:I'm pretty sure they have some idea. I'm not sure how much of one. Or how many of the people involved have or haven't put it together, it's kind of a lot of people.:

Vanyel nods, and then spends a while trying to come up with any possible appropriate response. 

:I'm sorry: he sends, finally, it's not the right words and it doesn't seem nearly adequate but it's all he's got. 

"Mm."

:She's okay, as far as I can tell. It's screwed up but it's not hurting her.:

Vanyel nods. :I'm glad you're trying to look out for her, at least: 

:I'm glad she has more than just me, here.:

Aww, that's surprisingly touching. :I'm going to try: Vanyel promises. :I–: He squirms. :I'm - glad that you're trying to look out for me? Or something, I'm not sure, but...healing me and coming out here just to talk. Even though I'm not the most fun or interesting person you could be friends with here: 

He looks away, seems a bit surprised and embarrassed that he said all of that out loud, well, in Mindspeech. 

:You seem plenty interesting to me. And I like your instincts.:

:Huh? What about them?: That one gets genuine curiosity. :I think someone told me I had good instincts once but I have no idea what that means: 

:Well, I can't tell you what they meant, but a lot of people would have decided we weren't really their problem instead of Gating us here. And that wasn't thoughtless, either - you didn't come up with the best answer but you did look for better ones. Lots of potential there.:

:You could've decided that rescuing the children wasn't really your problem and gotten out of there: Vanyel points out. :Surely I owed you something in return. And: he looks away, shoulders tensing a bit like he still isn't sure if he's going to get snapped at, :you needed help. You were injured and DZ was going to run out of electricity and have to sleep, and...: He trails off awkwardly and stares very hard at a nearby tree. 

:You didn't ask me to help with the children. I didn't even do all that much, definitely not anything that was worth hurting yourself that badly over.: She pats his knee. :And us being in trouble mattering to you like that is what I mean, it wouldn't have mattered for lots of people. Or not enough to do anything about, anyway.:

Vanyel...has no idea what to say to that. Also it's weird, he almost always hates random physical contact from people he doesn't know well but from Deskyl it doesn't bother him. Maybe because she healed him? :Thank you: he sends, it's not a very good response but it's better than awkward silence. 

:I do think you need some better training, but that seems pretty fixable.:

Vanyel really isn't sure how to respond to that in a way that doesn't, well, badmouth his teachers and the Heralds as a whole, so he doesn't. 

She lets the silence sit for a bit. :Did you want to try seeing how our magic works together?:

:Oh – sure!: Vanyel had managed to completely forget about sparring, but he's feeling a lot more up for it now that he isn't incredibly tired and shaky with adrenaline from...things, which he will think about later. 

:All right.: She gets to her feet via a sequence of movements that's only moderately physically implausible. :So the one big thing I want to try is - it looks like you're pulling energy from the world? And I wonder if I can make it, that's the kind of thing the Force can do.:

:...What, really? Just MAKE energy, from nowhere?: Vanyel gets up as well, with more normal movements. :Also, how did you do that just now – the moving like that?: 

:Mmhmm. Lots of Force powers make energy from nothing. Telekinesis is one, that's what I was moving with. The healing does too, more subtly.:

:That's interesting. We have some things like that – Fetching is one: Vanyel makes a pebble from the ground fly into his hand, then concentrates and it pops to his other hand without crossing the intervening space. :But that costs energy, from me. I'm guessing you saw that?: 

:Yeah. Force stuff doesn't - there's a limit to how much energy I can channel at once, and I'll get tired just like I would doing any kind of mental work, but it's not coming from a limited source at all.:

:That's really interesting!: Vanyel bounces on his heels. :Sure - I can watch what you're doing with my mage-senses if you want to try to make some energy: 

:I probably won't get it perfect right off the bat, this kind of thing does take some experimentation. But -: She tries, setting up a field around herself of something quite a bit like mage-energy.

:Huh! I can...sense that, I think? But–: he concentrates and tries something, :I can't touch it or draw on it, quite. Feels like, I don't know, trying to grab my own reflection in water. That's so interesting!: Vanyel is, for the moment at least, sufficiently engaged that there's almost zero misery noticeable in his surface thoughts. 

:Hm, seeing that helped-: the field ripples for a few seconds, and when it settles again it's much closer. :This'll be weak if it works at all, but try it again.: