He uses the rod of Extend Spell. "Eighteen minutes," he tells Van, and taps him, and also does not ask.

Vanyel is pretty sure he's not at all soulbonded to the ten-year-old. He would notice. He can't decide if it would be better or somehow worse than the constant background misery of a broken lifebond. 

He's pretty worried that if he ever winds up in the ten-year-old's presence then he will end up soulbonded to him, which would be a disaster. He'll just have to avoid Bardic for the next decade or two. Shouldn't be too hard if he's here fighting a war against Cheliax. 

Flying does, in fact, distract him, if not quite cheer him up. 

"Pick up some stuff for your kingdom in Absalom? Or straight home?"

:I think we should go shopping! Van, you could get Jisa a magic toy - and something pretty for Shavri... All right, and useful things. Mostly useful things: 

"Appeasing the government of Valdemar is useful! If I delay pain can you Gate us to Absalom?"

"Sure. Nefreti said Gating didn't actually hurt me?" He shakes his head. "Still don't quite get it. You should do Delay Pain. But she is right that it doesn't seem to come back when the spell wears off..." 

"Yeah, I don't know what she meant by that. Maybe it was just that the spell works better on it than it does on, like, magical pain curses or injuries." He casts Delay Pain. 

And Vanyel Gates them to Absalom. For once he's glad that it's very loud and overwhelming and blessedly distracting. 

What would be good presents for his friends? Bandages of Rapid Recovery are only 200gp and aid natural healing rather than replacing it with magic healing; they're single use only but maybe a Healer could learn something from it? He heard that the Healers Leareth sent could in fact derive some benefit from Healer's Gloves (500gp), a minor magic item that grants perfectly steady hands (or steady magic) and that locals use for surgery and for general first aid in areas that can't use magic for it. Goggles of Minute Seeing (2,500gp) do work on Othersenses, they tested that, and grant incredibly precise and detailed vision at close range. Eyes of the Eagle are the same price and do long range. 

Jisa would probably like magic gloves that let her use Prestidigitation and Mage Hand at will (2,200gp), kids love those.

There was discussion in the palace of whether Velgarth mages would be made significantly more powerful with a Cord of Stubborn Resolve (15,000gp), which makes you never experience fatigue (if you keep using it until twenty times past the point where you'd experience fatigue you do collapse unconscious, though). However Fazil thinks that maybe this is actually the exact opposite of a nice present for Vanyel and if Yfandes agrees then he won't even mention it. 

Well, if he's got fifteen thousand gold, he can get Jisa her gloves (he's sure she'll love them and he feels bad about not seeing her for so long during the war) and one set each of the Goggles and Eyes of the Eagle, and a few sets of Healers' Gloves and five Bandages, and still not have spent all of his gold because he may want it for something else later. 

Maybe they can also grab an array of exotic fruits and vegetables and spices, which will be much much cheaper. 

Definitely! And maybe a pretty scarf or necklace for Shavri. 

When they've done their shopping they can gather around for a Plane Shift, then. 

Vanyel huddles up close with Yfandes and tries to mentally prepare himself for a return to Haven. 

And he aims for Haven but of course it could really be anywhere on the continent.  

It is not Haven! It is, instead, what looks like the middle of a large vineyard. There are rows of trellises with vines. It's early spring and new leaves are just starting to emerge. The ground is kind of soggy underfoot. 

Vanyel glances around. "Huh. No idea where we are. Help me find something door-ish for the Gate...?" 

"Leareth just does them wherever, is that a special technique? Uh, those trellises have a vine across the top sorta doorwayish..."

"Huh, I was always taught you need an actual door or archway. That'll do." 

Vanyel builds a Gate threshold. It doesn't hurt. 

He reaches for Haven. 

–It doesn't work. 

"Something wrong?"

"It's not - I don't get it, this half is fine, why can't I–" Vanyel swears in several different languages, and then takes a deep breath. He still has his terminus up, the spell sending out blind confused tendrils, unable to find Haven. "All right. I'm going to do the stupid test and make this Gate go...right there." The trellis has supporting posts every so often, that's enough like a doorway, right...

And now there is a very pointless Gate going from right in front of Vanyel to several vine-rows over. 

"So Gates still work but you can't reach Haven? Is it too far?"

"I don't know." He looks at it blankly for a while and then shrugs and takes it down, reabsorbing the energy into his reserves, and looks around. "It doesn't feel like it? If it were too far I think it'd feel too hard, and this just feels like Haven isn't there. Or like there's something in the way, maybe." 

"Do you have the same problem if you try to Mindspeak them? I know they'll be suspicious, if we say we're here but just mysteriously can't Gate, but maybe they'd have a guess what's going on..."

He tries for Savil.

"...No, but I think that's just range, and I don't know where we are so I can't try for a Herald on a specific border instead of Haven." Frown. "'Fandes, can you find any of the Companions?"