:This was an assassination: Her mindvoice is cold and heavy. :How did he possibly survive– oh, I guess it must've been his Fetching, and finding a spot to hide where he could hold them off: 

:...Van. What: 

:I don't–: Vanyel swallows hard. :I don't - know for sure - but I think almost certainly Leareth made this. I...recognize his style...: 

:- Gods: Savil's breath whooshes out. :I - we have to tell them, don't we - I'll get a message to Sandra...: 

:I'll go talk to the Heartstone. See if it has any more context on - what - this dagger's obviously been here for years if not decades, this was planned...: 

Five minutes later, Herald-Mage Sandra, shaken awake by Savil's communication-spell, is rubbing her forehead - it was a long enough conversation to give her some backlash - and staggering out of her conference-room-bedroom. :Is anyone awake? We have a problem: 

There are guards on duty or they can wake Matirin if it's a problem that big.

:I don't know how urgent a problem this is, but - the entire royal family of Lineas was just assassinated with a horrible demon-summoning weapon that goes after someone's entire family, and Van thinks the weapon was made by Leareth: 

This is important enough to wake Matirin! He is shortly awake, and unhappy. <This occurred just now?>

:The attack was a few candlemarks ago, it's the emergency Mardic and Donni requested help for. Weapon was made or put there decades ago, we think, so - planned for a long time, not sure whether Leareth specifically ordered it be triggered now but the timing is awfully suspect: 

<It really is. Though I'm not sure what he would have intended to communicate, if we were meant to find out.>

:Should we send him an angry message or something? I...don't even know what the right response is here...: 

He's pacing. <If it was intended to communicate something, then it won't be a surprise that we know it and there's not much lost by demanding to know what he meant by it. If we weren't meant to learn of it, then - why not wait until we leave next week - maybe it was meant to eliminate some obstacle to our allying, someone who knew something he didn't want known, though it's very clumsy if it's that -

- I am confused. I think there must be local context I'm missing that would make more sense of it.>

:I'm confused too. We could - demand to question him under Truth Spell about it, I guess? Or wait to see if Van and Savil can get any more context from investigating further: 

<I do not want to make it obvious to him that they're out there and accordingly aren't here, if he doesn't necessarily know it.>

Swish swish swish. 

:That makes sense. Hopefully they're almost done and at least some of them can come back soon, once they've made sure the stupid thing won't go off again: 

He nods. He has it almost entirely right, this time. <Is there anything you can do to check if his forces are nearby?>

:Leareth's? Sure, I can check the area with Thoughtsensing and mage-sight, if you can fly me around in the shuttle. Won't pick them up if they're really well shielded but I don't think even he could shield an entire army: 

It seems worth checking, so they can do a shuttle fly-around.

Sandra does not detect an army anywhere nearby. She does sense a few people whose shields are leaking a tiny bit; it looks like Leareth has some sentries, which isn't surprising to her. 

It doesn't surprise him either, but he's not delighted. 

<Thank you. I continue to think we should wait for Vanyel and Savil to decide what to do next.>

:All right. I'll stay awake, just - to give us more warning if Leareth does start moving people in: 

A candlemark after entering the Heartstone room, Vanyel staggers out, his eyes unfocused. 

Savil, who's been anxiously waiting nearby so as not to disturb him, catches him and eases him to the floor. :Gods, Van, you look awful. What happened?: