"We will not harass your missionaries, no." 

(Vanyel is thinking, privately, that he will definitely be writing a letter to King Festil, warning him about everything they know of Cheliax.) 

What is the junior diplomat whose mind she's able to read thinking about now. 

Hardorn seems like a better target anyway; it doesn't have the stupid horse-based system of government and the team there said they get along with the King well. And honestly they might do their best far on the other side of the world, away from Iftel's lies blaming them for the war and away from reflexive fussing about the whole 'Evil' thing. 

He wonders who did free the prisoner. It doesn't really sound like a Chelish operation; kind of clumsy. Well, Leareth supposedly had competent allies who must have managed an extraction. 

Carissa wraps the blanket around Leareth very neatly; maybe, if Leareth's people are scrying them, it'll give the impression that they are allied and they should handle her very nicely. See, she tucked the corner around his toes; surely if he wants to betray that person he'll want to do it personally. 

She suspects she isn't thinking that clearly but that's okay, that's okay, she doesn't need to think, she just needs to keep her heart beating until she can get home. 

Leareth doesn't show any sign of awareness while she does this. 

The storeroom is, in fact, unheated and quite cold. Leareth is shivering slightly even under the blanket. 

Jisa continues to bounce around between various shelves, dragging down boxes that look promising or at least vaguely interesting and dropping them onto the floor. 

"- This one's just more books again. Why does he even have so many books. It's kind of cold. Do you want a blanket too if I find more. Does it snow in winter where you're from? We get lots of snow and Mama takes me sledding sometimes." 

Jisa keeps chattering, fairly nonstop, but she continues to also read Carissa's mind. 

Does the kid ever shut up. "It doesn't snow where I grew up but before Iftel invaded I was at the Worldwound and it's very cold there. I have a spell for it, but I didn't prepare it today, we have to pick our spells in advance. If we're here for long I can use it to keep us cozy but he seemed to think his people would find us in an hour or two.

Maybe we can snuggle Leareth and that should keep him warmer and make his people feel less threatened when they arrive."

Jisa gives her a dubious look. "You think he wouldn't mind?" 

"...he's unconscious."

"- I mean in general. Melody says it's mean and un-eth-ical," Jisa enunciates the word slowly and carefully and a bit rote, "to do things to people that they wouldn't have wanted you to do if you could ask them." 

Ah, Good. "Well, only if they catch you. I think Leareth wouldn't want to be cold, since it'll delay his recovery and I bet he's in a hurry to recover. And if he wakes up and wants us to stop, we'll stop."

Jisa ponders this for a moment and then nods brightly. "All right! We can snuggle him! Um, I didn't find any food yet though - maybe his people will get here before he needs it?" 

"I hope so. If not I have a solution for that but I think he'd need to be conscious. Unless your mind control powers can control his swallowing reflex while he's out?"

Jisa scrunches up her face in thought. "I think regular Healers can do that but probably I can't? What's your solution?" 

"I can breastfeed him. I know it's gross, but last time I didn't and then he got really sick from dehydration, so this time I'm not going to wait until it seems like an emergency." Also she...knows the guy better now, in a way that makes it somewhat less upsetting? Still nonzero upsetting, but, well, they had a conversation. They made a deal which he very well might betray but hasn't yet. She held his hand and cried for Jisa. They're not strangers.

Jisa's face lights up. "What? That's so neat! How do you do that?" 

Well, all right then. "I can use magic to change my form. It has to be another humanoid form but it can be a woman who just had a baby." 

"Wow! Really?" Jisa, snuggled up on the other side of Leareth, is now staring at Carissa like she's the most amazing person Jisa has ever met. "...Can you change into someone who's about to have a baby? If you do that and have the baby and then change back does the baby just disappear into nothing?" 

"No, you can't turn into someone who is about to have a baby because that'd be turning into two people not just one. If you're pregnant and you polymorph the baby dies," which is why Alter Self is mostly used among Chelish wizards as birth control. "Maybe you could turn into someone whose body was like they were about to have a baby but there'd be no baby inside them."

"Huh! That's weird. ...Do you have any actual babies? I want to have TEN babies when I grow up." 

Jisa is bored and nervous and is just going to keep chattering the entire time until something else happens. 

Carissa tries to mostly tune her out and look very nonthreatening and keep Leareth warm.

The next thing to happen, about forty minutes later, is that Leareth moans and stirs (reflexively) as he starts to wake up - 

- and then goes totally still and quiet, once he's conscious to do things on purpose; the geas is blocking all of that. His head hurts way too much to Thoughtsense anyone or anything, even instinctively. 

Carissa has been eager for her translation spell to run out as it'll get the kid to shut up but is suddenly glad that it hasn't.

"You can move. You can -" they're in an underground base belonging to Leareth, with Leareth's people searching for them. The appropriate posture here is perfect submission as long as it looks like he's keeping his side of the deal. "You can take any actions you want." She should also delegate to his staff but she doesn't know if that'll work without names for them so she can delay that, at least, give them a reason to keep her alive a bit longer even if he's not keeping his end of the deal. 

Jisa has been reading Carissa's mind on and off the whole time. Mostly she's just been kind of confused. (And a bit insulted that Carissa thinks she's annoying, but she can't help herself from chattering.) 

...Now she's confused and also stressed! That isn't what she thought things were like with Leareth and Carissa at all!

(It's not even slightly romantic and she feels cheated about it!)

Leareth coughs. Clears his throat. "I...am now...very curious if that would...stop me from taking actions...that I do not want to do..."