"Cool. And I'm planning to get you back when exactly - I'll check first but for having enough mana available -"

"I think the morning two days from now would be good? So I'll spend a full day and two nights there, but have a bit to get re-situated before my leave is over." 

"Sure. I'll come by a candlemark earlier than usual tonight, send you off."

"See you then!"

She is there at the appointed time, full up on borrowed mana, having played her healing shift conservatively.

Vanyel is ready, with a bag packed and a beaming smile for her. "Bella, thank you so much. This is – it really means a lot." 

"You're welcome! Say when and I'll do you then Yfandes."

Vanyel takes a deep breath, tries to convince his hindbrain that this is definitely not a Gate and won't have any of the downsides. "I'm ready." 

She casts the spell. Twice. And he and Yfandes are in the Vale right where he picked to show her.

The Tayledras aren't completely shocked to see Vanyel, since he borrowed the new earcuff briefly from Bella to pass a message earlier, but they have a lot of questions about his new friend from another world, and her magic, and how she got to Valdemar, and what she wants to do in Valdemar, and...it goes on.

Vanyel can do his best to answer – she came originally from a world where testing things and doing experiments doesn't work because reality gets mad about it, and then spent a while in a world where the gods had just fought a war but the nice(ish) ones had won, and studied her kind of arcane magic there because experiments worked, and then the gods kicked her out, no he isn't sure exactly why and neither is she. 

He gets WEIRD LOOKS, mostly. Not that this is very surprising. 

Well, Vanyel can go to bed now and worry about it in the morning. 

The next day he has a relaxing soak in the pools and a lazy breakfast and a long ride with Yfandes.

(People are still giving him weird looks but no one is saying anything about it.)

Eventually in the afternoon he finds Moondance. "I, um, wanted to talk about something. Can you promise not to tell anyone other than Starwind?" He can't really expect Moondance not to tell Starwind, but he's intimidated at the prospect of having the conversation with Starwind actually there. 

"Yes, of course." Moondance can help him find a nice private set of comfortable hammocks to sit in, and cast a privacy-barrier for them. "Is this about your friend Bella?" He has an odd look as he says it. 

"Er, sort of, but it actually started before she turned up..." Vanyel, fumblingly, explains the lucid dreams with Leareth. The proof that he's immortal. The last year-and-some of conversations.

Moondance takes it in stride until he gets to the part where he learns how to Mindspeak from the dream and Bella is able to join in watching it. Then he freezes. 

"...What?" 

"...I have a very bad feeling about this." 

"But - it was really helpful actually..." Vanyel trails off. He so, so desperately wants to someone, anyone, about the confusing and terrifying sideways turns that his life keeps taking, and now Moondance is looking at him like he has two heads. "She's really good," he says, "she helped me a lot, I had no idea what to do..." 

It's occurring to him that Moondance is Tayledras. Which means he's part of their pact with the Star-Eyed. Who is a goddess. No wonder Moondance has a premonition about it. 

"And?" Moondance says expectantly. 

Vanyel wants to be able to tell him everything. But it's starting to seem like a very bad idea to mention the part where they deliberately broke part of Yfandes' Companion-nature and are possibly about to get in trouble with the gods.

"That's all," he says dully. "I don't know what's going to happen next." 

Moondance gives him a long, hard look. It's clear he isn't sure he believes him. Which is fair. Vanyel isn't that good a liar. 

"I don't really want to talk about it now." False. "It's not - restful - and I'm trying to use this leave to rest. Er, want to go swimming or something?" 

"All right." Moondance still seems distracted. "...Vanyel, brother, be careful. All right? I...am worried." 

"I know. Me too." Though Vanyel wonders if Moondance is worried about something different. "I'll be careful."

He can pass the rest of the day as non-awkwardly as possible, and even kind of forget about the matter, except when Starwind gives him an even stranger look at suppertime.

Still, when he packs up his things to wait for Bella's lift back to Haven in the morning, he isn't really more relaxed than when he left.