:Well, I'm closer to his age, and I literally raised him from the dead, and Van is on cuddling terms with me.:

:Fair enough: 

:I like him a lot. I'm really glad he's not dead anymore. For himself, not just you and Van.:

:He's a good kid: Savil agrees. :He deserved a lot better than what happened, so...I'm glad you could make it right: 

:Almost right. Haven't quite finished yet. Have to get Staven first.:

:Mmm: Warmth in Savil's mindvoice. :...You know, I never got to meet the boy. I look forward to it: 

:Did Tylendel talk about him a lot?:

:Not much, no. We, er, had an ongoing disagreement on the matter of the feud. Heralds aren't supposed to take sides, see. I think we only ever spoke about it when we were fighting: 

There's deep pain in her mindvoice. :The picture of Staven I got around the edges is that he was - rash, and impetuous, and a lot of things that seventeen-year-old boys often are, but also he inspired remarkable loyalty. He cared about his people; he fought so, so hard for Tylendel, back when they were younger: 

:Mm. Well. Hopefully that won't be so much of an issue anymore.:

Savil isn't quite sure which part Lucy thinks won't be an issue anymore – the feud is over, but Staven is presumably still going to be a teenage boy when he comes back. She lets it slide, though. :Mmm: 

:I mean, what with the huge explosion and Evan Leshara being dead and stuff. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though.:

:True. Staven ought to consider his brother having exploded half the landholding to be a pretty satisfactory revenge – even if it was the half mostly without people in it, thank the gods: 

:...And I fully expect to be able to resurrect all the people who did die, but...I mean, I want to get all the innocent bystanders, but there's a chance I won't be able to sort out Evan Leshara and Krebain from the innocent before doing resurrections. I assume I wouldn't be compelled to raise them but do things get much more complicated if they are alive anyway, like, my preference would be to just quietly re-kill them and put their ashes on a shelf somewhere for storage until they can be raised on a more long-term basis sometime in the far distant future when they can't harm anyone ever again, but it seems like the government might prefer like trials and stuff.:

:Gods. Let me think about that a second: Savil is silent for closer to thirty. :I'm not sure. A trial would be - messy - and, honestly, the Heralds' court accepts mental evidence, meaning that what Van saw and experienced is plenty to determine the outcome for Krebain. And I suspect we have enough on Evan Leshara as well. But I'll ask Lancir his thoughts: 

:It's not urgent or anything, just--it shouldn't wait until if and when it is, probably.:

:Right. Well, thank you for bringing it up now so we can start thinking about it:

:You're welcome.: 

She sits and sings through the night. 

Again, Vanyel wakes first. This time, the cascade of initial unsurprise, then remembering that Tylendel is dead, then correcting that to a ‘was’ and snuggling closer to his lifebonded who is there and alive and holding him, happens in about twenty seconds and without any actual tears. 

:...Lucy?:

:Yes?:

:Just glad you're here: And he lies in Tylendel's arms and tries to take inventory of his feelings. Maybe if he pays attention to them now they won't explode and surprise him later. 

He's not as tense as before. That's nice. But...along with the looseness, and spaciousness, there's room for a different kind of pain, and he doesn't know how to name it. 

:I'm glad.: 

She pauses for a bit, contemplating. 

:I really like Tylendel. I'm really glad I got to meet him.:

Aww. 

:What do you like about him?: Vanyel sends, tentatively. He knows what he loves about Tylendel, but he's still not sure how much of that is just because of the lifebond. 

:He has a good humor; I liked the way you laughed together. He--treats you well, overall, except for the one mistake. And I spoke with him last night, and--I liked the way he talked about things. He's...he wants to be better than he is. That's something I can always admire.:

:He's good at making people laugh: Vanyel agrees. :He used to notice when Savil was stressed and he'd make jokes to her: 

–Is he trying to distract himself from the rest of what she said? It's floating in fragments in his head, and it's like they keep catching in his throat. That one mistake. Wants to be better... He still doesn't know what the feeling is. It's uncomfortable and - and terrifying, there's a wall, there, something he hasn't been able to look at head-on in the past nearly-year. 

...something tickles at his awareness, and then rises involuntarily even as he tries to push it away. He remembers perfectly what Lancir said to him, in the dim Work Room before their departure to k'Treva, everything around it is foggy but thanks to Lancir's Gift, that one memory hangs crystal clear–

I don’t think you’re ready yet, but at some point, Vanyel, you’re going to be angry with him. Because he did wrong by you – no, don’t look at me that way. He could have followed you through the Gate. Could have chosen to try to put his life back together, with you. It would have taken more courage and strength than I think anyone’s ever had – but we always have a choice, and he made his. 

–and he can't, there's a wall of refusal that rises up when he starts feeling those feelings, it's not - safe? something? he doesn't know. 

:Lucy: he sends, helplessly. :I...it feels really scary to - think about him making a mistake - and I don't understand why: 

:...Do you want me to speculate? I don't have any special access to the inside of your head and I could guess wrong as easily as right.: