He collects his Acts. :The accommodations weren't really the problem but they won't keep the cold out, uh, any more, and I have an Endure Elements prepared but can't cast it.: Which would be why he's shivering involuntarily. :I'm not sure who at present most badly needs to know - oh, possibly I should check on Enara -:

Seldan is not really sorry about the door and just has a new grievance to add to his list of complaints about the Companion instantiation, namely 'the Call could really stand to be more specific about what the emergency is and whether kicking down a door will help.'

:Enara is -: quick flicker of conversations with the other Companions in his head, he could really get used to this, :- is in a barn this way, apparently. I don't know your relationship to her and I think everyone else might be too embarrassed to catch me up.: 

:She and I arrived together to deliver reports - she's Herald Jisa's Companion, it's -

- look, I'm pretty concerned at the moment with who you work for, I have some reason to be concerned about that question as regards arbitrary Companions, is that a question you can answer for me.:

The first answer that comes to him is the sarcastic one, because apparently even becoming a Companion hasn’t changed that. 

Seldan steps on it. This is clearly very serious to his Chosen, and he ought to be serious about it too.

:I have a philosophy. That I don’t - that no one ever really works for anyone. You can be loyal to someone or something, and loyalty is important, but there’s no way to abdicate your conscience, and anyone who thinks they can do that is lying to themselves. I work with the King and the Heralds, and what we work on is Valdemar’s future. But that’s an accident of my birth, in a sense, I could have been Rethwellani. The only thing I work for is doing the right thing.:

Pause.

:…That being said, I’m a Companion of Valdemar, and - it seems that means I absolutely work for you. Not that I intend to be the stupid kind of loyal, to be clear. That’s new, obviously, so I ought to - think, a minute, if there’s anything else…:

Longer pause.

:Not that I’ve noticed, at least not yet. Think it’s just me in here apart from the Companion-bond – I thought there might be more enforced loyalty to Valdemar as well, but I don't notice anything. ...If there's a particular concern you've got, might not be a bad idea to - push the point now. Find out sooner rather than later.: 

:I work for Iomedae, the goddess of triage and victory over Evil. Admittedly a lot of things you say sound sort of like things from Her holy book. I'm in Valdemar by accident and in a few weeks I'm going to be late for a political responsibility on my home planet in my home country, though, I can't plan to stay here if I could reasonably return. It's - Iomedae doesn't mind people having magic sapient horses, She dispenses them on a fairly routine basis albeit usually to paladins not clerics, but that's fine as far as it goes. I'm just terribly suspicious of whoever is attempting to dispense you, because it wasn't Her.

I think you should talk to Enara.: Tucking his fingers into his armpits against the winter he trudges in the indicated direction.

SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.

...Oh no his Chosen is cold. This is bothering him a weird amount, like an itch, even though objectively speaking the man isn't going to freeze on a ten-minute trek through the Palace grounds. Is this why Companions always act like your mother about things? ...Is this how mothers feel about their literal toddlers who are constantly making the sorts of decisions toddlers make, that sounds agonizing. 

Companions do apparently come with the ability to try to keep their Chosen warm! It really doesn't seem like this is nearly as much of a big deal as Seldan's new Companion emotions seem to think it is, but it's still sufficiently neat to have that ability at all that, sure, he'll radiate body heat at his Chosen just to test if it works. 

:I'm also suspicious about that, the more I think about it. It's very unusual for Companions to appear in the Grove fully-grown like I did, if they're not the Monarch's Own Companion.: 

It seems unlikely but not entirely impossible that the goddess Iomedae - who sounds a lot more interesting than any of the gods followed in Valdemar in his hazy memories of living as a Herald - was somehow involved? The closest thing to a consensus belief at the time was that it was a joint project of many gods, since 'many gods' was what King Valdemar had prayed to, and - it's not impossible They take constructive criticism on the handling of what sounds like an utter mess. 

He keeps walking, and musing without saying anything to his Chosen, until they're almost there and he's interrupted by an actually pertinent Mindspeech communiqué. 

:- Do you know a Melody? Apparently she's looking for you, and in a hurry, she's been summoned north for some reason.: By Gate, which explains why it's worth hurrying for a journey that would take days overland. Why are there so many Gates here, anyway, it's baffling. 

