<I do not think so.> Tail-swish. <Among my people it is - a violation, and not appropriate, to make health matters known or knowable to other people, especially to strangers. But I do not foresee future problems.>

:Ohhhh. I see. Like - the way humans were uncomfortable with your people morphing humans and not wearing any clothes. I'm glad we're aware of that cultural difference now. Anyway, moving on: 

She takes a deep breath.

:Leareth is very sincerely, and very ruthlessly, trying to fix everything. Leareth's plan, before he found out about your existence, was - to create his own god. One he's spent the last thousand years designing to be aligned with human values and possible for humans, and other sentient species on this planet, to be able to cooperate with. He was building an empire in order to...get a large enough population that he could kill ten million people for blood-magic to fuel this. He thought he would probably be able to bring them back, afterward - gods can reincarnate people, apparently, they just usually don't do it in a way that leaves memories intact. Though I've also just learned that Companions are reincarnated Heralds...:

She shakes her head, refocusing. :Leareth - was desperate for any alternative to doing this, that would actually work - he seems to think he's tried everything else that Velgarth magic and resources allow. But that's why he pounced so hard on the potential alliance with your people. He very, very badly wants there to be another way, and he thinks this new information calls for dropping all his current plans and spending the next century, if necessary, evaluating all his new options: 

<Can you - describe what a Velgarth god is with any more precision.>

:Er, note that I'm going entirely off what Leareth thinks he knows, here, but he had a lot of records backing it up. Gods are - extremely powerful magical beings that exist mostly in other planes, and thus have a perception of the world and concept-space that's deeply alien to the human one. Leareth believes they mostly observe and plan via Foresight - they see the possible futures, all the time, and nudge events toward what they want, but from our angle it mostly looks like strings of good or bad luck. Usually bad for Leareth. A few more blatant interventions - They can do miracles by possessing worshippers, it's rare and probably costly for them. Leareth got set on fire by Vkandis a couple of times that way. They can and do send prophetic dreams to get priests to carry out orders, too. Leareth got murdered a number of times that way: 

<'murdered' meaning that the body he was controlling was destroyed, and he had to find a new one to control?>

:Yes, that: She seems pretty unhappy about it. 

<Does he know any more than the Heralds about whether it's possible to communicate with gods?>

:He says it's possible, but - that They have to want to communicate with you, and play along. He thinks the Shin'a'in and Tayledras - the peoples who serve the Star-Eyed Goddess - have spirit avatars they can petition Her through, but they're a special case. Anyway, They've always been on poor terms with Leareth and never cooperated:

Frown. :Also, he suspects They operate in such a different ontology and view of reality, that - conversations may not be communicating Their thoughts so much as manipulating the world toward Their goals, via Foresight-predicting a person's reaction to various possible conversations. Anyway, one of the big things Leareth wanted with his new god was a human-facing avatar with better translation to god-terms: 

<Do you happen to know if there is mage-energy in lightning, or derivable from it.>

:...Um. I don't know, but mages can throw lightning around, so clearly the conversion is possible in that direction. I can Mindspeak Savil and ask?: 

<It is not urgent.>

Melody nods. Narrows her eyes slightly, but doesn't press. :Anyway. I - have a theory, which I can't confirm right now because asking is fraught in itself, that - Companions have some sort of bright line build into their minds, that makes them unable to think about fighting gods. And this has me thinking we shouldn't make the other Heralds poke too hard at that particular aspect: Her features clench for a moment. :It's so, incredibly, frustrating: 

<That does seem like a very unjust thing to have done to them, and especially to have not explained, so it would pop up in a disruptive fashion at this point. I assume you can't - fix it with magic?>

:...I don't know. I might be able to get at it with Mindhealing, but - Yfandes isn't here, no one can find her, and I'm pretty leery of springing this on another Companion just so I can test it: 

<That makes sense.> Tail-swish. <It doesn't even sound like fighting the local gods is advisable right now! They are at minimum less of an immediate problem than the Yeerks. Were people permitted to think about it I doubt they would conclude it was a priority.>

:I absolutely agree. It's so frustrating: Sigh. :We - can at least run it by Mardic. He lost his Companion during the war, so he - won't have this particular problem: slight wince, :but he may be able to figure out how to present the strategically relevant parts from a safe angle. I'm...not even sure what the strategic implications of this particular fact about Leareth are, honestly: 

<It at least explains why he wanted to invade Valdemar beyond thinking that conquering places is a good idea, and on that front is encouraging. Other than that, as you observed it seems obviated now.>

Nod.

:For what it's worth, I - respect him, as a person. Will hold off on liking him given all the murder and mind-control, but...: Shrug. 

<That is good to know. I would - find it valuable to get there, it seems much more productive than disliking him given the necessity of allying with him. 

Do you think he is competent to win the war?>

:I would bet a lot of gold that he's the most competent person in Velgarth to win this war. I...don't know if that'll be enough. Depends how good the Yeerks are. Gifted people are a huge advantage though: 

<The Yeerks are very competent but Gifts offer capabilities they are poorly equipped to defend against. As long as they do not capture any themselves I am optimistic.>

Nod. 

And then they are back at the ship and she can talk to Mardic. 

Mardic makes a face at the request that he meet and talk to her without Donni there. He acquiesces, though, and listens with a flat, level expression while Melody explains in Mindspeech. Then thinks silently for a few minutes, frowning. 

:It does seem relevant that he never wanted to invade Valdemar for its own sake: he says eventually. :And - that the reason he wanted it was - upstream of the horrible part of his plan. If he wants to spend the next century exploring alternatives, then I think Valdemar is unlikely to be in danger while he's doing that: Shrug. :Who knows what could happen in a century: 

<And we can include in the terms of the agreement a promise not to invade Valdemar specifically; it seems that he was sincere in intending to abide by an agreement if he signs one.>