"Er, let me think." Vanyel closes his eyes. "It's hard to predict what he's thinking, but... First off I think he would see you as a threat. Since I assume his default plan is still to conquer Valdemar, even though it seems like he's willing to put some effort toward, I don't know, convincing me to...ally with him, that he's in the right right, convince me of something anyway. He might send an assassin or kidnappers. I'm pretty sure he tried to have me kidnapped right after I was Chosen." 

Long pause. 

"...He'll be curious about you," Vanyel adds finally, in a softer voice. "He knows everything about magic in this world, I bet, but here you are, coming in from another world. I don't know if he knows that there are other worlds. He'd want to know everything about you, your magic, Arda and Materia... And then, maybe he'd try to be convincing at you too." 

You don't know what he's trying to convince you of?

Vanyel is silent for a long time. 

"...I should get out my notes if I want to cover it properly," he says finally. "But, high points: he claims he's trying to build an empire that'll be a better place to live than Valdemar is or can ever be. Somewhere where kids never starve or die of disease and no one gets murdered by bandits and...all the other stupid problems that even Heralds can't actually do anything about. He says he's tried every other plan that involves less bloodshed, and that he's run the numbers and it'll be worth it in the long run, in terms of lives saved. He seems to think he's qualified, which, well, he claims to have become immortal on purpose because he knew that fixing all the problems in the world would take longer than a human lifetime. He offered enough proof that I believe him." 

Enough proof of which of those? Just the immortality?

"...Sorry, yes, I meant just the immortality. I'm not convinced on the rest. But, I don't know, the things he says sometimes," Vanyel blinks hard, swipes at his eyes, "it's...hard to believe...that he doesn't care. But maybe he is just that good an actor. He would be, after centuries of practice." 

People can be very old without being very good at everything, but if it were a priority, yes.

Helpless shrug. "I don't know what to think anymore. Or do. I don't even know if it's safe to talk to him, he's better at everything, maybe he just can convince me if I'm willing to listen. Just, Yfandes thinks I need to. That it...gives us better chances, somehow." 

But she doesn't know how?

"No. Her, er, Foresight thing, whatever it is, isn't that specific. She showed me, actually, pulled me into the...place, something...that she can see." He grimaces. "It's hard to describe. I...could show you, maybe? If you're all right reading my thoughts again. I remember some." 

Yes, that's fine with me, I can look at what you concentrate on.

The...thought, memory, something...is fragmented and disorienting. 

- empty blue - a web of silver - past and future - a path through darkness, dim and refracted through a million fragments - and Vanyel only another pattern - across time and space - dreams, decisions, silver threads - 

You're right, that's really hard to interpret. Yfandes is confident she can get usable direction from this? How?

“...She’s a Companion? I don’t know. It’s how they work. Her mind is just set up that way.”

Well, do you know if she still thinks so given that I'm here now?

Vanyel looks startled. And then sheepish. “I have no idea. She hasn’t said and I haven’t asked her to check. That...would be a really good idea, wouldn’t it?”

I wouldn't have thought of it if I weren't pretty sure the - different in kind, to be clear - Arda prophecies couldn't feature a Fëanáro who's a wizard.

Vanyel blinks at her. “I, um... Sorry? Can you unpack that more? I’m confused.”

Uh, the Valar showed me some visions of a future where he's having a fight over boats to get to another continent. He doesn't need boats. He can fly. I'm pretty sure in the vision he could not fly, so, I assume they didn't factor me in.

“That’s...weird. Huh. Um, could you already fly when they showed you? Or not yet? I’m wondering if it was something they were literally blind to, or they just couldn’t predict it even from knowing about you being there.”

I don't recall exactly, because he has a spell for jumping over buildings and does that more often than flying which is more mana-intensive, but it didn't take him long and he did already know the basics of magic by then. It wouldn't have taken him long. He was an adult in the visions, he would have had enough time to learn to do a hundred things more complicated than flying, he's brilliant.

Nod. “So, closer to a full blind spot? That’s strange.”

Vanyel takes a breath, lets it out slowly. “I can ask ‘Fandes to check now, although not show me directly unless we go to the sta- oh!” He breaks off. “Bella, it’s possible she might be able to show you directly. It’d convey more of the details. Um, only if you want, though. It was pretty weird and disorienting, it kind of messed with my head for days after.”

Messed with your head how?

“I was just a bit disoriented? Every so often, suddenly I’d feel like the world wasn’t real, or I wasn’t real. As though I was back there for an instant. And then it’d pass, but I was still out of it a lot.”

Shrug. “I was also incredibly sleep deprived at the time, it was my first mission away from Haven. That might not‘ve helped.”

It's not a great time for me to be dissociating for several days; I think it would be better to see what I can get out of an indirect report first.

Nod. "I don't especially want that again either, so I think I'll just get her summary as well. One moment." His eyes go unfocused.