Jisa has been four hundred miles away from Treven for days and she hasn't complained ONCE. :I can manage. I think it might be a good idea anyway - that way Blai has someone reliable for translation.: 

Enara herself jumps in. :And I can't write messages on a wall, but - I think Yfandes and I could figure out something visual, we were playing with codes that one time. So if the Mindspeech relay doesn't work, you can try finding me with a scrying-artifact and it shouldn't be obvious I'm sending a message at all to anyone else if I'm just tapping my hoof in patterns.: 

This is starting to feel very convoluted but Vanyel nods slowly. 

:The other question is whether we try to negotiate this in Waymeet and have them Gate him to Haven once they're ready, or - pick a spot to Gate to that isn't too obtrusive and have Enara explain.: 

:Um. I - feel kind of worried about relying on the mages stationed in Waymeet. I know a lot of places I could do a Gate behind shields and some of them Enara would fit in. ...Actually I should probably Gate them to just outside Haven, in case the Heralds are going way harder on security, I don't want my Gate to get blasted. But I know at least one Waystation with good enough shields, and they can ride the rest of the way in.: 

Does Blai want to point out any holes in this plan? 

Blai does not have enough context on the technical or political constraints here to point out anything less obvious than the fact that he cannot write Valdemaran.

:Hopefully we can do something more sensible that involves the actual Mindspeech relay infrastructure, that's supposed to be what it's for! I can send one of the kyree to Waymeet to find out which Mindspeakers are there and then I really should be able to contact them from here, it's just not that doable when I don't know who to try for. It would just - be good if we had any hope of Blai getting a message out to us if, I don't know, there's another suspicious implausible attack and the Heralds jump to assuming Blai was undetectably mind-controlled to help Leareth do it and decide not to allow him any outside communications. Or something.: 

:Is it in fact in their power to prevent me from mindspeaking Enara? ...Also. What are we going to owe the kyree for all their help and when does that come due?:

:They could block you from Mindspeaking Enara if they actively wanted you out of communications - she should be keyed to most of the shields, but they could put up shields to block her specifically. I...am not sure we can prevent all the ways the Heralds could panic and try to prevent us from talking, though I can ask Leareth. But - I think in the worlds where this works, it's because we're in time to head off - whatever was going to happen - or because sending you de-escalates things enough that once you explain, they want us to be able to talk. I still think it's worth it.

- I don't think it makes sense to view the kyree's help as - transactional, like that? They’re helping Stef because he’s their friend. …Also I think it’s in their interest to avoid a war happening, given that it would run right over their territory.:

He'll just have to ask Stef what the arrangement is by relay instead, then.

Enara is trying to get in the habit of being a Blai translator and can totally ask Stef while Vanyel is going off to get in contact with Leareth again about backup communication methods.

Stef is so bemused by the question!

:I mean, what would they expect us to owe them? They don’t use money. …I guess if they need our help with some horribly complicated problem later, they might expect more from us than they would have otherwise? But it’s not like I wouldn’t’ve done my best to help anyway if they asked.:

It only occurs to him after he’s said all that that this would probably have seemed like a perfectly sensible and important question several years ago. He’s - not sure what changed, or when, to make it feel so much less important to be worrying about the exact balance of favors owed.

:Presumably the food comes from somewhere? They might want to borrow the use of thumbs? But you're the point person on that so if you're sure they don't and won't want anything that's fine.:

:Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, I should ask if there’s anything I can do with thumbs while we’re stuck waiting anyway.:

Stef is pretty sure the food is stolen but Blai is going to be all weirdly prudish about that so he’ll continue not mentioning it.

He absolutely would, yup.

Vanyel is back shortly later.

:Leareth can give you a couple of the artifacts that Feniss had. You can send messages once for each one, about a minute long - you speak out loud to it but the spell itself imitates Mindspeech, the language barrier isn’t a problem. It should get through most types of shields. - It’s possible the Heralds will confiscate them if they’re very spooked, but I prefer having two methods to one, if something goes wrong with Yfandes being able to reach Enara. The messages will go to Leareth by default, it would take significantly more work to redo the artifacts to direct them to me, but I trust him to pass messages along.: 

Leareth had a second suggestion, which Vanyel is not going to tell Blai because, unlike Enara. he has minimal protection against the Heralds reading his mind, and this suggestion is mainly useful in the worlds where the Heralds end up actively hostile to letting Blai have any comms.

:Okay, that's good. How are we collecting them?:

:He’s going to deliver them to the spot we’d picked for exchanging letters. It’s not far. Jisa and Enara will go with some of the kyree scouts to pick them up.:

:When do I need to be ready to depart?:

:I think we’ll have everything within two candlemarks: which will already be after dark but that doesn’t matter too much if they’re Gating Blai to right outside Haven. :We could wait longer if we want to have Yfandes in position already - or for you to have a full set of spells - but I don’t know that we want to risk waiting any longer that we have to. Is there anything you need to do here to prepare?:

:No, not especially, I wasn't kidnapped with many things I now need to pack; that mostly tells me I shouldn't go to sleep or anything right now.: Instead he'll Prestidigitate a chess set.

Awww she’s going to miss what might be the last opportunity for a long time to play Blai’s neat game.

Jisa is a responsible grown adult and will go off on her important mission without complaining. 

Stef is bored and would be happy to learn to play if Yfandes can relay for him so he can learn the rules! 

He'll handicap himself appropriately for a novice opponent.

Stef is intensely competitive but he's not going to be any good at chess when he literally just learned the rules, so yes, a handicap is appropriate.