Vanyel hangs out on the other end, not really saying anything; it's nice having something else to distract him from his thoughts. 

She comments on the food as she and DZ go through the buffet line - various things remind her of the food at her master's compound, or at the village she grew up in, or seem like tastier versions of spaceship food, or are entirely new to her, and soon they're on their way back with two plates.

Spaceship food? Vanyel is curious to hear about that. And about spaceships in general, come to think of it. 

Spaceship food has a reputation for being pretty uninteresting - spaceships don't naturally have dirt, or sunlight, or room to spare, and it's difficult and expensive to grow any food without those, so only the biggest ones bother. Most of them get by with preserved things, which pretty much by definition means they're less tasty than fresh - the chemicals in food that are responsible for interesting tastes tend to be fragile, and the ones that are sturdy enough to survive preservation get boring after a while. Space travel is common enough that a lot of people have put work into making ship food better, and there are some interesting spacer dishes - this bean salad she got reminds her of one - but they're still obviously working under some sharp limits.

Vanyel listens with interest; until now he's never thought about what makes some foods taste better than others. 

She digresses into genetics, after a while, by way of mentioning that they have plants designed to be both tastier and easier to grow in space. She doesn't know much at all about genetic engineering, and they won't be able to do it here within her lifetime anyway - it takes incredibly precise tools and machines to work with things that small - but knowing about genetic inheritance is still useful for figuring out which plant varieties to crossbreed for useful traits. And maybe their magic will be able to work with it, actually, she should talk to the healers about that.

(She keeps an eye on whether he's eating, and prompts him if he stops for more than a couple minutes before launching right back into whatever she was talking about.)

Vanyel gets absorbed enough in listening that he forgets to eat a few times, but with prompting he finishes his plate. And then yawns. "Sorry." 

:It's fine. Seems like you spent today up a tree, of course you're tired.:

"–sorry, what? Up a tree?" 

:Metaphorically, I mean. Stressing about something, or trying not to.:

Shrug. "Morning was fine. I guess the last few hours weren't great. It's not very interesting. Just - trying not to think about the same stupid things that I'm always upset about." 

:Yeah.: She sets her plate aside and offers him a hug. :It still affects you, though. Trying not to think about it doesn't really work, that way.:

Vanyel leans his head on her shoulder. :It's still better than thinking about it: He's so tired. Not really the kind of tired where sleeping helps. 

:Well, yes and no. But for now, yeah.: Squeeze. :It'll be better once I'm recovered, I think, and once you're caught up on sleep and everything.:

On the one hand, there's the part of Vanyel that's pretty sure nothing is ever going to be better, ever. But it feels rude to argue with Deskyl about it, and besides he's not sure how much he believes that particular feeling. 

She holds him for a bit. :Do you want to do anything else before bed? Get some exercise, maybe?:

He doesn't want to do anything, exactly. "I don't know, do you think it'd help?" 

:It might. Have you been out at all today?:

"I had Mindspeech relay in the morning. And I helped Savil with some mage-work." 

:That doesn't sound like much. It's up to you, though.:

"I guess maybe going for a walk could help. Can we just go once around the building and if I still feel this tired we can stop?" 

:Sure, that sounds good.: She gives him another squeeze and helps him to his feet.

:So, I don't know, how's your Companion doing?:

:Pretty good! Her friend Rolaya dropped a foal a few days ago...: Vanyel doesn't have that much to say about Yfandes' day to day life, but he can cover a minute or two of conversation on the topic. 

Foals are cute, at least. :I'll have to remember to ask you about Companion etiquette sometime. They didn't seem to mind talking to me when I went over there yesterday, but they have way less to do with things around here than I'd expect, I'm not sure what to make of that.:

:Less to do with what? I'd think they know everything their Heralds are up to: