:I think you should because I make you very happy and mommy makes you very happy.:

:Mmm: It would have to seem so perfectly logical, to a child her age, and Leareth is much less sure than he was five minutes ago that he even can explain it. :The other Leareth who is your daddy might come looking for you, if he is somewhere else. But I will keep you safe in the meantime, and...well, we will see what happens:

:Okay. Mommy said I can have two cats?:

...Probably getting her to stop calling poor Carissa her mommy is a lost cause, Leareth thinks. :Yes, of course, you can have two cats. And some new nursemaids to play with you: He should maybe try to find out if any of his other people have children her age and would be willing to relocate.

:I want a spotted cat and a black cat.:

Leareth has no idea what his cat procurement resources are, to be honest, but it's a very reasonable request, and at least she isn't screaming on the floor that he find her real parents again right now. :All right. And do you like your bedroom here or would you prefer a different one?:

:I want a bedroom where the door is not stuck.:

Sigh. :I can fix the door but you must not go wandering around by yourself at night, all right? I can give you a bell-cord to call for someone if you need anything:

:I will take the cats with me.:

:I think that still counts as by yourself. There are some rooms here that are dangerous. Maybe I ought find you a suite with two rooms and a nursemaid to sleep in one of them: He hopes she doesn't make a habit of being awake in the middle of the night, it seems exhausting.

:I guess.: 

Leareth looks into her eyes. :I am sorry this is happening. I know it is very confusing:

Bounce bounce. :It's okay!:

Leareth has a feeling she has not, actually, absorbed the news he attempted to share with her, but this is as hard as he's willing to try for the moment. :I am glad. Do you think you can play by yourself for a little while until I find someone else who can play with you? I am very busy:

:I knowwwww. I can play by myself.:

Then Leareth will drop her back off in the cafeteria, where he can alert some of his staff that it would be good if there were ambient adult supervision, he doesn't know how much trouble three-years-olds can get themselves into if left unwatched.

He hunts around for an unused room to take over as a temporary office, and sits down heavily, resting his head in his hands.

:Love you Daddy: Pexa says cheerfully, and wanders about the cafeteria exploring.

Sigh. No, it doesn't seem like she's absorbed all of it, though at least she seems not to expect to go home to Cheliax and maybe will stop assuming he's married to Carissa of all people.

(What. Presumably if it's really another version of the same Carissa, then she's...not Asmodean anymore...but still.)

Leareth arranges a recruiting call among his staff for anyone interested in looking after a toddler - he can explain the full complexity later once he has candidates - and he asks Nayoki to please figure out how to obtain two cats for Pexa as per her request, and he reviews the floorplan for suitable rooms. There aren't really any that are unoccupied. Maybe he'll leave her where she is tonight with someone else camped out, and they can deal with it if and when it makes sense to relocate back to the research base, which he likes much better.

He checks in on whether there's any movement from the Heralds or an envoy in the north; there is not.

Eventually, somewhat caught up and feeling more exhausted than ever, he goes to see how Carissa is doing.

She's in the Work Room having burned her spells for the day on explosions which she's now taking notes on in the hope that tomorrow she can try a better variant. She nods at him. "Leareth."

He returns the nod. "I tried to explain things to the girl. She - sort of seems to follow that in this world, you and I are not married and I am not King of Cheliax, but I think she is still convinced I am her father. I am setting her up with adult supervision and - hopefully she will not be too persistent about wanting to sleep in my bed. I am still unsure what to do in the longer run, but...maybe things will start to make more sense, somehow, at some point."

Sigh. "I hope so. I, uh, would recommend just not letting her sleep in your bed? Toddlers are persistent when it works, they are not persistent when it reliably doesn't."

"...That is probably true. Once I have someone officially in charge of her it will be easier. Just... It is not her fault either, that any of this is happening, and she was already traumatized enough. And...well, I believe her that one of me somewhere is her father, which - is sort of like me being her father, though I am rather confused about this other me's choices."

"Yeah, I am too. This you seems to be doing very reasonable things and that you seems to be doing kinda stupid ones."

"I assume it makes more sense in context, somehow - trying to conquer Cheliax might make more sense if Aroden were also me and alive -"

Leareth stops. Rubs his forehead.

"- Actually I should have noticed earlier how confusing that aspect is! I am not certain but given the timing - if a you exists there - and what Pexa knows about the war, it was with Asmodeus - but how would Asmodeus have ended up with Cheliax in the first place if Aroden did not die there...?"

" - I guess they could've fought some other way? I ....don't really know, though."