"Is there anyone on your end of the door we could grab?"

"...Savil? Maybe? That's our aunt. I guess that'd mean we have to un-pause time long enough for me to track her down, er, I'm not a Mindspeaker, sorry." 

"My only other idea is asking Leareth if he knows what makes Companions go buggy."

"...He might? I mean, if he's been around for ages, and he obviously thinks a lot about what the gods want, and Companions are a miracle from the gods." Lissa screws up her face. "Either way I'd be going behind Van's back and I hate doing that. But, um, there was a time a few years ago where someone should've done that and didn't, and it was really bad and almost a lot worse. I don't know what to do." 

Cam conjures a little Vanyel-model to see if he is okay.

It shows Vanyel curled up tightly in fetal position, obviously in tears, but otherwise healthy-looking. 

"He does not appear in imminent danger."

Lissa sags. "Gods I'm so relieved. I mean, he looks pretty upset, but...maybe he'll get hungry or something and come down on his own at some point and we can ask if he wants me to go get Savil or if he'd like Leareth's advice? I'd feel way better about either of those plans if I had his permission." 

"Yeah."

...Some not-very-long number of minutes later, there are footsteps on the stairs. 

"On reflection," Vanyel says stiffly with his eyes fixed straight ahead, "it's actually a stupid idea for me to go hide somewhere, I'm really upset and I don't currently trust myself to make reasonable decisions about things. I can't do my usual plan because everything is broken, and I can't think straight, so I'm going to hide down here instead." It sounds pretty rehearsed. He marches over to one of the couches and sits. 

Cam is gonna let his sister handle this.

Lissa goes over and sits next to him. "Van, hey – we were trying to figure out what to do, before, and, um – I didn't want to do either before asking you, but if you want, I can run out and get Savil. Or...we can ask Leareth if he has any idea why Yfandes would've run off like that." 

Vanyel lets out a startled snort at Leareth's name. 

"...I really don't feel like explaining to Savil why I haven't told her that I've been talking to my destined enemy for the past twelve years," he says dully. "And I'm not totally sure he's wrong about wanting to murder a bunch of people to power making a god. She'll be furious and upset and– it just isn't going to help at all." He leans into Lissa's shoulder. "I'd talk to Melody but she's in Haven and I can't Gate. I..can't figure out if it's a terrible idea or not to tell Leareth. Needs thinking and I can't. If you and Cam think it's worth it and not too risky and he might know anything useful then go ahead." 

Lissa shoots a helpless look in Cam's direction that says very clearly 'what do you think, I am so unqualified to make that call.' 

"Uh... suppose I do my reading, which may be informative, and then we decide whether to ask."

"That makes sense." Vanyel twists to look pleadingly at Cam. "Is there a way you can make me not conscious until you're done? It's just...really unpleasant existing right now and I don't know how many hours it'll take you to read all his notes, it sounds like a lot of notes." 

"I... could drug you, sure..."

Pleading look. 

"I did recently give you a near death experience and I'm no longer sure when you last ate, this seems like maybe a bad idea. Bar can possibly dose with more confidence."

Pleading look at Bar instead. 

Bar puts a mug of something on herself.

Lissa goes and collects it and then worriedly sits next to Vanyel with her arm around his shoulders while he drinks it and then waits to see what it's going to do. 

It's going to make him doze off on his sister, if she's going to be right there.

Lissa waits a minute or so and then gently lays him down and covers him with a blanket. She leans her forehead on the couch back for a moment, looking relieved and shaky and exhausted.

“...Want to split the readings?” she offers.

"I think I should look at it all myself but if you want a copy I can make you one. If on the other hand that sounds excruciating I can show you how to teach my computer your language, which will be useful for finding specific topics."