:I can use magic items in my possession to temporarily recall a spell, but I can only do that once per day. I cannot get my healing back because no such item exists for it. 

- what about if you give me back the Ring of Feather Fall, I'll give you a different one, and you drop me very high above Valdemar.: Here, have a ring of Evasion instead.

The fact that Iomedae keeps casually handing Leareth her incredibly powerful alien magical artifacts continues to feel boggling. 

:I think I would still prefer to warn Kilchas, it would be detected by the Web, but - that does substantially mitigate the risk that he responds to the Web-alarm by blasting my Gate.: 

And it's less relevant if she's not going to be trekking twenty miles on foot through a snow-carpeted winter forest, but he's going to offer her a mage-talisman necklace that casts a continuous heat-spell, and she can have an extra cloak with a lot of warding on it as well. 

:Possibly I should just give you as many protective talismans as I can think of, they may not entirely be redundant with your own artifacts.: 

:I don't expect they'd be fully redundant though I am not specialized in interpreting the workings of magic.: She's just instilled a habit of caution about touching things when there aren't wizards around, at home.

She puts on the heat-spell necklace and the cloak. 

And he'll examine her existing shielding, trying to gauge what would be the least redundant. 

:I will give you a talisman for the kind of mage-energy attack levinbolts use, I think, that will not be completely redundant. And - hmm. I want to give you a talisman that will make you not a valid target for the standard scrying search-technique used in this region, in case - something I am worried about here is that Valdemar may have already alerted other allies, such as Iftel, who will be more difficult to talk down and who take orders directly from Vkandis - but obviously it will alarm Kilchas if he cannot scry you. Maybe take it with you?: 

Which also means revealing the capability to Valdemar, of course, if they get around to actually examining it. ...Which seems worth it. If this works, then he's going to be trying to ally with Valdemar. And the existence of this kind of talisman isn't actually a bigger secret than a number that he's already shared with Vanyel. 

It's going to take him a couple of minutes to collect those. 

:While I do not think I actually need to read your mind to satisfy myself - it would be likelier you could fake that than the Law, since local magic can do it, and the Law answers a more important question for me - I imagine having read your mind might be somewhat reassuring to Valdemar.:

:- Of course. I understand.: 

He can't be afraid, which...helps a lot, actually, with the instinctive flinch of reluctance. He hands her the talismans - the anti-scrying one in a small warded bag, just in case someone who isn't Valdemaran somehow tries to get a look at it - and he lowers his shields. 

He's smarter than her, even without any magical enhancement; his thoughts move fast, leaping between tightly bundled concepts, though he's deliberately holding up the surface layer as clearly as possible:

He wasn't responsible for the attack in Haven. He's honestly baffled by the attack on Haven. And moderately distressed about it, on Vanyel's behalf. Herald-Mage Savil was one of his closest loved ones, and this isn't the first time a god or gods have torn Vanyel's life apart around him, in the process of trying to aim him at Leareth - (a tangled deeper line of thought, there, colored with genuine regret if not exactly guilt) - and he's angry about it. 

(He's quietly very proud of Vanyel, and - something more complicated than that, which he hasn't unpacked yet - but he wouldn't have been sure what Vanyel would tell a powerful stranger about him, in the immediate aftermath of his aunt's death, and - he doesn't actually know what Vanyel said, but it was enough that Iomedae tried a letter, and was willing to come north.) 

He hasn't finished forming an emotional reaction to k'Treva yet, except that he's very tired. He...hadn't, actually, thought the Star-Eyed Goddess would do that. Those were Her people, sworn to Her in a millennia-old pact, who had spent their entire lives working at great risk to themselves to cleanse the Pelagirs on Her orders. He...suspects it would have required more setup than a few minutes' worth, and that it wasn't just aimed at killing Iomedae, who surely the Star-Eyed could barely see. He doesn't know what the original goal would have been. He's uneasy about it. 

He doesn't expect anything from here to be simple, even with Iomedae's help. It never is. But even if the very worst case scenario - if Aroden can't operate here against the opposition of the local gods, if everything has to built the hard way, from scratch - even then, it's worth trying that way, seeing if just Iomedae's style of magic is enough to offer a different option. He spent a very, very long time looking into every possible option here, and - 

- the limiting factor on a lot of them is that he would need to already be a lot more powerful than he is to use certain power sources. And Iomedae isn't herself a god but she is, clearly, not exactly human - and that's not an urgent line of thought, he's not going to chase it further, but the point is that it's enough. Even if Iomedae were offering much less - even if she didn't want to help him, and needed a lot of convincing - even if he didn't expect it to work - it would be worth it to try. 

He wishes she had come two thousand years ago. He's not thinking in detail about why he wishes that, but there's a deep well of old pain and grief, and more regrets, and - the even more sharply painful hope that maybe it's not completely irretrievable anymore. 

Is there anything else Iomedae would like him to think about where she can see it? 

Of course he's smarter than her, he's an archmage. Their world doesn't seem to have the kind of enhancement hers does, or he'd possess it, but he's clearly found something, over the millenia.

:I expect that's enough for - Valdemar to relax as much as they are going to. If you'd like, I can give us a Telepathic Bond which will endure a few hours, and let us continue speaking while I'm there, though I doubt I'll learn much more, or be permitted to share it.

The only remaining important possibility is that my allies or my enemies will come after me.: 

And she opens her own mind back up and tries to show him, compressed as much as careful thought can compress it, she'll try to send - what that'd mean, what to look for, what her enemies at home might try. She's fighting a powerful necromancer. Aroden Himself destroyed him, and he came back stronger. He'd enslaved a significant fraction of the continent by the time the Shining Crusade began gaining ground. She doesn't think he sent her here - he would have sent her unfathomably far away if he could have, but she doesn't think he ordinarily could have, and if he knew of this place it'd be surprising if he'd ignored it. But he may have checked where she is, if word reached his spies of her absence, and so he'll know of this place, and perhaps possess the means to travel to it. It's hard to bound what a being as powerful as him can do.

(There's strong instinctive dislike, coming through in this. Iomedae's experience of undying archmages is entirely of beings who, in the course of scooping out their soul to hide away somewhere, changed who and what they were to be rigid and selfish and evil. She knows there's something better - Aroden did it - but the people who did it wrong are trying to kill her constantly and convert the whole world to her slaves. It is a concept against which she has an instinctive prejudice she's deliberately ignoring because it wouldn't help and isn't going to turn out to be correct on inspection. It's not featuring in any of her decisions.)

He probably won't do anything obvious, if he shows up, but if it's in Leareth's power to be on the lookout for it - or to set people to scrying a list of possible lieutenants of his - she'd appreciate it. Anyone who scries Tar-Baphon himself will probably die of it, but she thinks he's very unlikely to come himself.

It's definitely within Leareth's power to do that. His organization has hundreds of mages, some of the most skilled in the world, and a lot of resources. The war in Valdemar had to be incredibly overdetermined. He's - not happy, obviously, about this potential threat, but there's still a quiet note of background relief, he would much rather use those carefully-accumulated resources of centuries to protect Velgarth from the dangers of another world than to conquer Herald-Mage Vanyel's kingdom. 

(He's thinking quietly, in the back of his mind, that he doesn't follow why the magic involved in immortality would involve making someone selfish, though the rigidity makes more sense to him. Need's version of immortality includes that, and it's something he was concerned about for any option involving storing his own soul in an artifact. ...He's not going to think in detail about what his method actually involves, where she can see it. She wouldn't like it. He doesn't like it either. But - an echo of memory, stars and a tower and a vow he made to never give up never walk away until the work was finished - and centuries of careful, meticulous recordkeeping, relearning everything each life, checking his reasoning against earlier documentation, keeping himself intact - he's really quite sure it hasn't changed what matters to him.) 

What will her allies do, if they come looking for her? Will they identify themselves, or do they have characteristics he can keep a lookout for, to know who it's safe to contact? 

They are also dangerous to scry and will probably not act openly, unfortunately. They will be living rather than dead.  She - thinks they'd have arrived by now, if they had a way to come at all. They will back down on learning she's in talks with him, and he could consider going around with a note in Taldane he can show her people, as proof they're in contact. She'll write a quick one. 

Leareth is a Lawful Evil archmage engaged in trying to bring a god with human values to this world, which has none. We are in talks, and I ask that you regard him as a prospective ally.

That seems reasonable. He's grateful for it. 

...He would feel better about this if they had a Telepathic Bond for it. Less because he expects Iomedae to learn anything critically time-sensitive in talks with Valdemar, and more in case of unknown unknowns. 

Then she'll concentrate briefly and - pull out, as if it were folded away somewhere, an enormously complicated and powerful spell and extend it to Leareth as if to slip it around his shoulders.

It's beautiful to watch. ...And would be fairly nerve-wracking, if not for the anti-fear effect, but as it is he's just observing quietly that under normal circumstances, letting someone he just met cast powerful magic on him would be an unacceptable risk, and his habits don't like it, even though in this particular case he is really quite sure that his habits are out of date and it's worth it. 

She's still letting him mindread her, in case that's helpful. Her intent is uncomplicatedly to deescalate the immediate emergency and then work with him on evaluating whether he wants Aroden here and relatedly ask him for help getting back to her own war.

It's helpful. He does want her to know that it's not necessary, he already has enough to go on for his decision to trust her - so much more than he could reasonably have asked for, or at least that's how it feels right now - but the habit of paranoia goes deep. 

He has a lot of resources that he might be able to offer for her war, once he knows more about it, and of course once they have the ability to travel between the worlds at all. 

- and that's a decision to be made later, he thinks. For now, he wants to get her back to Valdemar. - and warn Kilchas a couple of seconds before the midair Gate, but he can do that from here if he uses the communication spell mage-technique rather than Mindspeech, it's less secure and easier to spoof but he's not going to be saying very much and Iomedae can verify everything as soon as she reaches him. 

Is Iomedae ready to go? 

Yes. (Looking forward to it, no. She has so many questions for this man, and so much she wants to tell him. But - ready, yes.)

He's reluctant as well, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to hesitate. 

:- You should try very hard to avoid visiting Haven in person: he tells her, after a moment. :And - I would appreciate it if you can convince the Heralds, especially Vanyel, to evacuate it. I doubt the Star-Eyed will destabilize the Heartstone there if it will not even harm either of us and can be quickly verified to be - not my doing - but nonetheless.

- and, one moment.: 

Scry for Waymeet, find Kilchas - he's not incredibly hard to find, he's still where the Gate dropped him and Iomedae - and target the communication spell. <This is Leareth, returning Iomedae. This is time-sensitive and so I am Gating her to above you. I swear I intend nothing else.> 

He'll wait about three seconds and then raise a Gate on the doorway of the conference room, and an unscaffolded midair doorway-sized vertical Gate on the other end, so Iomedae can step through rather than being rudely dropped. 

UM. 

...Kilchas is not going to run outside because that won't help with anything and might expose him to an attack. He's so confused. He'll...wait, very tensely. 

Iomedae immediately steps through. She like Leareth has no habit of doing things hesitantly because she doesn't particularly want to do them.

:This is Iomedae. I'm fine, and you may verify that if you possess the means. I apologize for startling you.:

Aaaaaaah! This is - probably technically better news than an immediate Final Strike through that Gate - but Kilchas is so confused and concerned. 

:Are you hurt? Did he do anything to you? What caused the earthquake?: He would like to ask all of that under Truth Spell but Iomedae isn't in range for it yet. 

She is hurrying over. :I am not hurt. Leareth believes the earthquake was caused by the gods. It injured him pretty seriously. He Gated me briefly to one of his facilities and gave me a lot of protective magic items and let me read his mind while he repeated the claims he wasn't responsible for K'Treva Vale's destruction or Savil's death. And he warned me there is a Heartstone in Haven and it could be destroyed like the one in K'Treva Vale, especially if the gods thought they could kill me that way, though hopefully by now they don't think that.:

UM. 

:He - what - he's claiming the gods caused the explosion in k'Treva? But - that's - they're the Star-Eyed's people -: 

:He thought -

He...hadn't, actually, thought the Star-Eyed Goddess would do that. Those were Her people, sworn to Her in a millennia-old pact, who had spent their entire lives working at great risk to themselves to cleanse the Pelagirs on Her orders. He...suspects it would have required more setup than a few minutes' worth, and that it wasn't just aimed at killing Iomedae, who surely the Star-Eyed could barely see. He doesn't know what the original goal would have been. He's uneasy about it. 

I believe him that it wasn't him. If he wanted to destroy me, he's now had the opportunity.:

:We'll that's horrifying.: And it seems absurd, but...he doesn't, actually, think that Iomedae is lying, even without a Truth Spell to confirm. It's hard to lie in Mindspeech, and - it never made that much sense as an explanation, that Leareth had somehow blown up k'Treva on five minutes' notice to kill a woman he knew nothing about. Surely he would have kidnapped her, if he were hostile, just as a way to learn more... And it's not like there's anyone else he can think of who could have done it, which leaves only the dark looming absurdity that he can feel Rohan flinching away from in the back of his mind. 

:Gods. - Is Leareth all right, you said he was injured?: 

:I used the same healing magic on him that I used on you. He's fine now, though I am alert to the possibility I'm being induced to spend that resource down. I cannot get it back, here.

I don't think Leareth wants a war. He said my world changes everything, which it does, and that he'd stop his current plans just to see if it gives him alternatives, even if I weren't offering one directly in the form of Aroden being the kind of god he may want. So my current priority is to make sure Valdemar isn't forced into starting a war, and to investigate the safety of Haven while going nowhere near Haven. I also asked him to look out for my enemies, in case they followed me here.:

It's probably not the most important question to be asking right now - and it's a big question, and maybe an impossible one to answer - but Kilchas is already trying to keep track of enough urgent items that he needs to check once he's in range for a Truth Spell. 

He hadn't expected Leareth to let Iomedae read his mind. He wishes he could read Leareth's mind. Whether or not Vanyel is going to have to end up trying to kill the man, it seems like there's got to be a lot in there. 

:I don't understand Leareth: he sends. :How - how someone could want the things he claims to want, and - still have done all the things he's done. I mean, he made a cursed artifact that summoned hundreds of abyssal demons to go after all of a target's relatives, once. I don't - does he make any more sense to you?: