Then the protomolecule can train a classifier to understand what thoughts are about gods and what thoughts are about Leareth and what thoughts are about the Moon.

They do this! And then other Leareths can review the results-classified-as-important, if the Proto wants! 

...For the most part, none of the thoughts that end up flagged are all that interesting? 

A pretty large percentage of Velgarth's total population is freaking out about the Moon, since it...became mostly invisible...at a certain point. Most of these thoughts aren't either about Leareth or gods (at least, not in the concrete-specifics sense of 'gods' that the Leareths doing classification ended up settling on; there are plenty of frantic vague prayers.) 

There are fewer, but plenty, of thoughts about gods alone, with the specs set by Leareth. 

There are fewer still thoughts about Leareth-alone, and a much higher percentage of these are at the intersection of all three. 

Most of these minds are in the north, employees of Leareth's (former) organization running in Velgarth. 

....And a certain Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron is an outlier on all three dimensions. He's doing SO MUCH ruminating about these topics!!!

Out of context danger? the protomolecule asks some Leareths presented with these results.

No! 

...Vanyel is important. Critical, even. But - not the source of the original out-of-context danger. 

(How long has it been - in days, please, not planck units - since the out of context danger occurred?) 

The protomolecule is trying to use units Leareth can understand but it doesn't know what days are.

Oh right. Okay. Leareth asks the Proto for help with some math, and then informs it approximately how many heartbeats should go into a 'day', and asks for the time interval in both units. 

141 days! 1.523E7 heartbeats.

Five months, give or take. 

Leareth - well, various Leareths - want to talk to one of the people identified up north as thinking a lot about (Leareth AND the Moon AND gods), it's someone in his organization and they have useful resources. 

Also he wants to talk to Vanyel, the mind which was an outlier on thinking-about-these-things.

A Leareth can be spun up with context in order to do that. 

A Leareth will try to tackle talking to whoever is currently in charge of his organization! 

He doesn't...especially remember the man? It's hard to tell whether this is because he's a low-quality simulation, or just because he had a lot of people working for him and whoever ended up selected on their leadership-skills merits, after Nayoki's departure, wasn't also someone who had been already on his radar for their research skills. 

He finds one particular mind. Reaches. 

:C̷̖̀͘à̷͚̗n̴̥̟͠͠ ̷͈͖̀y̴͍̦͆o̴̰͠û̷͎͔ ̶͕͍͒ḣ̸̫ë̴̦͙́̊å̵̼͖r̸̝͌̓ ̴̭̪͠m̴̯̾͠e̸̻̚̕?̴̧̖̌͗ ̸̭̈́̓:

:Ṯ̶̉h̵͓̃̄͜i̴̼̕s̸̼̽̕ ̵͍̔̍i̵͓̪̒̑s̴̟̐͛ ̷̡̨̊L̵̩̋̑ḛ̶̯̽̏a̴̤̚r̵̺͎̓è̸͜t̵̟͕͌h̵̹̋̿:

In an underground bunker in the far north, a man nearly jumps out of his skin. 

:I hear you: he manages, eventually. :...We heard. From Valdemar - Healer Shavri...: 

:G̷̙͚̉ơ̵̼̜̽o̷̞͖̾͝d̷͙͒.̴̢̻̒ ̶̨̪̅:

With an intense effort, Leareth makes his Mindspeech as clear as possible. 

:T̵͎̓é̷͜l̶̩͂l̶͖̆ ̷͗͜m̴͉̈e̵̫̓ ̶̤̚w̸̱̏h̵̯̅ã̸͎t̸̬̓ ̵̫͝y̵͎͝o̵̩̓ú̴̝ ̸̣̒ḱ̴̲n̸̯͝ò̵̻w̸̙͂ ̵̡̽ȧ̸̪b̵͔̕o̵͉̕ṳ̷͆ţ̸̽ ̶̯͛t̶̫̀h̷͕̓e̷̫͝ ̸̗̆ě̸͖v̵̧̋ĕ̴̩ń̸ͅt̷͉̚s̷̡̓ ̵͙̃ṯ̸͝h̵̲̓a̶̡͋t̴͖̒ ̵̩̀o̵̱̍c̴̯̕c̶͈͝u̵̦͛r̸͈̈́r̴̦͌e̵͓̓d̸̢͌ ̴̬͠õ̴͈n̶̜̚ ̸͖̔t̸͙̋h̵̭͠e̷͖̐ ̸̩̒D̷͙̊h̵͔̃o̸̫̍r̸͓̄i̸̠͑s̸̙͗h̸̼̚a̶̛̭ ̶́͜P̶̦̒l̵͚̕a̵͉̿ȋ̴͉n̵̺͒s̷͐ͅ ̵̘̈́f̴͓͆ḭ̷͋v̴̢͗e̷͉̍ ̶̪́m̷̗̓ȍ̸̱n̵̝͛t̶̞̓ḧ̷̖́s̸̜̓ ̸̞͝a̷͈͂g̸̟̚o̴͇̎.̸̧̈́:

The current leader of Leareth's organization tries very hard to collect himself, and gives a rundown! 

