"Heh." Vanyel chuckles, without humour. "Carissa did seem to be under the impression that you were...actually very Good? I mean, she thought it was an insult, to think that, but - still. It...really doesn't seem like you and Asmodeus are the same." 

"No. Indeed." 

Leareth closes his eyes. He's mentally checking over what he's said - has he communicated all the key facts that at least one person in Valdemar ought to have context on, in case the situation catches on fire again before he can properly sync up with them - he should tell Vanyel to avoid interacting with the Chelish envoys, stay out of Detect Thoughts range, which conveniently is much much less than most Thoughtsensers' range - 

Instead, a completely different sentence comes out of his mouth. 

"...I think that I need to understand Good better. Iomedae - seemed to think it was important. And - you understand it. More than I do. It...means something, right, it is significant that I was able to contact Iomedae by understanding how you think...?" 

...That's not even a question? Or, no, it is - is Leareth really asking him for advice??? - but it's not anywhere close to clearly specified. 

Focus. 

Vanyel takes a slow breath and lets it out. "Er, right. Um. I - guess a difference between us is - um - so this seems kind of stupid, but - people trust Heralds, right? People believe that we're good people. And - and there's an important thing, there, there's - a sacred trust - and it's not tangible but I think it's still real..." 

Vanyel is incredibly self-conscious, and fairly convinced that he sounds like an idiot right now, but Leareth is apparently still listening. So he keeps talking. 

Carissa is reading Leareth's mind.

In her defense, at first when his breathing changed she thought he might be awake, and she'd promised to un-Geas him as soon as he was, and she was out of Tongues so she tried Detect Thoughts rather than go run off and wake up Nayoki. 

And Leareth seemed to be....in a dream conversation with Vanyel of Valdemar about the nature of Goodness...and probably people won't punish you for eavesdropping on their dream conversation about the nature of Goodness, it's very much not Good to punish people, and this is a stupid thing about Good but convenient if you are Carissa. 

What is Good.

In one sense it's just a side you can pick, like Evil is. You can be a servant of Iomedae rather than Asmodeus. The argument for Asmodeus is that Evil preserves more of what humans are than Good does, and that Asmodeus is going to win. But, uh, Aroden not being dead seems like some information, on that second point. And the general trend where - it may be stupid of people in other universes to reflexively hate Asmodeus even when their own situations are worse, but if it's a fact about the world, then it's a fact about whether Asmodeus is going to win.

And on the first argument - well, obviously Good preserves less of what Chelish people are, because Chelish people are Evil. It probably preserves more of what Valdemaran people are, because Valdemar raises its children to be Good. So whether you want to be the property of Iomedae and Asmodeus, assuming they have equal chances of winning, depends on whether you'd rather be Cheliax or Valdemar. And she'd still far rather be Cheliax. So there's that. 

Being Leareth's country would be all right but Leareth's also Evil so that doesn't help. 

Being Aroden's country -

- she has no idea, really. Cheliax was Aroden's country, and it was weaker, and poorer - though Aroden had intended to change that -

She snuggles up to Leareth and reads his mind and tries to imagine growing up in the world where Aroden hadn't been betrayed.

When Leareth eventually wakes up, he’s much less disoriented, and almost immediately comes to full alertness.

He’s unsurprised that he can’t move or speak, and waits patiently and with only a little apprehension for Carissa to notice and address this.

- she seems to be cuddled up beside him? He doesn’t remember her being there when he went to sleep, and really hopes she’s not now sleeping as well.

"You can do whatever you want," she says immediately, and thinks at him, and if that doesn't work she'll....try repeating the Valdemaran that Moondance and Starwind spoke, she's not good at languages but you can patch a lot with the fanciest kind of headband.

Tongues has worn off and Leareth can’t use Thoughtsensing right now, but Carissa’s recall of the Valdemaran phrase is at least close enough that he can parse the intended meaning. 

…Which is “you can speak and move in bed”, still much more limited than Carissa’s usual instructions lately, but at least it lets him sit up.

She's reading his mind so she's aware of the deficiency. She smiles apologetically at him. "Carissa Nayoki?"

He’s not actually sure what she means by that - getting Nayoki isn’t going to instantly resolve this inconvenient problem. (He really wishes there were a way to get the Tongues spell as a permanent artifact - at this point it would save him so much hassle…)

Leareth frowns. Thinks. 

“‘You can take any actions,’” he says, slowly and carefully in a deliberately rote way, and then points at Carissa with an expectant look.

"You can take any actions," she repeats back. She knows what she's being asked to say from Detect Thoughts but would say it anyway, really; leveraging the geas is not a way to get anything she wants.

:- Thank you: 

Leareth drags a hand over his face, and then stands up and stretches. Judging by the pale light seeping through the curtains, it’s barely dawn, but he went to sleep fairly early. Interrupted sleep; still, he feels reasonable well-rested. And there’s a lot to do.

:Have you slept?: he asks Carissa. :Do you need to, at some point?:

No, I wasn't sure when you'd wake up. I need two hours of sleep at some point. That can be now, if that's convenient.

:Now is probably convenient, but we should have you delegate to Nayoki and a few others that they can give me instructions for the geas as well, first:

Of course. She stands up. 

Nayoki is easy to find. She's already up, and checking in with Iomedae's people to see if they need anything else. 

She nods to both of them. :Leareth. Carissa: 

Wearing her Chelish military uniform didn't seem right and the sparkly shirt didn't either so Carissa is wearing her uniform undershirt. She has her hair back up in a bun and isn't clinging possessively to Leareth at all though it's taking some effort.

I delegate you as authorized to give Leareth orders with the geas, and can similarly authorize anyone else Leareth would like.

:- Ah. We should really have done that sooner. Thank you. Leareth, who else -?:

Leareth leans on the wall near the meeting-room door and lists off a couple of names. 

He was also already reading Carissa's mind enough to pick up her responses to his Mindspeech, but - he's not sure what she's thinking or feeling right now, her mannerisms are all different again - so he reaches in closer with Thoughtsensing. 

She's watching Leareth and committing to memory the names he mentioned and trying to cross-reference that against the people who helped her design our bedroom. Today she is going for serious researcher mannerisms, imitating teachers at the school she went to: attentive but not to people, distant, except to Leareth, who has her rapt attention whenever he seems to want it. 

…He doesn’t especially want her rapt attention, right now. He has no idea what he would do with it.

:Thank you: he tells Carissa. :I think it is fine if you go get some sleep now. You can delegate to the others later:

Information for the hair hypothesis.

She goes to bed.

Leareth spends a while standing by Nayoki and watching Iomedae’s people work. Waits to see if an of them seem particularly interruptible - Iomedae did say he ought to talk to them…

They keep glancing at him, too. They've scrubbed and watered the whole meeting room and are mostly just praying and reading, now, and poring over maps of Velgarth.

Well, it seems like they plausibly want to talk to him but are waiting for him to initiate?

Eventually he shrugs and steps closer, lifting a hand and trying to catch someone’s eye.

Ignasi smiles warmly at him. "Is it a good time for us to get to know each other better? I haven't even had the chance to introduce my team - Alsina and Fabre are paladins of Iomedae, and Rovira and Dolmau are Her priests."