(Shavri doesn't watch. There's something weirdly upsetting about summoning a fairy for this specific purpose, even though that makes no sense.) 

"Since this circle has a binding you will want to be very careful how you talk to the fairy," Cam tells Randi. "You can let me do the talking and not say anything nor even nod till I give the word, that's probably easiest."

"...Oh. Er, all right. We - should maybe have talked about how bindings work beforehand? I guess we can just observe you this time, and maybe you can talk us through how it works afterward?" 

"None of the well considered standard ones are in a language you know and they depend a lot on precisely that which is difficult to translate but we can do a crash course at some point. I think this fairy will not try anything sketchy, daeva are basically just folks, it's just a precaution you need if we're going to scale up."

“Mmm, right.”

Randi fidgets as they wait. 

Shavri squeezes his shoulder. She’s restless - she wants to check on Vanyel, which would probably just be rude right now, and failing that she wants to pace. But Randi needs her to be a soothing presence for him, right now, and she’s going to do her best. 

While they await the fairy Cam checks his mail again.

He has mail from Leareth! 

A couple pieces of mail, in fact. First, from around an hour ago - when he was still in the middle of trying to fish Van out of the river - a preliminary one-page, high level summary of the god design, with various headers and notes on what documentation will be following. 

The second note is from only minutes ago. 

...

Cam,

I have received reports from Haven suggesting rumours of Herald Vanyel's death. I am not sure where you are currently located, but would appreciate if you could check up on the situation there and send a message as soon as possible. 

- Leareth 

"Leareth has somehow already learned rumors of Van's untimely demise, does anyone have opinions on what if anything he should further learn on that?"

Keiran, still pacing, turns on her heels. "Wow. That's - he must have a lot of spies over here. Randi, have we gotten Katha onto that, yet?" 

"We shouldn't tell him anything." 

"- Really? Poor man's been talking to Van for a decade. I don't reckon anyone can spend a decade having conversations with Van and not get a little attached. No wonder he's upset." 

"We don't know he's upset! Maybe he's just checking up on whether we really did just lose half our defences against an invasion–" 

"Are you kidding? We've got Cam now. I don't think even Leareth could get past him and at Valdemar." 

"Hey. Can everyone take a deep breath. We might have a fairy show up here any second." 

The room falls silent. 

Shavri glances around. "Keiran, even in that case I think it helps us to tell him Van's not dead, right? And - I don't know, just, I don't feel like that's why. Cam, you're the only one here who's actually met him. Why do you think he cares so much about whether Van's dead?" 

"My guess would be that Kilchas has the right of it."

Randi pinches the bridge of his nose again. "Right. Fine. We should probably tell him Van isn't dead. Cam, maybe you can just say that for now? Reassure him a bit and put the rest off for later? I'd...really rather talk to Vanyel directly about this, but apparently he's occupied and I need to wait." Randi sounds very slightly put out about this. 

Cam drops a letter to a drone up north reading Vanyel lives! and the drone deposits it in the mailbox.

Randi thanks him, and they go back to awkward waiting. 

Into which atmosphere appears a fairy! He's wearing some kind of nice formal outfit and he has wings like a red admiral butterfly, twitching a little as he shifts his weight. "Hello, what can I do for you?" he asks, glancing around uncertainly.

"Nice to meet you, Ildan, I'm Cam and doing the talking for your summoner today, he's new. You're on the list for the Martian grid as a solo, yes?" Cam says.

"Yes... they're letting you talk?"

"Working conditions are pretty good. So, these folks found out about the thing where summoners become daeva, did you know that?"

"Yeah, guy I know's wife used to be human."

"So they want to do lots of summonings and dismissals, but they don't want to have the whole shebang spread around the concordant realms, right?"

"Yeah."

"Can you make like you got a Martian grid placement and are very wrapped up in your brand new adopted orphan or orphans, who these fine people can source for you, yet actually doing the being summoned a lot gig whilst said orphans sleep?"

"...yes, I can do that."

:I guess we should think about finding those orphans?: Shavri sends to everyone in the room with Mindspeech - which means everyone except Cam. :We'll have to get an age cutoff, I guess - find out if he's got a preference for which sex - gods, we really should think about getting referrals for more of them, there are a lot of orphaned children right now who need parents...: 

This is the point at which Savil, bathed and in dry clothes and wrapped in a cozy robe, finally catches up. She opens the door and then stands in the doorway, blinking. 

:Don't talk to him!: Shavri warns her. 

:Er, all right. ...What?: 

Savil turns and raises her eyebrows in Cam's direction. 

"- Savil, this is Ildan, we are interviewing him for a job."

"Speaking of, does it come with money to feed the kid, or at least enough time to pick up a side gig?" Ildan says.

"That is... a great question, if nothing else I would be happy to supply you with food..." He looks at Shavri. "- it's safe for people other than his summoner to talk, by the by, only the summoner can accidentally agree to anything."