:I'm sure someone will - it's pretty important, right?: 

:I think there may be a very high ratio of important things to people who could do them:

:...I mean, also true, but I bet you could get a pretty long way in just a candlemark of actual tutoring, and get the rest by practicing Mindspeaking with other Heralds in the day to day: 

:Sure. Is there some reason you can't teach me? You can Mindspeak:

:Huh. It's not the way we normally do things, but I suppose I could!: 

:Why isn't it usual?: The mane braid has gotten a little messy. She finger-combs it out and starts it over.

:Hmm. Partly it's that Companion Mindspeech works pretty differently, we don't natively use the Heraldic Mindspeech protocols with each other, but I do think I could teach it fine. The other part is, well, nearly all Heralds don't use them with their own Companion either. You're a strong exception in the extent to which you want the only thoughts you share to be deliberate Mindspeech. Most people don't do full thoughtsharing all the time but usually it's somewhere on that spectrum: 

:I could get used to it being less consciously deliberate if it were better able to filter for specific kinds of thoughts? Like, 'is this a good time' is fine for you to know whenever, say. I'm trying to let enough through to stand in for facial expressions since you mostly don't have them and are not always looking at me but I'd let other stuff through if I knew how to be really specific. Leareth I mostly shut down as hard as I can, because 'as hard as I can' is not actually all the way and that spooks me? But the Companion bond seems a little more malleable:

:Mmm. I think it is, and my end of it is a bit under my control, if that makes sense? Emotions come as sort of a different stream from content of thoughts, so for the facial expressions part, we could figure out how to selectively loosen shields just on the Empathy side. Getting some types of thought-content across by default but not others would take more practice but I'd bet it's doable. I haven't been trying to read anything you're not deliberately pushing at me, since it's kind of extremely obvious you're spooked about mindreading and why would I do that:

Pet pet braid braid. :We'll figure it out. What is the protocol for with other humans around here though?:

:Don't Mindspeak at non-Mindspeakers unless you've specifically established that's all right; you may not even be able to, it takes a very strong Mindspeech Gift. If someone is a Mindspeaker, check if they're available by knocking on their shields like this: Amshalan demonstrates. 

:Huh, okay. Maybe I can check with my dad if I have a strong enough Gift to get through to non-Mindspeakers:

:That's a good idea. It is useful sometimes. All Companions can do it, generally at significant range, so if for some reason you ever have to urgently pass a message to someone who isn't Gifted you can ask me: A mental snort. :Rolan would tell us off for using it frivolously but I think I'm well past the point of caring very much what Rolan thinks: 

:Was there ever an ostensible justification for not being frivolous? Why not be frivolous, if you don't expect to need to conserve resources for something? I do frivolous Fetching:

:I think it's a bit the thing we had a conversation about, a while back? Keeping something in reserve, not having everyone start to count on it all the time. But I don't think that'll add much with you. You're much less the infinitely self-sacrificing type than most Heralds. I expect you'll make very sensible plans that don't overstretch you, and also I assume Leareth will be applying great paranoia to making sure nothing ever happens to you: 

:I don't prefer self-sacrifice given other reasonable options but that doesn't mean it's not on the table? If something's important enough. Though it'd have to be pretty up there to be worth me and the followon effects on both you and Leareth so there's that:

:Mmm. I mean, I know you do - getting a Companion at all was a bit of a self-sacrificing move on your part, wasn't it?: 

:Yeah:

Vanyel finally hauls himself to his feet. "All right, I'm going to at least go back to my room. Maybe Randi can wait until tonight..." 

"See you later."

:Randi could meet with us now, if we wanted: Amshalan informs her. :Also Savil wants to be there, she's been so worried about Van: 

:Sure, that seems fine to me: Once she has adequate headroom she climbs back onto Amshalan.

Amshalan carries her back to the central wing of the Palace. It's late afternoon veering into evening at this point. :Oh - are you hungry?: Amshalan asks. :We could swing by the dining hall first if so: 

:I'm allowed in the dining hall now? There are so many perks. Yeah, I could eat:

:...I mean, I didn't actually check but I can't see why not. I probably ought to check with Rolan, but honestly I'm still sort of having - hmm, what's the right phrase here - a teenage rebellious phase about Rolan's existence, so I'm not going to ask: