:You looked really really hard for a thousand years and the plan you came up with was 'murder ten million people'?: She is pretty sure she could have thought of a better plan than that in a thousand years. Also it was two thousand years, wasn't it?

:Yes:

:While apparently Urtho had an interworld transit artifact sitting on a chair in his office: That's proof of concept, right.

:- Do you think it was deliberately intended to do that? I...have investigated this before - well, not that exact question, I did not previously anticipate that there were other worlds, it is just a very strong update that you apparently come from one and much more physically plausible than time travel. In any case, I never previously found anything reliable or replicable: 

His shoulder twitches a little. :Perhaps I am not as brilliant as Urtho. There is the fact that I tend to end up dead through implausible accidents at inconvenient times during my research: 

:It seems unlikely that he decided to make a pretty sculpture and it also happens to send people who pick it up to alternate universes of its own accord, though it's possible he meant it to do something else entirely:

Leareth nods. :Oh, I am sure it was intended to perform some highly innovative magic, but - well, given the events of the Cataclysm among other things, I am not sure that Urtho was always calibrated in his predictions of what his work would lead to: 

:Yes, but... 'it exploded' is a less weird accident than 'it sent me to another universe':

:It is an incredibly bizarre accident. I confess I will need much longer than this to fully think through the implications: 

:How much longer, because if you don't want Valdemar to make all the likely extrapolations from the fact that you kidnapped me out from under their noses...:

:- Oh, my intention was not to keep you waiting in the meantime. You are free to go whenever you please, and it would, in fact, probably simplify matters if you return soon. I provided the Heralds with a way to contact me; I can arrange something separate for you as well, if you wish: 

:You're sending them letters, right?:

:Yes: 

:That seems slower than having an artifact for it:

:It was a compromise I arrived at with Herald Vanyel; the other Heralds were concerned that any artifact of my making might contain some hidden trap or backdoor. However, if you are willing to trust my promise, under your truth magic, that this is not the case, I would happily give you one: 

:I was thinking I'd make it and tell them that it hadn't left my hands under their truth magic:

Leareth's expression doesn't change much, but his eyes light up just a little. :You know the technique to make them?: 

:Yes, I took a class on it, it'll even be easier than the one I made to talk to my dad because you can hold your end:

:That would be excellent, then. Do you need a blank focus for it?: 

:Probably they'd be less suspicious if I make something myself, if you have raw metal around:

:Of course. We have a storeroom of various materials for mage-work near here; you can select what you need from there: A pause. :And my attention is needed elsewhere. Do you have anything else to cover that cannot be addressed with Nayoki?: 

:Not... really, or at least not that I can't cover with the artifact later. What else needs your attention?:

:- Much of it is sensitive and private. One aspect involves Vanyel's current journey north to find me: Leareth's tone and expression are not especially open to further questions; he's already moving toward the door. 

Ma'ar, your future self is not very friendly. She looks at Nayoki for directions to the storeroom.

Nayoki can take her there and unlock it for her. There are floor-to-ceiling shelves with labeled boxes. Unfortunately they're labelled in some other language that isn't even Valdemaran, but Nayoki offers to read them off in Mindspeech for Azabel. 

:Yes please:

And she finds some nice wire and assembles the artifact.