Herod keeps expanding his appreciation for how hard it is to responsibly distribute magic to a world.
In his first life, he cursed the name of the human mage that unleashed spellword magic to Prime's masses. It cost Gav's and his own first lives.
But now, two lives later, now an angel, and impossibly back on Prime, Herod needs to deal with diplomatic negotiations with petty people that don't grasp concepts such as "you need to educate people if you want to have educated people". Herod is unsure if they are worse or better than the ones trying to wring out every drop of concession they can.
The worst part is that the attack caught them completely by surprise. Maybe the two wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Herod's assistant last ditch attempt to teleport them away. It probably would have worked, but Herod was trying to dispel an incoming enemy spell. Some combination of magical interactions, and then there is an explosion of blue light followed by a cacophony of sounds.
(Did he hear laughter?)