That is an absolute shitton of trauma, is what that is. :Breathe - count - recite something: she prompts, distantly, and looks a little deeper, trying not to trigger memories of the curly-haired person directly but get the weightiest memories relating to them.

– he's tied up in a barn, gagged, helpless, dizzy and sick from the pain in his head, and Krebain is standing over him, a knife in his hand - he's never been so afraid, he's wishing he could just die rather than have Krebain take him and keep hurting him - and then he feels him, he's coming, it's going to be all right –

Vanyel gasps, he's been valiantly trying to go through the first chapter of Seldasen's treatise on tactics but it's way too complicated to keep hold of when all of that keeps flashing through the back of his mind, so he tries to hum Windrider Unchained, at least that forces him to keep his breathing sort of under control. 

She backs off, ups the calming effect again - she'd worry about his ability to warn her off, at this strength, but that doesn't matter now - and pulls him onto her lap and into a hug. :It's okay, you're here, you're safe. You're here.:

Vanyel leans his head on her shoulder, he can't seem to stop shaking but the calming gives him an underwater sort of feeling, like all of that is happening a long way away at the surface. :Sorry. I - should've warned you: 

:It's fine. I've seen worse. Not much worse - that's well into torture territory - but it's hard to shock a Sith.:

:Do you, um, know many people who've been tortured?: Vanyel doesn't have any idea how to tell Deskyl that Krebain wasn't even the bad part. He's pretty sure he would be fine by now if it had stopped there – all right, maybe not fine, but not a disaster anyway. It was everything else afterward. 

:More than I'd like.: She pets him. :One of my master's other apprentices studied it.:

:...Um. Sorry?: Vanyel would probably be more alarmed about it if he weren't currently inundated under a wave of calm-calm-calm that makes it feel like he's floating. 

She shrugs. :I'm glad I know what you're working with here.:

:Um. That was kind of. The least bad thing that happened: Now that he's calming down a little on his own, the additional calming effect is enough that Vanyel is feeling kind of drowsy. Not in an unpleasant way, though. He's never this relaxed usually. If anyone who wasn't Deskyl tried to make him this relaxed, it would probably bother him, he's not sure why it doesn't now. 

:I kind of figured. I'll find some other way to find out the rest, if it seems like a good idea to.: His nervous system's still out of whack; if she eases up much on the calm he's just going to panic again. :You can sleep if you want, I'll stay.:

:If you're...sure you...don't mind...: He should probably try to make it to his bed but it feels very far away right now, and he's warm and comfortable and really, really exhausted, and if Deskyl doesn't do anything to interrupt then he'll have dozed off within a minute. 

She keeps petting him, and once he's asleep, reaches out to look for Savil.

Savil is in her own suite, practically next door. :Deskyl?:

:Hey. Could you have someone let my droid know I'm with your nephew and she should meet me here when she's done at the library? And he's probably going to be out of commission for the rest of the day.:

:Of course – what happened? Is he hurt? I can come...: Internally, Savil is frantically thinking through what else she can drop or reschedule, she's already behind due to covering Van's lessons in the morning and Jaysen is meeting her in a candlemark and - gods, what is Van supposed to be doing this afternoon, probably something important and if it's mage-work she's the only one who can step in–

:He's fine. He's asleep and should stay there for a while. Panic attack.:

:Oh, dear. Are you sure you're all right with him?: Savil is also very confused about what, exactly, just happened, but she can find out later. :Should I let Lancir know?: 

:I'm fine. I have him under a calming effect, I don't have a lot of range on it but it's not draining. I'm going to want to talk to Lancir sometime but it's not worth interrupting him for - you can tell him I've decided to stay, though.:

:All right. Well, thank you, and call me if you do need anything. I'll make sure DZ gets the message: 

:Thanks.:

She brings Van to bed, settling him comfortably under the covers, eats, and brings the more comfortable chair to the bedroom to doze in herself until she senses people starting to head to the dining hall for dinner.

This is possibly the longest and deepest block of sleep Vanyel has had in a while. By dinnertime, all the physical traces of panic in his body have faded.

It's kind of a shame to wake him but he does need to eat. She eases the calm effect down to 'noticeable but not intrusive' and squeezes his hand.

"Mmm?" Vanyel opens his eyes, and blinks at the ceiling for a moment, mildly disoriented until he focuses on Deskyl. "Oh – gods, I'm sorry, have you been here all afternoon?"

:It wasn't any trouble, and you needed the sleep. Dinnertime now, though, you should eat.: