Solekaran follows the glance. "Mm?"

Keep calm. No weakness. Mourn only when all threats have passed.

The dead don't care about our tears.

"I had a family, yesterday. Today I am alone."

"Is this 'cause your family was upset about you killing half the people in the universe, or do you need somebody resurrected, or what?"

"You have that power? To resurrect the departed, even across gulfs of time and space as vast as this?"

Since watching the sunrise on that shoreline, Thanos has felt barely a glimmer of tangible desire for anything much at all. He'd made the sacrifices he'd needed to, he'd accomplished his all-important quest, and from that point onward he didn't care overmuch about whether he lived or faded away.

But now, suddenly, something has tugged him to the surface from that mire of indifference.

"If you returned my family to me, I would be indebted to you." Thanos says these words with the solemnity of a being who has rarely been indebted to anything before.

"I normally don't, because they take half a day apiece and people'd go crazy over it if they knew I can do it at all, but you're not from around here and I don't see why I shouldn't. Might have to wait a while, though, because what with all the emergencies I bet I'd get interrupted in the middle if I tried to do it now. Unless you've got magic that'd let me do it faster, I guess."

Gears turn in Thanos' head. Sixty hours. Increased by interruptions.

Maybe with the right application of the time gem? Maybe with...

No.

He shouldn't take any chances with this if he doesn't have to. It took him decades of study to devise a means of safely using the six infinity gems to amplify each other... attempting to amplify a seventh cosmic power, one that he has virtually zero understanding of, could have disastrous consequences.

"I appreciate your trust, and your generosity. It sounds as though this is an undertaking that should not be rushed, and I understand if you prioritize restoring balance to your planet over reuniting me with my family. I know I'd see things the same way, if I stood in your shoes."

Thanos takes a deep breath, burying his emotion and renewing his outward projection of calm.

"So? How would best I go about minimizing the sort of emergencies that could otherwise interrupt you?

"Depends what you can do, I suppose. When someone wants my attention it's generally because of a problem only I can solve - half a city fell into the sea, somebody crashed a ship into the docks of my flying city and now everything's on fire and nobody can land or take off, that sort of thing."

Thanos gives a brief accounting of the options at his disposal:

"Nearly inexhaustible strength, and a good sense of how to intelligently leverage it. Can even apply it at a distance to a limited degree."

"Portals. Probably as good as yours. Also a limited resource."

"Temporary matter transmutation, have to concentrate--can't create anything permanent."

"Can repair most anything, though it gets harder to do the longer something's been damaged."

"Oh and, obviously, able to kill large numbers of people with no collateral damage."

"Heh. Yeah, you can probably help a lot. I'll introduce you to what's left of my government." He opens a portal.

Ayup. Gonna step through that portal.

The imperial palace is very, very pretty, and everyone there is very busy but not too busy to glance fearfully at their Emperor when he appears without warning. Of Thanos, they seem less intimidated and more just confused.

The Emperor looks around the sparsely staffed office, spots the person he's looking for, and beckons slightly. A thin and harried-looking man hurries over.

"This is Thanos," says Solekaran. "He's helping clean up the mess. He's good at moving things around and fixing them, and he can apparently do portals but I think less casually than I can. Got anywhere he can make himself useful?"

"Ah—yes," says the government official, blinking. "I can definitely integrate that skillset into the relief efforts."

"Great. I'll be bouncing around trying not to terrify too many people while I fix things," says Solekaran. "You can get my attention if you need me for something. Do we have enough airships yet?"

"We - could use a few more."

"I'll start there, then." He makes another portal, nods acknowledgingly to Thanos, and steps through.

With the emperor gone, and with skittish underlings surrounding him, Thanos does the most natural thing possible.

"I'll need a list of priority jobs, coordinates for those jobs, and a detailed set of maps." He motions for the thin, harried human to walk with him as he assesses the busy scene. "I'll also need a team, preferably four or fewer members, with relevant expertise regarding local technology, local customs, local architecture and local logistics." He stops for a moment, gazes up at a light fixture on the wall powered by the same sort of glowing rock as the one he saw back at the fishing village, and scratches his chin. "And get me an expert on 'magic' too."

It feels good to have a goal again.

"Where did he find you?" the government official wonders rhetorically; then he shakes his head and sets about efficiently acquiring the requested resources.

No one reacts to Thanos with the fear they displayed toward Solekaran. Some people are nervous, most people are confused, several people are both, but no one is frightened. The harried man - who seems to be more or less in charge of the place - assembles a team of three people: a young, round-faced architecture student named Isvey, an organizer/liaison named Kiell, and a teenage girl named Acata who seems to be distraught but coping and introduces herself as an 'artificer'.

Good. They should not be frightened. Everything will be alright in the end.

"Stick together, stay sharp, and be ready to leave immediately after we clear each disaster zone." Thanos closes his fist, and a billowing blue portal opens up in the air behind him. "We have a lot of ground to cover, and no time to waste on miscommunication or poor coordination."

He motions for Isvey to take the lead, passes the maps to Kiell, and then stoops down to offer Acata his hand.

"Don't fret, little one." He gives her a reassuring smile. "You're stronger than you know. You're going to do a great job today."

Acata sniffles, straightens up slightly, and returns him a firm nod. The other two approach the portal.

Thanos leads her to the portal, stepping through it right on the heels of the liaison and the architect.

The spatial rift dissipates like so much smoke once Acata passes through. Thanos raises a hand to his brow, screening out the glare of the morning sun, and surveys his team's first target.

Lots of disaster relief superheroics ensue, across a series of exciting and exotic locales.

Fun isn't something one considers when patching up a world after a mass extinction event. But this work... does put a smile on Thanos' face.

All three of his new assistants are very good at their jobs. Isvey consults on architecture, Kiell tracks their task list and interfaces with local rescue efforts, and Acata repairs broken artifacts and distributes small conveniences - lamps, water purifiers, a levitating wheelbarrow for traversing rough ground with heavy loads.

The flood of emergencies is beginning to slow by the time the sun starts to set on the capital, about twelve hours later. There are still a lot of things going wrong, but fewer of them require the kind of intervention that Thanos and his team can offer.

Not coincidentally, that's also around the time when Solekaran comes back.

"Nice work," he says to all four of them; and to Acata, "Aren't you that clerk's kid—?"

She shivers unhappily, and nods. "I—was."

"Ah, sorry," he says, with a sympathetic wince. For a moment he seems to struggle with words; then he says, "I'm really gonna miss her attitude. We need more people around here with that kind of backbone. Never be afraid to call me an idiot, all right?"

This draws a wavering smile out of her. "I won't be, I promise."

Thanos doesn't wince--wincing isn't really his style--but he does shift a little closer to Acata and put a protective hand on her shoulder.

When the girl's stopped shivering, the titan turns his gaze to the emperor.

"I think we've got time to take a break," he says, and opens a titan-sized portal back to that peaceful hilltop.

Before taking Solekaran up on his offer, Thanos takes a second to appraise their present location and make sure that the three humans in his care have a clear path back to the safety of the palace.

Once satisfied in that regard, he gives Acata's shoulder one last squeeze and then strides through the portal.

Solekaran follows.

As soon as it's closed: "Who do you want resurrected first?"

There are so many ways Thanos could elect to order the rebirth of his children. He could prioritize immediate utility, and resurrect the Obsidian Maw? He could prioritize durability, and reconstitute Cull Obsidian? He could go for subtlety, and call Corvus Glaive back into service?

"They all died as heroes." Thanos conjures up reality gem figments of his departed family. "They gave up their lives, to restore balance to an ailing universe."

There are so many logical ways for Thanos to order his children... ...but instead he listens to his heart.

Four of the figments flicker out, leaving only a single lithe silhouette floating beside the titan.

"Gamora. I choose Gamora."

"All right."

He studies the image for a few seconds, thoughtfully, and looks from it to Thanos (and at the ruined gauntlet, just for a moment). Then he nods.

"I'll be back here around dawn," he says. "Anything else you think you'll need before then?"

Thanos notices the emperor eyeing the sundered artifact that encases his left forearm.

"I would like to have it repaired, yes."