Eventually, once they're quite a ways away, Lucy takes her tentacles away from Vanyel's ears and says, "It's safe to come out now." 

:Um. Can I have a minute: He takes about thirty seconds and then uncurls and tries to poke his head out. :All right can I get down, I want to see Yfandes: 

Yfandes is delighted to see him, and they can stop by the side of the road for a while so that Vanyel can hug her and bury his face in her mane and maybe cry some of the tears he's been holding in for the last he-isn't-even-really-sure-how-long. 

"We can keep going," he says finally. "Lucy, thank you for doing that. I want to ride Yfandes now though." 

"Yeah, 'course. I'm glad I could help."

The Companions want to slow down a bit now, but they're still on track to reach the next town comfortably before sundown. From here, Savil says, they can be back in Haven in a week. Or less, if the Companions push the pace. She had originally been thinking they would take it slower, that she could treat it as a sort of internship circuit, introduce Van to more of a Herald's work, but...given the givens, she would rather they get home fast. 

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I can set up a laboratory in Haven?"

"I don't think that should be any trouble, but what kind of setup exactly do you need?" 

"I need glassware, and salt, and..." she lists a handful of different chemicals, "but I can distill those from a few different kinds of plant if they're not available raw."

Glassware is fine – it's something mages can make, actually, though it's hardly worth doing that in normal circumstances. Salt, easy. Savil knows some of the chemicals but not others. "How much space do you need?" 

Vanyel is going to ride ahead, for a bit, because he's not sure he actually wants to hear all the details. 

"I can make do with just a workbench if I have to, but it'll be easier if I have a larger table to spread things out on so I don't have to put everything away when I'm not actively using it. And the chemicals can cause fumes--they're not harmful, but they smell, not as bad as the dead wyrsa but enough that it's better if the room is well-ventilated to the outside and not to the rest of the indoors. And I need a place to make a fire."

Savil gets a slightly nauseated look but quickly controls it. "No, none of that should be any trouble." 

"It's nowhere near as bad as the dead wyrsa," she assures Savil. "--Should I just stop mentioning them though."

"I would slightly prefer that." Savil makes a face. "Also hearing about chemicals being poured on my dead trainee's ashes is...pretty weird...but that's not really a sensible objection." 

"That's not exactly how it would work, mostly. Um, I'll also need water, but I thought it probably went without saying that water would be available wherever."

Water shouldn't be a problem – if it needs to be perfectly pure, Savil can do that, but needs to know that. 

Weeeell, it does but it doesn't, Lucy knows a spell to remove the impurities from water so it's fine if it doesn't come to her perfectly pure. 

That seems fine then. 

They reach the town before sundown, and it has an inn, but Vanyel looks at the room available and then asks politely if he can sleep somewhere in the woods with Lucy holding him in her tentacles, that was actually better and it means Yfandes could be nearby. 

Lucy is totally fine with this! Cuddles are always good.

Then Vanyel will sleep that way every night, and Savil and Wilbur can have the rooms and beds. Given that, Savil mostly stops at Heralds' Waystations – very simple cabins with some food and supplies cached away, not big enough to sleep their whole party but comfortable enough for her and Wilbur. 

Yfandes pushes them not to ride too late each day, and Vanyel is sleeping in a lot more with the new arrangement, so it's not until the sixth day that they reach the main road close to Haven. It's finally busy enough that it isn't really feasible for Lucy to run in her big invisible form and switch back or hide when people come; the road is packed with people constantly. 

Lucy isn't thrilled by the slowdown, but :I did kind of miss spending a lot of time in human form. I prefer it, honestly, when there isn't a strong reason not to,: she admits. :...I like feeling pretty.:

She does get quite a few wolf-whistles as they walk. Wilbur gets...a different flavour of whistle. Savil points it out when the city walls come into view in the distance. 

(They're already sort of in Haven, extended; the area around them is now more dwellings than fields, though it's still going to look very rustic and medieval to Lucy and Wilbur's eyes.) 

They are so close to fixing the thing. Lucy clasps her hands behind her back tightly enough to make the knuckles go white and does not chatter excitedly about anything that would set Van off. Soon the problem will be solved. 

They reach the outer walls. Vanyel is stiff and silent and doesn't seem at all happy to be where he is, though there's anticipation there as well. 

Even if this place is not great for him she cannot do what she did in the Frelennye lands, both because she cannot be huge and invisible here and because she is going to be busy solving the problem instead of simply meliorating it. 

You know what she can do, though? She can sing!

Vanyel doesn't understand the words, of course, but Lucy is a pretty good singer in human form as well and the tune is interesting and he can pay attention to that instead of the city. He's only really been this way once; it was when he first arrived in Haven, a disappointment to his father, sent away so that his aunt (who, at the time, he thought would be exactly like Father) in order to make a man of him. And then– no don't think about it now, think about the song, he can try to pick up the tune and then hum softly along in harmony. That takes enough of his attention that there's isn't room to ruminate.