:Oh, right. Introductions. This is Tantras, the King's Own Herald -: 

Tantras is also young, but less shockingly so, maybe in his early thirties; he's quite handsome, with his dark hair pulled back with a clip, and he's clearly very fit. He nods to her, smiling; his eyes are curious. 

Herald Jaysen, apparently, does not smile approximately ever. :And Keiran, the Lord Marshal's Herald: 

Herald Keiran nods as well, hands folded in front of her; she's staring intently at Thellim as though she's some sort of important and fascinating newly-discovered species of beetle. 

:And this is Healer Shavri. King Randale's lifebonded: 

Shavri is just as startlingly young, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. She's wearing green robes, and nods to Thellim without quite looking at her; going off her body language, she doesn't especially want to be here but is resigned to it. 

King Randale takes a deep breath, and Mindtouches her. :I'm afraid this is everyone - most of our Heralds are down south right now. And I'm not much of a Mindspeaker, so Savil or Jaysen will be doing a lot of this. But - welcome to Haven, we're honoured to have you as our guest. And I'm very, very curious to hear more about, er, where you came from. Vanyel didn't exactly send us a detailed report: 

:I am from a place that is not like this place.  It may be faster to show than to tell, if I can...:

Thellim closes her eyes.  The Mindspeech merge with Melody was intricate work, and also practice.  She can probably do this lesser-seeming thing, send over some fragments of memory?  They won't exactly be color photographs, but they'll have some feelings mixed in with them, and that should count for something too...

::the central City's downtown district, seen from the window of a skyscraper::

::the same skyscraper, seen from ground level as it rises to far far above::

::one hundred thousand music fans attending a single professional-music concert, all listening in careful silence::

::the ordinary peaceful town where her mother lives, houses set amid greenery::

:I am not from anywhere near here,: Thellim sends to everyone present.

::people crowding around television sets, watching the screens::

::on the screen, something metallic rises on a pillar of fire::

::it soars through the sky::

::the ground diminishes beneath it, becomes a curve with blackness above it::

::those on board turn and look, and see::

::a sphere of blue and white::

:This is the planet I am from.  The Civilization that lives there calls it dath ilan.:

:It is not the same as this planet.:

:I doubt that the two planets share the same spatial-metric at all.  There is no distance and no direction to get there from here.:

:I do not know how I came here, only...:

::Thellim's last airplane, seen from outside, before she boarded it::

::the airplane rising from the ground, the ground diminishing below::

::a flash of the worried passengers sitting in horrified silence::

::spinning and tearing metal, pain and death::

:I died, and found myself here.:

:I do not know how or why.:

:But it is suspicious that I found myself in the immediate vicinity of Vanyel.:

::a medical patient sitting in an fMRI scanner::

::diagrams of the brain, within their head::

::the brain scans light and flicker::

::equations in a textbook, seen by a younger Thellim::

:Our people have knowledge that is not known here.:

:Knowledge of minds, and brains, and much else as well.:

:Though I only possess the smallest fragments of that knowledge, I was able to join with Melody and partially heal Vanyel using my knowledge and her Gift.:

:This is, in all likelihood, only the beginning of some much greater story.:

:What that story may be, I do not know, nor who or what may have had a hand in writing it.:

:But I have been told that children will starve this winter in Valdemar, if something is not done.  So whatever may come later, that story will begin here.:

The assembled Heralds listen in quietly amazed silence. 

Herald-Mage Savil looks over at Jaysen; they share an inscrutable look that hints at decades of shared history and context and a rapid yet contentful Mindspeech exchange. 

Then she looks over at King Randale, who offers her a slight nod. 

:Well. That's...something: A brief flicker of a smile. :Van must have asked you so many questions. ...Or he would have, if he weren't exhausted after all this time on the Border: Her eyes narrow. :You - really think you can do something?: 

:There are many things I can try.  Books.  More advanced metallurgy.  Mechanical looms.  I will try them one after another and in parallel, until something works, or until it is too late for the children.  I am only an ordinary person of my world and I do not possess the experience, the will, the discipline and technique to swear that I will force a single outcome within reality.  I can offer only the effort.:

It's the Healer's turn to stare at her; she's wearing an odd, intense expression that holds weariness and hope and...something like recognition? 

No one speaks for a long time. 

Eventually, Keiran takes a deep breath. She frowns, and then - says something out loud, to Melody. 

:Keiran's not strong enough at Mindspeech to talk to anyone but her Companion, but she says either I can relay or you're welcome to just try to read her surface thoughts and she'll try to think loudly at you, she's done that with Mindspeakers before: 

A pause. 

:Also, just now she said 'have you noticed we're at war and maybe your project would be easier if you help us win that first'.:

:I would need to be much more certain of the situation here and of myself before I began upgrading this faction's weaponry in order to enable it to win a negative-sum conflict.  Creating more books and selling them for the food your children need; this seems a clear and unmixed good.  Nor have I balked from healing your most powerful weapon when he was in pain.  But to shift to crafting weapons of greater lethality - is a step too far, for me, for now, unless I understand this situation better than I have.  Innovations are known to spread, as well.  If I died of a heart attack at some unforeseeable future moment, I would not wish to have left this planet in worse condition for dath ilan having touched upon it.:

:(I'll try listening to surface thoughts when somebody speaks, and let you know if that doesn't work.):

Keiran looks frustrated about this, and shares a glance with Tantras, who's frowning as well.

She isn't currently loudly-thinking a particular reply; her surface mind is mostly a tangle of half-verbal thoughts. The clearest and most words-y snippet is that she feels like Thellim is very naive and idealistic and Randi is going to lap this right up damn it. 

Savil, though, seems relieved and pleased, though she winces at 'your most powerful weapon'. 

:Don't let Vanyel catch you calling him that: she says darkly, once Thellim finishes. :It'd ruin his whole day. He hates that the thing we need him for most, right now, is setting lots of people on fire: