"If I got the result that wasn't human, then no, it wouldn't be. And--in that case, you can reverse the incantation and turn them back into dust. Have I mentioned this result is really unlikely? We only know it exists because one of my teacher's ancestors who knew the technique was evil." 

"Hmm." Lancir's expressions shifts through about a dozen different variants of 'unhappy' before he finally looks up. 

"I realize the upside," he says. "I've...seen what losing him did to Van's mind. If there's anything we can do to repair that, then I want that to happen. I'm absolutely not against your idea, here, I want you to understand that. But...people are going to have a lot of feelings about it, and I'm trying to think through how to handle that." 

Nod. 

"I understand that actions have consequences, and suddenly introducing things like this is going to stir things up a lot. --In my world, magic is secret because people, human people I mean, humans are the vast majority on land, are pretty suspicious of it, like, it used to be that you could get executed for being caught doing magic, and these days it's mostly been hidden well enough for long enough that most people don't believe it exists and the stigma is starting to wear off, but raising the dead is--culturally fraught, because there are a lot more stories about turning corpses into horrible automata than there are about actual resurrection, and--it's so hard to help people like that. I want it to be different here, where magic is open and so much freer, and if there's anything I can do to help with that, I want to."

Lancir nods. "I appreciate that you care. And what you're trying to do, truly. In our world - hmm. You're right, that magic is open, but it's still poorly understood by many people, including lords on our Council right here in Haven. And...change is hard in any world, I think. Also, and I absolutely hate that this is a factor at all, but...Tylendel isn't without controversy. You know what he did, I assume." 

"I got the story from Savil. If there's some less-controversial person who would make a better face for the project and would be likely to agree and whose remains can be obtained quickly, the rendering process parallelizes well and the incantation doesn't take very long at all, it wouldn't unduly prolong Vanyel's suffering for Tylendel not to be the first." 

"Huh, that's a possibility but not what I was thinking. I wanted to ask, how obvious is the process? How difficult would it be to conceal your work?" Lancir rubs his chin. "I am completely in agreement that I don't want to prolong Vanyel's suffering a day longer than we need to, but I think I need much longer than a few days to work out the political ramifications here." 

"--I mean, unless you send me and Van and Yfandes to some kind of isolated house in the countryside, I assume you'll need the cooperation of more people than that to conceal the fact that he's, you know, around and existing and consuming a person's worth of food and stuff, but the process itself isn't terribly obvious, I mean it would be hard to conceal completely that something was happening but I'm not even starting from an intact corpse that I'd have to cremate first, I could easily pretend to be just some random alchemist doing random alchemy. Do you cremate people around here? On purpose, I mean, not as the inevitable consequence of large explosions. It might matter if I have to do anyone else, anyone more intact, and people could recognize what was happening. Not that I especially expect to run into another case as obviously and urgently mandatory."

"No," Lancir says, absently. "There aren't any. I researched it. Van's the first person to survive a broken lifebond this long. Most people don't last candlemarks." He lifts his head. "Getting some of the other Heralds on board is fine. Though a house in the countryside might not be the worst idea, I...imagine they'd want some time together before they both have to be Heralds. It's the Council I'm concerned about." 

"I have literally never engaged with actual politics before in my life, so I don't know how much help I can be there, but if it would be convenient to parade me in front of them in a pretty dress and not use any metaphors involving bugs or diseases or eating things so I can be a pretty teenage girl who is friendly and sweet and harmless-looking, I can do that." 

Lancir seems a bit nonplussed, but in a positive-surprised way. "I'll keep that offer in mind. Anyway. I'll find out what you need to get started in a minute, but first - how is Vanyel coping? With this, er, news, and with...everything, I guess." He rubs the back of his neck. "You have to understand, I haven't really spoken to him since he left for k'Treva eight months ago." 

"...Terrified of the idea of hoping and having the hope taken away. I've been doing everything in my power to not make him engage with the situation more than necessary, he doesn't even know about the urn." 

"The urn?" 

"Vanissa scraped a bunch of the ash at the epicenter into an urn right after it happened."

"Huh. I imagine that's quite helpful for your, er, process?" 

"Oh yeah, otherwise I would've had to dig up a ton of black glass and run it through the purification process."

He chuckles a bit. "Fair enough. So – I was going to try speaking with Vanyel tomorrow. In my capacity as a Mindhealer more than as Queen's Own. But I get the sense that however he's trying to cope now, it's going to change a lot if this works. And if he has been coping then I don't want to risk messing with that too much. So – how many days will this take you?" 

"Two days on the low end, a week on the high end--you only have most of the chemicals I need in raw form, a lot of the uncertainty has to do with what I can get my hands on that has the remainder and how long it takes to extract what I need. And it would be longer if I had to sleep."

Nod. "Do you think Van will be, er, stable for that length of time? I mean, you've been on the road longer than that, so..." 

"I hope so. I was able to help some, then, and I'll be busy now. --I guess you could sing to him, Wilbur." 

"My voice isn't as nice as yours, but I do still know music from our world. Alright."

"So there's that. And he should be somewhere comfier than hard campground but where he can be right near Yfandes. My other form was good for that on the road but, again, I'll be busy." 

"And there's Savil. Who's damned well earned a break – I can give her a week's leave, she deserves it anyway. She can spend time with him, I think that'll help a lot." He folds his hands in his lap. "And I'll save my energy for when I need to talk to both of them. I mean, if this works." It doesn't seem like he's doubting it nearly as much now, though. 

"I'll make it work." 

"...Tell me what you need." 

She gives him the same list of glassware and chemicals and so on that she gave Savil. "--and technically I need purified water but it only takes a second to purify regular water with my magic so you don't actually need to worry about the purified part."