Leareth smiles slightly. "There are some intelligence resources which are not worth trying to maintain in place solely as a contingency, due to the relative risks to benefits. A spy expected to be in frequent contact with Mindspeakers is one such, given the difficulty of controlling thoughts as opposed to merely words, and thus the likelihood that by the end of a year they will have slipped and been discovered. However, in a novel pressing situation, I do have considerable resources that I can bring to bear here. I will assure you that nobody in Haven was harmed in the process." 

Harmed physically, sure, I probably would have noticed if someone turned up at Healers' complaining they were beaten for information about me, but mindread or something?

:It'd be pretty hard to mindread a Healer against their will: Vanyel points out. :They're trained to shield. Um, I don't know if you were expecting me to ask...?: 

Not necessarily, use your judgment? Uh, I do want to know why he found it "pressing".

"Leareth, I'm curious if you think that, um, things Heralds would consider to be unethical uses of Gifts, would count as harm. Also why you thought this was so urgent. It's not like she was trying to do anything to you."

"You know my beliefs on that," Leareth says. "Although, in this case, those uses of Thoughtsensing you would consider illicit were, I believe, not necessary. Though it would be quite understandable if you did not believe my words alone on this point."

He lifts one shoulder and lets it fall. "As to the question of urgency – this is the single largest change to happen on this continent in the last several centuries at least. I do not think it particularly surprising that someone in my position would wish to orient to it." 

In such a hurry though -

:I mean, you have been here for, what, a month? It still took him kind of a while, objectively speaking. Depending on your goals you could've gotten up to an awful lot in a month: 

True. You could ask the "less cumbersome means of communication" now.

:Right: 

"Leareth, assuming I did want to talk to you further – the letter method is more reliable than the dreams but it's not fast. Did you have any ideas for faster methods? I, er, do have very long range Mindspeech, if that's helpful." 

"Ah." Leareth tilts his head back slightly. "Does Bella have a rapid communication method via her type of magic, that you might wish to propose?" 

You can tell him I loaned the relay the earcuff and that you could borrow it for other stuff when it's not in use.

"There is an artifact," Vanyel tells Leareth. "It works for Mindspeakers here; it boosts Mindspeech to three hundred miles and makes it very minimal-effort. You don't need to know the direction or distance to aim it, it just works; it also doesn't tell its user the direction or distance to the recipient. Theoretically you could just arrange to be within three hundred miles of a point we agreed on. Or have someone else do it." 

Nod. "I will consider it. I cannot give you an answer without thinking it over." 

How are we supposed to know if he decides in favor? Will his spy tell us so? Drop a note somewhere?

Leareth speaks again before Vanyel can open his mouth. "If I do make a decision and the dream does not happen with convenient timing, it will not be difficult to arrange for a letter addressed to Bella to arrive at Healers'. It seems rather unlikely that anybody will read her mail, however, for additional caution I will be cryptic, so that anybody not aware of this conversation would find it difficult to follow, and I also propose a simple cipher. It is not completely secure but it will do."

He quickly describes a letter-substitution code, it's straightforward enough that Vanyel wouldn't have any trouble remembering it even if he had to note it down after waking up. 

"Now," he says. "We ought have a little time left. In your letter you asked after my knowledge of the gods. Do you have specific questions?" 

I think my questions would be too different from yours, I shouldn't coach you...

Vanyel isn't sure he has any good questions at all. "Well, um, how are the gods relevant to you and your plans? Do you have a list of the gods who are up to things, and what you think they're trying to accomplish?"

Leareth nods. "I will tell you my conjectures, then, none of which are confirmed – it is difficult to run tests on that which you cannot see directly, and which is cleverer than you and does not wish to be measured – but I do have many points of observation to work from." 

"First, it is important to understand what kind of beings the gods are. They are not human." Leareth's lips twitch. "This may seem an obvious statement, but it bears repeating: They are not human. They...can probably be thought of as creatures of a sort – beings that live over time, that require resources to do so, that seek security and have relations with other beings – but They are vast and exist across multiple planes of our world. They perceive reality itself in a deeply alien way; I suspect that They view time itself differently. Foresight is a Gift that humans can occasionally access, but it is not our primary mode of operation. For the gods, it is."

