"...Then maybe it's a Wild Gift that you can't detect. Or maybe it wasn't a Gift at all, and Leareth just convinced him." 

"Convinced him to turn a blind eye to Van's death?" A sensation like a mental static-electricity zap, as the redirect catches something that would otherwise resolve into pain. "I really, really don't see it." 

"Maybe he doesn't know! He might even think they've been in contact - Leareth probably could impersonate Van well enough to fool him, he's not a Thoughtsenser and he's only known Van for a few days - and there's apparently something that looks like a Companion and claims to be Yfandes running around Waymeet for some goddamned reason, so -" 

Melody closes her eyes. Reinforces the redirect currently under strain. "I don't - think that we can confidently say we know what's going on there," she says, carefully. 

"It makes sense that Leareth could construct something that looked like a Companion but couldn't fake the link to the Web."

"Rolan said Enara is really Enara, right?" 

"Yes, but - the thing that happened with Yfandes four years ago, happened to her in the time since she was last in Haven. She's - she can break the rules now." 

Good. 

It would not help this conversation to say that out loud and Melody doesn't. 

"Rolan has a bad feeling." 

"I am entirely in agreement that, one way or another, the situation we're in now is very very bad. I just - don't think we know what way this points until we talk to him." 

A long pause.

“…Information is always worth having.”

Van (flinch) used to say that and - he didn’t even get that from Leareth, it’s from Seldasen on ethics. A Herald who lived in a difficult and confusing time in Valdemar’s history, though surely not like this.

Sigh. “And hearing what he has to say is - more information than not, even if we shouldn’t trust it. But I want you to block the area you think is his spells before we wake him up. And be ready to set-command him not to run.”

Is that really necessary! It puts the conversation on such a hostile footing and Melody isn’t any good at hostile.

But it seems better than arguing in circles for another candlemark before talking to him. “All right.”

Blai will wake up another half-candlemark later, with a headache, and slightly stiff like he’s been lying in one position for a long time. The pouch with the communication-artifacts is no longer with him. 

He’s also blocked from using his spells, though this won’t feel like anything unless he tries it.

He’s on a mattress in a stone room, not one he’s been in before. Enara isn’t there.

:I’m sorry: the red-haired woman from before says in Mindspeech. She’s perched on a stool a few feet away; one of the brown-robed people is also nearby, leaning against the wall with the posture of someone on watch duty. :This is probably excessive. Do you need water or anything right now?:

She is also still reading his mind.

:I: - can't cast Create Water. :Oh no, how bad is it, are you sure you should be letting me talk at all?:

:I just spent a candlemark winning an argument on whether to let you talk so we can find out what in the world is happening right now. You were dropped off via a Gate just outside Haven, Enara reported to Rolan that you had a message: from VANYEL, which was the second baffling and concerning element after Blai turning up with no warning in the first place, :and you said, quote, 'I was kidnapped and have been released and am here for a debriefing about the events that followed', do you remember that?:

Pause.

:...As far as I could tell there was no Mindhealing on you except what I did just now. If someone from Leareth's side has a Wild Gift: and you're aware of it and allowed to talk about it which seems incredibly unlikely, :that would be good to know.: 

:Yes, I remember that. I am not aware of anyone in his employ having a 'Wild Gift' but I don't recognize the phrase. Did Enara already catch you up? She should know virtually everything I do but if you wanted more detail on the prophecies or something it would be reasonable to want it firsthand.:

:I have not been caught up.: It's possible Rolan has talked to Enara at this point but if he has he didn't want Melody included. Fair enough to get the story separately, it might let them put the two versions together and find any inconsistencies. 

:What we know is that in the morning, about two and a half days ago - er, it's a couple of candlemarks before midnight now, you arrived this evening after nightfall - you were kidnapped. Several candlemarks later we received a message in cipher via the Mindhealers' station in Waymeet, asking for me - no explanation of why but Jisa's guess was that they had rescued you. Jisa went instead.:

:That same evening Vanyel arrived in Waymeet and dropped off an un-Gifted woman claiming to be Leareth's messenger, as well as a letter in which he said Leareth had released you, claiming the kidnapping was a mistake and he didn't want a war and also disclaiming his involvement in the attacks on Haven and k'Treva. Vanyel claimed that Jisa had verified your mind hadn't been - messed with - and Vanyel said he was planning to negotiate for a meeting with Leareth where you could use your world's magic to verify his intentions. The messenger seemed to believe all of that was true.: 

And the next night, just over a day ago now, the Death Bell rang for Vanyel and the world shattered into a thousand pieces and nothing is ever going to be all right Melody cannot actually think that thought, she has redirects. Their tentative hopes were thoroughly extinguished, stick with that.

:What is your understanding of what happened after that point?: 

:I'd been released from Leareth's custody accompanied by Feniss, the messenger, after Leareth verified to his satisfaction that neither I nor Iomedae were responsible for the attack on k'Treva. Vanyel took custody of me. He wanted a Mindhealer to check me for enchantment; Jisa arrived to perform this office. My recollection is that I was cleared at the time of enchantment - would it be more efficient if I gave this report without hedging for the possibility that I am at this moment still under mind-altering effects -:

:Why in the world would Leareth think you– Nevermind.: She already knows what Leareth wanted them to think the answer was; she helped question Feniss, which was awful in an entirely different way. :Later. Yes, that sounds more efficient.: 

This poor man. He almost certainly doesn't know Vanyel is dead or it would have come up in his thoughts, and - whatever damage Leareth has been able to use him to do, none of this is his fault. Melody feels really bad about the blocks on his god-magic, however sensible a precaution it is.

(...And maybe it's not what it looks like, somehow, and there's still hope Melody can't think that thought properly either, it's too close to Vanyel.) 

:So I was cleared of enchantment and Vanyel, Jisa, and I discussed what could possibly be going on and what should be done about it. We speculated that it's possible the Star-Eyed Goddess herself false-flagged k'Treva. It came up that Companions come into existence pre-enchanted and have mental blocks about some related topics and this might be wedging Valdemar into a war footing. Leareth was interested in me separately from his suspicion about k'Treva because he had been working on a plan to create a god but had reservations about the plan to fuel it with blood-magic; on my planet ascension is, not routine, but repeatably achieved. It seemed likely that communication-impeding emergencies were being manufactured by divine intervention and the ability to exchange messages needed to be drastically overdetermined to not be sabotaged. I wanted to verify Leareth's alignment - being Lawful, and especially being Lawful in a context without any external force incentivizing or verifying that up until this point, seems to me a very strong signal of the ability to make sincere solemn oaths - and then secure some assurances from him that he would not create an Evil god nor ascend while Evil. So we needed to wait until the next morning for me to prepare more spells, and in the meantime I cast Minor Prophecy with Jisa as the subject. I saw a meeting between our group, and a kyree, with Leareth and his Mindhealer, in a mountain pass, attempting a spell Jisa has not in fact invented yet to secure an oath of nonbetrayal between Vanyel and Leareth, followed by an interrupting gryphon attack and a Final Strike. - some of that is me retrospectively editorializing, at the time I didn't confidently recognize Leareth by face and so on. Jisa sent Brightstar a message by elemental courier, and we sent Feniss to Waymeet. Stef, inspired by the prophecy, called the kyree he knows for help. Is there anything I should clarify so far?:

:That fleshes out some details, thank you.: So far, no conflict with anything they already knew. :I don't think anything so far needs clarifying. What happened next? Especially the next day and evening?: 

 And she's going to read his mind even more closely, looking for - discontinuities, jumps, anything in his thoughts that feels like forced illogical leaps he's unable to notice - if there is a Wild Gift involved here it could be one that replaces memories, Katha did some digging and thought that was compatible with obscure legends though the legends might still just refer to ordinary Mindhealing. Or, you know, be entirely made up. 

The more obvious theory is that they were separated at some point - probably for what seemed to Blai like entirely innocent unsuspicious reasons - and if he interacted with Van face to face at all after that point, it was with an imposter? 

:Vanyel and a kyree went to Waymeet to deliver Feniss; the rest of us camped out under a warming spell. Then lightning struck a tree; it caught fire and fell down on Jisa and Stef, and I pulled them out and healed them and Jisa and I put out the fire. I used a summon to discharge the traps in Leareth's nearby records cache and we went to ground in there, though it took a little while before Jisa could Gate the Companions in.: Then Stef made incredibly awkward conversation. Does he have to cover this part. He probably does or it will just somehow come out at an even worse time. Being on a planet where hostile gods have prophecy is awful actually. :To pass time time Stef asked questions about my personal history. I was previously a cleric of a different god, an Evil one who tyrannized the country in which I grew up until its recent conquest and His subsequent likely-related budget reallocation which resulted in Him dropping all of His clerics on Golarion at the same time. Iomedae selected me some weeks afterward. ...anyway, then Vanyel returned and sent Leareth a letter by one of the letter-carrying creatures Leareth has. We relocated to the kyree cave. I used up my Aura Sight rather than let it go unused and planned to prepare Detect Law instead at dawn; it takes up a lower circle. I cast another prophecy, on Vanyel. I saw him approach the Heartstone room but find himself shielded out, have a brief conversation with someone, and then Final Strike. Vanyel attempted to interpret the vision on Owl's Wisdom, and then Jisa took the other one - incidentally she wanted me to try healing the King, though obviously if I am considered compromised you shouldn't let me anywhere near him let alone with my spells loose.:

Lightning struck a tree and it happened to fall on them – okay, weird and suspicious but Melody can't see what it would possibly have to do with anything else here. 

...the Evil god thing is - a distraction right now - also one that both probably explains the recent changes to his mind-structure and is probably entirely unrelated to anything that happened in the last several days. Tantras is going to fixate on why it means they can't trust Blai not to voluntarily side with Leareth and Melody is already wincing internally about how incredibly tedious that argument will be. 

- and more events. Vanyel gets back - was it still Vanyel? They're sure it was still Vanyel in Waymeet but if he had to travel back, the substitution could have happened then - it would be still be most of a day too early to coincide with the Death Bell, but Leareth could have snatched him then and spent the day interrogating him before his death. 

They relocate to the kyree cave, apparently? She should clarify if that was outside of Valdemar. Also at this point she's entirely lost track of when things were supposed to be happening and what, if anything, was happening shortly after nightfall yesterday.

- he saw WHAT in a prophecy spell on Vanyel??? 

Melody rubs her eyes. She can't even come up with a theory right now, but that's not her job, her job is to get the basic facts - well, claims - and bring them to the Heralds and end up mediating an endless frustrating debate.

:...Sorry, I think I've lost track of the timeline a bit. When approximately was all of this happening? You went to the kyree caves - yesterday? Morning or afternoon? Was the prophecy spell on Vanyel: only a slight hitch in her mindvoice, :also still yesterday?: 

A pause. :And was Vanyel - acting off, at any point? Like something was wrong, or - just not like himself?: 

(Melody is very good at controlling her expressions for a Valdemaran, but she's not Chelish, and it's going to be fairly clear to Blai that there's something around this topic she's upset about.) 

:I haven't known him for very long but had no reason to suspect any issues, and didn't see anything with Detect Magic. He detected Neutral Good to Aura Sight. Jisa and Yfandes didn't appear to notice any problems. We moved to the kyree cave yesterday, late afternoon, it was dark by then; this morning I was awoken before dawn for spell reasons, and that's when I cast the prophecy on Vanyel and also did the Aura Sight.:

That's...baffling, mostly. The Death Bell would have rung - sometime around when they were relocating to the caves or just afterward?

And the prophecy spell was cast the next day. Vanyel was dead, and so it cannot possibly have been him who "detected" "Neutral" "Good" whatever that means, or who CALLED A FINAL STRIKE ON HAVEN (????) in a prophetic vision. Unless– (a thought that doesn't really go anywhere, just bounces around in a brain-zappy sort of way.) 

She nods levelly and does not look nearly as confused and disturbed as she feels. :You were still with Jisa and Stef and both Companions, at this point?:

Is Blai thinking anything that might possibly be more helpful?