The stork-based soft coercion did astonishingly well, but that claim on its own will be hollow; he promises to look it up by city. "I think they're planning a summoning rollout there but were torn about whether to tell you anything about it lest something they said sounds like a plot hook."

Involuntary glance at Aydanci. "It'd depend on what they said."

"Yeah. Maybe they can run it by your alts first."

"I would really like having alts if I just sort of had them sans context."

"And you have a very flattering set of alts."

"I know, right? Although Cam expects yous to not like him."

"Really? Why?"

"In the course of his Arda's war he found it necessary to kill fifty-five million innocent bystanders, have you not looked up this story? And the you there was not best pleased."

"I saw the innocent bystanders part - I guess if I didn't know you and trust you - but no, then I'd just defer to Maitimo -"

"In his Arda they were messily broken up."

"Huh. Trusting you enough to teach you resurrection but not enough to expect you were careful enough about murdering fifty five million people is an odd state to imagine being in but I suppose not impossible. Uh, anyway, it wouldn't be a reason to dislike him once I had enough to go off. Should I say so to him?"

"Don't see why not."

"I can't imagine the war without you. Either of you."

"Without Kib I try rescuing you from Angband on foot. It works. Somehow."

"With all due respect, dear, that's stupid."

"I doubt I was thinking very clearly."

"I suppose absent me you don't have pterodactyls handy. Still stupid."

"Plan was to shoot him, not rescue him. Then an Eagle notices and decides to help."

"A different large flying creature, of course."

"They sort of write themselves into a corner by having me hanging from a cliff face."

"They don't do that with me, they're a bit careful with my actual body, fragile human. Not that the hallucination version is fun."

"I don't think they did it to me, it's too obvious and stupid a mistake when they know we have dinosaurs. Why would you leave a valuable prisoner dangling outside? But all the rescues from within Angband defy plausibility even further."

"That is weird, come to think of it... we were pretty sure you weren't set up to be a trap..."

"Possibly this is a trial run of an effort to set me up to be a trap? But then all of this current nonsense is really directionless. Maybe Angband had a coup and the idiot currently running things said to some subordinates 'oh, and the hallucinations, make them all really cozy and reassuring'. Or something.'"

"Ooh! Hi new management!" Kib says ceilingward. "That raspberry thing with my breakfast today was yummy!"