She leads him to her dorm room. It is small and tidy and has a lot of notebooks in it. "Don't open those," she tells him, gesturing at the shelf of them.

"All right, I will leave them alone." He's tempted to bring up the fact that he also likes to keep extensive records of his life and his thoughts about it, but - it doesn't really seem like the top priority here is bonding over things they have in common. 

She sits on her bed, leaving him the desk chair. "So some... non-people... are after you, and you think merely not announcing... this... will not help."

Shields shields shields so many shields. He's trying to put the information that needs conveying in a sensible order that minimizes the chance she straight-up won't believe him – she'll probably straight-up not believe him anyway, though, it's just that weird. 

"How old are you?" is the question that comes out first. 

"Twenty-two, why?"

"I am aware that this will sound very implausible and you are probably not going to believe me. However. I am immortal and about two thousand years old. The gods of Velgarth do not like me very much because I keep trying to change things. They have gotten fairly creative in the past in terms of their plots to stop my work or slow me down, but this is a new one. Gods are, however, perfectly capable of setting up a lifebond and then arranging that a convenient accident happen such that we meet and are both too distracted to catch on before it is too late. They are also perfectly capable of arranging some additional convenient accidents if they so wish. Though I am not certain that their goal would have been to kill you, rather than simply distracting me." 

"Has, uh, has anyone ever suggested you see a Mindhealer - I guess thinking the gods are out to get you wouldn't make that less scary -"

Sigh. That is such a reasonable, smart response. Unfortunately Belrun is wrong about what's going on here but he can't blame her at all. 

"There is a Mindhealer back home who I trust," he says, "but I am not going to ask you to go through a Gate on my say-so right now, that would be highly unreasonable on my part."

(He could just scoop her through a Gate anyway? That would be safest? Except she would be so mad about it and therefore he is utterly incapable of reasoning objectively about it.)

"If there is someone you trust and could swear to secrecy, I suppose I could speak to them and we could get confirmation one way or another," he says, very neutrally. 

"No, it was suggested I see a Mindhealer about whatever it is that makes me panic and fall out of Healing-melds but unfortunately the thing that makes me panic and fall out of Healing-melds is not wanting people in my head. So I don't have one on tap." Her knuckles are very white around her quilt.

"I apologize that this situation is so stressful and bizarre." Leareth feels really terrible about it, which is uncharacteristic of him and is clearly because lifebonds are the worst thing and he and Belrun are currently, to some extent, mind-controlling at each other. No wonder she's so upset about it.

Leareth can shield very hard and calm down to the extent he can manage and see if that helps Belrun have any idea of what problem-solving can be done here. 

"Immortal, huh? That one's... less common than paranoia."

"I confess I have never had reason to research which delusions are more common than others."

"My mother said if I was going to be terrified of Mindhealers I should at least read a few books they wrote. Didn't really help with the Healing-meld problem though."

"Mmm." Why is he so self-conscious, this isn't helping at all.

"I did set up a few contingencies to prove my immortality if I ever wished to do so," he thinks to say eventually. "Though perhaps it would be better to first ask if you have ideas of what would change your mind on the matter of whether I am delusional." 

"Uh, let's see. If you can prove you're immortal that'll make the gods being mad at you way more plausible and it also seems easier to prove. If I were immortal and two thousand years old I'd have... lots of notes and stuff in caches all over the place, immortal friends, backdoors into various institutions improbably unrelated to one another, I'd speak a lot of old languages, I'd be able to claim credit for various historical events but that one's harder to demonstrate to a third party as more than a gift for storytelling..."

"Hmm. I do not have very many immortal friends – you might say that the gods closed the loophole I used after they realized I was using it, and - most of the people who would be willing to use it are not people I would wish to have it, anyway."

Is the part where he should specify that he is, by standard moral standards, definitely not a good person? Prooobably but what he should do and what he is doing seem to be different things right now. Stupid lifebonds.

"I am acquainted with Taver, the current Groveborn Companion in Valdemar," he offers. "We met about seven hundred years ago, he ought to remember our conversation. That, however, is not near here. I do, however, have a cache of notes and supplies very close to this city." Rethwellan has a lot of them. "Also, if there is a Temple to Astera nearby, I have a backdoor with them which I mostly use to courier messages in code." 

"I don't know whether there's one nearby but there probably is. I guess I could... bring you to meet my dad and stop in Haven... how far off is the cache?"

"A day's ride from here. Valdemar is a much longer journey unless you are willing to Gate." Also it's...questionably a good idea for him to show up in Haven in person. At least Vanyel is the only person who knows what he looks like; he can do his best to avoid that. "Are you from there originally, or did your father move from here?" 

"I am from Valdemar originally, my parents are divorced, and when I was nine I finally convinced my mother to move so the nightmare horses couldn't get me. Probably wasn't necessary, they usually leave Healers be and it transpires I am one, but we're settled here now."

"The nightmare horses? That is a nickname I have not heard before." Leareth smiles despite himself. "I think we have several things in common. I would also flee the country immediately if I thought there was any chance at all that a Companion might want me." He has not especially worried about the second part in the past. 

"They are horses. They gave me nightmares. My mother dawdled for a very long time and said 'why do you even think a Companion would want you' and I said 'anyone would want me, I'm great'. And I have evaded them and now this is happening to me but at least I have never specifically had nightmares about immortal mages, I guess!"

Leareth cannot help briefly grinning and then tries to stop because that's not very respectful of her obvious distress (which he is very aware of and now he's upset about it too) and also why. 

"I am really sorry about this!" he says. "I have noticed that you are great, but trust me, if I had any say in it my response to it would not be lifebonding to you!" 

"Yeah. Sorry. I know it's not your fault."

"Well. What do you want to do now? It does not make sense to head for the notes cache tonight and, whether or not we are lifebonded, I suspect you perhaps do not want me sleeping in your dorm room." (Leareth also doesn't want to sleep in her dorm room! That seems so awkward!) 

"It's not really furnished for that, among other things. Ugh. I need to - think. How do I find you now that you're not occupying a Healer's bed, I'd rather not stumble around trying to navigate by mind-control-compass if I can avoid it."