The region between the outer and inner walls is loud, crowded, and stinky. It's not filthy, there's some attempt at sanitation – no chamberpots emptied out windows – but there is horse-dung on the road, and then just the smell of not-especially-clean people. They pass a market-square, stallholders shouting about their wares. There's a fountain which is quite pretty save for the pigeon-shit all over the stone.

They reach the inner Palace walls. The blue-uniformed Guard at the gate recognizes Savil, bows to her, and waves them through. 

Inside is quieter and cleaner, though there's still a decent amount of traffic. Lots of open green spaces, gardens, ponds. In the distance, low stone buildings. 

"We're almost there," Savil says quietly. "Sounds like Lancir is coming out to meet us – er, Lancir is the Queen's Own. Second-in-command to Elspeth." 

"Is there anything we should know? About--protocol, things like that."

"Hmm. Nothing obvious that I can explain quickly. The two of you are fine at being courteous, and he knows you're from another world. I'll Mindspeak you privately if something seems important?" 

They turn off onto a smaller, less-trafficked path, and soon reach a low, ancient-looking stone building, surrounded by especially lush and carefully-tended gardens. It's clean and peaceful and beautiful. Vanyel looks even more tense now. 

"Savil!" There's a man waiting in front of the double oak doors. He looks older than Savil, grey-haired and lined, but still strong, standing with his hand on the mane of a tall, majestic-looking white stallion whose blue eyes hold the same intelligence as Savil and Vanyel's Companions, and...something more, somehow he seems brighter than reality. "Vanyel. It's wonderful to have both of you home."

His eyes turn to Lucy and Wilbur, blue and piercing. "And our guests from another world. How incredible. I'm Herald-Mage Lancir – it's an honour to meet both of you." 

"It's an honor," Lucy says nervously, curtseying. 

Wilbur inclines his head. 

Lancir nods deeply to both of them, repeats their names. He hugs Savil once she's down from her Companion. Vanyel is hanging onto Yfandes' mane, looking incredibly not in the mood to be hugged; Lancir does not attempt it. 

"I apologize that I haven't had time to arrange permanent quarters for any of you," he says. "I have guest rooms arranged for the next week and we'll figure something out, hopefully sooner. I assume you'll want to get settled first, but – Lucy, Wilbur, I'd like to meet with you to discuss certain matters tonight. Privately. Savil, I want to speak with you as well, afterward." 

"...Okay. Um, privately like separately or privately like both of us but nobody else?"

"The two of you together is fine. I will likely want to meet with you both and Savil as well," sideways glance at Vanyel who is very deliberately not paying attention, "but we're going to be running out of candlemarks in the day so that seems best left to the morning. I'll show you to the guest rooms?" He starts walking.

The Companions can peel off and make their own way to the stables; usually Heralds will do everything to take care of their own Companions, but it's been a long day and Savil and Vanyel are both pretty tired and could use a break. 

"...Okay." 

The twins follow. 

Lucy is not entirely thrilled about going off with this person she doesn't know, and she can tell Wilbur isn't either, but Savil and Vanyel seem to trust him, so, okay. 

Maybe Savil can tell she isn't thrilled. She reaches out with Mindspeech. :I think it's all right. Lancir is a friend of mine, we go way back. I don't know why he wants to speak to you two without me first, but I'm quite sure he means well: 

They get to the wing, and Lancir shows them their rooms – they each get a room to themselves, conveniently all four in a row. "I'll be back in a couple of candlemarks," he says. "Lucy, Wilbur, Savil can show you around to the bathhouse and dining hall, if that's all right?" He heads off, apparently in something of a hurry. 

...Okay. 

"So when everything's explained, he'll be onboard?" she asks Savil quietly. 

"I hope so. It's not like we've had a chance to discuss in detail, but–" she glances over to make sure that Vanyel has disappeared into his room, "gods, he's a Mindhealer, he knows what this did to Van. I think if there's any chance at all of fixing it then he'll be fully behind it." 

"If he isn't, I'm not gonna let that stop me." 

"...I understand." Savil stands there for a moment, then reaches out and briefly squeezes Lucy's hand, then ducks into her own room. 

They are shown the bathhouse and the dining hall, and eat food, and eventually it comes time to privately meet with Lancir. 

At no point during any of this does Wilbur let the bearskin bundle out of his sight. He puts it down on the floor while eating, but picks it up again promptly afterwards and doesn't otherwise let go of it. 

Lancir comes to collect them from their rooms and leads them through the grounds, which look quite pretty in the slanting late-afternoon light, and over to an even older-looking building. The office he brings them to is pretty messy; he has to move a pile of books off a chair for Lucy. (There isn't a chair that will comfortably fit Wilbur.) 

"Sorry about the clutter," he says. "This is my private office, we're less likely to be interrupted, but, er, I don't keep it as tidy. Anyway. You're from another world, huh? Before we talk about anything else, I'm curious to hear how you ended up here and why. Savil didn't really say." 

"Oh, there were some cultists," Lucy says, waving a hand. "Doing cult things. I dunno exactly what they were trying to do specifically but it was something to the tune of summoning something whose presence would be awfully disruptive to life on the planet. So we intervened, and I guess the way we messed stuff up resulted in us being sent somewhere instead of something being brought where we were. Uh, it probably latched onto us because our father is the same general kind of thing as whatever they were trying to summon. Might even have been him, although probably not, there's a lot." 

Startled look. "...How exactly did a summonable being, whose presence would disrupt life on the planet, become your father?" 

"Uh, there's this ritual you can use to sort of partially summon him, such that things happen that result in pregnancy. I have no idea if we have any living half-siblings but we must've at some point."

"For obvious reasons, neither of us were particularly interested in the details."

"I spent a lot of time with nothing better to do than read and reread every book of magic we had, so I actually know the ritual well enough that I could teach it to someone if I wanted, but for even more obvious reasons I'm never gonna use it and I'd have to trust and like someone an awful lot to do that even if they wanted it." 

Lancir looks vaguely disturbed, though he's controlling his expression. "I see. Do you think these beings would even be summonable to our world? They sound...something like gods, but certainly not our gods."