:I understand: Which doesn't mean he likes it. :I - I didn't mean to close you out or keep you in the dark, just... You'll understand when I tell you: 

Or, at least, Vanyel desperately hopes that's going to be the case. 

:It's about -: Gods, where should he even start. :I - hmm - this didn't come up all that much, before, because it was - historical background. But do you remember how Asmodeus conquered Cheliax a century ago?: 

Randi squints. :There was a war between the gods, no?: 

:Right. And - specifically a god called Aroden: 

:Aroden. Hmm - that does ring a bell... Right. He was the one worshipped in Cheliax before, no? And Asmodeus killed Him: 

...He is maybe going to elide over some of the story here. Just for Leareth's sake. 

:It turns out that's not true. The Lawful Good goddess, Iomedae - She was His paladin, as a human, and then ascended - She didn't know until very recently, but he's alive. As a human. He was an immortal human before - like Leareth - and he, he came back: 

:Look. I know it sounds insane. But I don't see why Leareth would lie about it: 

:Well, maybe he wants us to overextend ourselves offering to help this supposed 'Aroden' - I assume he's the 'ally' helping Iomedae re-conquer Cheliax?: 

Sometimes he forgets for a short time that Randi is very smart and very quick on his feet. He's usually reminded soon. 

:- Maybe? But Leareth didn't even ask me for that! All he did was suggest we invite Iomedae's paladins to set up here as well: 

:Which would give this goddess power and influence over Valdemar, no? ...Also I can't imagine it would make the Asmodeans happy with us: 

Vanyel grits his teeth. 

:I know. And I know it looks bad, to allow a Lawful Good god and refuse a Lawful Evil one, when all of our history is based on there being no one true way. But... I think if King Valdemar had ever heard of Asmodeus, he'd have felt differently on that point: 

Randi closes his eyes. Massages his forehead. 

:...I need time to think: he says finally. :I - get why you don't want this information spread around, and I won't. I give you my word on that. Just - I also don't know how far I can believe it. And I'm certainly not ready to make any decisions on sticking our nose into someone else's war: 

Vanyel thinks as well. 

:- Send our own envoy with the Chelish diplomats, back to Cheliax: he says finally. :They can Plane Shift - we won't have to worry about travelling through Iftel. We do need more information, it'll gain us that, and it'll also get Cheliax's envoys out of Valdemar for awhile. And you can make a call on whether to allow their church here after we've had a Herald sit through some of their services: 

:I'll think about it: Randi squeezes Vanyel's hand again. :I'm sorry - that's all I can give you, right now. But - I will try my best, I promise: 

:I know:

In the quiet privacy of his own mind, shielded and far away from anywhere Yfandes can see, Vanyel is thinking that he wishes very badly he felt more sure that the Heralds' best will be good enough. 

This is so much bigger than Valdemar, now... 

Elsewhere on the Palace grounds, a small group of younger people is clustered together in one of the otherwise-empty flower gardens. 

A very young Herald-trainee is staring at an even younger Bardic trainee in stupefied surprise. "The King's daughter did what?" 

"Stef! You could have told me!" 

"You'd've just been mad at me like you are now." Stef scuffs his feet in the grass. "...I dunno exactly what she did. Haven't dared go try to talk to her - she's not the one who might get expelled for - doing that. But she snuck into the Healers' wing, the part that was closed, and then - there was a big commotion and everyone was mad and upset. And then the diplomats were meeting again and I didn't hear all of it but it'd sounded like Jisa...helped some prisoners escape? And one of them was someone from our world, some sort of evil mage from far away, but one of them was from the other country that's attacking Iftel, and their envoys were really mad about it." 

"- Right. Thank you for telling me." 

Dara hugs her knees to her chest, and tries to think. 

...She should tell her Companion. Obviously she should do that. But -

- but Rolan is barely speaking to her lately. He's certainly preoccupied enough to have completely failed to notice all her recent discussions with Trainee Stefen of the Bardic Collegium, or even to notice that she's been skipping her classes. 

And, in the few occasions when he's Mindtouched her at all, it's been very clear in the overtones that something is BADLY WRONG. 

Dara...doesn't think it's just that the situation is scary or escalating out of control, either. It's something else. It's - something that's making Rolan uneasy all out of proportion to anything specific. He's admitted that some of what's been keeping him so busy lately is the diplomatic talks with Cheliax - the presence of the envoys themselves is hardly a secret, after all - but he says they've been going well. Except that he was clearly deeply uneasy the whole time... 

More to the point, if she DOES tell him then he's going to shut her out entirely of the aftermath. Because she's too young. Because, apparently, she doesn't know what she's doing and can't be trusted to look after herself. 

Dara has been mostly looking after herself and her mother since she was a young child. She - grew up faster than most people, and she stopped being that child a long time ago. She's tired of being treated like she still is. 

"I think I had better talk to Jisa," she says quietly. "Alone. It'll be less suspicious for me to swing by - I can say I had a question for school, or something."

"Are you going to tell us what you find out?" 

Dara presses her lips together. 

"- I mean, I'd understand if you don't feel it's responsible to. Just, it means Stef might try to break into your bedroom next to spy on you." 

"Medren! Hey!" 

"Well, I don't hear you denying it." 

Stef's roommate is cute and it's not fair that he didn't warn her even a little bit about this. 

"I'll think about it," she says. Honestly. "- Stef, you need to stop spying on the envoys, though. It's not just you who could get in trouble. If they catch you, they'll be furious with the Heralds and it probably wouldn't start a war but it might!"