"Extend lifespans by how much?" Elspeth says, quietly. 

Deskyl's mental voice is steady, but gentle. :I won't know until I see it, and possibly not even then; at a guess you'll effectively return to the age of thirty or so.:

"So, could extend it by forty or fifty years," Elspeth says. She rubs her chin. "I suppose this might not be feasible at all, what with there only being one of you, but – how broadly would you be willing to offer this, eventually? And would you be willing to have our Healers and mages study it, see if the technique can be replicated?" 

:I'm confident that your healers won't be able to replicate the effect the way I do it, but I don't mind them watching. I'll have to think about how widely I'm comfortable distributing it - the politics gets riskier if I seem to be helping you build an army rather than giving a bit of strategic aid, I'm sure.:

"That's fair. I'm not even sure I would want you to, at this point, just asking. If it were just a very small number of senior people... Would it change physical appearance?" 

:Not in the way you mean. My healing does remove scars, and might revert magic-whitened hair to what it would otherwise look like, but otherwise it doesn't make cosmetic changes. And once I'm recovered I'll be able to leave scars and hair alone with more complicated partial healing.:

Elspeth nods, solemn. "So it won't be an immediate political problem, if we do it quietly; we could even take a few months to decide on our approach before announcing it to the Council. Er, assuming you're comfortable with secrecy. I wouldn't intend to keep it secret forever, obviously." 

:I'm comfortable with it, yes. I do want at least the outline of plan before I go through with anything significant, though.:

"Very understandable. I'm not sure I can give you that tonight, but I've been thinking on it, and I can most likely have an outline by tomorrow." Her eyes narrow. "I think Lancir conveyed that I'm not very interested in holding onto the throne for another forty years? It's been a good run, and I'm not ready to quit now or anything, but Darvi's past thirty now, in another ten years he'll be good and ready for it. And I'd love to retire to a nice house in the country, instead of taking this damned job to the grave. I mean that." 

(She does. She's mulling a bit on how she could get the Council on board with it smoothly, but it seems very doable to her.) 

:I understand; that should definitely make it easier. I'm also curious how you expect your country's neighbors to react.:

"Honestly? With confusion. But it's not going to prompt anyone to go to war with us who wasn't hoping for an excuse to anyway." 

:Reasonable enough. I might consider offering it to them, too, once I know more about them; you can mention that if you need to.:

Elspeth nods. "What I'm thinking is, first I discuss this with the rest of the Senior Circle tomorrow, and then we see if it does de-aging at all, and if it does I'll make a private announcement to the Council. And probably send some polite couriers to our allies, so they learn about it that way instead of through the grapevine. Could mention your offer – you could meet our envoys here if you wanted, but they're likely to send more senior diplomatic people if they get a letter like that." 

:Logistically speaking I'd prefer to do as few batches as possible - my magic isn't costly the way yours is, but healing is uncomfortable to get into the right mental state for. But since it won't be obvious, I can heal you at the same time as the others without worrying about the timing of the announcement. As to your allies - I wouldn't describe that as an offer, really. It's not out of the question that I might do it, is all.:

"Noted. We can at least have something to back up that this isn't in any way an aggressive act or threat - I can run any final wording by you, we wouldn't do this until after the Council announcement." 

Deskyl nods. :I'm also fairly sure that you won't take this as an opportunity to threaten anyone, or I wouldn't be offering it. It may be better if I explain that myself, though.:

"...Explain it yourself to the Council? Or our neighbouring countries?" 

:To your neighbors. The Council too, if they need it clarified, but I wasn't under the impression that they did.:

"Hopefully not. They can be a stubborn hidebound group of old men, but they listen to reason. And, yes, your speaking to our envoys makes sense - or, hells, you could visit if you wanted. Travel is fairly safe around here." 

:I might, eventually. Not soon,: she grins, :there's a lot I want to get done right here. Engineering, maybe write a few books.:

Elspeth grins back at her. It makes her look a lot younger. "Good, good." She gets a speculative, almost dreamy look. "You know, if this does pan out, maybe someday I'll have time to read those books. Maybe even try my hand at some engineering myself. Wouldn't that be something." 

(She's not wistful, exactly, about how her life has gone so far. Elspeth is an intensely practical woman, and for the most part, she actually likes the work she does as the ruler of Valdemar. It's not that it's felt like a sacrifice to her, but...there isn't a lot of free time to read or pick up new hobbies just for the sake of it. Until now she hadn't expected she would have a chance to retire while her body and mind were still in any shape to enjoy it.) 

:I'll look forward to seeing it.:

Elspeth nods, and sits back, sipping her drink.

After thirty seconds of silence, when it seems like Elspeth is clearly done, Justen jumps back in with some story about his teaching experience. 

Deskyl checks on Van while he talks, nudging him to go eat if it seems like he hasn't yet, and makes polite small talk through the rest of the dinner.

It's a pleasant and uneventful rest of the dinner. Savil offers to walk her back to the guest-wing at the end.

"...We might've found you some permanent quarters," she suggests. "If you'd like to come have a look tomorrow. I can't remember what the cottage was used for before but it's just storage right now."