"May we both derive much value from it." He leaves.

Leareth looks around at the others. “Is there anything else we ought to discuss tonight?”

"Someone else should watch Vanyel overnight. - I guess we could have the servants do it."

“That seems fine since he is very drugged and not interacting with us anyway; I think it is more valuable that we all get adequate rest, although I will inform whoever is watching him that if he asks for me they have my permission to wake me.”

The Osirians smile at each other, for some reason. 

"That sounds good. Good night."

Leareth rings for one of the servants, to inform them of this plan and ask if someone can sit with Vanyel overnight.

Yes, not a problem. 

Then Leareth will head off to bed.

So will everyone else.

He sleeps poorly in the palace because he always sleeps poorly in the palace.

Vanyel wakes up around midnight, when the last dose of strong painkillers starts wearing off, and is very miserable. He’s not even sure where he is, just that it’s not Valdemar, and probably relations with Valdemar are irretrievable right now because he can’t exactly go back minus a Companion, they won’t listen to him even if he somehow pulls himself together enough to say things.

Also Leareth is here and given that, it seems like it sort of doesn’t matter what he does now. 

Vanyel sort of absently extends his Thoughtsensing to see who’s watching him this time, and whether they’re sleepy enough that he has a chance of slipping past them in order to - he isn’t sure what yet, he’s not exactly in a “making plans” state.

The person watching him is not someone he knows at all! She also does not seem especially sleepy. She is thinking about shift assignments for tomorrow and whether she can get some more people from Naziha, going over her head is tempting but a terrible idea...

Clearly the others have (correctly) concluded that he’s not very relevant at this point given that he’s now very useless, Vanyel thinks muzzily. Probably the stranger is watching him closely enough that he can’t get past her to the supply of drugs, which someone thought to keep out of his reach. 

He lies still, pretending to still be asleep, and attempts to use Farsight to check if there’s a window and if it’s high up. It takes three tries before he can concentrate enough, but he’s pretty determined about it.

There's a window. It has some kind of magic force screen instead of glass or shutters. The palace is built on some cliffs over a beach and the window looks out at the ocean.

It'd be a pretty long fall.

Vanyel tries to think. (Thinking is hard.)

He'd hoped maybe the drugs would make this easier to endure. He supposes it's better when he's unconscious, but if anything it's worse when he's awake, and also he can't do anything. 

The others might still be trying to get Tylendel back. Which seems like it should be a motivation to wait, but - right now it feels pretty impossible that it's going to even work, and if it does - well, is Tylendel even going to want him, if Yfandes has walked away, if he's not even a Herald anymore? Also it's kind of unreasonable to ask them to spend resources on it when he's so useless. 

(Some still, quiet corner of his mind is trying to raise a flag, but with all the fog in his head, there's not really enough space for it to get anywhere.)

He spends a while staring at it, holding himself still and keeping his breathing even.

...This might be his only opportunity, while none of the people with magic are nearby.

Vanyel's limbs feel like lead weights. He spends a minute planning his approach to the window–

–and then sits up and tries to stand and immediately lurches into the wall. 

" - hey, uh," and she springs out of her seat and grabs him, "I don't think you should be trying to get out of bed right now."

Vanyel did not plan for this at all! And is momentarily perplexed as to what he can do.

"No," he says, "y'should le'me go–" He tries to struggle free of her grip. Talking is hard. Magic is also hard, and he doesn't want to actually hurt her - he flails at the magic screen on the window instead...

Wow getting into a wrestling match with a powerful caster is a terrible idea - if she screams there'll be a dozen guards here in half a minute but that seems like it might make things worse - 

"Can I - get Leareth - he said to wake him if you wanted -"

That’s surprising enough that Vanyel stops struggling. And then sags to the floor, because as soon as he loses momentum he’s suddenly too exhausted to move. 

“Really?” he mumbles. “Whassa point for him...?” And then he starts crying, for no particular reason - or, well, for all the reasons.

- it looks like he's not going to successfully stand up again in the next fifteen seconds. She goes across the hall and knocks loudly and then comes back because maybe in fifteen more seconds he'll have gone from sad to angry or something -

Leareth goes from deeply asleep to ready to fight in under a second, and then remembers where he is and relaxes. A little.

He reaches for the departing mind of the person who just knocked. :What is it:

Vanyel woke up and tried to jump out the window and now he's sitting on the floor crying but saying your name did get him to stop trying at the window maybe come right away? This is not at all how she would have phrased this if speaking out loud but 'being mindread' is a really weird communication format; hopefully he won't be horrendously offended.

:Coming: Leareth swears out loud in a couple of random languages and scrambled out of bed. He’s across the hall within ten seconds, flinging up a mage-barrier in front of the window just in case. 

”Vanyel? What is wrong?”

That has got to be the world’s stupidest question.

Should I get anyone else.