:Well. There are - several paths, I think, that could be taken from here. One is to ignore this 'Council's' demands entirely and keep Randale, which I think ought be feasible in the short run, but - it seems they want change, and I think it will be difficult to undo that damage. Another path - will give them, very decisively, a major change. While also strengthening Valdemar's other alliance enough that we can, perhaps, negotiate to shut down the Heartstone without it being an insurmountable blow to our defences: 

He looks Belrun in the eye. 

:I am as surprised as anyone by this, but - one of the paths I see, where Valdemar as a kingdom is likeliest to come through this whole, is the one where the Heralds appoint you as the next Queen: 

There is absolute silence. 

:It seems like it might be important to mention at this time that I also can't have children:

That gets some startled and uncomfortable looks, especially between the lords. 

:Really?: Rolan sends. :Why not? Usually Healers are very good at that: 

:Suffice it to say I cannot fix it:

Rolan is silent again for a while.

:Well, since to Foresight at least it appears this is a viable path forward, I will assume that succession can be dealt with sensibly at some future point:

:Maybe once you’re Queen you can get everyone convinced to try democracy: Amshalan suggests privately to Belrun and Leareth.

Leareth is still holding very still, stunned.

:It might be hard to put the relevant plan to a vote and get anywhere with that, all prior democracy experiments were confounded: Belrun tells her. And more broadly, :Picking unrelated Heralds - or, uh, Chosen, I'm not technically a Herald - maybe with a pro forma adoption in there to make it legible to the neighbors, could work more than once. I'm also working on becoming immortal but you shouldn't want to count on that:

The Council lords are still looking very, very nonplussed, although also sort of relieved, maybe just that someone is proposing a solution and plan. 

:I think we could maybe make that work: Shavri is gripping Randi's hand and seems honestly delighted at the prospect that he might no longer have to be King. 

Randi does too. :Hmm, if we're going to show up with a proposal to drop on their heads, probably we ought to have an heir lined up for them already. Er, Belrun, do you have...suggestions...?: 

:...Dara:

There are glances around.

:She’s certainly pretty excellent: Tran allows, :but...does she actually count as a Herald, um, given events...:

:You know, I don’t think we ever formally took her off the trainee roster. I went to look at it a few times but it just seemed so awkward:

:Ideally we'd actually ask her - she might want more distance - and ideally her eligibility wouldn't hinge on a technicality, but a lot of weird things are happening, so if she wants to come by and see if any weird things happen...:

:Does seem worth asking. Er, once it's safe for her to come by, I assume we don't want to risk exposing her to our plague: 

:Right, definitely has to wait till that's burned itself out:

:How much longer do we think we're going to be stuck out here?: 

:It seems to be a very fast flu, but it depends how good our isolation procedures are - if new people keep catching it it'll take much longer to go through everyone it's going to:

:Makes sense: 

:Once people are recovered and immune, we can maybe start sending them home? Not sure if you can tell with Healing-Sight once someone's no longer contagious - not sure I know what to look for but you're the flu expert here: 

:In principle the same sweep I do to check myself for colonization should work to tell if someone still has microbes in them they'll shed:

:Makes sense. I think we'd better be very cautious on this - don't want to do whichever god's work for them, by letting this get out into Haven...: 

Rolan has finally stopped pacing. :Well, it seems we have the beginnings of a plan. I think we do not need to continue this meeting longer, since I am sure many of you are fatigued. We can do a vote on the basics of it by Mindspeech tomorrow: 

Belrun nods. She gets up, helps Leareth to his feet.