:Er, want to let me know when you're ready for breakfast, and we can meet and talk at the same time?: 

:Give me ten minutes:

And ten minutes later she Mindtouches Dara.

:Be right there:

Dara arrives two minutes later at her door with a breakfast tray. :Figured it'd be simplest to meet in here. Tea?: 

:Thanks. So, uh, the stuff in the journals is -

- I'm Ma'ar's best and only friend, have been for years, it's actually really, really weird that I wouldn't come up even once in a series of diary entries about him and his moral development and ambition and stuff for that reason alone, not least because Urtho's the one who told me we had a new student and maybe I could help him catch up on things in the first place. But also I told Urtho off about how he was managing the gryphons and there's no sign that he was ever checked on that at all, and between that and other lesser tells I can't quite verbalize I think this is somehow a set of journals from a - situation in which I did not exist, not just one where I vanished mysteriously and never came back:

Dara freezes. Stares at her in silence for a long moment. 

:I - wow - that's even weirder than the other way? Right? Er, I don't know, maybe they're both equally weird...: She rubs her forehead. :...Do you think that explains Leareth being, um, more willing to murder people than you expected - would Ma'ar have grown up that way if you hadn't been around, if Urtho were the closest he had to a friend...?: 

:Maybe. Urtho doesn't really - speak his language. I can't see him being a particularly useful guide to ethics for... anybody, let alone Ma'ar, though most people are more conventionally minded than Ma'ar so Urtho had lots of chances to not notice that he sucks at it. And Ma'ar starts out pretty - hm - expectant of conflict, not really conscious of how all the social systems around him grew into place, that sort of thing:

Dara shakes her head. :That's– gods, it's mostly incredibly tragic? If - if this could've gone better, in the world where Ma'ar did have you as a friend... 'Expectant of conflict' seems like a decent description of Leareth even now - or, well, expects most people to be his enemies, expects that things won't work unless he's incredibly paranoid and ruthless about it...: 

Her eyes turn back to Azabel. :Van thought he must have felt so hurt and betrayed, when Urtho attacked first. How - you know him better, what - how would that affect him?: 

:My Ma'ar and Urtho aren't actually that close! If I imagine that - uh - that I wind up in charge of one country and he winds up in charge of another and then I for some insane reason decide to attack him just because he looks like he's having too much fun over there and I imagine he might want to steal my country - if I imagine that it would fuck him up real bad, yeah, but, like, I would not do that, because I am not as poorly rounded a person as Urtho or apparently the King of Tantara:

:You don't sound very impressed with Urtho: 

:He's a brilliant mage, absolutely brilliant, able to pull off incredible feats of invention and enchantment.

He's also a dumbass:

Dara snickers, half-heartedly trying to hide it. :It really sounds like it: 

Her smile fades quickly. 

:If you're right, then - it might be a lot harder for, er, your versions of Urtho and Ma'ar to come find you here?: 

:Yeah. I don't - think I should expect to go home:

:I'm sorry: 

:Thanks:

:Well. I, um, given that...: Dara sort of shrugs. :What do you want to do? You're welcome to stay here, of course - whether or not you want to help us with the war. I'd understand if you don't, if the Ma'ar you knew was a close friend: 

:I mean, I don't want him to roll in and murder ten million people! I'm very fond of him but I am not 'let him murder ten million people' fond! But I am not a combatant and apparently don't have nearly as much personal insight into Leareth as you may have hoped what with this one never having met me: She sighs. :Any joy on the truth spell?:

:...Um, we talked about it. I'm pushing for yes, but Treven, er, wants to ask you some questions first. In particular, you're strongly Gifted enough to cast the coercive version, and, er, we would be more comfortable about that if you reassured us you wouldn't use that to dig state secrets out of any Heralds: 

:One of the tells that this Ma'ar never met me is that he's apparently real compulsion-happy. I am not okay with that sort of thing and you can ask me that under the spell if you want:

Dara looks relieved. :That would help a lot. Hmm - if you're done eating, want to come with me and talk to Treven again?: 

:Sure:

Dara offers her arm again, and they troop back across the path to the meeting-room building. It's still snowing, though not quite a blizzard anymore. 

Treven is waiting for them, freshly-bathed and dressed in immaculate Herald's Whites, but with dark shadows under his eyes. :Azabel! I hope you slept well?: 

:I was comfortable, thank you:

:My Companion passed on the quick version of, er, what you and Dara just talked about, with the journals not matching, but it's bizarre, and - could you summarize it for me again?: 

:Ma'ar and I have been best friends for years and I have influenced him substantially; I also have influenced Urtho, though less. The journals aren't consistent with that and it appears they were written by an Urtho who didn't have me around: