down and bounces up to hug her. "Are you happy about being back?" 

"I'm really happy. I'm glad I met you but - this is where I feel most equipped to do things."

"You look a lot more - I don't know, like how a frog can be fine on land or in water but it's more graceful in water? And - I like it, I think. I mean, I haven't seen very much yet except for your house, but...I like that you and Leareth both seem comfortable here." 

"Power is great for that," she says dryly. "Sometime for the first time you're going to be really good at wards and magic and you'll find yourself a place and make it very very very impenetrable and then go - oh, all this time, I had to try to soothe that with trust - at least, that's what it feels like for me -"

Ma'ar isn't entirely sure he follows, but he nods and leans on her. 

"And I'll be here as often as you need me, of course."

“Mmm.” He hugs her for a moment longer. A long moment. “Okay, I’m going to go practice magic in my room and then probably try to talk to Aroden. Iomedae thought I should.”

"I guess that makes a lot of sense. He's like you and Leareth, as a person - it's kind of weirder in that case because it's not the same world, but I don't understand any of this anyway..."

"I don't really understand either, but I thought it might make more sense once I talk to him." 

Ma'ar heads back to his room. Considers whether he feels ready to talk to Aroden, yet, and decides he doesn't really - he's not scared exactly but he expects it to be overwhelming - so he spends a while seeing if he can do Gates on thin air the way Leareth can. He gets as far as being able to do a Gate-threshold flat on the floor after drawing an imaginary door-shape on it with his finger, and then he's tired. 

He lies down on his bed again, arms folded over his chest, and closes his eyes and - remembering what Iomedae said - thinks about the stars, the first time he saw them through the window of Urtho's Tower, with all the lights below - all the things the world could be... He thinks of when he first met Carissa and she told him about Hell, and...he was so young, he finds himself thinking, it wasn't even that long ago but he knew so little about anything, and he still wanted, right away, to grow up strong enough that he could somehow fight Asmodeus and take away his dead people, because the thing Asmodeus is doing with them is stupid and bad and has to be stopped. 

He doesn't really understand what it means, exactly, that Aroden is like Leareth and like him, but he can guess that it means they're both the sort of pattern that will react that way. Every time, no matter how small they are and how big their enemies are. And he is very very much smaller than Aroden, but he holds up that core of himself - I want to show you this, I want to see yours...

And he's falling again, into something fast and deep and endless, like a river full of rapids, but intelligent, alive. It's less disorienting the second time, now that he's expecting something to catch him. 

Something does.

And then he's standing at - it seems to be the top of a tower, or spire, and below and around and in every direction is a vast and shining city, teeming with life and people. A bit indistinct, from this height, but he can make out some sort of trolley, soaring along a rail high in the air. 

"Ma'ar," someone says. 

He turns. "Aroden? Where are we?" 

He sees a man with a face that's familiar and not at the same time. 

"We are not really anywhere, but - I thought, you have not seen Axis yet, and you would like it very much. You should go for real, later. Maybe with Leareth, he is very happy there." A smile. "You know, he took Carissa there, for their honeymoon."