...That's also very weird but sure, he had very bad nightmares last night and he's too bleary to argue. :I didn't understand you: he says apologetically to the child. :I can play some songs for you if you like?:

:Yes! You should do that. There are lots of people and some of them were mad but it's not an emergency, right?:

Vanyel blinks. :- Er, Sandra, is it an emergency?:

:...I don't reckon it is or Savil would've said?:

:It's not an emergency: Vanyel tells the child as soothingly as he can, boosting her up so he can hold her with one arm and unlock his door. :I need my arms back to play the lute but you can, er, sit on my bed if you like:

:Okay!: She's kind of clinging, though. :Are my mommy and daddy busy?:

:- Hmm? Er, sorry, I don't know. I haven't met your mommy or daddy:

Pexa looks skeptical but does not articulate a disagreement.

Vanyel is too tired to ask Pexa why this is so surprising. He plops her down on his bed and then gets his lute and starts playing ‘My Lady’s Eyes.’ He likes the fingerings for it. It takes him until the start of the vocal part to remember that it’s silly and embarrassing, and he turns bright red, but - well, maybe small children don’t mind? He keeps going, only audibly clearing his throat a little bit.

Pexa is so much less scared and sniffly now and has flopped against him in contentment.

Awww. Vanyel remains puzzled about all of this but snuggly small children are very cute.

(Yfandes has heard some NEWS from Savil and...should probably tell her Chosen...but he’s doing okay right now and not curled up in a ball sobbing at all and someone needs to watch the little girl while things get figured out, it’s not her fault whose daughter she is. Yfandes does not interrupt just yet.)

The adults are busy figuring out what to do, but Savil, a supposed adult, is still very much at a loss.

:...I suppose we should talk to the little girl: she admits eventually to Lancir. :We can at least - find out more about his operations that way, at least:

Pexa being Leareth’s daughter and also a princess doesn’t...exactly...explain all the baffling parts here, like how supposedly her daddy and Vanyel are “bestest” “friends”, but at least it’s a thread she can grasp at.

- Vanyel abruptly sets down his lute. :Savil wants to ask you some more things, all right?: 

(And Yfandes is being infuriatingly cagey and thoughtful in the back of his mind, but Vanyel’s head hurts from lack of sleep and he’s thirty seconds of tactless conversation away from running out of the room in tears and he is not. in the mood. to ask.)

Pexa has been singing along to Vanyel's songs, not very well. :Okay!:

So Vanyel puts away his lute and takes her hand and leads her down the hallway to Savil’s suite.

Savil and Lancir are there, not looking as upset anymore, but very serious.

:Pexa: Lancir says to her, solemnly. :This is very important. Can you tell us where your daddy lives?:

:Cheliax! In the palace.:

Maybe 'Cheliax' is what Leareth calls his...kingdom, whatever it is, where-ever it is. :Is Cheliax in the north?:

:...yes,: she declares, but not with the air of someone who has any idea what she is talking about.

...Well, she is very small, small children are probably always like that. :Can you tell me what living in the palace is like?:

:I have a cat named White and I live with my daddy King Leareth and my mommy Queen Carissa and Ma'ar and ...lots of people. Tadesse and Ekunde and Ayodele. And Van. And my nanny Tia and my nanny Sefina.:

Lancir blinks. Absorbs that for a moment, turns seriously to his paper and writes some notes. He can ask about Vanyel in a moment. :Who is Ma'ar?:

:Ma'ar is a Leareth like my daddy but he's a little one not a big one. My mommy found him and had me.:

- Lancir's brain skids over this for a moment and then he decides that the simplest interpretation here is the little girl having some very odd imaginary friends. He won't press her on it. (He does write down exactly what she said anyway.) :Right. I see. And your mother is called Carissa and she is a 'wizard', yes, which is different from a mage? What sorts of magic can she do?:

Maybe 'wizard' is some confusing local dialect for a different Gift? He has the vague feeling that he's trying too hard to make sense of this, but what is he supposed to do, not try to make sense of it?