:He actually - reminds me of someone I do know, from my own world. Or - a way she could be, if she didn't have a way to be something better.:

:Don't you always have a way to do something better? The Heralds don't summon demons, or use compulsions.: 

:If what was done to that village was done by its own god, then - I don't see how the Heralds can be sure their god is not, actually, willing to destroy them or misuse them, and I don't see how anyone in Haven is safe.:

Well that's upsetting. ...Not like the rest of this wasn't already upsetting. Just. 

(You can't fight the gods. Right? It would be like - deciding to fight the weather - no that's the wrong metaphor, weather-magic exists - but it's fighting something you can't win against...

- and however impossible and absurd it sounds, Leareth has pretty clearly set himself toward that goal. And Iomedae - seems sympathetic about it.) 

Kilchas still doesn't know what to say, so - he's just going to wait at the doorway of the town hall until Iomedae reaches him. 

:The thing my friend would say would be that - that there's something fundamentally and terribly wrong there, something ...like a world that kills everyone at age ten because it is threatened by what they'd become if they grew up. A world using people as things, and carefully limiting them as people so they don't become less useful things.:

And she reaches him. 

...He's going to cast a first-stage Truth Spell, looking very tense the entire time. 

:Can you, er, repeat all of the things you told me on the way here? And say what you're planning to do next?: 

:My Law spell suggests Leareth is a person who does not betray his sworn word. Leareth asked for and received my permission to Gate me out from the earthquake to a research facility. There, I read his mind, which was consistent with what he has been saying, that he didn't kill Savil or destroy K'Treva Vale and that he believes the Star-Eyed Goddess did it. I'm planning to try to communicate this to people to prevent a war, and determine if Haven is in danger, without going near it, because I'm worried that there'll be another explosion. Leareth expected I would face assassination attempts if the gods saw any way to succeed.:

:Did he, er, say why he thought the gods would be so bent on killing you? Even if They're - if They don't mind killing people - it still sounds like They would have to go to some effort for it, and - just, why?: 

:A very good question. Even at home, though, the gods send an assassin for those prophecied to grow up to threaten them.:

:I mean, I can see why They would go after Leareth, then, but - are you inclined to threaten the gods here?: 

:I don't want to fight with anybody. I do want to introduce Aroden here, and I dislike that you don't have afterlives, and I have some suspicion towards the entity that blew up K'Treva Vale and bet I and it will end up at war.:

That...sounds like a terrifyingly bad idea for Valdemar to be anywhere near, honestly. Kilchas does not say this. 

:So - what do you think makes sense to do next, if you don't want to return to Haven? Have Vanyel come here? Hold a Mindspeech conversation at a distance? ...It's starting to sound like you really ought to speak with the King, but I'm not sure how to make that safe, he doesn't have much Mindspeech range.: And is slowly dying. Rather less slowly, at this point. 

:I can stay somewhere far from civilians and host visitors, but you'd have to decide if it's worth risking Vanyel or the King.:

:I think you'd better talk to Vanyel. But he can have a conversation with you from fifty miles away, and probably should. ...I'll pass word down the relay, that you're - back, and safe. Do you need anything else right now?: 

:I do not. Thank you, and I hope everyone's safe.:

And then to Leareth through the Telepathic Bond, I've conveyed what I intended to. I don't mean to convey to you what they're doing in response, though I am sure you can check for yourself, without their permission, so long as they conceive of themselves as potentially at war. I can answer other questions of yours now, though, if you have thought of any.