Vanyel eats as much as he can manage but does save some raspberries for. :Um, do we need to go back?: 

:Yeah.:

She picks him up and wraps him off and speeds back in Savil's direction. 

Savil is still loitering on the front porch talking to Vanissa, with Wilbur nearby. She can't see Lucy, obviously, but she can sense her coming. :Lucy, were you going to go human-shape and introduce yourself at some point, or is that going to be problematic? She's volunteering to show me the place where it happened before sunset, but I'm not going to be able to tell anything: Pause. :Er, how is Van coping?: 

:He's not great, but he's not having a panic attack or anything. ...I could put him down somewhere out of sight and tell him to keep his eyes closed while I do human-shaped things? Especially if Yfandes was there. But, um, I don't think it's a good idea to make him...interact with being here in particular.:

:That makes sense: Savil pauses to answer one of Vanissa's small-talk questions. :Er, where is he going to sleep tonight? Do you think it'd be all right if he came inside - he could walk in with his eyes closed - and slept in a room he hasn't seen before? Or should we try not to stay the night at all? I...didn't think this through, I didn't realize it would be that level of bad for him just to be here: 

:He could sleep on me probably, he is currently pretty horizontal and protected from cold and stuff, and he has trouble sleeping in strange places...:

:...I should really ask him: Savil pulls Vanyel into the link as well. :Van, ke'chara, would you prefer to sleep like you are now, with Lucy, or go inside?: 

:With Lucy: His response is immediate. :Um, but if Lucy needs to go human-shape to help you here, I can...hide somewhere else. For a bit: 

Just to Savil: :If someone's showing you the spot I could probably follow invisibly even if I didn't show up looking human to follow overtly.:

:Oh. Hmm. That'd work for tonight. I already told Vanissa that my travel-companions weren't joining us after all, it seemed like you were busy. Would you bring Van along, then?: 

Pause. :Vanissa asked after him. I, er, pretended I saw a distracting bird. I think she would find it pretty meaningful to talk to him, but I'm guessing you think that's not a good idea: 

:I really don't. It doesn't matter if I bring Van along, I can keep his ears stoppered so it doesn't super matter where we collectively are unless we go somewhere it doesn't smell like ash at all.:

:Then let's get it over with?: 

:Yeah.:

Vanyel can feel that they're moving again, but not much else, there might be more of a brimstone odour on the air but it's hard to tell. He doesn't have to think about it. He can think about how Lucy is warm and tentacles are very good for snuggling really. 

Vanissa says a few asides to Savil, but then falls silent as they move out, past the remaining splintered trunks, past the last few charred stumps, past the place where the rocks and contours of the land have any definition at all. At the centre is an expanse of glassy, slagged black stone, occasionally discoloured by deposits of ash turned to mud by rain and baked dry again. 

Vanissa keeps walking. For at least a quarter mile. 

"This is about the centre, we think," she says, her voice toneless. There's a tumbled pile of loose stones – no, bricks. "Reckon was the doorway of that old cottage where they–" her voice falters, breaks, "w-where they tried to hide. They said the Gate held it together." She bows her head. 

Lucy's tentacles are SO GOOD for snuggles and she is going to dig up THIS ENTIRE PLACE IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES. Hopefully the urn means it won't be necessary, but now she knows where the place is. 

:I wish I could tell her I was going to fix it,: she tells Savil. 

:I know: Savil blinks, dabs at her eyes. :Have you seen everything you have to?: 

:Yeah. And I have a good sense of direction, if I need to be here again I can do that without bringing anyone with trauma about it.:

Then Savil can briefly rest her hand on Vanissa's shoulder, she's no good at comforting people but she has to at least try, and then they can troop back, toward slightly less destruction. The sun is setting at their backs. For a while, if they glance back, the sheet of glassed stone will gleam like gold. By the time they reach the keep, it's dusk.

Vanissa drags her sleeve over her face. "I'll show you the graveyard tomorrow, Herald Savil. If you don't mind. It's...hard, going out there." A damp chuckle. "And, feels damned disrespectful digging up a grave in the dark. Come in and have something to eat?" 

It is SO FRUSTRATING how humans need to sleep at night. This could be done so much sooner otherwise! 

:What's happening now?: Vanyel sends. He can't tell if it's dark but it must be late, he's starting to feel sleepy. Maybe he'll even be able to actually sleep if Lucy sings some more. 

:Things are done happening and it's late. I'm gonna go find somewhere isolated and sing some more.: 

Lucy suits action to word and starts heading away from the keep, mulling over whether something sad like Danny Boy would be an excellent or a terrible idea. 

Yfandes follows them, if Lucy will move slowly enough for her to keep up. 

Lucy will super do that. 

She settles down amongst the less-burned of the trees, shaking the limbs of the nearest so Yfandes can see where she is, and splits the difference with Loch Lomond. 

Vanyel still doesn't fall asleep right away, it's hard to ignore the faint smell of burnt-ness even if he's maybe imagining it now, but he's very tired and Yfandes is in his mind and there's pretty much nothing that exists in his world that can harm Lucy. He dozes off eventually. At which point he will probably stay asleep until whenever Lucy starts moving again.