- he'll send his answer to her and Vanyel and Leareth.

So we currently have him under a compulsion that doesn't permit voluntary movement. If he prefers that to the Mindhealing, then that's satisfactory to us, but it's a lot more restrictive. I expect him not to answer you because he was a prisoner of our evil god and our evil god is well known for not giving his prisoners much incentive to assent to anything that's happening. But if he says no, we'll leave him like this. 

Leareth does not think about what his preference is here. No response. 

Melody lets out her breath. She sits down beside his bed. :All right. This is a temporary block, it doesn't cause any kind of permanent damage. It shouldn't take longer than five, ten minutes; it might feel odd, but it won't hurt. Questions?: 

Presumably not, but she waits a few beats anyway. :All right, I'm going to start: 

–The Valdemaran style of Mindhealing is a very recognizable one, and not something Leareth would have thought could be faked from sensory impressions alone – he can feel it in parts of his mind that he has no memory of Melkor ever touching directly. 

Don't finish that thought. Lie still, reveal nothing, he can't trust any of his reasoning about whether or not this is real, and Leareth does not want to give Melkor any indication that he's still capable of experiencing fear. 

His breath still catches a little, even now he can't help it. 

He watches. Tries to entertain himself guessing what she must think of them, what Leareth must think - 

- Leareth's scared, he doesn't miss that -  

:I'm all done: Melody says after about ten minutes. :Leareth, please tell me if it's uncomfortable or bothering you at all, or if you need anything else right now?: 

(No answer.)

:Well: she sends to Maitimo and Vanyel. :Can we un-compulsion him now?: 

Vanyel glances at Maitimo, then back to Melody. :Sure. Leareth, I'm going to undo it, all right? Also, I really apologize for being terrible at compulsions, I know I did a messy job. I, um, haven't had much practice and I was really tired from, you know, killing Melkor and all: 

He is so clearly embarrassed about it and it's so very Vanyel and...evidence about something but that doesn't mean Leareth can trust himself to use it. 

The various levels of not-allowed melt away. Leareth doesn't do anything with it right away, but after maybe thirty seconds, he tries adjusting his position in the bed to something more comfortable. Nothing terrible happens. 

"Thank you," he says quietly in Valdemaren.

:Can we talk?: Melody sends to Maitimo and Vanyel, not including Leareth this time. 

Of course. My tent is the neighboring one. 

Melody nods, follows him. Folds her arms. :I don't know if you're able to tell me, if there's a part of it that's a state secret or something I'd understand, but – what in all hells happened to him? More specifically than 'prisoner of an evil god', I mean. I don't know said evil god - thankfully - and I cannot think of what he could've done to cause...that: 

He edits peoples' memories, inserts some, removes some, runs them through complicated scenarios to get them to give up information or do magic for him or become convinced that his old friends are enemies. Also he tortures them a lot. Most of the people we've rescued didn't want to be alive. I don't know what Leareth remembers about his lives or the war or any of us. I don't know who he thinks he works for or what context he has for what's going on. I know the Enemy got him to do some magic - not much, but some - for his side in the war. 

Some people get better eventually. Some decide to stay dead. I - I'd bet he'll be one of the ones that gets better. But I don't know. 

Melody sighs heavily. Looks around for a place to sit down.

:I don't make a habit of going around telling third parties about what I see in people's minds: she says. :It's been known to happen, but generally I wasn't given much of a choice. However, I also think we're unlikely to get Leareth's agreement for anything right now, and if we do it won't mean much. Given that – I know of him a little, through Vanyel, but you both know him much better. If he were - in his right mind - and knew that it might be useful context for the two of you, do you think he'd mind my sharing it?: 

Vanyel glances at Maitimo. :Probably?: 

I think he'd want us to figure out how to get him back.

:That would've been my impression. So - here, this is what I'm seeing: She shares her impression of it. 

Melody's Sight is complex and bewildering, but she can help them orient to it. There's...something like a tapestry or rug, woven in hundreds of colours. 

One side is a complete mess, all the way along. It's as though someone's gone through the entirety of it, snipping threads apart and stitching in new materials that don't belong to the original pattern at all, and then repeated that process several hundred times until it's more like a three-dimensional maze than a tapestry at all. 

There's a side that's mostly intact, but somehow dark, folded-up, not seeing the light at all. 

This appears to be because the middle, where the centre of the original tapestry's pattern must have been, has been thoroughly and messily unraveled, leaving a formless tangle of thread. That part...doesn't look like it was done from the outside. 

- oh. 

So even if we fix the stuff that Melkor did, there's - the stuff he did. In self-defense, probably. 

:That's what it looks like to me. I don't know what his mind looked like before, which makes it hard to interpret, but I think he kind of cut off his own ability to...take actions, or make choices, or have goals. I suspected before, didn't seem like the compulsions were doing much. I'd imagine he did some magic for Melkor and then stopped? And that this is why. He must've realized he was being used, and I guess not seen another way out: 

- nod. 

Is that the sort of thing your magic can fix.

:In theory, maybe? But I'd need his active cooperation. I don't know what's meant to go there: She lifts her hands palms-up, helplessly. :Maybe he doesn't either, anymore. If we can somehow get him to a point where he's willing to have a conversation with me at all, I can probably do something: 

That makes sense. Thank you.

:...How long has it been since you got him out?: 

Just a couple of days. The people who recover take Years.

:Right. In that case, I think he'll probably be a little better in a few weeks to months, even if I don't do anything. He's really exhausted. Which makes a lot of sense: Melody frowns. :What is your plan for the next while? Stay in tent city or go elsewhere?: