"...It seems so, yes. I would - perhaps apologize, for being someone the gods have a grievance with, but in fact I think you would have attracted Their attention as soon as you accidentally learned a name, and - most people who are not me lack the resources to fend off an attack even as well as we did." Sigh. 

"It could have gotten unpleasant," she agrees. "Though I guess it might have been lower-casualty, strictly speaking."

"If they had - not killed you, but destroyed your body, I suppose - what would actually have happened?" 

"I don't know, Thorn didn't keep going after I lost consciousness."

Leareth grimaces slightly, which is just about the most expressive he's ever been in her presence. He seems to be thinking about whether to say something, looking past her...

"- Sunspring thinks she can make people forget names," is what comes out. 

"I think fairies remember names differently. Even fairies?"

"She would have to test it to know for sure. But - she can see fairy minds, her Gift should work on them. She thought she could remove the bindings Thorn put on you, it would just have taken much much longer and been somewhat risky." 

"Risky how?"

"It showed up to her like set-commands - that is what she did to you when she was compulsioned by the Ifteli army. She knows how to safely remove set-commands on humans done by a Mindhealer, but someone with her Gift and lacking training could accidentally cause damage if trying to do so. Mindhealing is very powerful and general-purpose," his lips twitch slightly, "people consider it as a Gift for healing emotional rather than physical wounds, and it is that, but it can also be an offensive combat Gift, just as ordinary Healing can. Sunspring is well trained and careful, but since fairy commands are presumably not exactly like set-commands, she would have been improvising."

He shrugs slightly. "Disrupting memories does involve damaging a person's mind. That is almost the point, it is very precise and controlled damage of just one specific thing. For that reason, though, she would not have any qualms about doing it to Thorn but would be reluctant to test it on you." 

"There goes my idea, then."

"It is possible she can test it safely with enough study time in advance, but - I do not especially want to gamble that and risk harming you in some hard-to-repair way. My tentative idea had been to attempt to kidnap someone from Thorn's court - ideally someone much less powerful than him, but who is as unpleasant as him, such that removing all their memories of names will - improve your world overall. We can station a Farseer concealed a hundred miles away to spy undetectably on the court, that part is fairly safe. The second part would of course alert Thorn that something is happening, which I understand you wish to avoid right now." 

Nod nod.

Sigh. "Well, we can set it aside for now, and perhaps figure something out. But - I do not wish to allow Thorn to continue having power in Fairyland. It is a state of affairs I disprefer." He says it neutrally, but his eyes hold a flash of anger. 

Nod. "If he didn't have my name I could turn him into a sparrow."

Leareth nods, faintly approving. "Would he then be stuck that way?" 

"It'd wear off eventually."

Nod. "Anyway, we can start with finding a library in Valley Continent, and figure out the rest in time." 

"I can start looking now. Get more seeds while I'm there."

"That makes sense." Leareth is around for help if she needs it, and can, as before, stop by the fairy gate every so often to check on her with Mindspeech. 

:Fine:

:Still fine:

:You could probably deliver orders this way, maybe have Sunspring occasionally rescind all mine as a safety:

:Found a breeder court:

Sunspring can be found and sent to rescind all of Promise's orders via Mindspeech every half-candlemark or so. 

:Thanks!:

:Got directions to a library. It's hours away, I might come back and head straight there when I've slept:

:Sounds good: 

She comes back.

Leareth is working, but he emerges briefly to congratulate her on finding the library.