"Maybe on the way out." She looks around the office. "It looks so ordinary. Well, Elfily decorated, but."

"Not the seat of a magical power far beyond our comprehension, yeah. A bar. I partially invited you here because it sounds like such an absurd claim."

"A bit. Bar with a hotel on top."

"Populated mostly by teenagers who are waiting until we figure out how to unpause their world, and the daeva they have taken up with."

"How long have they been here?"

"Time doesn't pass consistently in different parts of Milliways, so it's not the same answer for each of them. Timothy was seventeen when he found it and counts himself almost nineteen now; Minor's switched to keeping his birthdays by Revelation time..."

Nod. "Is it a nice place to grow up?"

"- it's not where the fork of me who has children would raise them, let's say that. I don't think they are being exposed to damaging influences. It's probably much nicer than a wizarding school in 1802 - no one here beats them -"

Shudder.

Yeah. "They were disturbingly nonchalant about it. I did pull Timothy aside to make sure that they didn't have - similarly disturbingly low standards for romantic relationships -"

"Is Swan generically dangerous -?"

"Not at all. He was summoned unbound to our world, you know, made his summoner a bowl of cherries and then asked his mom if there was anyone he should talk to to explain about demons."

Sigh.

"I don't blame you for finding us - obnoxiously idealistic."

"Not really obnoxious about it, but - very."

"I could ask the bar if Security prevents any soul transactions and then you could talk to him, if you'd like."

"I don't really think I'm equipped to make evaluations like that in interpersonal interaction."

Nod. "I've been doing it for a couple thousand years and I have yet to get one wrong, but I recognize there's too much at stake to rely on that in place of more ordinary precautions."

Nod.

"There was of course also three days of questioning under a magical truth effect, but we don't expect you to trust that either. We don't expect you to trust in anything. He won't enter Revelation."

"Thank you."

"Of course. Is there anything in particular you wanted to see while you're here? There's an outdoors, the bar answers questions about the multiverse - and has magically-calibrated taste in drink recommendations -"

"That sounds interesting, what a weird sort of magic."

"Isn't it?" And they head back out into the main bar, where the miniatures Quidditch match has disintegrated into a high-speed chase around the windows. Timothy is resting on Cam's shoulder and typing up the new demons list. 

Niari gets a beverage. She is pleasantly surprised by the beverage.