He narrows his eyes at her for a moment, a weirdly human expression. 

:I do not have further questions at this time: he sends finally. 

"Okay. Thank you for meeting with me."

A ponderous, dignified horse-nod. :You are welcome: He hesitates. :I - wished to thank you also. For the scholarship that you plan to offer Dara. It is very generous and kind of you: 

"Oh, I wasn't aware you'd heard. You're welcome."

:Yfandes heard and told me: he clarifies. :The Companions in the herd do still talk to me: 

"That makes sense."

He tosses his mane. :If that is all, then...?: 

"I think so. Thanks again."

Rolan disappears off into the field at a dignified walk. 

:So? Seems like that wasn't the most productive but at least it wasn't a disaster: 

:Yeah, not a best case but hardly a worst case:

:Well. Want me to give you a lift back to the guest wing?:

:Yes thank you:

Amshalan carries her back over and drops her off right outside the door. :Goodnight, Belrun. I'm really proud of everything you've done today. Sleep well - oh, and if you're having difficulty because you miss Leareth, do feel free to come to my stall anytime, I won't mind: A speculative glance back at Belrun. :I wonder if Leareth could build us accommodations where I could actually fit. Though I suppose you'll want to share a bed with Leareth again and perhaps you don't want your Companion watching from nearby: 

:You're very snuggly but I would rather be in bed with him and not supervised when this is again possible - also had to Heal a crick in my neck when I did sleep over with you. But maybe hallways and doorframes don't have to be so oppressive:

:Makes sense. I would love to live somewhere I could just wander around - I wonder how much of why we haven't rebuilt the core wing here isn't just that it'd be inconvenient, but that it'd make it really obvious to the Council and such that Companions are people? And for some reason the current system seems to steer away from that. Anyway. Goodnight!: 

:Goodnight:

And Belrun sleeps.

In the morning, shortly after someone brings her breakfast, Shavri arrives. "Morning! Sleep all right?" 

"Adequately. Any joy on getting me home soon?"

"Yes! Savil dropped off the message yesterday, checked this morning and got a reply. He wants to collect you from a spot by the northern border, not the same one as the message-drop location, but Savil can Gate you there. In a bit. This is kind of a lot of Gating for her and she's taking a nap right now. Vanyel would offer to do it if we told him so we haven't told him." 

"I should get packing then! Thank you for everything - and Savil too - and Vanyel for his, uh, counterfactual self-sacrifice -"

"You're welcome! I'm going to miss having you around, honestly, I wish we'd gotten more of a chance to talk Healing research; maybe we could exchange letters later...?" 

"Sure, why not? I brought all my eggs with me up north, and they shouldn't have had much time to deteriorate since I left, I'll be picking right up and can send you copies of my papers in addition to U Petras."

"Amazing! And Leareth should be able to set you up with lots of resources for that, I assume. Anyway, he's also going to arrange to send over an actual diplomatic team, although not at the same time, he wrote in the letter that if a god wants to interfere with that he'd prefer it not involve interfering with your pickup too. You can pack up, and anyone who wants to say goodbye will probably swing by in the next couple of candlemarks, if that's all right?" 

"Sounds like a plan!"