:Well, our current Queen is Elspeth. She's a Herald, like Van and I – oh, I should explain Heralds. Heralds exist because King Valdemar, who founded Valdemar the country, was a refugee from a corrupt Empire, and so he was worried about his new kingdom becoming like that at some point long after he died. So he went and cast a spell and prayed to every single god he knew of – the legends aren't very clear on the details, this was eight hundred years ago, but the Companions were the result. A Herald is anyone Chosen by a Companion. Heralds are supposed to be very ethical and impossible to corrupt, because of the Companions. There are about a hundred and fifty of us, right now, and we play a lot of key roles in governing Valdemar. The monarch always has to be Chosen – sometimes this means that the succession goes to a cousin rather than the children of the last monarch, if they aren't Chosen: 

She frowns for a while, trying to figure out how to put everything else about Valdemar into order. :Um, politically, we've been at peace with our neighbours for decade but that could change when Elspeth dies. In terms of policies – we have a precedent that dates since the Founding of not invading other countries' territory. And – a big thing about Valdemar, how it's supposed to be anyway, is that - well, King Valdemar came from an extremely authoritarian place. He wanted his people to have as many freedoms as was feasible, and he was in favour of accepting refugees from anywhere, if they wanted to come here. It's...not trivial, making it always work like that in practice, and I won't claim Valdemar always lives up to its vision of itself, but we try. Um, if you have specific questions about policies I can answer them? It's kind of broad and I don't know where to start: 

:...I see.:

:That answers - most of the questions I had, anyway. I'll need to think about some things.:

:Mmm, all right: Savil keeps eating. 

Vanyel picks at his food, and a while later extends a cautious private Mindtouch. :Deskyl, did, um, something about that bother you?: 

(Vanyel would find this understandable. He's...not totally un-conflicted about the existence of Heralds, and particularly his role as one.) 

:There's... context, on my side. We've mentioned the Force to you?:

:Yes – it's where your power comes from, it's sort of like the laws of physics in your world but also sort of has a mind?: Vanyel tries to remember if she's said anything else, she might well have, he's...distracted a lot. 

:Yeah. There's two sides to it, techniques for doing complicated things - dark side adds emotion to it, for strength, but there's backlash, dark side techniques make us angrier, less in control of ourselves. Light side techniques don't work if you're too emotional; the techniques themselves don't do anything, but getting into that state in the first place and coming out of it has effects. They interfere with each other, and it's - not a thing, basically - to get training in both.:

:...That's a really inconvenient way for it to work: 

:Tell me about it.:

:So there's two schools of Force users - two empires, really. Sith and Jedi. Sith use the dark side; Jedi use the light side. We kill each other on sight, most of the time - Sith less than Jedi, but that's - don't let it give you the idea that we're nice. It turns out that getting a bunch of powerful, unstable people together and teaching them that anything that stops them from getting exactly what they want, exactly when they want it, regardless of what it does to anyone else, is an enemy to be defeated if it's at all possible to... doesn't exactly result in a society that's reasonable dinner conversation, I'll leave it at that. And I know less about Jedi, but it seems like they're just differently bad - Sith have freedom; it might be freedom that hurts everyone around us, but we have it. Jedi don't.:

:And your country - cuts across those lines that I'm used to. Ethics are a Jedi thing. Freedom is a Sith thing. Following the will of the Force is a light side thing. No Sith would let a god tell them what to do.:

:I'm definitely a Sith, that's - not dinner conversation, but there's really no doubt there. But healing's a light side technique.:

:Huh: Vanyel is thinking that he would make a terrible Jedi, it would be so frustrating if certain magic required you not to be having feelings while you cast it. Honestly though it might be worse if casting magic made you more emotional. He doesn't much like the idea of either. 

It's tugging on another thread, though. :Heralds don't – I don't know that we have much freedom? I think ordinary people really do, not completely but compared to other places. And I guess in our day to day we don't get ordered around much, and our personal lives are really up to us: his friends have quite a wide range of hobbies and interests, :but it's not like enlisting for the Guard. A white horse shows up one day and Chooses you and now your life's work is to help hold Valdemar together. Most people are really excited and happy when it happens, so maybe it doesn't matter, if they didn't sign up but they would have if that was how it worked...: 

But he hadn't wanted to be a Herald– no that doesn't make good dinnertime conversation either. :Anyway, how did you learn the healing technique, if you're Sith and they don't usually teach it?: Did she have to practice turning her emotions off and on at will. That sounds incredibly hard but like it might actually be useful in other contexts. 

:Every once in a while someone will be born with strong potential for a particular technique, to the point where they'll figure it out without any training at all. We're called prodigies. It's determined by personality - or determines it, or something, it's not exactly easy to study. But it is meaningful that I'm a light-side prodigy and a Sith. Especially here, though I have no idea how yet, or if I want anything to do with finding out. I don't like that the Force dropped me on something this complex.:

Vanyel is thinking that he doesn't much like god-like forces dropping him into messy situations either. :Er, what do you think is so complex about it?: 

:It just seems very obvious that I'm here as a lightsider, not just as a Sith. And I don't know what you're meant to be doing with a lightside Sith, but it's going to take more than a few minutes for me to be comfortable with the idea. Up until a week ago it would have been my life if anyone had found out I was a lightside Sith.:

:Is Healing the lightside thing you know or is there more?: Vanyel shrugs. :I mean, it was really nice of you to heal me, but it wasn't, you know, mission-critical like the fighting part. Also, that makes sense, that there's nasty politics about it back home: He's trying to think of a comparable example – no, damn it, he doesn't want to think about how in Rethwellan they stone people who are caught with same-sex partners, he really does not want to be thinking about that. 

:It's the only technique I know, but that's not the only part of it, there's a philosophical underpinning, too. Not using the healing - I mean, it matters, but it doesn't make me not a lightsider.:

:I'm basically just going to need to think about what I want to do - not what my training says, not what the Force wants, what I want, whether it happens to accord with either of those or not. And then do it. The Force sent you a lightsider but it did also send you a Sith; if you needed a Jedi I'm sure it has its pick of those.:

Vanyel is still kind of confused but he doesn't to press any further. :That makes sense: He's...going to miss her, if she decides not to say, he's a bit surprised to realize that, but it's not like he has any right to ask her to stay. In her position he would probably be uneasy with it too. 

:If you want me to stay that's something I'd want to know. Or if you want to leave with me, for that matter. A hundred fifty heralds, mostly busy, and you the strongest? I bet we could pull it off.:

The moment she says that is not a particularly good moment for Vanyel to be in the middle of chewing. He half-chokes on a bite of fish, splutters, coughs over his plate while Savil thumps him on the back and then gets him a glass of water. It's hard to tell if his face is crimson from the coughing or just sheer embarrassment. 

Deskyl chuckles, but beats Savil to the water glass. :You okay?:

:I'm fine: Vanyel sips the water and digs out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. :Sorry. I, um...: Where is he even supposed to go with that offer. :Deskyl, I can't leave. I really, really can't: Even if for a fraction of a second it was agonizingly tempting. :I made a vow. I have Companion: 

And, no, that isn't quite the truth, he knows deep down that it's putting too much outside of himself. We always have a choice, Lancir whispers in his memory, and he made his–

- a wall of blue-white fire pressed up against a Gate - 

The block catches his thoughts and steers them away, and hopefully the tears that spring up are disguised by the fact that his eyes were streaming anyway from nearly choking on his food. 

:It's my country: he sends. :The work we do is important and I want to do it: He gulps the rest of his water glass, looking away. :But...yes, I would like it a lot if you and DZ stayed: 

-huh-

:Well, we'll be around for a while, at least.: She pats his hand; that should be safely enough covered by the situation, too.

:I'm glad: Vanyel goes to get more water and then cautiously keeps eating. Hopefully either Savil or Deskyl can keep some conversation going, because he is very distracted now. 

:Sandra was absolutely delighted about the generator: Savil sends after a bit. :Thank you for answering all her questions – I know she can ask a lot of them, sometimes: 

:It was no trouble at all. I really should take an engineering apprentice, if you think she'll be interested.:

:You'd best ask her: Savil sends, :but I predict she'll be ecstatic about it: