"Ah." 

Nayoki sighs heavily. 

"So - it sounds like mostly we just know very little? And the situation there may be unstable and time-sensitive. We need to talk to the boy more. What kind of condition is he in - was he injured -?" 

"Not injured just very panicky and very tired. Probably we should just go in there with someone with Empathy to keep him calm. Realistically we don't have a way to get to his world, right, even if we could prevent a war by dragging him back there right now. I don't think we have enough targeting information for anything less than a Golarion Gate and it'd be reckless to open a Golarion Gate to a planet with a mana-eating monster problem. - another thing I asked about were their afterlives, which the kid believes they don't have, though he did concede that many other people think that they do, maybe two, one for Good and one for Evil."

"Do we maybe have enough information for someone to try scrying it? If the kid knows any other students there well enough... Unfortunate that Aroden is no longer available for this." 

"Seems worth trying. From Velgarth. That was Iomedae's one instruction but she was very emphatic about it."

Nod. 

"Right. I am going to go check what if anything the wards picked up, and delegate the analysis of that. And then maybe we can go talk to the kid some more?" 

"Sounds good. Maybe he'll like you better, you're the same color as him."

"Hmm. Maybe." She stands up. "Where is he now? I can meet you when I finish with this." 

"Guest room. Ramel's guarding."

"See you later." And Nayoki gets up and heads out at a very brisk walk. 

Elsewhere, Lara, a Healer and strong Projective Empath in Leareth's employ, is trying to coax the poor terrified child into a bath. He...seems to have never seen a bathtub before? And he's clearly exhausted; as soon as she started pushing calm at him, he was half asleep on his feet. 

What is it with people being obsessed with him bathing regularly??? Masozi isn't exactly objecting but it seems like a lot of hassle, he took a shower two days ago and it's not as though he's gotten dirty since then. He's even been wearing different clothes every day! 

He rubs soap on himself without needing to be instructed, he wants to be cooperative even if what they're asking him to do is deeply mysterious, but he does so with a decided lack of enthusiasm. 

By the time Carissa gets back, he's bathed and wearing a clean borrowed shirt and loose pants with a drawstring at the waist to stay on him, and sitting in a chair in his guest room eating soup. 

Ramel is guarding the door along with two other Velgarth mages and two of the Golarion wizards employed by the palace. Lara is in the room, watching him, from halfway across the room and not trying to talk to him anymore. She glances up when Carissa approaches. 

"The King will be here in twenty minutes; Nayoki sooner than that. Report?"

Glance at the kid. "I...don't have a ton to report? I've been trying to get him settled and not stress him out too much, and he hasn't been volunteering any information. Did you have more questions for him." 

"We want scrying targets, I think, and an estimate of how time-sensitive the war situation is." 

And she turns to the kid. "If there is a war, would it be the sort of war that starts right away? Or in days once everyone has gotten messages back to their superiors, or in weeks once they have moved their armies?"

He twitches, tensing up again despite Lara's steady push of calmcalmcalm. 

"I - wizards don't fight with armies. And...you can't get any messages out of the Scholomance. Except at the end of the year when people graduate. If there was a war, it...would just be in the school, I think, until the end of the year. - And all the seniors might die and not graduate? Even if the war doesn't kill everyone, it'd use up all their mana." 

"I see. And when would it probably happen."

Masozi really really does not want to be discussing this topic. He's pushing through that because it's important, and because he wants to be cooperative and avoid offending this new set of powerful people whose mercy he's under. 

"...Dunno. Probably not today? But - if it's going to happen I think it'd be in days, not weeks." 

"Thank you. In a little bit, Nayoki is going to come - she is a powerful mage who works for the King - and in a little bit longer, the King will come. Do you have any questions about that?"

His question is WHY the KING is going to come HERE, this is a way bigger escalation than he was expecting? What? 

He shakes his head, dully. 

Ramel is still on mindreading duty, which is terrible, this is his worst assignment all month. 

:He's wondering why the King is taking this so seriously? I think it has him pretty spooked: he informs Carissa. 

Leareth should have his people torture dissidents to death more so they're not so mopey about mind reading assignment- no, he shouldn't, that would be Evil. What would Iomedae do. Iomedae would -

Thank you. That makes sense. For what it's worth, I don't think it bothered him at all, that you were reading him. He seemed relieved that we had a reason to trust him. 

"Ramel says you're confused that we think you are so important. I guess being important has not always been a good thing for you?"

What. Why. 

....Oh wait is that a question he's supposed to answer? - Out loud, with his mouth? 

They're reading his mind. They'll know exactly what he's thinking anyway, so he might as well try to visibly and obviously cooperate. 

"- I don't really know what you mean by being important, but - I think it's just bad, for people who aren't powerful to...be noticed by people who are powerful..." 

"You're not wrong. But there being an entire other world where no one knows if there's an afterlife and monsters eat most people is very important, so very important people are going to pay attention to it. We have magic that can help you feel less scared, but it's objectively fairly scary. We won't hurt you, not that I expect you to believe that."

...He doesn't believe it, but - oddly, the fact that she's pointing this out directly is, in itself, a little bit reassuring? Masozi nods. 

Lan Xichen had magic that could make you feel less scared. Masozi found that disconcerting at first, but...it did help him think clearly. And being able to think clearly right now seems important.