"I am starting to feel that I am missing some context." 

"- Really," Vanyel says tightly. 

"Really! It has been an eventful time, as I am sure you could have guessed from the major swerve in my plans, but I have very little idea of which pieces of it might have made it your way." 

"I would like to tell you more, if you are willing to listen, but it would simplify things to know what context you already have." 

Vanyel doesn't answer for a long moment. 

"Did you or did you not," he says finally, "start a goddamned war with the Tayledras." 

"I did not start it!" Leareth had wondered if it was that; the alternatives were something to do with Karse, which could be relevant given Valdemar's alliance, or possibly one of his freed mages still technically under compulsion; none of them have actually chosen to leave the organization, apparently, but one could have sent a letter, he'd been prepared for that possibility. "I swear to you, by the light of every star in the sky, that I did not deliberately start a war with your friends there. There was some fighting. They had been directed north on the orders of their Goddess. It ended under - complicated terms. I did not wish to harm any of them, and was mostly focused on evacuating my people from the site under threat." 

"Right." Vanyel sounds so incredibly suspicious. 

"...Was someone who you care about harmed?" Leareth says quietly. "If so, I am in fact sorry. We had healing available to treat everyone still there when I arrived, but I expect some evacuated before that." 

Vanyel glares at him in silence. 

"Yes," he says finally, his voice flat and hard. "One of my closest friends was crippled by it. By you." 

It's not helpful at all to point out that it wasn't him personally, so Leareth doesn't. "I am very sorry. I can reiterate that we have healing available, which may be able to treat your friend's injuries even at this point." 

"I'm really not sure why you expect me to take that at face value." 

"I do not expect that of you at all. I ought offer some credible sign of my good faith, I think. I have been considering it at length but could use your input. For one, I would be willing to send an emissary to meet him or someone else, a neutral envoy perhaps - or perhaps even meet someone face to face - at the northern border of Valdemar, if you wished it. Circumstances have changed." 

Vanyel is still frowning suspiciously at him. "I - would need to consider that." 

"Of course. I understand. We ought perhaps discuss ways to exchange messages, if the dream does not cooperate with us..." 

Vanyel listens, still and silent and taut, as Leareth lays out a plan for a landmark north of the Border which he can specify to Vanyel as a message-drop location. 

"There is a great deal more context to share," Leareth says finally. "Related to, among other things, the healing we can offer." He glances at the sky. "I think we are running out of time, though, and it might be better to speak of it in full once I have made some sort of good-faith offering to you and we can have more trust." 

Vanyel is giving him a thoughtful, piercing look. He nods. 

And eventually Leareth wakes in his bed. 

He sits up, summoning a mage-light, and makes some brief shorthand notes, makes sure he has it solidly in his memory, and then goes back to sleep. 

In the morning, he reads through the notes, then heads to the dining hall for breakfast and keeps an eye out for Promise. 

Promise wants raspberries! She has decided that she will grow several generations of her own from the seeds found in the berries and then will feel safe enough eating the results. She collects a handful. "Hi Leareth."

Leareth nods to her. "Promise. Is now a good time to speak? I have a - somewhat complicated situation that I am trying to figure out solutions for." 

"Sure, what is it?"

Leareth lets out his breath in a faint sigh. "So, for context, my original plan before you arrived involved invading Valdemar, a kingdom to the south of here. About fifteen years ago, something odd happened which I believe was a plot by the gods; through some implausible circumstances, a young man in Valdemar became an absurdly powerful mage who additionally has nearly all the other known Gifts, and then had a Foresight dream of fighting off my invasion. Initially the obvious intent seemed to be to stop me. However, I was also having the Foresight dream despite not having the Gift myself, and eventually we realized we could have a lucid dream and speak to one another. Which we have been doing for the last fourteen years. We are - not friends, exactly, but - well, it is complicated. Anyway, the Herald in question - I will nickname him Demonsbane - seems to have learned a very different slant on recent events, via his friends among the Tayledras. One of said friends was seriously injured in the fighting and Gated out before you arrived to heal people. I...would like to repair this, and also find a way to give Demonsbane a convincing sign that I am telling the truth about no longer planning to invade." 

"Well, I guess I could go to the Pelagirs border and solicit a leshya'e for directions and permission to enter for healing."

"That is a good point; you can travel safely there. You want k'Treva Vale specifically. Hopefully they will then pass a message on to Demonsbane and he will find it persuasive of my good intent here."