"- What preparations would you make for it, if someone else warned you and you didn't need to avoid using the information? I'm - not actually sure what I would do if I learned Leareth was planning to assassinate me in a day, I expect most precautions I could take - including trying to be unfindable - would be ones he could get around." 

"I have lots of spells that make me better at dodging enormous explosions and so on. If forewarned I'd cast them, and I'd take particular care to not sleep, which I can go for about a week without doing. But if forewarned in order to minimize civilian casualties I'd take no precautions I do not take ordinarily. Which still probably includes not sleeping this week, since this is a very unusual situation and I want to have a better understanding of it before I rely on anything outside myself."

The letter now reads: 

Leareth,

This letter was written with Vanyel's assistance, but I, Iomedae, Knight-Commander of the Knights of Ozem, am the primary author. I arrived in K'Treva Vale shortly before the explosion, and I think it may have been a response to me, though I don't know how or why. I think that I am from another world.

I think that the existence of, and possibility of contact with, my world may change the justification for your war. I hope that this is so. 

I think that it will be much costlier for you to go to war with Valdemar while I am inclined to defend them against conquest. I am so inclined. You could persuade me either that this defense is entirely futile or that your war is justified, though only with great difficulty. I will almost certainly defend Valdemar if you attack at present. My presence on a battlefield is usually decisive. 

Vanyel has explained your grievances with the local gods and some, to me, seem legitimate. In the interests of honesty I must disclose that I am, like the Heralds, a selected follower of the god Aroden in my own world, part of an institution by which the gods select specific people who are then highly trusted and highly reliable, and given positions of authority accordingly. The grievances Vanyel explained to me would not be applicable to Aroden. 

Aroden was a human once, and he represents that ascension did not change what he strived for, or his commitment to dealing rightly by others. 

Aroden ascended without killing other people, by a mechanism called the Starstone that remains in our world and still functions. Others have used it to ascend after Him. 

Aroden cannot operate in this world at this time. I will likely take steps to change that. You could ask me not to do that, if it seems to you that it might have greatly negative effects. 

I have no desire for war. It is among the most tragic of human endeavors. I have been at war for nearly all my life and am very good at it. I am immune to compulsions. I am immune to fear. I have other forms of protection against magical attack which I do not expect at this time it's a good idea to specify. I do not know of a good basis for comparison across worlds, but in my own world the only powers that could survive in my presence on the battlefield for six seconds are halfway to being gods.

I survived the K'Treva Vale explosion and believe that I would survive a Final Strike for the same reason. If you wish to test this I request that you notify me in advance so I can go somewhere where your attempt will not cause civilian casualties. I will take no precautions against assassination on receiving such notice that I wasn't taking already, except for avoiding civilians.

The communications in this message are intended as part of a peace negotiation. Were we negotiating by the norms of the world I am from, that would have the following implications: I will, to the best of my abilities, not position myself to make inferences about your capabilities from the timing and process for the exchange of letters, and not use the contents against the aims of the peace process. I will not harm your agents in the course of their operations related to these negotiations. If you provide information or resources conditional on my agreement to terms I do not agree to, I will send them back. I will not lie. I will attest to the contents of this letter under truth magic, as relevant; I will swear not only that this communication is true to the best of my knowledge, but that the best of my knowledge is very good; that when I make claims in contexts like this one I am usually correct.

If you were to, for example, take this peace communication as a prompt to attempt to kidnap me, before knowledge of me would otherwise have reached you, this would be, in the terms familiar in my world, indicative that this kind of mutually cooperative and Lawful interaction will not work. I mostly expect that, regardless of your intent, this negotiation will not proceed along the terms familiar for Lawful negotiation in my own world, because we are alien to each other, and nearly certain to face much mutual incomprehension. But I am trying to make this negotiation possible for you and advantageous for you, and will do so past the first several points where it seems to me you are not doing the same. 

With regards,

Iomedae, Knight-Commander of the Knights of Ozem and of the Shining Crusade

There's something faintly ridiculous about the concept of dodging a ten-mile wall of fire, but honestly Vanyel is more confused that she can apparently just NOT SLEEP for a WEEK, who is this woman– nevermind, not the top priority right now. She's claiming to be from another world, Vanyel reminds himself. And she looks human enough but she - might not be the kind of human he's used to. 

"I think it's a reasonable letter," he says eventually, trying not to sound as tired about it as he feels. "I'm guessing you'll want us to arrange its delivery? And - possibly you should be far away from civilians first, in case Leareth gets spooked and - reacts hastily." 

"Indeed. Why don't you recommend me somewhere to go, and then drop it off as soon as is feasible, it seems plausibly quite time-sensitive. If you have multiple redundant locations that would be good."

Nod. "I can have copies of it made. And - hmm - I'm trying to think where it would be best to bring you. Probably north of here, where the population is sparser, but - I don't actually have many Gate locations north of here. Will you need, er, camping supplies or anything - or we could try to leave you at a Heralds' Waystation, I think there are some at least ten miles from the nearest town and then you'd at least have a roof over your head..." 

"That is preferable. I don't actually know if I can freeze to death but it seems like a foolish thing to test. - our magic would make this not an important constraint, at home, but I don't myself have access to the spell that would do it."

"That makes sense. I'll - go look at my map and figure out where we're putting you." And then he has to Gate himself back to Haven, to bring this to Randi and...probably he should apologize to the King for rushing off without asking...it's not the first time and Randi will forgive him but still. 

