"A gate is worse than my thing, I'm not sure Gating out hostages - is that how that pluralizes - is better."

"Not my intention. I agree, your method is much better. We could Gate more people from a nearby post to this location if you need mana. Rastan can do it in the library, which is shielded, so it will not harm Vanyel." 

"Oh. That works, yes."

The remaining personnel drift in over the next several minutes; Leareth absentmindedly introduces them. They're a somewhat random assortment – in addition to Keter the Healer and Maddi, who apparently runs the facility when Leareth isn't around, there are nine scholars of various fields, two specialized craftsmen, another Healer, two mages (Rastan is Adept-potential and strong enough to Gate, the other isn't), a handyman-type person who does carpentry and otherwise maintains the place, and four trained soldiers who serve as bodyguards when the scholars want to leave the place. That makes a total of twenty-two bodies if you include Leareth. 

Bella circulates among them and takes mana. "Okay, I can grab Shavri now?"

"...I had expected you to go for Vanyel's Companion first, but if she cannot use the earcuff then I suppose Shavri - the young Healing trainee, no - would be a good option." 

"I don't think it would fit. With more people gated in I can use Shavri's help to triage who to bring in though I will feel bad if she is mid-Healing. Ready?" And with an affirmative she grabs Shavri.

"Ack!" Shavri tumbles to the ground and lands on her bottom with a thump. She scrambles up, brandishing – Need? – without any particular skill. Looks around wildly. "...Bella? Bella what in all hells is HAPPENING? Where are we? What–?"

"Sorry, I have no arts left and this was my idea for reestablishing communication, you can wear the earcuff to Mindspeak people. I called backup, this is backup's facility. I was worried there might be hostages to summon out and I need you to be in enough contact to know." She offers the earcuff.

Shavri stares at her for a second, wide-eyed, and then snatches the earcuff and stuffs it into place. She's silent for maybe ten seconds. 

"Bella, what's going on? Some random Companion called Sayshen showed up at my window and Mindspoke me, told me she's friends with you and we had to get out because the attack was after you specifically and they might want your friends too? And that I had to break into Keiran's office and steal Need back? Well it wasn't really 'breaking in', she'd left the door wide open."

:And nobody thought to grab me: Need sends, snappishly. :Goddamned invading army in the capital, I'm a magic sword with millennia of battlefield experience, and no-one wanted me? I had no idea – can't actually sense anything unless someone's holding me, and Keiran put me down. Like an idiot. Bella, I'd also like an explanation, please. Who is he, where are we, and why did he care enough to personally rescue you?: 

"Oh, Sayshen is smart. Uh, I am a wizard subtle artist from two other worlds with unlimited potential, that's nothing that's you didn't already know, and. Uh. The local gods find it threatening. Turns out gods don't like wizard subtle artists from other worlds with unlimited potential. And one of them has a secret army. Do you want to introduce yourself?" she asks Leareth.

He hesitates, but only for a moment. 

"My name is Leareth. I am a powerful mage; I am also immortal, and almost two thousand years old at this time. I dislike the current gods' management of Velgarth; the dislike is mutual and they have not taken well to any of my attempts to improve the state of things. A few decades ago I formed a plan to conquer Valdemar as the first step of a plan to change this balance permanently. The gods responded with a series of unlikely coincidences that resulted in Vanyel existing, and sent him a Foresight vision of fighting me in the north – however, reciprocally, I also had the same dream. Then it transpired that we could speak within it, so we have been for over a year, and I hoped this could eventually open up alliance as an alternative to conquest."

"Then Vanyel introduced Bella and I, and this changed - a very large number of things - and so I paused all of my active plans here in the north in order to re-evaluate. In the meantime, I offered that she might call on my help if the gods intervened against her and her life was in danger. This happened. She did. Here we are."

Shavri stares at him. "You know that's completely crazy, right?" 

"It has sure been a day. Sayshen's all right? Do you know about Yfandes? Is there ongoing fighting now I'm gone?"

"I don't know about fighting, we ran away - we'd gotten past the north gate and Sayshen knew some game-trail so we got off the main road. Sayshen's fine, I just used the earcuff to tell her that it was you who kidnapped me and not the army."

She bites her lip for a moment. "Yfandes...didn't want to leave. Sayshen tried to talk her into it, but she said you were going to get her out and that she owed it to Savil to explain what happened. Um, should I try to talk to her with the earcuff?" 

:Leareth, huh?: Need sends. :Name doesn't ring a bell, but you seem...familiar. Have we met?: 

Slight smile. "Yes. Several times, over the last thousand or so years. I would have been going by different names at the time." 

"I don't have the mana to get Yfandes or Sayshen right now but Leareth has more people who could gate in and I can take some off them if I need to do more summonses - them or anyone else in a tight spot."

"I'll check." Shavri goes quiet again.

"...Yfandes is fine," she says after about a minute. "Er, I mean, she's not under attack or captured or anything – apparently everyone is furious with her though. Especially Taver. But she doesn't think they can really do anything to her, it's not like they're going to try to hold her hostage to get Van back. Um. The bigger situation is pretty awkward? There's this really awkward standoff, the army is bunkered down around Healers' and a bunch of the Healers are in there and the Heralds can't get to them. Yfandes says she's not sure what their plan is, they're totally surrounded and you clearly aren't there anymore. Um, should I try to find out more?" 

"If you can, yeah."

"...Um, even if it involves Yfandes nonconsensually mindreading people? She says Taver is refusing to let anyone tell her things, and I could try Savil but they don't trust you anymore, Savil is really upset and mad, so she might not tell me anything at all. Yfandes only knows what people were yelling and what she can see from where she is, which is basically just 'it looks bad'." 

"...well, all my next impulses are probably bad. Uh, do the other Healers know anything?"

"That's a good idea! I'll try Gemma." 

Pause. 

"Oh no goddamnit this is really bad–"

"What?"