:...not by name but I am willing to be findable?:

Seldan will ask around until one of the Companions can bounce them a mental image. Red hair, Healers' robes but with...yellow trim? He has no idea what that means. :This person.: 

And they've reached the barn! For some deeply confusing reason, a Rethwellani mage in robes is guarding it?? 

:Excuse me. Circumstances recently changed and the Companion you're guarding is being released. You can check that with your superiors if you want, but we need to speak with her urgently.: 

:I know that person, she interrogated me last night.:

The White Winds mage on duty right now is a Mindspeaker, and so has some idea that surprising and confusing new events are happening. She's honestly pretty worried about it! But standing in the way of a very large, very angry-looking Companion does not seem like a good place to intervene. She'll do a pro forma Mindspeech check and then let them into the barn. 

It's great to be listened to. 

:Do you want to be findable by her?: Seldan asks while they're waiting. :I can find out why she's looking for you, but the Companion who alerted me wasn't sure.: 

:Probably? Yes. I came here intending to give a complete report, the interrogation wasn't not that.: He's standing quite close to Seldan's side to absorb the radiated warmth.

Then he'll pass along their location. There's...probably...a perfectly good explanation for why his Chosen was being interrogated by a Healer. But only probably. It seems like some of what's been happening around here cannot possibly have a good explanation except the kind of temporary insanity people sometimes pull out under enough stress. 

The mage lets them in, looking unhappy about it. 

Enara - doesn't rush to the door at first, even though she wants to, because she's still trying to look as meek and cooperative as possible. 

- they've let Blai out! That's got to be good news - she will hurry over - 

...She doesn't know that Companion. Which makes no sense. 

:I - wait - are you a Groveborn, did Rolan–: 

:Rolan is alive and well.: He doesn't add 'unfortunately' or anything like that; he doesn't actually mean it and it's petty. :I did appear in the Grove, but I'm not the Groveborn. Seldan, a pleasure to meet you.: 

Glance at Blai. 

Glance at the new not-actually-a-Groveborn. 

Glance at Blai again. 

:Wait, are you...?: 

:I've been trying to Choose this man for half a candlemark but he has concerns to address first, particularly 'who I work for'. ...And, honestly, I have some concerns too. What's been happening around here? I'm told that some gods are trying to manipulate Valdemar into a war - how in the world did you all get yourselves into that situation -: 

He and Enara are both including Blai on all of this, though it's otherwise private Mindspeech. 

That feels a bit unfair. 

:It's a really long story. Though - I know what Blai is worried about, I think.: 

Blai! He has a name for his Chosen now! 

:Go on?: 

Enara fidgets, her tail twitching.  

:I - want to be careful - it can be difficult if you hit it wrong, though I suppose there's a limit to how bad it is for him if you haven't actually Chosen him yet. I - what do you think it means, that some gods are trying to drive us to war?: 

What sort of a bizarre question is that. 

:That I was clearly missing a lot of context on gods? I mean, I never had much time for religion. But I wasn't aware that gods cared about geopolitics, let alone had ways to do something about it in a place like Valdemar - unless the laws changed and we're explicitly religious now? No? ...All right, what exactly have They been doing?: 

This seems to be going...better than Enara would have expected? There's no discomfort there, just confusion. 

:We believe that the Star-Eyed Goddess sent a Changecreature out of the Pelagirs to assassinate the King's five-year-old daughter - who's also the heir to Karse, there's an alliance marriage. And also destroyed a Tayledras Vale and killed several hundred of her own people, and most likely killed a Companion to block our communications. We were supposed to think that the mage in the north who was previously planning to invade us was responsible. ...Well, not for the last thing, that was later.: 

The King of Valdemar is in an alliance marriage with the Queen of Karse??? - not important right now. 

:How do you know about– you had allies among the Tayledras? Don't they just kill anyone who tries to bother them?:

It was a real problem, last he remembers, with the Pelagirs pressing up against Valdemar's western half. ...Probably less so, now, it's been - centuries, he thinks. 

:I think there were exceptional circumstances, with one of our Herald-Mages decades ago, they - were able to get on good terms.: 

In hindsight, how far back does the godplot go? How much of that decades-long friendship was steered into place to - well, ensuring Vanyel's survival, that was probably important, and later on the Heartstone and a path to much greater influence within Valdemar proper?