Right. Why isn't the bookseller leaving, then, if the island's to be eaten?

"Oh, I expect if it gets that bad, we'll see some sort of warning sign before it's time to really leave, you know."

"Well, the warning sign might be Carissa Sevar Gating in directly from Hell surrounded by cultists and devils set to die for her while she fights her way to the Starstone, and at that point it'd be a bit late, wouldn't it?"

"I rather think there'd be some sort of warning sign before then, don't you?"

"....like what?"

"I haven't given much thought to it, but if you go around the streets, it doesn't feel like a city that's right about to apocalypse, does it?  Everybody's still walking around normally and the bookshops are still open and all that."

"Well if I were Carissa Sevar, I wouldn't give anyone any warning, since I wouldn't want them to run, what with how I'm planning to eat their souls."

"Oh, dearie, that obviously can't be what's going on!  Then there wouldn't have been any prophecies of doom at all, now would there?  Do be logical!"

"Well, I doubt Carissa Sevar authorized the prophecies!"

- she should stop this and leave and go read her book.

"Somebody certainly is stirring this city's pot," Ri-Dul's voice will observe beside her.  "If it's not you nor Keltham, I rather wonder who and to what end."

Nethys and Cayden and whichever other gods are working with them. 

I don't want to do it, she prays to them silently. Find another way. This city might not matter to you, this planet might not matter to you, it might be that if Rovagug eats it but Keltham gets some of what he wants you'll call it victory - but it won't be. 

"Let's go. I can read this at base."

He'll go visible and offer his hand for the Teleport, then.  "I realize it may seem an unpleasant topic, but it represents quite the opportunity for, say, an up-and-coming leader or adventurer looking to make a name for themselves - if Carissa Sevar were to teleport in with an army of cultists and devils, and be handily fought off.  The city's anxieties would be much relieved, and they'd be very grateful to this new hero."

"Are you volunteering?"

"Hardly.  I have research to do.  It's just an obvious thought as to what you might make of it - or what somebody else might be trying to achieve, possibly at the expense of your own reputation.  Somebody with access to cultist cannon fodder, lesser devils, maybe even a Gate spell."

Teleport.

Is Keltham about?

Someone's about, though after almost two time-dilated days not in Carissa's presence and focusing on his Magical Simulation of Magic, he's reverted to a more detached appearance.

"Well. I encouraged my cults. Had a couple of people interested in selling their souls, in some of the more crappy places, so I called a devil and made some purchases."

Keltham we're off the track Nethys set for us, the story where you end the world in sixteen days is over, Nethys doesn't know what you'll do next there's no story you can do whatever you want -

She doesn't say it. If Keltham will predictably know what Nethys is doing, Nethys can do less; probably can't even have warned the population of Absalom. She can't ask him to use that, even though it's true. 

She's so scared.

"I guess you can have the crown now."

"Thank you.  I am - sorry for a lot of things, that I am going to keep on doing anyways because I think I have reasons to do them, as you - never could say to me, during your own part of the story.  I don't know if it's better for myself, for you, that I can say that - it's probably not better for you and I should shut up -"

"I'll go get my +6 Intelligence headband, and then - not speak to you for a while, I guess."

"I hope that when you think about this harder you decide it's the wrong thing to do."

"I hope so too."

He goes to get his +6 headband.

Earlier

Pilar is looking at a note she doesn't remember writing, starting Attn: Aspexia Rugatonn in Infernal and continuing in Celestial.

The note is resting on a fancy desk, in a large bedroom, given Pilar by Subirachs to befit her real status and pride, after Keltham had departed Project Lawful's fortress.  The room has never felt real to Pilar, like it was really hers - Subirachs had hoped she'd acclimate in time - and now she's leaving here and -

- never coming back.  Pilar isn't really thinking about what sort of model generates that prediction, it just feels intuitively true.  She won't be coming back to the Fortress of Law.

It's safe for Pilar to cry, if she wants to.  There's no one watching from Security, or anywhere, to see it and think worse of Pilar.

Pilar does not feel like doing so.

...how does she actually leave the Fortress?  The Securities wouldn't stop her... probably... well, no, they'd ask questions.  Those questions would have weird answers.  Security might ask Pilar to wait while they queried upwards if she's allowed to leave.  Pilar... doesn't feel like living through that.

How does Pilar just, do the thing that everyone thinks of as synonymous with Cake Girl, where she just suddenly is somewhere and nobody remembers seeing her moving.  It's always been Snack Service doing that, before.

Pilar is smart enough to figure this out herself given how much evidence she's accumulated by now.