<Have you up to this point stolen any of our technology or made arrangements to do so.>

"No. I will confess to spying from a distance with scrying; I was able to see some up-close glimpses of your ship and observe some morphs in this fashion before Vanyel raised the wards. However, I have not taken any physical objects nor made plans to." 

<If we take you with us to Earth will this enable you to possess and - destroy - people there as you are capable of here.>

"No. Well, not unless I - make certain modifications - and it does not currently seem in my interests to do so, so I am comfortable promising that I will not." 

The blue halo doesn't falter. 

<Do we have more?> Matirin asks within the Dome.

Vanyel shakes his head, silent. He's feeling kind of information-overloaded already and also Yfandes is being weirdly uneasy in the back of his head, which is distracting him. 

<All right. We'll contact you once we've had some time to digest that.> he says after a moment.

"I appreciate your willingness to speak with me, and will wait for your next message." Leareth nods, again, not quite a bow. "Thank you, Herald." 

Masha, looking less anxious but more overwhelmed than before, bobs her head and drops the Truth Spell. 

Leareth glances around, then almost absently raises a hand, and in about three seconds has another thin-air Gate, which he vanishes through. 

And they can head back to the ship.

Back in the conference room, Vanyel sags with a mixture of relief, exhaustion, and sheer dizzy shock. :I - don't know what to make of that: he sends to Matirin. :What did you think?:

<- I think we have to take him up on it though I don't like it at all.> His tail lashes emphatically. <...I realize it is absurd to object particularly to the claim that Yeerks matter too, which is of course true, but - but you can't let people go on an atrocious campaign of murder because their lives will be unpleasant if they don't and then keep everything they stole as long as they want it more than the people they have puppetted since early childhood who haven't learned how to want anything...>

:I know. It's...sad, really, I wish there was - I don't know, a technological solution or something, give them bodies that don't already have people in them. But there probably isn't, if the Andalites couldn't come up with something: 

<If we could trust them we could give them morph! But we can't do that while they're conquering planets, morph is really useful for that.>

Sigh. :...That is a hard problem to get out of. Maybe someday, I guess, if you win the war and, I don't know, they get a change of leadership that isn't so in favour of conquering planets and they behave nicely for a while to demonstrate it: 

Vanyel is aware that this is a lot of wishful thinking, just, it's such a stupid, upsetting, awful problem. 

<Maybe.> Swish swish. <Anyway - I think we do have to take him up on it even if I sort of believe we're buying trouble down the line. Trouble down the line is better than trouble now, and - I do think that a thorough examination of the war will satisfy anyone that the Yeerks have to be stopped, and I consider it somewhat unlikely that with only my own forces I'd find a way to save Earth.

I want to send him terms for an agreement to work together for the duration of the war.>

Vanyel nods, if anything relieved. It seems to him like they have to, if five billion people's lives are at stake, and he's glad not to have to argue the case with Matirin because he's so tired. 

:That makes sense: Vanyel takes a deep breath. :Do you, um, have any opinions on what he said about the gods here sabotaging his plans. That - could end up being relevant: 

Wordless squirm. 

<It's concerning. I - assume they wouldn't care about our plans, if they're local gods? It bodes poorly for your long term prospects of reaching the stars, I guess - unless Leareth was right that his magic can just directly take you to other worlds ->

:I also assume They wouldn't care about Earth, but They might have objections to anything Leareth has to do on this end: Shiver. :Or - well, Karse belongs to Vkandis, and Valdemar can't help if we're still at war... I don't know what I actually expect to happen here. I'm just worried: 

Yfandes is also unhappy and she isn't making it at all clear what about. 

<I'm afraid I can't help you, our god wanted our civilization to be more advanced and taught us things. It's - disappointing - that anyone would see fit to intervene to - prevent you from growing as a people. Maybe there's more to the story? Leareth wasn't lying but he might not have full information...>

Vanyel nods. :Could be: He sort of wants to change the subject now. :So. Terms for an agreement?: 

<Yes. I want him to agree to the Andalite rules for the treatment of civilians and enemies in wartime. I want to ask him to agree to work under our forces on Earth, but I don't know whether to expect him to agree with that. I want him to agree to tell us if he decides to betray us and work for the Yeerks because they're people too - it'd probably be unsalvageable at that point, but it'd be nice to know we're not at that point, the rest of the time. I want him to promise to not use his Yeerk powers on my people. - I would also like it if he'd agree not to mindread us but I'm not really expecting him to. I am not sure what else.>