View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
When Vanyel is ready for the mad science tour, he shows him the monkeys. "They're monkeys," she feels it necessary to clarify. "I know they look very human at this point, because the whole point of them is that I'm going to move into one if I ever die, but they're not people, and I have forbidden the staff to name them. I could move into one now if I had to but I'd like to get one actually looking like me in particular first, and I want to stick more Gifts into them, I got Fetching out of some Changesquirrels but further work is needed." She shows him the mice, too. "Do you suppose Jisa'd like a winged mouse? What's her favorite color?" She shows him all her microbiology eggs. "That's a flu sample from the recent plague! I remembered to take one. Those there are other flus. The white eggs have more-alive microbes and the brown eggs have less-alive kinds - there's a cold one of the staff mages had a few months ago, there's food poisoning, there's the most common kind from healthy intestines - you could get your Sight this fine, you know, I don't do heavy Healing-Gift use apart from Sight for this work."
Vanyel is easily findable.
"I don't think most of the Senior Circle is going around with deep background dread," he says, slowly. "Er, not of you, anyway. The bits about the gods are making people pretty nervous. I do think it'd - be a weight off everyone's mind. Also, does it mean it's safe to tell everyone your actual plan now?"
"I would really rather not tell more than a handful of additional people until we are ready to move on it. For operational security, more than because I fear how they will respond, though - it would also still be a shock to absorb, I think, and would mean implicitly revealing what I had previously be planning to do."
"Not all the Companions are jailbroken, if nothing else, so we shouldn't have it yelled from rooftops, but getting a little help - especially from anyone who might be competent to work on the project in some capacity - maybe."
"I'll think about it. I guess the two of you still can't come down, but I could go back and be the one to tell Randi? And maybe Savil and Sandra, they seem like the best people to help with the project itself."
"Seems reasonable enough to me, assuming their Companions won't tell all their friends."
"Yfandes thinks she can have a chat with them first and extract a promise that they won't."
"We can Gate you back to Haven. With the sleep trick, if you wish - I am actually very curious why that works so much better than the drugs, you were barely in pain afterward."
"Huh, that's a good point. I don't know. I was a lot more thoroughly out, but you'd still expect it to hurt the same amount afterward."
"Yeah, it's pretty weird. I know somebody who studies nerve pain and nerve pain is weird as heck but not in quite that way..."
"It is weird. I guess it's not really pain in my body, exactly? It's in my mage-channels, which - aren't quite in the same space as the rest of me, which is why most Healers can't do anything about it. I don't know why that'd make the Healing-sleep prevent it as well as numbing it at the time, though."
"Tayledras Healing-Adepts have both. And it's not that rare for a mage to have a weak secondary Healing-Gift; Herald-Mage Jaysen did too, he died in the war; but usually not strong enough for serious Healing work. Moondance was the only one who could fix my channels after my Gifts awakened."
"Not that he explained to me? I think Lancir predicted I'd have it - he was the Queen's Own and a Mindhealer, he died years ago - and, come to think of it, I don't actually know why. I could ask Savil if she ever asked him."
It does! It works fine to get Vanyel to Haven, at which point some meetings can be had.
He contacts Leareth with the communication spell to convey that he's made it in safely, Yfandes is sounding out the relevant Companions on secret-keeping, meetings are being scheduled for later, and - guess what? They have some really good news!
<Dara made it back from Iftel! Crossed the border check no problem, though they searched her thoroughly, but they always do that. She's delighted with herself, apparently their investment in expensive Seejay spices was a very solid one and they made back double what they put into it even subtracting the travel costs - they traveled cheap. She was very confused to be immediately Gated back to Haven. Do you, er, want her brought north so you can explain the plan yourself?>
"I am very relieved to hear she is all right and also feeling somewhat paranoid," Leareth says to Belrun. "I am not sure yet what unfortunate outcome to be paranoid of, but..."
"I guess if she comes by we can ask her if she has converted to Vkandis-worship or has any souvenirs?"