He pauses, thinking. "...I cannot speak confidently to Their goals; I suspect that they are strung together from concepts that a human mind cannot hold, not even mine. However. Mortals do seem to be of interest to Them. The gods also seem to be...perhaps 'territorial' is the best word. For example, the Star-Eyed Goddess holds dominion over the Pelagirs and the Dhorisha Plains, while Vkandis Sunlord controls Karse and Iftel. I suspect that the gods also engage in something akin to power struggles, and form and break alliances with one another. My current guess is that the Star-Eyed and Vkandis are in a loose alliance, but not fully aligned." 

"An overarching theme in the gods' actions is that They push toward stability and avert change. I am not entirely sure why; a guess is that stasis better enables Their Foresight, whereas any rapid change disturbs those predictions and thus Their plans to secure whatever types of resources matter to Them. In particular, They seem to disprefer it when a civilization has enough surplus to plow considerable resources into innovation – since this predictably results in discoveries, advances, and thus change." His gloved fingers tighten at his side, not forming a fist but hinting at it. "It seems that it serves Them well to have most people, in most places, living at a subsistence level. You can guess how I feel about this."

Leareth looks silently at the sky above Vanyel's head. 

"To give a list of gods," he goes on. "The main players on this stage are the Star-Eyed Goddess, Vkandis, and a god or goddess who I am not sure is known by name, but whom I suspect works in a very hands-off way in the Valdemar and Rethwellan region. The Earth-Father and Sky-Mother pair in Hardorn are relevant there but seem less inclined to act elsewhere; likewise, Kernos seems to be a more local, less ambitious god in the regions north of your capital, while Astera of the Stars I believe represents another smaller, localized goddess, although I am not entirely sure of this – some of the gods worshipped by name by humans do not take enough actions for me to be certain that they exist." 

"In terms of Their relevance to my plans: the overall issue is that I would like things to be different, and the gods resist this. Their interventions are generally subtle, often recognizable only after the fact as anything other than happenstance. I suspect that for beings who swim in past and future constantly, small indirect nudges are the lowest-cost, highest-yield method of affecting outcomes. Many of my more peaceful acts toward change have succeeded temporarily – however, suspicious failures add up, and it begins to form a pattern. The Star-Eyed in particular seems against anything I do. I basically cannot operate at all in the lands under Her control. This unnamed Valdemaran god has shown less evidence of hostility."

"Given all of this, I must strongly overdetermine the success of plans, leave as little as possible to chance." A thin smile. "To you this likely appears as extreme paranoia and ruthlessness. I suppose it is. All I can say is, I have lived my past, and at this juncture I think it justified." 

Leareth raises a shoulder and lets it fall, a slow deliberate shrug. "You might ask why I bother trying at all, after so many failures. Well – one thing I know, is that the gods of this world are neither omniscient nor all-powerful. I am still alive. Based on their other actions, They would prefer I be dead. In two millennia, they have not yet accomplished this aim. Therefore, I believe that with enough ingenuity, someday it will be possible to, despite all their efforts, build a less tragic and wasteful world for our descendants." He bows his head slightly. "I made a vow on the stars, once. I am not going to give up now." 

Bella's writing furiously. I think I got all that down. The invasion still seems weird to me - warfare is chaotic and small influences from gods who tend to work by small influences could affect it a lot. Does he think they won't know it's him, or that he'll incidentally serve godly purposes in invading so they'll leave him be till he has what he needs, or that he can actually overdetermine a war without having first made major advances in effectiveness, or did he sneak at least one such thing by them, or what?

:We're probably getting short on time for questions: Vanyel warns her. "Leareth, er, why do you think you can make an invasion work but not the other things - what do you think you're doing right this time, that you weren't before?" 

Leareth dips his chin. "I am not going to tell you all of the advantages I think I possess. However, I have for multiple decades been waiting to use the opportunity that the far north, on the other side of the Ice Wall Mountains, presents – it is an area with no major unifying god-presence, and thus certain preparations can be taken with much less interference. This is in some sense a one-time opportunity, since a major god will most certainly try to claim influence in the north as it becomes relevant, and so I waited until I was ready for a single push, and there is now an element of time sensitivity in my planning – on the scale of years, not days." 

Okay, that makes some sense. Still not clear why he wants to invade in specific but it's clear why it would be on the list of options at all.

"I suspect we are nearly out of time here," Leareth says. "Do you have further questions, Herald Vanyel?" 

Not gonna think of anything in the next thirty seconds.