- oh. 

"Iomedae, how does your Healing work? It seemed - instant, which ours isn't, and it didn't feel like Healing-Gift does. I ask because our King is - ill," dying, but he doesn't quite trust Iomedae far enough yet to reveal that, though she seems absurdly perceptive and will probably infer that it's not a minor illness, "and - Healing him could end up making a very big difference in this war." 

If they end up at war. If they're at war in the first place. It felt inevitable, yesterday, but now there's a slender thread of hope that it isn't. Vanyel hadn't expected hope would hurt so much more than resignation. 

"It is much less useful for illness than for injury, but it can help with some of the effects an illness has had on the body. I am happy to help, if failure won't cause - political complications of some kind."

"It won't make anything worse if it fails, right?" Sigh. "I really don't feel like it would make sense to blame you if it turns out your Healing can't do anything we haven't already tried. I'll talk to him." 

And he'll go dig in his pack for a map. 

Which leaves Stef at loose ends. 

He bounces from one foot to the other. "How do the wings work?" he asks Iomedae. "Are they just - made out of magic? I don't think you could even do that with magecraft." 

"The spell is called Greater Angelic Aspect, and it transforms me to be more like an angel. They are not made out of magic, they are bone and feather, but conjured bone and feather that won't endure all that much longer."

"Huh! So it's like summoning an elemental, but only part of one and attached to you? ...What's an 'angel', is that a kind of elemental?" 

"Angels are Good outsiders from the Outer Planes. Do you not have scrying or summoning access to the Outer Planes here?"

"....Nnnnno. What are outer planes? We can summon from elemental planes, or the Abyssal Plane if you're an idiot. - and what do you mean, that they're 'good' - is it just that they're usually friendly and not hostile?" Stef has a feeling it's not just that. She said it like it had a capital letter. 

"They are aligned with the cosmic force of Good. I suppose I don't know if you have the cosmic force of Good here. Angels defend the innocent and try not to cause unnecessary suffering and provide healing and seek justice and freedom and love and so on. Good people, when they die, go to a Good afterlife, and over time many of them become angels or other Good outsiders."

That is absolutely something out of a ballad. Stef grins at it, though he's not not suspicious of it. 

- wait, what. 

"They go where?" he says blankly. 

"To the Good afterlives. Heaven and Nirvana and Elysium. Do you know where your dead go when they die?"

Yes. Better than almost anyone else. 

(It's a good thing Vanyel is absorbed in his map and not actively tracking the conversation, Stef thinks. It won't upset him as much as it would have a few years ago, but - there's still pain there, decades of it, and Van would definitely prefer that Stef fill him in later, in private, where he doesn't have to keep his composure in front of a powerful otherworldly stranger.) 

"They, er, go to the spirit world, but it's not - really a place - they're not really people, there. They - get sent back to be reborn, sometimes." He suppresses a shiver. "...It sounds like your world's thing - isn't that. I - it should go in the letter, that's enormous, Leareth - if he's telling the truth about any of this, he wants his god so he can end people dying, and - real afterlives where people live actual lives is almost like immortality..." 

" - yes. That does seem important. I will put it in the letter - also I should probably take more precautions against dying than I am natively inclined to. Do you have anything you can spare that protects against magical attack, or helps people react faster?"

In my world, the dead are sorted according to their character and then go to the Outer Planes, where they can live forever. Many of the Outer Planes including Aroden's are paradises. (Some are not. We are working on fixing that.) I am grieved to learn that this is not so in your world, and would be willing to work with you on finding a way to fix that, though not through conquest and mass human sacrifice. Introducing Aroden on this world might do it.

Stef ducks his head. "I - think it'll help, having that. Wow. Leareth is going to have so many questions. ...I feel like I should have more questions right now, it's - probably not the only difference that big - not even sure where to start though." 

“I want to invest more in trying to get Aroden’s attention. Is that something your government will be comfortable with?”

"I can't imagine Randi would object, at least not once we feel like we know a bit more about you. We're a country built out of godmiracles, we're not going to turn down more help."

He's making a face about it, though. 

“Can you tell me more about the - existing miracle? Are you happy with how it functions?”

"Well, it works a lot better than the bloody Eastern Empire, so there's that." Shrug. "The Web is neat - that's a set of wards that cover the entire kingdom. Van made some changes to it and it's a lot smarter now, but even before that it did a lot to help the Heralds catch problems and send people to respond to them." 

He glances over at Vanyel, still squatting in the field a few yards away and poring through the map spread across his bent knee, and then lowers his voice. "The Companions are... Well. They're intelligent magic horses, Van and I are pretty sure they're usually made with the souls of reincarnated former Heralds, and they Choose Heralds as children and bond to them. It's - complicated how voluntary it is, on either side. Heralds usually kill themselves if their Companion dies or repudiates them for un-Heraldic behavior, not that that happens very often but it has happened. And - sometimes it's not even about whether someone did something awful." 

He steps closer, lowering his voice even further. "Van's Companion nearly repudiated him after he learned about Leareth's god plan and - didn't even agree with or or approve of it or want to help Leareth, just didn't want to immediately jump to killing him as fast as possible. There was something done to her mind, she couldn't even think about questioning the gods. ...She ran off, and broke the restrictions by banging her head on it hard enough for days, but I assume all the other Companions still have that problem. It's sort of awkward, when they have to have conversations about Leareth."