A momentary pause of surprise. "It sounds like two colors to me. If you want to bribe the emperor to help me, teaching from a mage like that is everything I could ask for."

"Works for me. Do you want to wait here until the retinue arrives, which will be... probably in a week or so, or for me to pick you and your son up to carry off to where they're camping outside my castle? It'd be a trip of several hours, but I can manage it in one night. ... I am very strong and fast, and don't tire from exertion."

She thinks for a minute.

"Wait here. It's safer close to the caves."

"All right. And can I talk about you to them, explain the situation? ... Maybe ask them for better food than a vampire can scrounge up on her own? I have been doing my best, but really, you should be eating better..."

"...If you're sure the emperor won't want to hang me or return me to my master."

"I don't have to explain where you are when I talk about you, now do I. So if he goes 'No, actually, that's illegal,' and wants to kill or return you, he will not know where you are, and furthermore have an angry vampire to deal with. And probably an angry couple of mages, too, the two from Tortall did not seem to like slavery at all."

"You are welcome to talk to the Emperor, then. I will stay in the cave where it is safe."

Nod!

"Thank you for your trust in me. I haven't told them about you or anything, just said I had stuff to do during the night. Is there anything major that you're missing that you need, now that I can ask you questions?"

"Nursemaids." A short laugh. "Do you have anything for sleep or wakefulness? Keeping Uday comfortable is tiring even without going for food."

"Hmmm. If I knew something like that, I've long forgotten it, sorry. Vampires don't sleep, I can't test it."

"A cradle for Uday would be helpful? Beyond that... I will surely curse myself for a fool for forgetting something but I do not know what."

"A cradle... all right, I think I can do that. I'll stick around for a while yet, so you have time." Scrub, scrub, doing laundry is so much better than being stuck outside unable to help.

"Thank you." She gestures to Uday, now mostly back to sleep in her arms, as best as she can. "He is sometimes inconvenient."

She will eventually need to spend the night getting as much sleep as she can, unless Iovetra has something else to ask with her new ability to communicate.

"I expect so. Fortunate for him that he is very cute," says Iovetra, because, well, he is.

The only thing she wants to do is hand over the healing supplies directly to Afra, now that she can explain when and where to use everything. Nothing complicated, just 'this is a topical painkiller,' and 'this is a general one,' and a couple healing potions, with instructions on how to avoid overdose. Otherwise, she'll let the young mother get some sleep. Happy to have done her laundry for her, she'll bring a cradle tomorrow night.

Then she gives a little wave, and disappears. Returning to her castle is much faster than running all the way back.

Iovetra leaves with Afra's thanks, and assurance she will be careful with the healing supplies.

Her castle is near Kaddar's camp on one side, and otherwise untouched. Sand trails from the dunes in the minor breezes which flow through the desert. Owls hunt the rodents which in turn seek out any food they can find. At least today, she can see no hyenas from the castle.