...they would both obviously be better off if she had gotten them killed!!

- well, yes, in terms of the actual situation Leareth can't disagree. Though it's not impossible Vkandis would have had enough territorial claim to grab her soul before Asmodeus could get it? And at the time it could have been his people looking for him.

He - hadn't actually predicted that the Star-Eyed and Vkandis would team up and escalate this far just to get Their hands on Leareth. It's a misprediction that gnaws at him. 

He's going to try to sleep anyway, though, it's not like it makes him significantly more helpless than he already is. 

(It makes it easier that Carissa is there, and Starwind and Moondance aren't.) 

She doesn't really understand his issue with them but she's here and will consider murdering him if it seems like they're coming to do it more permanently.

(Leareth isn't sure why he's quite this level of viscerally terrified of them either. He doesn't have anything against them as individuals. They're Vanyel's friends. It's just...) 

He thought he would be too scared to sleep easily, but in fact he dozes off within about ten seconds once he stops putting in a continual effort of will to stay conscious. 

It's a very long night. The Healing-trainee puts down his book and wakes Leareth about every candlemark to make him drink more water. He does need some of Carissa's help with this, mostly to help Leareth stay sitting up. The trainee offers painkillers each time, which Leareth keeps refusing. 

Pain disciplines the mind. 

Carissa does not speak to Leareth further beyond helping give him food and water, and tries not to think about their conversation either.

The Herald watching them through the wall notices when Nondetection wears off, because she can suddenly read Carissa's surface thoughts again. It never did end up looking like anything else happened? (She's not a mage, and did not see Carissa's Detect Thoughts cast.) 

At dawn, yawning, she makes a report to Herald Kilchas, who shows up to take over from her. 

Being woken repeatedly from a sound sleep is deeply unpleasant, but by the time the sun rises, Leareth is in fact feeling significantly better. He can sit up unaided, though he's very shaky and at one point manages to spill a cup of tea all over himself. His head still hurts, but much less; he could at this point use magic, he thinks, if not for the multiple layers of mind-control preventing him. 

It's easier to think calmly about his situation, but he avoids it anyway; he's not sure of his shields. 

Moondance is back a little while after dawn. :You can go now: he tells Carissa. :I should still be delegated on the spell, no?: 

I think you ought to be considered my delegate for the spell permanently. If it's giving you any trouble I can come do it again.

Nod. :How coherent was he, when he was last awake? The King is deciding whether we ought question him further now or give him another day: 

I think you could get a couple minutes out of him if he were properly motivated? I wouldn't expect him to be coherent for very long. 

Nod. :Do you have any sense of what he would find properly motivating? I...confess, I do not think that I understand him at all, as a person: 

Uh, in Cheliax when people say that they mean torture but that's probably not allowed in Valdemar, right? He'd probably want - to be allowed communications with his people, if you wanted to bribe him with that, but I don't know that that serves the Star-Eyed.. He's very Good, you could just try selling him on your questions being important for protecting innocent people...

...All right he's just going to ignore the torture comment, what are you even supposed to say to that. Also the part about Leareth being 'Good', which is absurd but apparently the entirety of Asmodean theology is around that level of absurd, so. 

Moondance nods. His expression is tired and unhappy. :...I do not know what serves Her interests, here. I suppose he is not allying with Asmodeus so there is that much, but - I wish that She would give us somewhat more hints!: His face scrunches a little; the expression makes him look a lot younger. :...Anyway. I suppose if he is just going to be sleeping, I could answer some of your questions about the Star-Eyed Goddess now: 

I would appreciate that deeply.

Moondance shoos the Healing-trainee and takes the youngster's chair. :One moment: He rests his fingertips against Leareth's forehead. :I might as well try to do some Healing while he is asleep and cannot be distressed by my presence. Why he is so frightened of me, I cannot fathom. ...In any case, the advantage of a Healing-Adept is that I can treat the backlash more directly. Ordinary Healers cannot even see mage-channels to heal them: 

Is it to her advantage to explain that Leareth thinks the Star-Eyed wants him dead forever. She...thinks not right now. 

That's a really cool ability. May I watch with my magic?

:If you like! I am not sure how much of it you will be able to see, but - I suppose mages with the right training can perceive Healing-energy, so there is that: 

He gets to work, his face slipping into the deep blank concentration of trance. 

Does anything show up to Detect Magic?

She can see that he's doing something, that magic is involved, and that it's fairly complicated. A lot of it is sort of half-blurred out of view, though. 

Leareth stays asleep through this, but his colour improves noticeably over twenty minutes. 

Finally Moondance blinks back to awareness. 

:- That will do for now, I think. I can hold an energy-link and talk at the same time. So - what do you know of our Goddess so far? What questions do you have?: 

I know that Vkandis told me to keep the agreement, and that you think the agreement is that I belong to Her? What does that mean? Is it the same thing as the people who belong to Her because of a pact? I know there's a pact? How do you guess what She wants? What's an example of someone who is a very good servant of Hers?

Moondance frowns. :Honestly, I - am not sure what the agreement entails on your side of things. It is...hard to follow what the gods intend, much less to explain it to others, but - I believe there needed to be a negotiation with Vkandis, to cross the barrier, and Vkandis agreed that the Star-Eyed could have Leareth if She ensured that He was kept out of Asmodeus' hands and that Asmodeus learned no more of him. ...I ought perhaps have thought more about the fact that we would need to take whoever had captured Leareth as well, but we were in a rush. So the answer is that I do not know exactly what it means: 

He lifts his head, meets her eyes seriously. :But - our work is very important, and help is always appreciated. Especially from someone with an entirely new kind of magic! Perhaps that is what She was aiming for, and you will be able to help us cleanse the damaged lands faster or with less danger to ourselves: