And then there's a Gate! It hurts somewhat less than Vanyel was expecting, which is interesting, but 'somewhat less' is still kind of a lot, and he grits his teeth and tries very hard to keep his breathing level. 

Stef glances over at him, and starts singing, and then suddenly it doesn't hurt at all. 

Leareth is waiting for them on the other side of the Gate, beckoning for them to move through quickly so he can take it down and avoid tiring himself unduly. 

She waits till the gate is closed to stop calming Vanyel's pulse, then hops off her Companion to go hug Leareth because they were in separate universes AGAIN.

Leareth pulls her into his arms. :That was a very long two candlemarks. Did you - oh, good, you have the other Stef. The other me is rather distressing currently: 

:Yep, I noticed that. Our Vanyel is also here and kind of freaked out about the thing where he's supposed to be lifebonded to a person who is currently twelve but I figured it would be better to be warned:

:That makes sense. I asked the Melody here about it, and she says that their Vanyel had considerably more than half a day's interaction with Stef, over years, but all before he was fourteen, and they became lifebonded properly later in Arda, when Stef was sixteen. That might be useful information to convey to our Vanyel: 

:Quite:

She relays this.

:Oh, good. That's a relief: His body language isn't particularly relieved, though. 

Leareth lets go of Belrun and gestures for Savil to follow him with younger-Stef. 

Who thinks this is SUCH an ADVENTURE! 

Stef does not stop playing. "Oh would you look at that, it's younger me. We should pick the same song, do you know the Windrider Cycle?" 

Blink blink. "Yes." Stef aims a sneaky sideways glance at Telumë, and starts getting out his lute. 

"I can't wait to find the other me. Though I guess she might have to avoid Telumë? Or, uh, check carefully to find out if she needs to do that."

"Right, that would probably be weird," Vanyel-from-Belrun's-world agrees. 

And older Vanyel is waiting for him! "Er, welcome. ...I wonder if being the same person from different timelines helps for doing concert work? I'm trying to track an evil person." 

"...Here? I thought the war was in your Velgarth and this was some random third unrelated world?" 

"An evil person from the fourth world involved in the war in the other Velgarth was transported here at random same way I was."

"Goodness. Can we number them or something?" 

Leareth Mindspeaks Belrun. :By the way, I checked my immortality setup. It ought still be functional if I die here, I am linked to it: 

:Thank you: "I've been saying 803 and 813 but it's not elegant or very accommodating of people who don't count from Valdemar's founding so I'd like to think of something else. Don't even have that on the Ardas."

Nod. "It's a very confusing problem to ha– Vanyel!" 

The older Vanyel takes a half-step toward her. "...Savil...?"

"Heard I died in your world. Hope it was heroically." 

"It was." And then he's stepping into her arms, tucking his head against her shoulder. :I missed you: