"It's probably important and I'm not - I can't - I'm sorry."

“I was confused,” Vanyel says slowly, “that she claimed to have known Leareth. When he really obviously hasn’t heard of other worlds. But it sounds like maybe she meant a different Leareth? One - from your world. Whatever that even means.”

"It did kind of sound like that was what she was claiming. 'The same story repeats itself.'"

"'Young men who believe themselves immortal, because they are' sounds like it's about Leareth too, but I don't know what the rest is referring to. Most of the rest is just baffling to me." Sigh. "Anyway, she - didn't seem worried, did she?" Also he can't figure that anything she said was an indication of this happening with Yfandes. "And - did she tell us to go to her if we get killed? Arguably that means that one of you should arrange to be elsewhere if we pick up Leareth. So that someone can inform her if the rest of us die." 

(He is trying not to think about the fact that dying kind of sounds good right now, it's the being-dragged-back part that seems awful.) 

"Yeah, there were a couple more, sorry - It will be all right,' to Leareth, 'I would not have brought you here to be destroyed. I think that could you see what the future might hold, you would have agreed to come. And you will be safe in Osirion; it is the land of Abadar, who loved you. I know, I know, you have set yourself against the gods, and why not, when they have set themselves against you? But Abadar loved you, and you will be safe here even if he recognizes you, and I think he may not.'

and 'I do not think you will come to harm, children. But the future is clouded - and whose fault is that, hmmm and if you do manage to get yourselves killed you must come to me. Except for him, he has made other arrangements." 

"Hagan -"

"I don't want to talk about it. You shouldn't - make me promises about it, you'll kick yourself out of Law trying."

Vanyel is pretty sure he's missing something significant, but he's too tired and in too much pain to even be curious about it.

"I don't know," he says, tiredly. "You all should - think about it - and decide, I'm too..." Shrug, handwave. "Fazil, can you make me sleep. Please." 

"That's arcane magic."

"And Enchantment, so I don't know it. I'm sorry."

"There's - heroin? If you want?"

"Um. No, thank you. I'm just going to..." He lies down again and curls up. 

They reread the prophecies. Mahdi takes notes. Hagan cooks a meat stew of some kind. 

"You could tell me who your brother is, if it's something you can't tell Fazil in particular."

"No. Sorry."

In the star-room, Leareth gets hungry enough to gnaw on some of his jerky. He drinks half of a canteen of water. 

He checks that the door is still definitely closed, and then curls up and shakes for a bit. It's not like anyone will witness it; detection magic isn't going to work in here. 

Eventually, his random drifting path takes him nearer and nearer to the table; the space looks like it goes on forever, but actually it seems to - warp around, or something - it's very disorienting, though it's also a relief since it means he'll be easily findable when (if) they come back. 

It feels like a triumph, a victory over the forces of nature, when he finally manages to grab a corner of the table and drag himself onto it. It's not much of one. 

Vanyel cries some more, quietly, with his head buried under his blanket. 

He lets himself be roused and tugged into a sitting position in order to eat, but doesn't speak. 

"Okay," Mahdi says eventually. "Proposal for what to do next: Sending a friend of mine in the city, ask him to go to the temple of Nethys if we die and ask about those resurrections.  Go back down, ask Leareth if he has any insight into the things Nethys is claiming. Maybe that'll be clarifying about ...what to do after that, and about how murderous he's feeling towards us."

"I'm all right with that."

It doesn't involve asking who his brother is. "Sounds good."

"Do you need me for a Truth Spell." 

"I can do the same thing with my magic. I don't super want to leave you alone, though."

"Do you need everyone down there–" Shrug. "I promise not to kill myself if you leave me for half an hour." 

"I guess we mostly just need me and Mahdi down there."

"Sure, I can stay up here."