...They don't, in fact, know that much? 

Something happened on the edge of Iftel, a few weeks before the event on the Plains. It caught Leareth's people entirely off guard. It set off pretty much every single magic-detecting ward that Leareth ever built in the north. It seems to have also set fire to most of the northern forest. It...apparently didn't work. 

...They were less unprepared for the later event, and heard a few reports of preparations before it happened. Not enough to form a complete picture - and it's as complete as they're ever going to get, at this point, the Plains are GONE - but they have guesses. 

There were...weapons. Buried. Being retrieved. 

:Û̸̡̳͈̜͖̮̳̖̒̉̂̒͠r̶͈̩͇̈́̽̒͗̇̈́̾̕t̶̨̰̦̗̜̝͐̒̄̀̾h̷̙̙̤̟͎̫͕͐̈́̅̃̉͑̊͛ͅo̶̬͐̄̌̚'̵̛̜̩̘̮̬̜̟͇̿̅̍̃͠͠s̶̨͖͉̲̜̍͛̋͛ ̸̧̹̜̳̠̥̼̩̔Ṯ̴̀̓͒̈́͗̈́͘ǫ̶̛̹̜͕̈́̑͌́̾͝w̸̗̭͚͒̇͑̎̑͆̈́͂e̶̢͓͍̻̟̹͖̮̔̀̈́́̅r̸͕̲̓̔̕:

....What? 

(Several iterations of Leareths try to answer and trigger safeguards and are shut down and have to start over. He has FEELINGS about this.) 

Eventually, with an intense effort to keep his Mindspeech clear,

:Ú̵̧ŕ̸̩t̵̳͗h̷̻͗ȯ̶͙.̵͎͝ ̷̗͗:

: ̷͉̐T̷͖̑h̷̖̚e̴̪̕ ̴͉̅M̴̭͠a̸̒͜ğ̷̱ę̶͂ ̸̠͋W̵͚͝a̵͖̕r̶͈̈́s̵̞͋.̶̯̇ ̷̳̽C̶̤͊ā̵̫t̴̔͜a̶͉̎c̸̬̑l̴̰͘y̷̫̅s̶̺̃m̶̜̾ ̶̹̍:

:U̸̢̚s̷̭̿ê̵̖d̶̙̓ ̵̜̐ä̶͖ ̴̗̆w̸̺͝e̶͎͘ă̶͜p̴̠̐o̵̖͝n̶̮͛.̸̦̾ ̴͉̍:

:T̶̠̿h̶͔̏e̸̟̕r̴̢̈ë̸̙.̴̨͛.̸͓̆.̵̮̔.̷͕̀.̵͉͂.̵̳̕.̶̀ͅm̶̭͛ụ̶̈́s̴̢̓t̵̯͊ ̷͚͋h̴̦̏a̸̩͗v̶̞̑ẹ̷̊ ̷̗̏ḇ̶͝e̵̳̊ẹ̴͂n̷̡͆ ̵̳̋m̸̰͆o̴̠͗ṛ̸͆e̷̼̚.̶̥̍:

Oh. Right. ....Can Leareth please tell them about any OTHER context he happens to know which would be helpful for making any sense of this. They don't know where to find most of his personal records or, having found them, how to decipher them. 

Leareth - well, many different iterations of different Leareths - will do his best! 

And a different Leareth, elsewhere - elsetime - something, whatever - 

(This is going to be so hard and he has to do it and - has to try not to have emotions about it -)

:H̸̙͊e̶̡͆r̷̦͐a̷͎̚l̴̻̅d̵͖̚ ̸̲̌Ṽ̵̦a̵̬̿n̵̳̄y̴̺̒ē̸̦l̶̢̈́:

Aaaaaaah! 

....All right. Focus. This is not, actually, a complete surprise. Shavri talked to him (it was awful). Vanyel's been practicing a script for this...

It doesn't make it any easier. 

:Leareth: 

There are so many things Leareth wants to say. To - no, "apologize" isn't the right concept, isn't the right framing, it never has been–