And thus ends their session.

Vanyel does think about the Gate question over the next few days – it's probably a good idea but it doesn't seem urgent, there are a lot of other reasons he doesn't feel ready to go on circuit yet including the fact that he still can't reliably fall asleep without Bella's help, and it does seem likely to be stressful and a lot of work.

He does talk to Savil about changing up his routine work (she's surprised he didn't ask sooner), and coaxes himself to be more inventive with it, and spends less time unproductively distracted. It helps that as more time passes without any suspicious potential god schemes against Bella, much less a competently-executed one, the situation is feeling less imminently terrifying. 

The ice dream still hasn't happened again since their last earcuff conversation with Leareth. 

She makes steady but not breakneck progress on interplanar transit. It has to be possible - that's how she got here - but she won't settle for random, which seems to be what the university students were doing...

And a few weeks later, out of the blue in the middle of an otherwise ordinary afternoon, Savil knocks on her shields. 

Hello? Bella asks, once she's between patients.

:Getting a weird Web-alarm. Can't see anything it corresponds to but it's - above the east half of the city? Wondered if you had a minute to go check it out: 

Uh, next guy isn't dying... Above it? What do you mean?

:Well, I query the Web for what's going on where, and it tells me '???' and 'about half a mile up in the air'. Think it might be moving, it was east of the outer city walls when I first checked. It's got to be some kind of magic, that's what the Web senses, but I can't think what: The overtones are more confusion than worry. :Could be a false alarm, I guess, but - that's really unusual: 

I can fly over if it's not visible from here, yeah. She excuses herself to Gemma and ducks out and goes aloft.

There is nothing out of the ordinary visible in the air. 

:See anything?: 

No, looks like a lot of nothing.

:Well, it's about a thousand feet and– GACK!: 

There is no longer a lot of nothing! There is, instead, a clump of at least fifty enormous winged creatures – not birds, they have the heads, wings, and tails of something like hawks or falcons, if said raptors were the approximate size of horses, but their bodies are more catlike, with four clawed limbs in addition to the wings. They all seem to be wearing harnesses. They're flying in a tightly clustered formation, some of them in pairs or quartets and supporting baskets strung from the harnesses. The formation is just passing over the inner Palace wall. 

Most of them execute a steep, coordinated dive toward the field below them, while half a dozen screech and fly straight at Bella. 

Holy fuck it's... gryphon cavalry??? They're coming right at me - She is not faster than a gryphon. She lets herself drop, catching herself just before she hits the ground, and runs back indoors. "Palace is under attack!" she hollers.

:–Goddamnit it that's a Gate. Shit shit shit. Where's Van– Bella, do you know where Van is?: 

Melody comes sprinting out of her office. "What?" 

"Fucking gryphon cavalry! They saw me flying to see what the web alarm was about and came straight at me -" I don't know let me - Earcuff, Van is in range now, what is he seeing -

Sideways view of some rosebushes and grass, it looks like the scenery beside one of the paths, as seen by someone sprawled on the ground. 

Looks like he collapsed here - She bounces the image, copies Yfandes.

:On it, I know where he is: Yfandes seems to already be in motion.

It's Gemma's turn to sprint out to the centre station. "All right, everyone, stay calm – um, stay inside, we should probably barricade the doors or something – Melody, you're the strongest Mindspeaker, find a Herald who knows what's happening and can tell us what to do–"

:Bella they're bringing about a million ground troops through that stupid Gate, I'm headed to try to blast it down, can you please, please get Van inside right now?: 

"Savil knows and is going to wreck their gate," says Bella. "I'm refilling off all of you now, anyone else I can use get in here, I need to get Vanyel in here -" Yfandes I'm yoinking him to Healers'.

:All right. I'll catch up: