:I don't really... talk to other people... very much.:

Leareth chuckles. :Other than patients, you mean? Also, you are talking to me right now: 

:Patients are easier! There's a script! And... I don't know, you're just not scary for some reason.:

Leareth wonders if this is the first time ever that somebody has called him less scary than other people. :So how did you find out you were a Mindhealer? I know the Gift is very rare and I hear many people who have it are not correctly identified at first: 

:When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time imagining what it was like to be other people and then... one day while I was imagining I pretended it was a library and I could go look and read all the books in their head. And then I tried reshelving some of the books in different places and it turns out I was not in fact pretending.:

:I hope it was not too difficult to put back!: 

:Yeah, I remembered where they were before, it worked out fine. Was a bit scary for a while, though.:

:Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught? I know it is hard to do standard training for Mindhealers because the Sight metaphors can be so different - did you know, my colleague who is a Mindhealer sees people as loaves of bread? I am curious what sorts of things seeing a library is particularly good for; this is not my field at all, but I understand different Mindhealers are advantaged in different areas due to which exact Sight metaphor they landed with: 

:Loaves of bread! How do you get anything interesting out of loaves of bread? Are they different kinds-- are some of them rye and some of them sourdough-- was she a baker or something, does she have a sense of what different kinds of bread are like--: He pauses and belatedly realizes he was asked a question. :Uh, I think the library is really good for understanding things which is... convenient, given my philosophy... or I guess my philosophy could come from what I'm good at? But if I'm confused about what a shelf is doing it's really easy to just pick up a book and flip through all the pictures and I think a lot of my colleagues do not get that level of understanding.:

:Her father was a baker. I don't know, apparently bread has a surprising amount of detail to it. She said it's advantageous for seeing the overall gist of who someone is, it's worse for anything to do with memories of life events than most metaphors, but better for sort of more general shifts in how someone relates to some broad area. Mostly she does theoretical research rather than working with patients, though: 

:Ooh, I want to do theoretical research. --I mean, I don't. I want to have more hours in the day so I can do the same amount of patient-seeing I do right now and also do theoretical research.:

He bounces about the concept of theoretical research.

Aww, that's very lovely actually! ...This is not normally the sort of thought Leareth has about people, though he does appreciate it when anyone is excited and enthusiastic about scholarship. :What sort of theoretical research avenues would you pursue if you had time?: 

:I want to figure out how the brain creates minds! I bet there's a lot you could figure out if you got a Healer and a Mindhealer working together.:

:My colleague works on something a little similar to that, actually: Unfortunately that's hitting the limit of what he feels he can say about Nayoki's work, even to a stranger who has no idea of the wider context. :Is this a sort of research that the House of Healing might do someday, in Valdemar?: 

:I'm not sure. They don't really talk to me about that kind of thing.: Or much of anything, really.

:Do you mostly work alone, then? I do not know very much about Valdemar's current setup for Mindhealers: 

:I'm on circuit... basically all the time? I don't have to be, I just... really like my job and don't have a lot else going on in my life.:

This person is weirdly not scary? This is the most words Levris has said to someone who isn't a client in a while.

:Valdemar has Mindhealers traveling on circuit? I mean, I was aware Heralds worked that way, but it seems like it would have downsides for Mindhealers. How do you find it?:

:I mean, people in farming villages have mental problems too, what else would you do about it? --I get really really tired of sitting on horseback.:

Gah! That is a stupid thing to say! Now this person is going to hate you.

:Uh, what's your name?:

Have they really gone this entire time without exchanging names? He tries to weigh the odds that Vanyel or any of the others in the government who presumably know about his Foresight dream will both bump into this one specific Mindhealer who spends literally all his time on circuit, and also tell him about it. It seems low. :Leareth. And you?: 

:Levris. --That's a nice name.:

:Thank you: He decides that explaining the etymology would probably stand out too much. 

The barmaid swings by them again. Leareth asks for another tea and glances over. "Levris, could I get you anything?" Probably he has more money than someone on a Healers' stipend. 

"Um. Tea is good."

Why is Leareth buying him tea??????? (Levris is uncomfortably aware of what his preferred explanation is.) 

Leareth is completely oblivious to Levris' confusion, but he's enjoying the conversation a surprising amount and will cheerfully keep asking various questions about Mindhealing and Valdemar until they're finished their tea. 

"...Sorry, I ought to get some sleep, I have commitments in the morning." It's gotten kind of late all of a sudden. 

Is that a proposition.

"Okay," Levris says. "My room is, uh, upstairs? If you think of anything else you want to talk about?"