Vanyel stays up for a bit thinking, then goes to bed as well, like a reasonable person. (Yfandes was very insistent.) 

....And he finds himself in an icy wasteland, standing at the mouth of a pass carved through stone, with an army and a man dressed in black at their head, fifty yards away. 

Leareth is silent for a long moment. 

"Vanyel!" he calls out. "I do not expect you to believe this at all, but I do not presently have a Yeerk in my head, and the Yeerks genuinely wish to surrender." 

...Very correct. Vanyel doesn't believe him at all, although he's wondering. One of his half-baked theories had been that finding Leareth was what changed the Yeerks' mind, somehow, he doesn't know what specifically but Leareth is very - himself - and it must've been quite something for the Yeerk lucky enough to go hang out in his head. 

Might as well talk to him, either to Leareth or to the Yeerk puppeting him. They can't actually hurt him here. He starts walking forward. 

Leareth waits until he's closer and speaks at a more conversational volume. "This is all extremely implausible and odd, but - the information I am aware of, is that their Visser is somehow analogous to a much younger version of myself. They did put him into my head, and - being there for a couple of candlemarks convinced him, via my past experiences and reasoning, to surrender rather than risk forcing the Andalites' hand and killing everyone on Earth." 

Wow that is, in fact, very implausible! Surely Leareth's Yeerk could come up with a better story than that. Which in itself makes Vanyel notice an edge of confusion. 

He still doesn't say anything. Leareth plus Yeerk equals terrifyingly good at making inferences from whatever leaves Vanyel's mouth, so he won't. He keeps looking at him, though. 

"They are trying to communicate with the Andalites about the surrender terms - they wish to give myself and Talik back - but no one is answering, either because the Andalites evacuated everyone or because they distrust the offer - reasonably so - and do not wish to give away their position."

Mardic and Donni are in fact still on Earth. Vanyel does not say this, of course. They might not be able to pull off the communication spell across worlds? It's very new and there wasn't a lot of time to properly train people. Vanyel could pull it off half improvising, probably, but he has power to spare and they don't. 

...Leareth is looking kind of visibly upset. "I know I cannot ask for trust, here, but - Vanyel, I very badly do not want everyone on Earth to die, and I fear we are so close to that edge." 

Huh. Could be Yeerk acting, of course. He doesn't say anything. 

"They have Emril, the Healer from Washington, but her Yeerk left her head voluntarily so she could use Thoughtsensing to confirm I was not mind-controlling the Visser while he was Yeerking me." By Leareth's tone and expression, he considers this not-unreasonable paranoia. "She is safe and they do not intend to make her a Controller again. She does wish to help Heal her Yeerk's previous host, who has cancer." 

Not saying anything. 

"I am not sure how many survived from the Final Strike in the gassed mine, but it was many. Eight Andalites, apparently. If you are with Matirin you could tell him of it." 

Leareth finally seems to run out of updates. Falls silent. 

...He looks so unhappy and worried. It's in every line of his body language. 

Wow. That's - unlike Leareth, but if he did just spend a while with a Yeerk in his head, after the day they all had, no wonder he's having a bad time. And if it's a Yeerk acting...

"Do you want a hug?" If it's a Yeerk acting, does that really give very much away. 

- Sure, Leareth would like a hug. 

So they hug, and Vanyel says nothing at all until the dreams ends. 

And wakes up with a start in his conference room on the floor mat. Melody is sharing it and snoring on the other side. He almost reaches for Matirin and catches himself just in time. 

Is Ashul awake? Any awake minds nearby? 

Ashul is awake. Pacing at some of the computers. 

:Vanyel here. Urgent news: Pause to make sure Ashul is listening. :I have a magic prophetic lucid dream with Leareth sometimes - been happening for a decade, Yfandes can confirm - and I just had it and talked to him: 

<I see.>

:He made a lot of claims that I'm obviously very suspicious of because I think a Yeerk would come into the dream with him, but - he says they put Visser Three in him and then un-Yeerked him of his own accord, and that the surrender is - because of that, I guess: 

<They saw Velgarth's capabilities and realized the war was hopeless?>

:Or made a significant update. The - weirder part - is, um, he claimed that, Visser Three went in his head and - thought they were versions of the same person? Or something? It was so bizarre and specific, I don't even know why anyone would make that up as a cover story: 

<I am not sure in what sense a claim like that could be true.>