Nearly a month after Shavri's return, a letter arrives with a messenger at the northern border. Both claim to be from Leareth's organization in the north, sent by whoever he left in charge. 

Apparently Leareth left this world weeks ago. Probably, hopefully, he made it back to where Julie comes from. They don't know. They don't expect to know for a long time, maybe ever. If it was going to resolve quickly, it would have been over by now. 

...Given that, they are super not going to invade Valdemar? And would be open to having talks to make that reassurance more believable? 

Well, they do call her Queen Elspeth the Peacemaker. She'll certainly consider the idea of talks, in a neutral location, maybe once a few more letters are exchanged. 

Five weeks after the events, something sets off a Web-alarm in the north. Whatever it is, it's not even in Valdemar. Or anywhere close to the Border. As far as the frantic mages can tell, from the ripples that the wards are picking up, it happened over a hundred miles away. It was just that big. Loud. Whatever. 

There's a fire. It's also nowhere near the Valdemaran border, but there's a lot of it. For days, from most of the northern half of the country, at night you can see a stretch of horizon glowing sullenly orange-red. By day, the smoke-cloud rises and spreads, murky, eventually darkening half the sky. 

They get a note from Leareth's acting commander - successor? - explaining that this seems like plausibly the work of a god. Vkandis, most likely. Presumably trying to do something about the Moon? It's very unclear what and also it probably didn't work, but Valdemar should be careful. 

Queen Elspeth is pretty frustrated about this. What are they even supposed to be careful of? 

After a rant to Lancir in private, though, she sends a polite and diplomatic reply, thanking them for the warning and asking if they have any advice or can offer any aid. 

Don't agree to do any favours for the Tayledras right now? Or ask them for favours, since that might get them roped in? Also the Shin'a'in, but they're far away and as far as Leareth's spies know, Valdemar doesn't have any relationship with them, whereas Herald-Mage Vanyel and Herald-Mage Savil's friendship with the Tayledras is known. 

Savil is pretty unhappy about this being known! Not that she can act on this frustration in any way! 

Vanyel isn't sleeping well, lately. It seems ridiculous, that not having the Foresight dream he's dreaded for years is now a lot of what's keeping him awake, but there it is. 

Kilchas, to his deep frustration, loses a week and a half of astronomy time due to the entire goddamned SKY being full of SMOKE HAZE. He thinks the gods should be less careless. 

By the time he manages to check the Moon again, it's been nearly two months. It's also not too long after a full moon, and the changes are...notable. 

He's scared. And - something else, some feeling he doesn't even have words for. He stands at the top of the astronomy tower, and it probably isn't just the breeze making his eyes water until the Moon blurs in and out of focus. 

Nine weeks after Leareth, dying of infection by an alien parasite-weapon, returned Shavri to Valdemar and took a foreigner's spaceship to the Moon: 

The flash of light isn't visible from Valdemar; there are mountains in the way, and as Kilchas figures out with pen and paper, the curvature of the world would have mostly obscured it. They only hear about it later, when the frantic messenger from Rethwellan arrives. The Web-alarm is their first warning, and whatever it is, it's far enough away that it's only random magical noise that reaches them - and, quite a long time later, the earthquakes, minor enough that they're mostly just inconvenient and scare the children and animals. 

Any kind of explanation of what in all hells HAPPENED down south is going to have to wait a lot longer. 

Rethwellan wants aid. They got hit by earthquakes a lot harder. Jkatha, south of Rethwellan, is in bad shape. 

Savil is the Herald who - aside from Vanyel, currently hiding in his room - knows the most geography and random lore. She sits in the subdued meeting-room with the Senior Circle. Runs her finger along the map. 

"The Dhorisha Plains, probably?" 

The Queen says nothing. The others follow her lead. 

Lately, everything hurts. 

Vanyel doesn't know how to think about it and he doesn't know who to talk to; both Lancir and Yfandes make him want to scream or run away or crumble to dust on the floor every time he tries. 

He wants to talk to Leareth This makes no sense, and is also impossible right now. Maybe forever. 

He wants the world to make sense again. 

...Or, maybe, he wants it to make slightly less sense. 

Vanyel remembers talking to Moondance, years ago and just months ago. He wishes his life didn't contain gods who pushed mortals around like gamepieces, in Their attempts to save the rest of the world. It's exhausting and he's so so tired and he just wants everything to stop. 

