"If you call Herald Tantras missing who I was talking about and describing the observable Vkandis behavior as 'evil' a form of helping, yes?"

Vanyel laughs despite himself. "I wish I'd seen his face when he realized! He must've been being very dense about it, but - I think that happens when he's in a very fraught conversation." 

"He went on to explain that we expect gods to do mysterious godly things, and I said there's a difference between expectation as in that which is unsurprising and expectation as in that which meets standards."

"...Right, I see that. I'm very used to being a pawn in the gods' plans, it doesn't surprise me when they - use people - but it doesn't mean I'm happy about it or would prefer the world that way." 

"I'm lifebonded to the King, who is dying of a mysterious disease," Shavri says dully. "Lifebonds are something the gods do. I'm not sure what they wanted out of this one but - it's pretty terrible for me. It's not that I don't love Randi, just..." 

"He's - were you supposed to tell me that, it seems like sensitive information."

"I mean, in theory, but we're pretty damned sure Leareth knows. Honestly I had wondered if it was somehow his fault although leaning against it at this point." 

"Does everyone just kind of figure everything bad that happens is probably Leareth's fault around here -"

"I mean, when we're being paranoid we pretty much have to ask the question? Given, er, some of the bad things we have confirmation he was involved in. I'm fairly sure he didn't cause Darvi's death, in the end, but I spent a month investigating it just in case he could have. It was a very convenient accident for his goals, you know." 

"I haven't asked him if he's been engineering the deaths of Valdemaran royalty, and I guess he may have been, but - anything the gods can get you to blame him for is a way they can use you to kill him for them and they, too, often manifest in convenient accidents."

"That's a really good point, actually." Vanyel shivers. "Ugh. I...remember having the thought, even, years ago. That whether the gods want me to fight him, and whether it's the right thing to do, aren't actually the same question. It's terrifying considering that I might end up wanting to do something the gods don't want, because...how are you even supposed to fight that, they're gods...but I was already aware of that being possible. And - I guess I'm not an expert on how gods do things but I knew vaguely it involved poking things in convenient directions, since, well, me existing." 

"Leareth does it by mostly staying out of god territory - less an option for you - and by being really thorough to the point of redundancy and paranoia about how he manages all his stuff, so there's no room for god coincidences to sneak in, which... works better for someone who is as an individual in charge of his whole organization. I think a group of people could also manage something similar but they'd all have to be thinking pretty clearly - this trades low surface area for the need for an outside actor like a god to make a lot of things all go the same way at the same time to corrupt the decisionmaking process, and I think that's hard, that's probably why they don't like democracy, but if they can just get everybody to make correlated mistakes then ultimately they can still co-opt it."

"I'm guessing," Vanyel says quietly, "that you think Heralds do all make correlated mistakes." 

"...less than I was expecting. Dara seems very clearheaded, I'm glad she got brought in. But yeah, probably, so barring a very exciting update from the local divinity..."

"I'm glad you brought Dara in. I like her a lot." 

"I hope she's - ready to cope with Rolan."

"I think she's ready to cope with most things. Honestly she was more mature at thirteen when I met her than I was at twenty. And - at least he's talking to her, right? That's already on a better track than me and 'Fandes." 

"That was my impression but I can't exactly eavesdrop. I don't suppose it'd help if I talked to Yfandes too?"

"It might be a very frustrating conversation for you! But I don't think it'd make things worse, if only because that seems difficult to pull off at this point. It might be easier. She'd have more - distance - with you." 

"I can try, if you want me to."

"...I'll think about it a bit more but probably that would be good. Er, anyway. I actually want to know more about the 'hypothetical' you gave about Vkandis, and what you and Leareth think the gods are up to, insofar as you can say." 

Shavri nods. "I know it's probably hard to tell, since I don't get the impression most gods are much for explaining their actions, but I'm also curious." 

Belrun repeats her assessment of Vkandis's observable behavior.

"I don't blame Tran for saying that sounds evil if you imagine a person doing it! It'd just be so...power-hungry, I guess? Megalomaniac? It does feel less like that if I think of it being a god. Maybe just because, I don't know, 'wanting to be as powerful as a god' seems less weird if you literally are one. But I don't know if that's right. Do you think the gods actually do have motives of wanting more control and influence?" 

"I think it's hard to disentangle that from them wanting to be able to predict the future since for a god those may be the same thing. But effectively many of the more legible god actions bend in that direction."