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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."
"That Leareth has been planning to make a god for a while - which makes perfect sense, since all the existing ones are awful and also will just ruin things instead of talking to him - and he needed a lot of power and you just discovered you can murder food poisoning to get it? Van didn't say what the plan was before that and no one else asked but I assume it was something a lot more horrible than murdering food poisoning which doesn't have feelings and honestly deserves to be dead because it's bad."
"Well, I mean, if we're specifically breeding the food poisoning I think its own level of desert if it ever had any is not in the picture, but yes, the original idea was much, much worse. Though we do think the Shadowgod might be relatively friendly."
"Huh! That's interesting, why do you think that? ...It didn't come up at the meeting at all."
"Rolan talked to Them. When everyone was very panicked about the flu and the scandal - I don't know how much you followed that, I guess you were away."
She makes a slight face at the mention of Rolan. "Not much. I'd like to hear more about it."
"We should get you properly settled and - oh, we did wish to ask you a few questions about Iftel under Truth Spell, first. Belrun?"
"Dara, while you were there, did you talk to anyone who asked you questions about Valdemar's political state, and particularly about Belrun and I?"
"What? No! Er, I mean, the topic of where I'm from did sometimes come up, at inns and such, but not with important people, and I always played dumb anyway, they don't let Heralds in so I figured I had better not let anyone find out I'd - been Chosen at one point. My roommate who came with me doesn't know I used to be a trainee. She must be so confused right now."
"Did anyone ask you questions about your background, or seem to pay extra attention to you?"
"Er, a little? But mostly they asked about the academy in Rethwellan and about our trip down to Seejay on the holiday break, they thought those were very exotic. Valdemar hardly came up at all."
"Did you visit any temples to Vkandis or interact with any priests or religious figures?"
"Was your interaction with the barrier-shield around the country notable in any way?"
"I don't think so? I mean, I don't know what it's supposed to be like. It poked me a lot, felt like being turned inside out, it was really weird. I think it wanted to know why I was there, and I was there to sell some spices and also see another country and have a good story afterward, and it seemed satisfied with that."
Leareth nods, apparently satisfied.
"I want you to spend five minutes - actually five, I will time it - thinking very carefully about everything that happened while you were in Iftel, and whether any of your interactions could have been plots by agents serving Vkandis to harm me and Belrun or our interests."
He goes to get an hourglass.
Eventually the hourglass runs out, Leareth clears his throat, and Dara looks up.
"I...can't think of anything," she says slowly. "Which could be just because I'm dumb and missing something."
"Sending you to Iftel may not have been the work of Vkandis at all, though. In fact, given that you were in Rethwellan and then Valdemar, it seems almost more likely that if a god-coincidence were involved, it was the Shadowgod's plan."
"But we don't know what the Shadowgod would want out of it either... did you learn anything interesting there? Is it hard to remember what happened the same way it's hard for people to remember Iftel exists?"
"A little! I was worried about that, I thought it'd be really sad if I didn't even remember my good story, so I kept a diary. Which the border guard read. All of it! He seemed to think it was fine, though, it was mostly just which towns had rich nobles who liked different kinds of fancy spices, so I'd be able to plan better if I ever go on another run." Sigh. "Which I guess I won't, I know too many state secrets to risk it now."
"Wow, rude. There still might be something useful in it, I guess, if you don't mind us reading it?"
"No, I don't. It might help jog my memory too. I don't have it on me, though, Van told me not to bring any of my things."