"...Can I come with you? I, um, I don't know if I trust myself not to start panicking again, it seems safer to be near you so you could help me calm down again." 

I'm at all worried that the Companion I wind up talking to will act differently around you but I have about twenty yards on the calm technique if you want to be elsewhere in their field at the time?

"...Can you do the calm thing from further if you have the earcuff? I don't think it's a relay time right now. And it's yours anyway."

I can, yeah, we could go get it, though I did implicitly agree not to wander off with it unannounced. You could help me write a note to leave.

"Um, sure, I can do that." 

So she goes and gets it and leaves a note saying "working outside today, let me know if you need the earcuff off schedule - Bella" and then she goes out to the Companions' field and looks for a Companion to talk to, still calming Vanyel. She asks the first one she sees, "Hey, I'm curious about Companions but don't want to bother one who might have Herald stuff to do any minute, are there any who are grown up but not bonded yet?"

Of course! The Companion mare seems a little taken aback to be spoken to directly, but flattered rather than offended. She thinks for a bit. Sayshen isn't bonded? She's usually available – yep, just checked, she can be over in five minutes. 

"Thank you!"

Sayshen wanders over a few minutes later. The mare is a bit taller at the withers than Yfandes, and moves more slowly; she seems older, not younger as one would expect for a not-yet-bonded Companion. :Bella? You wished to speak to me?: 

Yeah, hi! I'm curious about Companions and wanted to talk to one who wasn't Bonded yet and your name came up?

:I...am not currently bonded: Sayshen clarifies. :I was, once: Her mindvoice sounds a bit wistful about it, but otherwise unemotional. :I'm definitely available to talk, and I may know the answers to more questions than the youngsters do: 

You were once? How'd... that happen?

:It doesn't often. But sometimes the Monarch's Own Companion will prefer to Choose a trained Herald, so they can land on their feet: 

Oh. So you're just sort of... are you ever likely to get a new Herald?

:No. It doesn't work that way: Sayshen seems pretty matter-of-fact about it. 

Does that make you immortal or is there some default lifespan that kicks in or -?

:I will die when my Ch- when my former Herald dies. Likely not too many more years, now: Again, her affect is pretty calm. 

Does he visit you or anything?

:Every so often. It's nice of him: 

You seem to have a surprising amount of equanimity about it.

:Is it surprising?: She tosses her mane a bit. :It's just the way things turned out. And - he's happy, he's doing well, and I have a perfectly nice life here in Haven. No one else has as much time to give the foals advice: 

Well, I don't think I'd be very calm about it. Is it just that it's been a long time?

:I did...: The mare stops, paws at the grass a little with her hoof. :I - suppose - I had some feelings at the beginning: She's speaking more slowly now, carefully. :It...wasn't what I'd expected. But it came out all right: 

"Some feelings"?

Sayshen's tail flicks restlessly. :I missed him. It was - a big shock. I mean, I knew it'd happened before, but I wasn't - I didn't–: She stops. :It took some getting used to, is all. Changes always do, even when they're for the better: