"Why?"

"I - she - I don't know. She just - we were talking about gods - or I was, she wasn't - saying anything - until all of a sudden she–" He breaks off, breath catching. 

"Mm.

Uh, I went to Haven."

"Oh." Vanyel goes very still, even holding his breath, for a long moment. "- What happened there." 

"Healed some people, de-aged some people. They want to know when to expect you back."

Vanyel shudders, curling into himself. He doesn't answer for almost a minute. 

She waits.

"I should go back," Vanyel says finally, his voice flat and emotionless. "Just - it's - hard - are they angry with me?" 

"...I don't think so? Why would they be?"

"Because - Heralds - supposed to be good. Not supposed to have our Companions - walk out on us. They - probably think - I betrayed Valdemar..." 

"...do they know she did that?"

"Dunno what she said to R– to the Groveborn. She said something though." 

"I didn't meet any Companions, just humans."

Again, Vanyel is silent for a while before answering. 

"I'm scared," he mumbles finally. "I don't - think I can take it - if anyone's angry. Can you...find out if they are...? If the Groveborn is?" 

"I can make another trip but I'm not sure what you want me to tell them. Just 'Woodlark wonders if you are angry'? What if they don't know what's going on?"

Vanyel is making a face at her as though this question is several levels too complicated for him to parse. "I don't know." 

"I can tell them for you what happened and see if they're angry? They'd, uh, probably want more details."

He nods, trembling slightly. "I, um, what sort of details do you think." 

"I don't know, I'm still not very good at predicting mortal stuff and in particular don't really get Companions except insofar as I have read books mentioning them."

"I..." Woodlark brings both hands to his face. "I can't - it's too hard to think about. I don't know. Maybe we should ask Leareth what details they'd want." 

"I guess that's worth a try. I can go find him."

"Thank you." 

Leareth is, as usual, in the library practicing sorcery. 

"Hey - Woodlark wants an idea of whether the Heralds are angry at him, or even know what's going on with his Companion, before he gives an estimate of how long he'll want to stay away from Haven. I know you're not Valdemaran yourself but you have slightly more cultural context than me and Woodlark's still pretty distracted..."

"And you wished to have my advice on the matter? Of course." Leareth sets down his book and pushes back the chair to stand. "I should discuss it with him, I think, even though it is probably very unpleasant for him. Is he still in his room?"