Ma'ar enjoys the entire process, and once they're done maybe they can just wander around a bit? Might as well get more out of a trip since they have to Teleport each way, and he doesn't have any packing to do tonight or anything. 

Sounds like fun. They can get ice cream and they could watch an illusion-movie but Earth movies are honestly better.

They could just wander the streets. There's a brothel, and a brothel where the girls dance, and a fancy restaurant, and a temple of Calistria, and a dance hall, and a forbidding wizard tower with no door, and a broken-down carriage whose overdressed inhabitants are yelling at the driver, as if that'll help.

Ma'ar is content to wander about with her and look at the various sights. (He is not particularly interested in going into the brothels.) 

Well, he doesn't have to pay for her, and besides, they're spending her money and it'd be a bit gauche to ask her for some for that, not that she is under the impression they're exclusive or anything. (Even the one who married his Carissa isn't doing that.) They can wander and watch a man use card tricks to trick people out of money and watch a blind old man shout necessarily-meaningless prophecies at them all. They can pass the moat around the fog-shrouded castle where the Starstone lives. 

"We could do a run at it," she says, not at all serious. "'s one way to - solve the problem."

"...Oh, tempting." Ma'ar swings his arm over Carissa's shoulders. "I think Leareth might be rather irritated with me for recklessness, though." 

"Well, if you're a god he can't exactly hector you, and if you cease to exist he can't exactly hector you, so who cares what he thinks?"

"I was under the impression that most people died before actually reaching the Starstone! In which case he would promptly resurrect me and then hector me about my poor judgement. It would be mortifying." 

"Okay, fair, I guess that wouldn't be any fun."

He laughs. "It really would not! Ready to head back?" 

"If we must," she says, and sighs, and then Teleports them back.

Once back in her room, Ma'ar kisses her. :Thank you for that trip. Both productive and enjoyable!: 

:My pleasure. Absalom's wonderful.:

:It really is!: 

Ma'ar still needs a full night's worth of sleep, for now, but they have an hour or so before he needs to go to bed in order to be up at dawn, which he is happy to spend on having a good time with her. 

It is possible that the thing where in general men want to have sex more often than women will be inconvenient at some point on their Void-ship journey but - not yet. Not at all yet. 

Once he's asleep she feels at loose ends once again. Wants to sneak out around Egorian even though she's about to get the chance to do something important and she absolutely shouldn't fuck that up. She wanders the gardens for a little while. Watches another movie. It's less fun on her own.

Sleeps eventually.

In the morning Ma'ar is tense and serious again.

He prays for his spells. Has a final, private meeting with Leareth, packs up his few belongings, and then Urtho Gates the two of them over to the Void-ship, to save Ma'ar the effort.

(Ma'ar is still a bit on edge around Urtho, even though this isn't his Urtho and he seems to be on perfectly fine terms with Leareth.) 

Carissa packs some books and all her spellsilver and steals some of the Queen of Cheliax's clothes and then they can be off.

And Ma'ar checks their initial course and then sits back. The Void-ship, for the most part, needs less skilled person-time to keep it running than the Yeerk ship does. 

It's very quiet. On the other side of the shimmering membrane is a chaotic swirl, glimmers of colour and the sense that her eyes can't perceive most of what's there. 

Part of her that was tracking the fact he'd have the option to change his entire personality once they were off notices that he hasn't done that, and isn't - surprised, exactly, but certainly it's a real update not just a hypothetical.

She pulls out her spellsilver and gets quietly to work.

Ma'ar mostly keeps himself busy by reading through the copious notes and navigational charts Leareth gave him, trying to figure out the computer, and practicing magic. He seems content not to talk unless Carissa pushes for it. 

They'll probably get tired of sharing a space this small very quickly if she wants to be chatty the whole time. She works on the shirt and offers help with the computer if he seems stuck.

Ma'ar makes them a meal for lunch in the tiny kitchen setup, and hands her a bowl of some sort of pease stew. He is not an especially talented cook. 

"It is so quiet here," he remarks. "It is - peaceful, I suppose, but it feels odd." 

She expects it will be maddening before too long but she doesn't want to whine. "Ships aren't like this, they have ventilation systems and computers and engines and so on. I don't think it's quite like anything."

"We should come up with some topics of conversation to fall back on when we get very bored and tired of each other," Ma'ar says, smiling slightly. "It is going to be a long, long trip." 

"Yeah. What sorts of things do people talk about to get to know each other, in Predain." Him being VERY BORED is still not the same thing as him liking her and she had better keep that clear.

Ma'ar blinks, seems to have to think about this for a bit. "- Your family, where they are from, what they do for a living. What your school was like. What your opinions are on politics and religion, maybe, but that is often fraught."