He goes inside, moving heavily. 

"- Zahra, I need to request a favour from you. To visit the other world - the one Cheliax is at war with. There would be opportunities to study the magic there." 

"I'm in. Will you be there?"

"Not immediately. I have - things to sort out, here. I will explain once your mother is here, so that I need only do it once." 

Really he would prefer not to have to explain it out loud at all - he would like it if he could take a week's break right now and not think about any future plans - but he doesn't have a choice. 

Parmida comes downstairs. Frowns at him. "You look like you've been overworking yourself. You'd better stay for dinner."

"...I am sorry, I really cannot do that." 

He takes a deep breath. "I - it has to do with the other world. I - found someone there. A potential ally. Very well resourced. He reads Lawful Evil but - is like me in many ways. I...might have kidnapped him to my demiplane - I was feeling very paranoid, he had been in the middle of negotiating a treaty and possible alliance with Cheliax - he had a Chelish wizard with him for some reason - and I thought the gods might intervene..." Malduoni says all of this with a definite note of sheepishness. "Unsurprisingly, he was scared, and looking for any avenue to learn more or communicate with outside. I - did not manage to think through and prevent all the ways he could do that." 

His wife and daughter watch him skeptically.

All right, he should just get this over with.

"He prayed to Iomedae and somehow this worked even though everything he knew about Her was from Chelish propaganda and he also reads Lawful Evil. He asked Her to confirm who I was. So - Iomedae knows, now. Also I have learned who betrayed me - it was Milani, apparently - Iomedae thinks I am not in further danger from Her though." 

"Oh," says Zahra. "Well, I guess that's good to know. Does that mean She's going to help us fight Cheliax, now?"

"I hope so! That is one of the things I need to stay here to discuss. Anyway, She said I ought to apologize to the Velgarth mage - his name is Leareth - and take him home, and also send Zahra to explain things to him. And that I should give him and the Chelish girl nice headbands. She was quite bossy about it." 

He's definitely feeling a bit shaky, though, and could really use a hug again before he has to go deal with that whole mess. 

Leareth eventually gives up on praying to Abadar. It really does not seem like this is going to work. 

"Maybe I should give you a massage," says Carissa thoughtfully. "A massage is like a hug but moreso, but if what you really needed was a massage, Iomedae wouldn't have said so."

Leareth is only half listening. "...Why not?" he says tonelessly. 

"Well, would Vanyel say so?"

Shrug. “I have never considered that question? Honestly I think he would not tell you to hug me either. He would feel too self-conscious about it.”

"Well, my understanding is that if you're Good you're not allowed to ask for physical affection from other people, because that would be wrong. And if you are allowed to, you are allowed to ask for hugs, but not for massages.  I am admittedly not the most reliable source on Good but I bet you, if you had a paladin here, they wouldn't make a face about hugs and they would make a face about massage. And whether paladins make faces is in some ways the purest definition of what Good is for humans, even if it's different for gods. - I think in this ontology you are more like a god."

…Where is she going with all this - what is with this entire conversation? 

“- Thank you? I think? Although Iomedae is literally a god, under that ontology, and I cannot see why She would possibly object to massages.”

"So, do you want one?"

Leareth considers this. He tends not to think of himself as someone who likes being touched, but - the hug was surprisingly nice. "Why not. Sure." 

Carissa is going to be so good at serving Iomedae by giving Leareth hugs, broadly construed. She is aware on some level that if you change your mind about what you're doing this frequently you're going to wind up worthless to everybody, and also that she's Neutral Evil and literally cannot be of use to Iomedae, but - but the alternative to taking "Aroden's alive and working with Iomedae to conquer Cheliax" as an occasion to diligently appease the two of them is being really upset about it, and that sounds super dangerous. 

She is competent at massages. Her ex girlfriend liked them. "This works better if you're naked and I have massage oil," she says. "But I think we had better not, because Aroden might come back at any moment and then he would die of a heart attack and then we'd be stuck here."

The massage does seem to be helping Leareth relax. The downside of this is that he's now way too aware of how exhausted he is. 

"Mmm," he says, a bit vaguely. "- Wait, why would that make him die of a heart attack? I cannot imagine he is easily startled." 

"Well, he's kinda like you, and you'd be very startled. And he's old."

"Mmm. I wonder what he is doing that is taking so long...?" 

“You said Iomedae wants him to set up a church for Her in Velgarth? Maybe he’s arranging that?”

"Maybe." There's not really much point in speculating; it's only tempting because Leareth hates being stuck in here without magic. And is uncomfortably aware that if something does happen to Aroden - what if Asmodeus found out he was alive and tried to kill him, for example - then they have literally no way out. They could starve to death here and he's not even sure his immortality method would work if magic is blocked in his vicinity... 

None of that is useful to dwell on, though, so maybe instead he can just focus on being massaged. It...is, in fact, pretty nice. 

“What was She like?”