Starwind blinks. :She...does not normally communicate directly even with Her people? I suppose I might ask Moondance if he has heard anything: 

He carries Carissa two doors down the hall to where Leareth is. 

Leareth is lying in the bed with his eyes tightly closed, looking ill and miserable and scared. 

Moondance, once Starwind relays Carissa's mental commentary to him, looks startled and confused. :- What sort of word do you require? It is very costly for Her to speak to mortals, and - I think it is obviously not in Her interest to let our prisoner starve to death or prevent us from questioning him: 

I wasn't expecting Her to say anything personally, I'm sorry, I just - didn't know if She wanted Valdemar to have custody of Him or - you? You're Tayledras? You can give him instructions, if you'd like.

:I believe that She wishes us to stay and guard him, but it is preferable for us to do this here and not in our homeland. And - thank you: 

Does Moondance telling Leareth that he's allowed to open his eyes work now? 

Apparently not! Leareth isn't really trying to track what Moondance is saying, though, because he's too busy having a pointless and unproductive panic attack.

This is stupid. He wasn't anywhere near this terrified about being captured and held prisoner by the agents of a literal torture god. Why is he falling apart over this? 

:Do we need to do something else to make this work?: Moondance asks Carissa. 

He might need to hear me declare you a delegate?

ANY AGENT OF THE STAR-EYED GODDESS IS MY DELEGATE FOR GIVING YOU ORDERS, she tells Leareth as mentally loudly as she can.

If Leareth could hear that it wouldn't be reassuring at all, but since he's set-commanded against the use of his Gifts period, he can't. 

Moondance can...try to shove himself into rapport with both of them and be a thought-relay? 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

"You may open your eyes and speak." 

Does this time work? 

Nope! 

Having people nearby and talking is feeling very overwhelming right now and Leareth wishes it would just stop. 

Moondance sighs. 

"Is Melody coming?" he asks Gemma. "I - we are having difficulty - Carissa does not have her translation magic and Leareth cannot use his Mindspeech and so we are unable to give any new instructions for the compulsion." 

"Hmm? Right, yes, she should be here soon." 

Melody is in fact there a couple of minutes later. She gets a rapid-fire Mindspeech summary from Gemma and looks deeply unhappy about it. 

"...All right." No, nevermind, Carissa can't understand her now. She switches to Mindspeech, including everyone - including Carissa, which takes some effort, she's a strong enough Mindspeaker to reach un-Gifted people but she doesn't end up practicing it all that much. 

:Right. I'm going to move the set-command on him against using his Gifts, and let him use receptive Thoughtsensing only - that should be enough, right, he doesn't need to talk back to Carissa specifically? And I'll redo it right away after - everyone else should make sure to shield really well... Er, this is going to take me a few minutes: 

Gemma looks at Starwind, still carrying a blanket-burrito'd Carissa in his arms, and then stands up and offers her chair. 

Sure. Starwind can set Carissa down in the chair. His arms appreciate the break. 

Carissa sits there and watches Melody even though it doesn't look like anything and wonders if this is the most exciting thing that is going to happen in the rest of her existence.

:- All right, done: Melody sends finally. :Leareth, you can read Carissa now: 

Leareth is still only half aware of his surroundings, but he knows that he's in the hands of his enemies, and - almost certainly nothing good is going to happen - his best option might in fact be to refuse food or water until he dies and wakes up somewhere else, lesser but at least free...

He doesn't do anything. 

After an awkward fifteen seconds of silence, Moondance looks back over at Melody. :And?: 

:He's -: Melody stops.

Takes a deep breath. Turns to Carissa. :- He's - not very lucid and I think he's scared of - this situation. Could you, er, try to get his attention or something? At least he's ever met you before: 

HEY LEARETH

YOUR HORRIBLE ACQUAINTANCES KIDNAPPED US


VANYEL IS HOT BUT I SORT OF DON'T THINK IT"S WORTH IT

Leareth is, unfortunately, still staring at the ceiling and not using his Gifts at all because this seems like some kind of trap.