:That kind of coincidence just doesn't happen.: 

Dara shakes her head, more in confusion then negation.

A moment late she reaches out again to Vanyel, privately. :...It's also a pretty big coincidence that he arrived here when he did. In our favor, or apparently, but...I'm not sure I like it.: 

Vanyel hadn't failed to notice that either, but he just shakes his head. 

:Right.: Dara addresses Blai again. :We're calling a meeting with the senior Heralds. Everyone who can make it should be here shortly. I'm sure you understand that - some of it is private - but Vanyel is right. You didn't have to do what you did, for us, and - if drawing attention to yourself to save our people put you in danger then you do deserve to know why.: 

:I don't actually think I need very much of an explanation in exchange for fighting a monster to rescue a child!:

Dara blinks, and then smiles at him. :You sound a lot like a Herald.: 

Vanyel doesn't smile. :Maybe not. But I would hate to be stuck in another world, in a confusing situation, and missing as much context as you are. ...And it's very possible that we could use more of your help, but we don't have enough context on your magic to know what to ask for, necessarily.: 

They reach a meeting room. 

Tran is there ahead of them. :I'm Herald Tantras. You must be Select Blai. It sounds like you handled yourself well out there.: 

:And here's Treven, he's the King's heir and - will be standing in for him here.: There's a brief hesitation in there, as though she's not sure what to say. 

Treven looks even younger than Herald Dara. He nods to Blai. 

:Good morning.:

:Right.: Vanyel is going to head for a chair. He's in a particularly impatient mood, mostly because of the headache. 

:Let's not wait for the others - I assume we'll need to discuss plans and Blai doesn't need to sit in on that, but we should figure out what is relevant to him. Blai, you already know that we were anticipating a potential war with a powerful mage based north of Valdemar. The larger context is that I was more or less destined to fight him. The circumstances of my Gifts awakening: only the very slightest hitch in his mindvoice, :meant that I'm unusually powerful, the events were - suspicious for various gods having intervened to set it up that way - and, anyway, twenty years ago I started having a recurring Foresight dream of trying to stop his invasion: 

:A while later, it became a lucid dream, and - we were both in it. To his surprise as much as mine. I'm still not sure if it was the same god-intervention or a separate one with a different goal. We've spoken fairly regularly since then. I learned that he's immortal and nearly two thousand years old - we're fairly sure it's a setup that lets him take over the bodies of his descendants when he's killed, which has apparently been frequently because our world's gods don't like him. He claims to be working to improve the world for everyone, and that the gods are the problem because they prevent civilization from advancing. I don't know if that's his real motive. The plan he has - that he claims to have - for what to do about it is fairly horrifying. I don't think the details are relevant, except that the first step is invading Valdemar.: 

:...I wouldn't have expected him to attack without warning. He's not willing to back down from his objective here, but he seemed willing to explore if we could - come to some agreement that didn't involve a war - and he didn't seem in a hurry. But he does have the capabilities to send an attack like this and I don't know of anyone else who would. If it was him, he's likely already aware that it didn't work, and would want to get rid of the obstacle. And, of course, there's the possibility that this was meant to be the first step before an invasion. I don't know - I'm incredibly confused about all of this, it's not out of character for him to be willing to kill a child but it's an unusually baffling plot for him - but I am afraid that we might be in exactly the situation I was trying to avoid by - being careful, before.: 

Pause. 

:- I'm sorry. Whatever really happened here, this isn't your war, and I wish we could have avoided dragging you into it.: 

:...are the local gods in fact preventing civilization from advancing?:

Vanyel looks startled, in a faintly approving way.

(Tran looks startled in a way that isn't approving at all.) 

Vanyel seems to be choosing his words carefully, and carefully not-looking at Tran. 

:He made some compelling arguments. It's difficult for me to assess, not having personally been around for two thousand years. I don't know to what extent he could have - heavily selected what evidence he showed me. I know he's - better at arguments than me, in general - and I'm not sure that correlates with being right. ...And I don't know what the alternative looks like, right, maybe in a world with no gods at all people would still be plenty capable of - wasting resources on pointless wars and never building anything new that lasts.: 

Shrug. :My read is that he believes what he's saying, and - has some justification - I don't actually know if that adds up to him being right.: 

:A lot of the 'evidence' he's given you was projects he tried. Maybe the gods have a good reason to oppose his projects, even the ones that aren't horrible except for giving him more resources to do horrible things later.: 

Vanyel glances at Tran, his expression mild. It seems like maybe, perhaps, there might be some kind of history there. 

:Okay. Uh, thank you for explaining. I doubt that I would be very useful on the offensive against an archmage especially in a command structure that isn't accustomed to third-circle clerics as a standard phenomenon, and would want to do slightly more research than this to do so anyway, but if you want me out of the way, or put to use for healing purposes, I don't need any more information than I have right now for that.:

Nod. :Your Healing is absurdly powerful compared to ours in some circumstances, so - that offer is appreciated.: 

Vanyel is finding that he isn't sure he wants Blai anywhere near Haven when they find out what happens next. He's - having trouble entirely pinning down why? Because he doesn't want to put Blai in danger, is part of it, and because it would be devastating for everyone involved if Leareth got his hands on Blai and figured out a way to use his powers against Valdemar, but he thinks that's not all of it...

A quiet thought in the back of his mind: they've been given more than enough reason to trust the man, but much less reason to trust his god. 

Leareth's paranoia must be rubbing off on him. Am I really thinking that? But - Dara isn't wrong that the timing here is incredibly suspicious, even if so far the coincidence seems to have been in Valdemar's favor. 

Dara smiles at Blai. :I think that's all. Do you need anything else in the next couple of candlemarks?: 

:I'm not certain I can find my way back to the room I was lent.:

:- I never managed to send that trainee over to you, sorry. We did assign someone but then it - sort of got dropped in all the confusion. I'll have him come over and meet you to walk you back to the guest wing.: 

To Yfandes, :- find out where Ravan's gotten to?: 

:All the trainees were told to return to their quarters and stay there. I'll tell his Companion we need him after all. In the meantime, why don't I stay with Blai and start heading that way?: 

:Yfandes will walk with you until the trainee we assigned catches up: Vanyel relays. 

(Should they be sending Blai back to the guest quarters? It's not like it's public knowledge where he's staying, but it's hardly a secret either, and he's not not conspicuous walking around the Palace grounds.) 

:- Here, borrow my cloak.: He passes it over. :It'll make you stand out less, and you're not dressed for the weather -: Actually, are Blai's clothes still wet? He suddenly feels terrible for having failed to think about that at all sooner. 

:I have Endure Elements up and it will last till this time tomorrow, but for the sake of being inconspicuous...: Cloak.