:...Do they hate Him?: Ma'ar's mindvoice is suddenly thoughtful. :Oh, I expect Mhalir does, but...I do not think I do? Certainly He is my enemy, He is deeply opposed to my values in many ways, but... I am not sure how to say this...: A pause. :But there is something less - pointlessly tragic, about all of it - if Evil is a clever agent that one could in theory negotiate with, and not -: A shuddering breath. :Predain was not Evil, right. It was - just - nearly everything was broken...:

:Huh. I think it's less tragic if the bad things that happen happen because it serves Asmodeus's plans but I wouldn't've expected anyone else to -

- Cheliax wasn't broken. It was - bad - but Heaven feels bad in the same way, to me, and Nirvana feels bad in the same way - shaping people -:

:...I am not sure that is why? I - sorry, this is not a very coherent thought yet. Rovagug seems plausibly worse to me, than Predain. And - what is his name, the god of your world who really does just value torture - and Melkor, Mhalir told me about that...: He shakes his head a little. :There are some cases where having - an adversarial agent sufficiently opposed to one's values - is a harder equilibrium to shift than just fighting the laws of nature and human nature. But... I am not sure Asmodeus is that? He - well, many of His decisions in running Cheliax are ones I wish I could replicate in my own country. And - it feels as though there must be some common ground there, surely...: 

A long hesitation. 

:I - just - do not want to make the same mistakes here that Urtho made with me: 

Nodnodnod.

:And - 

- imagine if someone saw how Predain was bad, and scoured it off the world so its gods wouldn't have it as a resource and they could build something nicer - even if they did build something nicer -:

Ma'ar shivers. 

:That - would seem like a mistake. ...I think Hell is - less obviously a mistake, because Asmodeus shapes people into agents that serve His goals - because I do not, really, think that if I went to Hell, the devil I would be a thousand years later would still be me...: 

But his shoulders are trembling. :Still. Three. Billion. People. Just the numbers have to mean something, here - I can do math...: 

:They're happy. They have - businesses and lovers and plans and favorite books - they're Asmodeus's and they don't have free will but they don't stop being people -:

Shiver. 

Ma'ar is silent for a long moment, but it's a tense, waiting sort of silence, as though he's poised on the edge of saying something but doesn't quite have the words. 

She's so scared and she has no idea why, or what of. She does manage to stop crying. She doesn't unhide her face.

He takes a deep breath. 

:- We could leave. Go - look for other worlds - for something, somewhere, that could - change our options here... The Elves' world is not going to be much help, I think, based on what Mhalir said, Their good goods seem - very useless... But - maybe somewhere...: 

Another deep breath. :I think I could steal Leareth's Void ship: 

:Do you - think he'd try to stop you -:

:I think he would be - very displeased. But if I left a note explaining why, then - I do not think he would come after us: 

A pause. 

:- Or I could ask him openly. I understand why he cannot be spared, for this, but he would understand why it is - worth trying in expectation, even if probably it will be too little too late. And I already put my second-in-command in charge of Predain, and said I did not know when I would be back: 

:I want to do it. if you're willing to.:

:I think someone has to: 

A sigh. :It would be better to do it aboveboard, I think. So I can get proper instruction from Leareth on how to navigate with his Void-ship. We are all meeting as soon as Aroden is here, though, and - I think I will have support from the others, on this plan: 

Nod. Cling. No, don't cling, it is extra important he not think you're pathetic if you're going to head off together to look for a better way to end the war between Good and Evil.

...Ma'ar, in that case, is going to notice her pulling away slightly, and do the clinging for her. 

Well, that's all right, it's not pathetic when he does it, and it's probably not pathetic to cling back.

Ma'ar certainly gives no impression of thinking so. 

:I missed you: 

How is she supposed to interpret that? She is admittedly clinging and crying and otherwise being very weak and vulnerable and feminine and stupid but she's still Chelish and she still knows not to replace your life with romantic fantasies in which someone cares about you and she's not going to do that but - how are you supposed to interpret that, what's the non-stupid way -

Is 'I missed you too' desperate? Is a joke tonally inappropriate? What is she trying to communicate here -

:I'm glad you came.:

:- Are you upset about something?: He seems mostly confused. :...Sorry, that is an incredibly stupid question. Are you - upset about something unrelated to the - entire Hell situation...?: 

How does she possibly answer that. 

:I just - want to go look for options with you, and don't want to - screw that up -:

:...What are you worried you might screw up? That Leareth might not trust you to go, if he - thinks you are too opposed to this and might actively attempt sabotage or something? I think that is unlikely: 

It is very very unfair of the universe to keep requiring her to have complicated interactions over and over again. 

:That I won't be - worthy of your respect, as a person, and obviously I'm not very invested in having your respect as a person or I'd be doing a better job of it but -: She's pretty sure that the usual thing that happens when you tell a man twice your age who you're sleeping with that you just want to be respected as a person is that he thinks even less of you as a person and tells you he respects you immensely, but Ma'ar is a Mhalir and Mhalir hates lying -

...He's so confused. 

:I - do respect you as a person, obviously, or I would not - be asking you to help me with a very difficult mission - but that is not really the point right now? There are bigger things to worry about: 

How is she supposed to take that? :- yes, I agree.: she says mostly because she can't think of anything else to say. 

Ma'ar, it seems, also can't think of anything else to say. 

He spends the next while just holding her, silently, his eyes closed.