"It's new.  I found out how oracles level and, it turns out, starting a godwar by prophesying it is worth a fair number of oracle circles once cashed in.  Though it still works only inside the library I'm in, at this level."

"Do we - in fact have the sort of relationship, where you hold me while I cry?  Please, please, don't lie to me about that."

"No more lies.  Ever again."

"And yes, yes we do."

This may take a while.

"Nefreti! Was that supposed to happen?"

"In what sense can anything be said to be supposed to happen, really? But I do think the boy needs a hug."

"And he's getting a hug."

"Oh, I imagine so."

"And not getting horribly further traumatized so that now he'll do something even stupider than going to Abaddon to be eaten as an act of protest."

"Imagine being the kind of person who when horribly traumatized would do something even stupider than going to Abaddon to be eaten!"

"You win, I have no idea what you mean. ...do you know some languages spoken only on obscure distant planes you could teach me."

"I do, and some of them would be really funny, but I'm actually busy right now. Tell your son I said hi."

"Which one?"

"Oh come on. Which one will make a funny face when you say it?"

And she vanishes.

Keltham has, by now, had thoughts like, is this the real Ione?  But he did still, after all of that, which he'd been through, still, have his Glimpse of Truth, that he never did use while piercing the Conspiracy; which Keltham has now spent to confirm this for the real Ione.  Though Clepati could probably fake past True Seeing, by all accounts, but - at that point - it becomes a matter of Keltham becoming tired of unsolvable plotlines like that and his emotions being crushed like that and walking out on this reality.

"Hi.  How have you been.  Is Osirion going to give you any shit about being alone in a room with a man?"

"So, stop me if you don't want to hear about what an awesome time I'm having, but I am having a fucking incredible time, Keltham.  I have a library full of amazing books and everybody in the temple thinks I'm cool and my problems are now along the lines of 'oh no the deranged Possible Doctrines of Nethys I wrote up are spreading and they have my name on them and that's what people think of me' and not, you know, being horribly tortured to death if I make a mistake, and I go to bed and I'm not in Cheliax and I wake up and I'm again not in Cheliax and I can go out and walk around in Sothis and have people look at me funny and still not be in Cheliax.  I have achieved the greatest possible goal of any mortal being, to not be in Cheliax.  I have maxed out my utilityfunction, Keltham.  This is literally as good as anything gets."

"I notice you're not answering the alone-in-a-room thing?"

"It's possible that somebody will think worse of me for being alone in a room with you, despite it being fairly obvious to anyone who knows about Cheliax that I've already had a lot of sex all of which you'd consider to be rape and am as ruined as any woman can possibly get.  But it doesn't matter what they think of me because none of them have the authority to gouge my eyes out or set me on fire so ha ha ha who fucking cares what they think!"

"Sounds like you also came out of this with some issues, then!"

"None of my issues are being in Cheliax so they aren't important!"

"Are the others - left behind in Cheliax - going to be okay.  For at least a while."

"I'm sorry, Keltham, I really am."

"But -"

"I can't tell you anything that you haven't already figured out, about that."

"You're spoiler-protected."

"In the sense that I can't - help you, steer you, yeah."

"Keltham, you can - at least talk with me about whatever parts you do figure out, after you figure them out, so long as you're - just trying to talk with somebody, about them, or cry about them, and not use me as an oracle to confirm things you're still not sure about."

"And now I don't know if I can trust you about that."