"...They were fighting, she was trying to hold off the wyrsa – to back up, they were out at the holding and Van was..." he stops again, "hmm, actually I'm not sure how far I should back up. Do you know the story with Tylendel's twin, Staven?" 

"--Tylendel has a twin?"

Lancir bows his head for a moment. Takes a slow, deep breath. "...Right, you probably didn't get the full sequence in order, did you? It's a pretty raw subject for Savil too, not just Van. Er, probably sit back down, it's not a quick story." 

She sits back down. "It seemed like asking a lot of questions could wait until the most acute problem was fixed and it would maybe hurt less."

"I'm glad you didn't ask them," Lancir acknowledges. "But, I do think it might be important that you have full context going into this. So. The beginning of this tale is, Tylendel and Staven Frelennye were the only children of the Frelennye Lord Holder. Staven was older, and thus the heir. Tylendel was a mage - there's a story there as well, short version is that he had a rough time of it for a few years, uncontrolled Gifts - and was Chosen and came to Haven. But meanwhile, there'd been tensions for years with the Leshara family, the holding next to the Frelennyes. About a year before the incident, there was a death on the Leshara side, in a cattle raid, and the feud escalated. The twins' father died, perhaps of natural causes but it was a little suspicious, and Steven inherited, at age seventeen. Then their mother died, and the Lesharas for sure were involved there. Staven was livid about it. As was Tylendel. Understandably." 

Lancir pauses for a while, rubbing his chin. 

"Then, shortly after Van came to Haven and he and Tylendel met," he goes on finally, "there was another escalation. One of the Leshara cousins hired a foreign mage. Staven...was killed in an ambush. At which point we all found out that he and Tylendel had shared a twin bond, sort of like a lifebond or Companion-bond. Tylendel was distraught. And ready to storm out there to enact his revenge. I...talked him out of that. And then..." 

He bows his head. "And then...I messed up. Along with a crew of Heralds and the Guard to find the damned mage, I sent 'Lendel and Van out there with Savil to sort out the inheritance situation. Tylendel couldn't inherit, as a prospective Herald, but I figured he could mediate, they all knew him." Lancir brings a hand to his temple. "But a lot of things went wrong." 

Tears are trickling from the corners of her eyes. 

"I really wish," she says, through teeth clenched to prevent embarrassing noises, "that I had known that while we were digging up Frelennye graves anyway." 

Wilbur does not put down the bearskin bundle but he is a creative fellow who can hug his sister anyway. 

"...I know. I can understand why no one brought it up - or even thought of it, it's a painful subject." Lancir shakes himself a little. "Right. So the next thing that happened is that our little expedition failed to find the foreign mage-for-hire, we figured he'd left, but we were wrong. Van was kidnapped, held hostage. Savil went riding out to search for him, with Tylendel and her two other mage-trainees who'd insisted on coming along. They were attacked by wyrsa – the mage had them under his control, that's how Staven died."

Lancir pauses for another deep breath. It's clearly an emotional topic for him as well. 

"Tylendel could sense where Van was, through the bond. He and Gala broke off from Savil, found Van tied up in an old barn, managed to defeat the mage – god knows how, desperation I guess – grabbed Van and tried to get back to Savil. Ran into more wyrsa. The three of them ended up trapped in a ruined cottage, Tylendel and Gala were fighting, Van was...basically helpless. I should clarify that he wasn't Chosen at the time, yet, wasn't Gifted either. Anyway, Tylendel knew they were in trouble, Savil and the two students were still fighting for their lives a ways off, couldn't get to them in time, so... He started to attempt a Gate, a sort of magical doorway back to Haven. Drawing on Van's energy through the lifebond, he was far too exhausted to have done it otherwise." 

Another shaky pause. Lancir drags a hand over his face. 

"...Then Gala died," he says finally. "And 'Lendel, somehow, finished the Gate-spell. Held it long enough to shove Van through. He - he loved him, enough, to do that, I don't know how any human being could've held a Gate otherwise after losing a Companion-bond. But he didn't follow Van through. He turned around and called a Final Strike on - everything. And Van watched all of it happen." 

Lucy is openly weeping by this point. Her hair is obscuring too much of Wilbur's face to get any information on his state.

Lancir dabs at his eyes as well. His voice is thick. "Savil and her students nearly died, but they held it off. Savil was unconscious. Her trainee Mardic made it to the Gate, found it still up with Van on the other side, went through and tried to take it down before it killed him. The Gate-energy backlashed through Van, tore open all of his potential Gifts. He...somehow got up, stumbled off, made it to the river and, er, tried to drown himself. Yfandes got there in time, fished him out, Chose him. Everything was a mess, powerful uncontrolled Gifts, his channels were raw, he was in agonizing physical pain even aside from what the broken lifebond did to him. Eventually we thought to send him and Savil to k'Treva. Moondance was able to heal his Gifts so he could be trained. And then eventually Savil decided they were ready to come home, and you met them on the way." 

She nods. Eventually her crying winds down enough for her to say, "If--if Tylendel died right by where Gala did, probably there's enough of her in the urn to be getting on with." 

"I think she would've been basically right at his feet," Lancir agrees. "So, probably." A quick intake of breath. "...It won't be a problem, that the ashes are all mixed together?" 

Headshake. "The magic knows what belonged to whom." 

"That's something. If the lad gets Gala back, I...think he'll be all right." Lancir shakes his head. "Is he going to remember everything that happened up until his death?" 

"My teacher's wife who died doesn't remember--um, the weapon that killed her was sorta like a crossbow but moreso and if you're hit in the head you die pretty much instantly, she says she doesn't remember getting shot but she does remember seeing his finger tighten on the trigger." 

Nod. "So he may or may not remember anything indicating the Final Strike. There's – I assume there's a moment of intent beforehand, but I don't know how instant it is, for obvious reasons no one, er, remembers to report it. But he's going to remember the wyrsa, and the Gate, and...losing Gala...?" 

"...Yeah. But if all goes well she'll be right there."

"He's going to be so incredibly disoriented. Not that I think there's anything we can do about it, aside from Gala being there, and Van, and some other familiar faces." Lancir leans back in his chair. "I think that's actually everything, now. Unless you have questions for me?" 

"I don't think so." 

Then Lancir will wave them out of his office with a promise that he'll have a well-ventilated alchemy room and as many of the ingredients as he can procure by dawn.

Yfandes is waiting outside the building. :Lucy, Wilbur – are you starting right now, or do you have a bit of time?: 

"I'm starting in the morning, I have time."

:I think Van would appreciate seeing you for a bit: Yfandes arches her neck. :He's...coping all right, mostly. Sort of. Finally having his own comfortable private space is really helpful. But - he knows you're about to be busy and he doesn't want to think about why but he will miss you: 

"Okay. Um, there will be bits where there's nothing going on but things waiting to heat for the right amount of time or something like that, I can come see him then. I might smell a little weird though." 

:That makes sense. I'll...have to judge at the time whether that's going to help. Anyway, he's in his room right now but I've suggested he could come out to the Companions' Field or the stable for a bit, if you have time to come: