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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."
"It is not your fault I gave you very clear instructions and you followed them. I suppose we should ask that someone in Haven copy it - if that is all right with you, Dara - and then have the copy brought here."
"Fine with me, it's really a boring diary. I suppose it says things like which inns had attractive barkeeps, if someone's prudish that might bother them, but it doesn't bother me who reads about it."
"Well, even if it's not likely it's worth a check, it turned out to be worth a check to bring Vanyel to my lab and explain all my research on the strength of some god-information."
"Right, and that's how you had the idea about using microbes for blood-magic?"
"Yes. I really had all the pieces I needed to think of it already but I didn't till I was trying to summarize."
"I'll pass that on to Savil." Vanyel ducks out to one side so he can concentrate on the communication spell.
"I guess I should put my things away, and then maybe you can tell me the other secret thing and why they Gated me back from the border in such a hurry?"
Vanyel catches up with them just as Dara is finishing up stowing her travel-bag in her new room. "Told Savil, someone can pick it up tomorrow."
"Thank you. We can go meet and discuss the other piece, now."
He leads them to one of the meeting rooms and ushers Dara in.
"I found out from about six different sources of gossip that you're going to be Queen maybe? Before Randi told me properly."
"That's the plan! Anyway, I can't have kids, so the question of who my heir should be came up."
"And I thought of you! It's similar to the, uh, job you were hired for and only dismissed from under highly irregular circumstances that don't speak negatively to your character, and also I'm pretty young for a Queen and if I wind up having to ostensibly adopt someone to heirify them it would be better for them to be at least somewhat younger than me even though I am not in fact old enough to be your mom."
"You'd be a really cool mom though." Dara is thoughtfully quiet for a bit. "Really? You think I'd - be a good Queen?"
"I'm planning to be immortal and am not going to guarantee you I'll step down! But if it comes up, sure."
"And would I be able to do interesting work helping you, even if I don't actually become Queen ever?"
"Sure, there's lots to do - people seem a bit stretched thin, honestly. Even if Rolan decides to go draft another teenager I think there'd be plenty of work, and I have advised him against it."
"That makes sense. I should probably think about it, but..." And then she jumps in the air and squeals. "It'd be so neat though!"
"Honestly I think you're the weird one, all my friends wanted to pretend we were princesses when I was little."