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vanyel meets sad cam in milliways
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Lissa nods and gives him a "what now" sort of look. 

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"I don't think Leareth is likely to be particularly advantaged at helping with Yfandes. Also, uh, Savil, does she also have a Companion? What if it affects hers too?"

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"I didn't think of that." Lissa makes a face and chews her nail while she thinks. "My guess is that it comes out of there being a mismatch? Yfandes seemed really upset that Vanyel thought Leareth's thing was maybe worth it. So I guess it's actually just bad either way – either Savil's completely horrified and won't help us, in which case what's the point, or we give her the same problem as Van. Which I'd feel horrible about even though she, um, might take it better than he did." 

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"So it might be we can't improve on waiting."

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"Well, in that case I'm getting drunk for the next bit. It was fine when my vacation turned into the interesting kind of surreal but now it's just the bad kind and I need a break." She heads Bar-ward. 

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Bar will serve her booze.

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Cam waits.

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A while passes. Lissa gulps her first drink and gets a second and nurses it sitting on the couch-arm by her brother and then goes and gets a third. 

 

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–And then there's some banging and a white mare sprinting in through the door to the backyard. :I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I think I fixed it now – is he all right–:

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"Asleep. You weren't gone long from our perspective."

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Yfandes skids to a stop. 

:...Really? I thought it was days and days – oh, right, time is weird here: She's practically radiating relief. :How long has he been asleep, um, should I wake him or wait?: 

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Lissa glances over. "Bar, how long does the drug you gave him last – is he going to be really groggy or something if she tries to wake him now?" 

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It should be a normal sleep.

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Yfandes bounds over and nudges at Vanyel's shoulder. 

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Vanyel wakes with a start – Lissa is standing a bit too close-by and he sends her cup flying into the wall with a burst of accidental magic. He recognizes Yfandes, stares blankly at her for a few seconds, and then sits up and flings his arms around her neck and bursts into tears. 

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Oh good.

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After a few minutes he calms down, looks around, and realizes Cam is still there. "...Um, I'm really sorry about the last however-long-it's been," he says, shamefaced. "I meant to help you on your problem and then I didn't at all. What did we need to do next – er, was there something Leareth was going to give you to read? I sort of stopped paying attention once Yfandes was yelling in my head." 

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Yfandes somehow manages to convey an astonishing amount of sheepishness via horse-body-language. 

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"It's okay, I did the reading while you slept. Uh, what's the... situation...?"

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Vanyel just stares blankly at him. "I have no idea because I've been asleep?" 

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"I was asking Yfandes but assuming you'd maybe talk for her."

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:I might as well keep talking to you all now that I've started: Yfandes hangs her head. :I had a problem – tried to tell Lissa – it's not new, that's the stupid thing, I should've noticed sooner. Ever since Van started asking questions about the gods, felt uneasy, couldn't think straight about it. And then, this... It was like I didn't recognize Van, or, no, it was only one part of me that didn't, and that part of me felt like...like there was a line that'd been crossed and now nothing was worth salvaging and I might as well burn it all down. Which I knew was stupid! And I kept trying to stare at it and figure out why, and...it wanted the same thing as all the rest of me. To do right by Valdemar and by my Chosen. That’s what a Companion is for. Only, it clearly wasn’t working. Because Valdemar needs Van, and Van needs me, and it was trying to make me repudiate him. So it was wrong. Somehow: 

:So I kept looking and asking the feeling what it was really for – what a Yfandes is really for – until it started to change. And then it all dissolved and there was just...nothing. Not even a coherent question. Nobody's for anything, that's meaningless. All of a sudden it’s only days and nights and rocks and trees and rivers and fires. And people, feeling things and wanting things and doing things. There’s no other purpose to it. Nothing except us: 

Yfandes turns and stares at Cam, helpless, pleading. :So I'm back. I'm not going to repudiate Van and I'm going to help you figure out your problem, somehow. Just... How does anyone live like this?: 

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"Um, I usually prefer it, but that does sound very disorienting. Do you want an only loosely related fact that probably won't help at all?"

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:Y...es?: Yfandes sends, rather hesitantly.

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He shows her the little figurine. "Does this look familiar?"

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