"- Er, n...o? For one I - still don't think I know what you mean by 'rightful possession', but also - this was all happening in the middle of the night in a hurry, and - er, do you want me to just explain my perspective on that night?" 

(None of that is a lie.) 

"Go ahead."

(Vanyel triple-checks his shields against Thoughtsensing, just in case.) 

- All right, telling Cheliax about his shared dream with Leareth is stupid idea.

But Leareth did have an idea, before - 

He takes a deep breath. 

"I have the Gift of Foresight. I am not sure if your world knows of that? But I...Foresaw, that something very bad for Valdemar - and for my close friends among the Tayledras - was happening in Iftel. And that it was related to the magic-use we had detected north of our border - and the Ifteli soldiers who had fled to Valdemar for refuge."

Vanyel takes a deep breath. 

"However, it - has been true for our entire history that Heralds of Valdemar are not allowed through Iftel's barrier." 

(...Vanyel has a lot more questions about that than he did before, actually. He's trying to put them off but this takes a lot of willpower -) 

"And, Iftel is clearly under a god's control, and - Valdemar is a country where there is no one true faith or one true god. So I - needed to contact others. I spoke to my close friend Moondance, asking him to make a petition with his Goddess. I also contacted Queen Karis of Karse, and requested that she speak with Vkandis Sunlord." 

The Chelish agents listen impassively.

Vanyel blinks at them.

- and feels much too tempted to read their minds - he's usually not at all tempted to do this, with anyone - but he's starting to wonder how much that's just because he and the other Heralds aren't used to anyone wanting to keep secrets - 

:Melody?: 

Melody HATES HER LIFE. 

But she's close by, hiding in a (very uncomfortable) rhododendron bush. 

:Yes: 

:- Are you reading their minds? ...I want you to try, if you are not already: 

Melody tries. 

She isn't a mage. Or even that strong of a Thoughtsenser. But she's a very very strong Mindhealer, and she's a very experienced Thoughtsenser - and Vanyel has, apparently, keyed her into the wards on this suite, so she can reach through them - 

She stretches and reaches and pushes with Thoughtsensing, but - no, not gently exactly, just - discreetly. So that her prodding will slide away unnoticed, if it fails, rather than registering.

And Vanyel takes a deep breath, and lets it out. 

"- Shortly later I learned that - apparently - the gods contacted had decided this was important. They did not exactly check in with me again, after that." 

And he waits for a response. 

Two of them are too well-shielded for Melody to read.

The third is scared. These people are insane and don't understand Law and don't seem to understand that envoys traveling under a flag of truce mean anything at all - they just don't seem to have the concept that any agreement could mean anything at all - and they have not answered the question about whether they will be permitted to leave and probably they can dimension-step out before they're stopped but it's not a sure thing. And apparently if they die they'll be up for grabs from the horrible local gods? Cheliax will, of course, respond to that as an act of war, but one doesn't really want to incite a war by being executed under flag of truce, one wants to live. Though clearly it'd be good for everyone in this country if Asmodeus was forced to conquer it.

"Did you consider, when we arrived here, notifying us of this situation?" the one interrogating Vanyel, who isn't readable, says.

"- I considered it, yes." 

This is not a lie. Vanyel considered a wide range of things, including 'tell the envoys everything' and 'tell the envoys various possible carefully-curated versions of everything'. 

"Why was the decision made to conceal it from us?"

"- I'm not sure what norms your world operates under, but here in Velgarth it just makes sense, for two countries that are starting to open diplomatic negotiations, but still in the early phases of that, to hold back quite a lot of information." 

Vanyel pauses. Frowns. 

"- I reckon we still have some kind of misunderstanding happening here. Where - it seems like you think the particular situation is - deeply beyond the pale? And from our perspective, it's...very tame. - Look, the last time King Randale sent an envoy to Karse, before Karis arrived, the priesthood in charge at the time killed and disemboweled him. We haven't done that here at all. But...I'm getting the sense that Golarion has some pretty different, er, international conventions." 

"...I mean, that is also unacceptable to us. But - preferable to this, certainly."

Vanyel just stares blankly at them. 

"- I - sorry - which part of what I said is preferable to this?" 

"Torturing and murdering people, while obviously utterly beyond the pale and sufficient reason alone for Cheliax to have sided with you, were the conflict still ongoing, obviously wrongs them much less gravely than laying claim to their soul."

"....Er, right. I - think that's maybe the biggest cultural difference we're talking around, right now? Here in Velgarth, who - which god, that is - has claims to which person's soul is...not something that would ever even come up in diplomatic negotiations. Honestly, I don't have the slightest idea what'll happen to my soul when I die, and I'm not sure I'd prefer it if I did know." 

"That grieves me deeply and I am eager to see it change. But in the meantime, it would be sufficient to get assurance that, in the future, if your gods start laying claim to our people, you will contact us, so that we can make safe arrangements for their souls and keep them out of such reprehensible hands."

"Er, you - seem to be still operating under the assumption that any of us here in Valdemar will have the slightest idea if some god somewhere decides to lay claim to one of your people? Some countries have closer contact with gods than we do, but - in Valdemar we say there is no one true way. We don't have a particular god who talks to us." 

"Starwind opened by claiming that this operation of yours in Iftel meant that our soldier belonged to his Goddess. If no one ever has any idea what the gods are doing and there's no point trying to take actions based on theirs, how did he arrive at this conclusion and why did he think it merited mention?"

"...I didn't say no one has any idea, I just mean that this wouldn't normally be passed on via the Heralds of Valdemar. The Tayledras are different. They do have a specific pact with a particular Goddess. I don't know all the details. ...I have spoken to Her directly, before, but - honestly it was incredibly cryptic and unhelpful."

Vanyel takes a deep breath.

"And - that matches what Moondance k'Treva has said to me about the communications that he's received from Her. He - considers himself to serve Her, of course, that's a difference between us. But it's not obvious that She gives much clearer instructions to him. In this case, I asked him to try reaching her, and he agreed, and the a while later he said he had permission to cross the barrier. And that's most of what I know about that. I'm - not sure he would be able to tell you more - it's not unusual here that even priests or shamans don't remember their conversations with gods, just the final answer?" 

"The situation that you describe is unacceptable to us. If it happens again, Cheliax will regard it as an act of war, and if that means that we are at war with all the gods of Velgarth, I hear in that fight we would have allies. Do we understand each other."

"- I'm...hearing you say that you - would consider allying with Leareth to fight all the gods of Velgarth? Is that what you mean?" 

"We prefer peace to war. We are telling you how peace can be achieved. But if you choose war, then yes, certainly."

Vanyel takes a deep breath, and lifts his head to meet the Chelish diplomat's eyes. 

What would Leareth say, here. 

"I can't speak to what the gods of our world want. I - well, you've probably gathered by now that I, personally, don't follow any of them. I...also cannot entirely speak to our King or our Council's wishes, here. But I, personally, would also prefer peace over war." 

He sighs.

"But - it seems like you keep expecting us to follow the international law that exists in Golarion? Or at least offer formal apologies for not having followed it? And...I think that's another cultural gap you ought to take into account. Most people in Velgarth, in positions of leadership, aren't exactly going to want to apologize for failing to conform to laws that they had no way of knowing existed at the time."