And we can also check that way if their telepathy makes it obvious that there are two people in my head, or whether the wig helps, or whether the Nondetection helps, and they might also know what would help if those don't. I think probably I want to just continue being suspicious in outlying provinces where word will be garbled by the time it makes it up the chain of command and their descriptions of us will be wrong. I suspect I could avoid being suspicious but that'll make it much slower to learn anything. 

Also I want to start working on permanent Detect Thoughts...permanent, Persistent Detect Thoughts. In an artifact.

<Oh, that would be excellent to have. Especially since it sounds as though they have an entirely separate - bloodline of sorcerers? - with innate telepathy-magic. And, yes, I think it makes sense to use strategies that will get us information even if we stand out, as long as we have an escape route ready - also we should make sure to vary our cover story, maybe vary the claims you make about your magic abilities, so they have less to connect the dots on...> 

I bet Tantara's not talking with Predain, but yes. Maybe next time I will be a very weak mage who can only make sparks -  it's a cantrip - and worried I will be conscripted. 

<That makes sense. I do worry that even if Predain and Tantara have no official lines of communication, if Ma'ar is a me, he will have tried very hard and been very clever in his attempts to have spies there - and at least from here it appears to be a considerably easier task than it was with us and the Andalites.> 

It does look that. Let's do an outlying province, again, ideally one far from the front lines of the war...

<Yes, that makes sense - we can go for the southwestern region of Tantara, I think that is less directly affected by the war.> 

And I want to figure out some experiments to determine whether blood magic is a local phenomenon or just something that only their kind of sorcerer can exploit - I've heard of necromancers who can do similar things I guess but it's very rare and I don't think it lets you do anything that valuable...

<I desperately want to understand what they are doing with this blood-magic! What is the necromancer ability...I assume it is a different thing from the destruction of souls...?>

Yeah, not that, just - you can drain life-energy from people for temporary strength. I think. I only took a couple classes of necromancy because I had a friend there and they had to kill children for final exams and it seemed like it'd be a very demoralizing environment. But - I can't even fathom how much magic a canal like that would need, and you couldn't get it out of killing. I don't know how to test it without killing something intelligent. We could go even farther around the world, find other places that allow it and see if we can watch? We might not have time, though...

Mhalir is mostly not shocked by any of Carissa's thoughts anymore but once in a while it still happens, and then he has to take a moment to absorb the pain and fully appreciate it and then set it aside to process later, when they're not in the middle of a conversation about important strategy topics.

<.......I am glad you did not pursue those classes further, I think it would have - hurt you... Anyway. It does sound, to the extent we are willing to trust their descriptions, more analogous to draining life-energy to the point of death than to the destruction of souls. It sounds like lawless bandits are more willing to use it wantonly? Perhaps there are currently-Chaotic regions further north or east that Predain has not yet conquered, where such practices are still in effect?>

Oh, maybe.

It might make sense for us to split up tomorrow. Until we know about whether the telepath-bloodline sorcerers can detect you. But if I die you must promise to figure out how to resurrect me if the local afterlives are bad. This is a joke, in the sense that she does not remotely believe he could do this or particularly that she'd be entitled to expect him to try, but it is serious about the worry and she is hoping he will at least say he's pleased with her for trying. (None of that is especially conscious.)

<Of course. I would be very upset to lose you, after everything we have been through.> He thinks it earnestly back.

Mhalir is not at all sure that he could solve this problem, of course,, but he puts greater than nine of ten odds that Aroden could, and he would absolutely ask that favour, because that's the level of important that Carissa is, and - well, he doesn't exactly understand how important he is to Aroden, but he has granite-firm confidence that the worst outcome is having the request denied, because Aroden is him, and he wouldn't punish an ally for asking something that he couldn't provide. 

He doesn't share any of these thoughts. It doesn't seem productive, right now.

So should I go alone? I'm nervous about it but - there's a lot to do, the faster we do it the less the chance anyone can put the pieces together, and I'm much less suspicious on my own.

...He doesn't want her to, and some of that feeling leaks across, but he doesn't have a solid reason against it. 

<I think it makes sense for you to go alone. You should take a concealed weapon and a microphone and I will be nearby in the shuttle> 

All right. And after they've run through the plans one more time she sleeps. Dreams about Hell, which is what she usually dreams about.

Prepares half her spells so she can do the rest over a lunch break or while hiding in a forest or whatever.

If you stay within half a mile I can Dimension Door up if there's any trouble.

<I can do that.> 

Then she'll go get the Tantaran side of the war. She goes for a teenage boy, this time, thin and a bit twitchy. Wanders into the town they selected and looks around for a store or something.

The town feels less like a half-abandoned ghost town. The main street contains an inn with a front patio (it's warm enough in southern Tantara to be comfortable to sit outdoors), with a couple of tables occupied, both by clusters of older women gossiping with each other. There's also a tailor's shop, a produce market, a smithery, and an apothecary.

A young woman is sitting out front of the apothecary, smoking a pipe of some herb and swinging her legs; she sees Carissa, gets up, and waves, smiling. 

She waves back. Nervously. 

The young woman stands up, flips her hair out of her eyes. "Hey. You new to town?" 

" - yeah. Nice to meet you." Twitchy smile. "I was - wondering if I could work for breakfast."

"Oh, what sort of work?" He's cute, she thinking, in a pale scrawny way but she's always preferred boys who look younger than her, less threatening. "You a Healer or something?"

"No." She ducks her head, lowers her voice. "I'm a mage. But I'm not a very powerful one. And - I heard some people saying we'd be conscripted - so I'm trying - not to advertise it, you know -"

Awwww, he looks so sad and scared and it's so hot. The young woman stands up, gives him her best reassuring smile. "Oh, no, Urtho's not a monster– er, and I wouldn't say anything to no one even if it were the rules, I promise -" She takes a step closer. 

"Everyone says Urtho's very nice," she says, and steps towards her, warily.