"I will be careful." And he heads off, joining up with Vanyel, who'll be working in concert with him for the first eight candlemarks or so. The later points involve less power but more hard-to-explain intricate work, and also Leareth doesn't trust Vanyel to cast for twenty-four candlemarks straight and maintain concentration. 

The feeling Belrun gets through the lifebond, up close, is an odd one - deep, focused calm, like brushing the edge of a still, bottomless pool. Occasionally there are ripples of satisfaction, as he completes a piece, but they barely disturb the surface. 

It's a nice enough feeling, and not so distracting she can't do stuff. She goes in between tasks to hydrate him.

As the day wears on, especially after the first eight or nine candlemarks when Vanyel ducks out, the calm is joined by a deepening exhaustion - occasionally interrupted by spikes of fresh energy and focus when Leareth pauses to take stimulants. Leareth still seems oblivious to her presence when she pokes her head in, though his stash of easy-to-eat dried fruit and other calorie-dense foods diminishes every so often. There are dark circles under his eyes now. He's been mostly sitting cross-legged on the stone bench so far (on a pillow), but around nightfall, between checks he's shifted to reclining on his back with his arms folded under his head. 

It promises to be a very long night. 

She tops him off on water before she goes to bed, but staying up wouldn't help him any.

Being properly hydrated helps stave off the inevitable headache until past midnight, but has the side effect that when Leareth holds up the absurdly complex spell in a semi-stable interim state and takes a break, his bladder feels about to burst and he has to penguin-walk to the chamberpot left out for him. (One of his staff is staying up all night just to check on him every so often and make sure he hasn't whacked himself in the face with the spell and passed out or something.)

He's still going at dawn, and oblivious to it since the former Web-focus room has no windows; from the timeless haze of trance, he estimate he has about a candlemark left, not that 'candlemarks' seem like a very relevant unit of anything right now. 

She wakes up, looks in on him and checks to see if he needs water.

He's finished all of the water left out for him, and could probably use a bit more. 

Just under a candlemark later, he blinks to awareness, sits up, and stretches out his (very sore, ouch) Othersenses for Belrun. 

She's giving the person selected to go to Rethwellan a little map of places to hit, including her mother's house in case her mother would like to be around Haven for longer than just the day of the forthcoming wedding itself, but notices he wants her and wraps up and comes over.

He's sitting on the stone bench with his head in his hands, rubbing his forehead. "Missed you," he says, blearily. His voice is a little slurred, as though he's drunk (not that she's seen Leareth drunk before, per se, just out of it on pain medicines.) 

"I missed you too." She hugs him. "Did everything go well? Should I carry you to bed?"

"Went fine. Said hello to Shadowgod. To check." Leareth is both fighting back frequent yawns and drooping, and also keyed up and jittery from pushing through the night with questionable stimulant use. "Bed would be nice." 

She scoops him up and carries him out to where they've been sleeping pending the completion of the palace. "How does one talk to the Shadowgod, now?"

"Right now it requires visiting the Web-room, though I think Mindspeakers will, after one visit, be able to get the Shadowgod's attention elsewhere as well. I think as the Shadowgod integrates Themselves better with the setup, They w-willl–" jaw-cracking yawn, "sorry, They will hear prayers from unfamiliar non-Thoughtsensers in other places as well. I am not sure to what extent They will choose to answer, them, though. Requiring access to the Web-room is one way to triage requests." 

"All right." She lays him down and tucks him in and kisses his forehead. "Have a good nap. Thank you."

"...Stay and snuggle for a bit?" It feels like a kind of unfair request because he's going to fall asleep in the next thirty seconds and he won't even notice her leave, but he missed her. 

"Of course. Love you." She snuggles up.

"You could have a chat with...the Shadowgod after...if you...wanted..." Leareth's murmur trails off into a sleepy contented sound. 

"Mm-hm." When he is good and asleep she kisses him again and goes to do exactly that.

The Heartstone room is currently unoccupied, though a Herald she doesn't know well is sitting outside. "Belrun! Here to talk to the god? I'm just sitting around to make sure anyone coming to poke at it knows what they're getting into. Probably you know more than I do, though!" 

"I wish I knew more, but that's what talking to it's supposed to do." :Amshalan who's this I really need to memorize everyone's names -:

Amshalan hasn't been following through her eyes because she's currently playing with some foals instead, but she dives in to check. :Herald Nattan, he's new. Chosen by Dalran. Gifts are Farsight and a bit of Projective Empathy: 

"Thanks for keeping an eye out, Nattan!" And she steps in.

The head-sized quartz focus for the former Heartstone is still in place. To Belrun's mage-sight it glows very brightly; to her Healing-Sight it looks almost but not quite alive. And - there's something else there, not quite a mind, but her Thoughtsensing can read some kind of presence. 

A little shiver goes up her back. She takes a deep breath.

:Hello:

Hello, Belrun.

It's not quite a mindvoice; it still has the sense of not being a voice, but rather the direct placement of concepts into her thoughts; but it's also different from before. It's not overwhelming, like the Shadowgod's presence in the blue place.