<You know, I'm not sure where it comes from, it's just an expression for some reason.>

Huh. Emril figures Velgarth has expressions like that too, maybe it's just a thing about languages. 

The Visser is good about promises, huh. Does Enstat have examples of that? (Not that she can trust those either, but it'll be informative whether Enstat can list some on the spot.) 

He never shoots the messenger - apparently some Vissers are much worse about that, Enstat has heard from her older friends - and if he says achieving some objective will be rewarded it will, and he has the whole fake-your-death-and-go-into-a-Yeerk-run-hospital setup for hosts that their Yeerks are attached to even if there's no particular reason to be optimistic that the host will ever be usable again.

Huh. Sounds a bit like Leareth's leadership style - he's very ruthless in battle conditions and in terms of what plans he's willing to use, but in peacetime during the lead-up to the invasion, he was a great boss to have. Really good benefits. He's willing to employ really dubious people as external contractors, sometimes - or whatever Highjorune was, she doesn't know the full story there but she heard it involved demons being summoned - but the important people in his organization are really well vetted and they're mostly great to work with. Everything's well organized, too, it's so much better than the original Healers' house she joined in Rethwellan where the senior Healer used to disappear for two candlemarks on lunch break and come back tipsy. 

It sounds really nice, Enstat agrees.

They're here.

"I need to know if she's compulsioned to kill herself if I come out," Enstat tells Visser Three. "She isn't sure."

Oh, hey, that's - Emril, right. Well, Emril as a passenger to the Yeerk in her head, presumably, and Leareth is also a passenger and can't do anything to acknowledge her. 

All his people were compulsioned to kill themselves if a Yeerk was being stuffed into their ear or if they thought this was about to happen. Leareth - suspects the compulsion shouldn't actually apply the other way around? If she thinks the Yeerk is about to re-enter her head it'll probably kick in. Or if she thinks they're about to knock her out in order to do that. Possibly just if she gets spooked in general, it's expectations-based, but he's pretty sure if the Yeerk is getting further away from her rather than closer then she'll be fine. 

Visser 3 passes this on. 

Can Enstat promise not to go back into her head? And then be verifiably thinking that promise when Emril has her Gifts back? Emril thinks that'd be enough, but presumably Enstat needs to be in someone's head again soon or she'll have a bad time. 

<I can do that. I can make do in water for a while.> "I need a bowl of water - or a Pool or something, I don't know how long water alone will cut it - or a spare host. So I can promise not to go back to Emril and she can read my mind about it."

Leareth thinks that plus no sudden moves should do it. Probably. (He's so proud of Emril right now, she's - trying so hard to reason about what to do, she must be terrified...) 

<We can promise that> To the others in the room: <Do we have any spare hosts for Enstat on site> 

They haven't actually Yeerked all the captured Andalites yet, there weren't that many Yeerks around and then suddenly major operation, she could have one of those?

Leareth is thinking that if any of the Andalites they got out are high up in the command structure - or related to Matirin, like, what's his name, Talik - it might be really valuable to keep them un-Yeerked. Offer to return them unharmed. Good faith effort. 

<Do you have Talik alive? I would like to keep him not infested for now, assuming you have a way of securing him in the interim> 

"We, uh, can't tell Andalites apart. If you can and want to pick them out for us we could show you pictures. We're keeping them unconscious."

<I can tell Andalites apart. Please do that. Enstat can have one of the others if she wishes although if - this goes the way Leareth is hoping it might - it could be a temporary situation. I apologize for that, Enstat> 

"I want the Healers to cure Aileen so I can have her back if this goes well."

<Emril thinks it is possible they can do that?>

"Yeah, especially if there's Andalite medical tech floating around."

Obviously he should do that if they can? Leareth isn't sure how to reason about how likely it is, that they'll have circumstances where they can pull it off, but.

<If Emril wishes to help then yes, I can commit to trying it. I do not wish to commit to keeping any Healers as Controllers, right now, when there are so many unknowns about our negotiating position with Leareth's people or the Andalites> 

Of course she'll help. If they pull this off, if this works - also she's a Healer, what else is she going to do. And she hates cancer's face. 

"She says she will. Where's an Andalite I can borrow?"

They can take her to the Andalites and get the Visser pictures so he can approve or reject captured Andalites as hosts. They got eight and have only hosted four so far.

Enstat slips into a fifth, settling in only shallowly in case they're ever in a position to verify she did that.