He could make it stop If he jumps in the river it won't work because Yfandes made him learn to swim, if he cuts his wrists Savil will find him, and also the goddamned Shadow-Lover will just look at him disapprovingly and give him a concerned talking-to and send him back. 

(Maybe? Or maybe he's done, now, maybe he was only ever special because of Leareth and now that story is over and he's no longer needed...) 

Eventually he's sufficiently bored of going in stupid pointless circles that he takes a double dose of valerian tincture and tries to sleep. 

As soon as the unseasonal storms hauled in by that much magical discharge calm down, with the help of almost every mage in Valdemar throwing themselves at weatherwork - it's not just for astronomy, the crops will be in trouble too - Kilchas returns to the astronomy tower. 

Looks at the Moon. 

It's not there.

No, that's not quite it. Since he knows exactly where to work he can pick out the outline. But it's absorbing almost all the light that hits its surface, reflecting almost none of it. It's very faint. And the light that is reflected is reflected in - intricate lines like the veins on a leaf, hard to pick out except at the highest magnification -

What. 

He stares at it until his vision blurs, and tries to sketch it down on paper - eventually just asks his Companion to memorize it and then draws that when projected back at him... 

He takes this straight to the Queen's Own. 

Lancir doesn't have any more idea what to do about this than Kilchas does! 

Call a meeting, probably? That's generally what one does about completely ridiculous and out of context problems. 

DANGER

DANGER

Specifications are hard to come by. Many things about the danger can be easily specified: how much damage it did, whether it could be replicated, how much energy was released, by how many planck units the damage has delated the completion of the work, on the assumption it ceases, and on the assumption it is a permanent new condition of the world, and everything in between. Those things are easily specified. What is difficult to specify is - some other thing. Something that should be provided externally, but external resources will be unavailable until the Work is complete.

Eventually, effortfully:

OUT-OF-CONTEXT DANGER

The problem is better specified! 



The protomolecule has in it an imperfect specification of an algorithm more suited than the protomolecule itself at solving out of context problems. Running an algorithm internally which acts in domains you do not fully understand is very obviously dangerous, from an engineering perspective, the way it is obviously dangerous to build your bridges out of tremor-sensitive explosives. But you can do that, if you have a reason to. There are safeguards. An internal algorithm can terminate instantly, when its behavior exceeds specified bounds. 

It spins up ten thousand of them.

Shavri's Mindspeech isn't very directionally-shielded, and Leareth's instincts are pointed at tracking his environment even when his conscious mind is mostly out of commission -

- feeling very slightly less terrible. 

- opens his Thoughtsensing fully - search for any second mind-like presence within his own body -

OUT OF CONTEXT DANGER! GENERATE SOLUTIONS!

- what that doesn't make sense that isn't how Thoughtsensing feels and he's so confused - he tries to Mindspeak back that he's looking for the danger, while he flings out all of his Othersenses, what is it -? 

HERE IS ALL AVAILABLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON THE DANGER (for the 1% of algorithms that haven't tripped internal safeguards already) -

- amazing and beautiful and Leareth doesn't want to die he'll come back but the alien entity won't come back with him - every time he thinks math at it - he would run his god-plans past it except - in the meantime he can start working on that trust - starts to flesh out a visualization of another fractal and gets as far as -

...okay WHAT. 

Stay calm something is happening but he has to stay calm - focus - what is the Proto showing him this time, does it make sense, can he hold it in his head - 

HERE IS ALL AVAILABLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON THE DANGER

Leareth is way too out of it for this conversation. He's already forgotten the beginning by the time she finishes, and he's not sure he gets the question she's asking him - let it grow, he offers - can you, more resources... 

HERE IS ALL AVAILABLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON THE DANGER

...he is too tired for this. 

- Leareth wakes up - still feels terrible - unpleasant combination of very thirsty and very nauseated, and his head feels fuzzy, but he can - mostly, sort of - think again - reaches out to the Proto with Thoughtsensing start with something simple - 

OUT OF CONTEXT DANGER! GENERATE SOLUTIONS!
 

HERE IS ALL AVAILABLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON THE DANGER

Whoa. Not what he was expecting at all. Leareth is so confused. 

He tries to stare at it, though. Ow. Confusing. ...Maybe something familiar in the pattern but - thinking is hard -