"Okay, good to know.

I'm going to... go... glide around."

"Sure, all right." 

Leareth gives her a faintly confused look. 

She pats Leareth's arm and goes and climbs up a cliff.

Awkward silence.

“Would you like a method to send a letter?” Leareth asks Vanyel finally.

“Hmm? Yes, that seems valuable as a contingency,” Vanyel says distantly.

“All right. I can give you a message-drop location; it will not be instantaneous, I think four to five days in transit, but it will be more guaranteed and predictable that the dream.” Leareth pauses, glances at Belrun’s climbing form and then leans in and lowers his voice. “Vanyel, is - something wrong?”

“It’s fine.”

It’s not convincing at all but Leareth lets it slide; it’s rather reasonable of Vanyel not to trust him with it. He starts giving instructions.

This plus some awkward further sharing of random historical facts gets them to the end of the dream, and Leareth and Belrun are both awake. Again.

"Didja figure out what was eating him?" Belrun mumbles into Leareth's hair.

“No. He deflected firmly when I asked. It - worries me.” There wasn’t enough substantive content to be worth taking notes now, so Leareth snuggles up closer with Belrun instead.

Zzz.

It’s the second night in a row of interrupted sleep, and so when Leareth first cracks his eyes open, he shoves the curtains further shut with magic, without moving, and goes back to sleep, only waking up properly a candlemark before noon.

Belrun's awake a little earlier and making potatoes and miscellaneous vegetables for brunch by the time he's up.

Leareth wanders out. "Morning. Have you...had any ideas, about last night?" 

"No, he just seemed really uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do about that - did you figure out how to let him send letters?"

"I did. I gave him a message-drop location, which is not ideal because it is only checked once a day and will take up to five days to reach me - to reach the north, rather, I will need to check in to actually receive it. It did mean I did not need to have thought very carefully about the security implications, though." 

She hands him a plate. "Well, it's better than waiting weeks for dreams."

"Yes, I said that to him. And that at least it is a predictable interval." 

"If we're lucky we won't ever urgently need it."

"Mmm. I do not feel particularly comfortable telling him anything further until we know what is going on, there, but hopefully we can clarify it at the next dream." Leareth frowns vaguely at the window. "I am also not sure why it happened two nights in a row, and whether that is in itself concerning, but...I am not sure there is anything better to do there but wait." 

So they can wait. The next few days pass uneventfully.

Six days later, when Leareth uses the most secure version of his communication to check in with his command up north, he Mindspeaks Belrun in the middle of class (he's still been attending when she teaches, but not all of her other classes, so he can use the time to catch up on things nearby on the campus instead.) :Apparently there is a letter. From Vanyel. I am going to do a very quick Gate to retrieve it here since I am unsure if he meant it for my eyes only: 

:Okay, thanks for the warning:

Leareth considers heading back to Rana's house for the Gate, since he's plunked some shielding on the guest-bedroom that will make it a little less obvious to the many other mages in the city, but - on reflection, it seems like evidence that something is wrong, and while that isn't necessarily correlated with a threat to Belrun in particular here in another country, he is feeling a bit paranoid. He does it from a nearby deserted alleyway. Since he knows exactly where he's going, he only has to be on the other side for about thirty seconds. It's a pretty miserable thirty seconds but it's over quickly. 

He opens the letter. Reads it. 

:Belrun: he sends, with more urgency. :We have a problem: 

:A "skip the rest of the lecture" problem?:

:Whatever is going on, it has been for four or five days and has not exploded enough to result in any reports from the border, which I suppose reduces the urgency somewhat: Pause. :I would, however, appreciate company in figuring out what to do: