:?!: 

Tran passes on his fragmented summary of what he's just heard. 

And then drops the connection, and turns back to face the (supposed) paladin of Iomedae the (supposedly) Lawful Good Goddess from another world. 

- he hasn't shared his mind with Delian in...days, damn it. And - maybe he'd better not, not just yet, not until he understands - 

:- Have you found Yfandes: 

Not yet.

- apparently it's a bad idea for them to even be talking right now? Because of - (something he can't look at) - because Vanyel was compromised by Leareth a decade ago but he already knows it's more complicated than that... 

:...Right. Er, do you - have any ideas for what we do next: 

I think we should get Yfandes some help and then, uh, we're going to pray, probably. 

:- I, er, I - don't mean any offence, but - does praying ever...do anything...?:

...yes? I mean, visions are rare but getting some guidance in an emergency isn't that rare, and there might be some guidance here that's obvious from a god perspective. Iomedae talked to Leareth the first time he prayed to her but he's admittedly unusual in that.

Tran tenses the moment that Leareth's name is mentioned. 

After a long pause (he's so disoriented, and not even sure he's managing to track everything right now), 

:- Er, where is Van right now?: 

He asked for a pickup so he could explain things to Leareth. Leareth came and got him.

Tran looks so unhappy about this. 

I'm not worried about his safety with Leareth but if you'd like I can ask our people stationed in the north to send regular updates.

Tran isn't sure that he trusts their people either (and this is visible in his expression despite his attempts to hide it), but...at least it would be a second check? 

:We would appreciate that. Thank you:

Of course. Let me know if there's anything else we can do to be helpful.

They could go away That would be an un-diplomatic thing to say, and so Tran doesn't say it. 

Then they'll resume looking for Yfandes.

Yfandes isn't hard to find. She was trying to get some distance from Vanyel, but 'out of line of sight' was mostly sufficient, and then only a few minutes after he told her to LEAVE, he was suddenly - very very far away, to the north - 

(Yfandes is carefully not thinking about that right now...) 

And she's very tired, and so she walks slowly until she finds a meadow, and then she stands there and grazes and - tries to think - and this is where the paladins find her. It's about a quarter-mile south down the road from the Guard-post. 

They have apples and clover. They don't try to talk. They just approach her and set down the food and then head a little bit away and sit there quietly.

Yfandes doesn’t move, right away, but she’s grateful not to be alone. 

After a couple of minutes, when none of then have moved, she walks over to where they left the apples and clover, and settles herself down, and munches.

"If you'd like," Ignasi says after a while, "I could brush you. I won't ask questions."

…Sure. If he’s not going to ask any questions, that - sounds nice? 

Yfandes shifts a bit closer and turns her flank toward him.

Then Ignasi, who has an intelligent horse of his own, will brush Yfandes, and not say anything, and pray for Iomedae to offer guidance.

Look, the road to Yfandes changing shape, it's long, it's going to take half the time to the invasion, is there a way to make it go faster -

The nameless god of Valdemar, who watches and nudges the world from a distance and works through the Shadow-Lover's facade - 

- is not sure that he has any idea what this attempt at communication means.

What's happening, exactly? What is the urgency about? 

This, here, will reach this resolution, but can it do it sooner? - can it do it in a way that'd look like this rather than in a way that'll look like this?

- yes, probably, it could do it this way instead of that way? 

But - it would cost something, and the nameless entity behind the Shadow-Lover still isn't quite following why that would be worth the resource expenditure - 

- They can see several ways that it could be? But Foresight is blurred and disrupted, right now, and that makes Them particularly reluctant to expend resources...