"I see. No, uh, a lot of the Yeerks who wanted to go look for hosts argued that they had the right to any host that they could bring under their control, and that scared Seerow, and he tried to talk them out of it but they were going ahead with it anyway and - then he started shooting, apparently, though I didn't learn that's what Yeerks think happened until recently, since he died we didn't know what happened and our understanding has been that the Yeerks killed him in order to steal the ships. 

It is true that no Andalites want to be Yeerk hosts, though we were not under the impression Yeerks cared about this at all. It makes sense that they would prefer a cooperative person to one who is constantly trying to die but - our understanding was that Visser Three was so prestigious among Yeerks precisely because he was holding onto an Andalite, because that was the most preferred way for a Yeerk to live, the thing they wanted to all have someday."

"...I think Taxxons are hungry and Hork-Bajir are kind of dumb but they like us fine? But you guys can shapeshift and that's very cool."

"It is pretty useful. 

The magic humans from Velgarth have magic brain-changing powers. Would you mind if I asked them whether they know anything about the - spending a week not doing things that would take fifteen minutes...problem? And ways to fix it other than Yeerks?"

"I guess that sounds useful to know."

"All right. Thank you for talking with us. I hope your recovery goes smoothly." He stands up. Being a human has gotten more tolerable since they learned that humans spend lots of their time sitting on four-legged chairs since they agree that being on two legs all the time is terrible, but it has also started to feel sillier, all the lengths they go to to have enough legs.

"Anytime."

He goes looking for Melody.

Melody is hiding in a supply-room (they're out of conference rooms for sleeping in, most of the humans are in a sleepover pile in the field and it's even squishier after Leareth's people agreed to vacate an entire room so he could have it to himself.) She's awake, though, and findable with thoughtspeak; she's catching up on notes about her patients, which are in her totally-illegible personal cipher. :Yes?: 

He repeats Aileen's explanation of the problem humans have that Yeerks are useful for. <Have you ever heard of that? Is there a Mindhealing treatment?>

:Oh. Yes, I know of that. It's very common to have it to a mild extent - procrastinating on solving problems that have a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity in favour of doing more more urgent but less important work, or delaying dealing with an interpersonal conversation that needs to happen but is stressful to approach, happens to most humans occasionally, I don't know if Andalites get that. And then there's a spectrum of severity, some people it really affects their ability to live a normal life, and - obviously someone having other problems going on, like being very traumatized, can induce it. It's possible to mitigate it with Mindhealing, depending on the cause, both by strengthening the pathway for 'deciding to start something hard' and by helping people untangle why a particular task feels so unpleasant. But it takes a lot of skill and has to be well-tailored to the specific patient, it can take months of work to get significant improvement, honestly this is a gnarlier issue to address than most. Why?: 

<The cancer patient said that she wanted her Yeerk back because her Yeerk helped with it and I was wondering if it was otherwise addressable. I'm also worried that having a Yeerk in for years will make it worse and then we'll have a population of people who can't function well without Yeerks - she didn't agree to the Yeerk in the first place, just relented eventually ->

:Huh. That makes sense. I share the worry: she is thinking very strongly of Alloran's mind, :but - I could see it going either way, honestly? Depending on how collaborative a process it was. For example, there's a way people can get into a rut where they've never, ever succeeded at something, and so it's hard to even try it, they just shut down. What I would do is sit down with someone and walk them through the entirety of it, step by step, which is a crutch in a way, but the kind of crutch someone healing from a broken leg uses so they can learn to walk again without it, it's - resetting expectations, making that new habit. Honestly, this is something Companions do for Heralds and I think it works really well - though, of course, Heralds also get used to having them to lean on and struggle a lot if they lose it. And it matters that it's a partnership, that Companions are there as a resource to help Heralds be stronger, not - wearing them like a skin to accomplish their own goals: 

There's a flicker of smouldering anger in her mindvoice, quickly suppressed. Melody is trying hard to be professional about this but she wishes she could throw Mhalir into the sun right now. 

<Yep.> He's angry too and less inclined to try to hide it. <I was considering saying that Yeerks can only go back with the compulsion we tested that means the host is in control unless they choose to cede it. So if they want a Yeerk as a crutch, they can have it, and - maybe we can do some trainings on how to not lean on it too much. I don't know.>

:That makes sense. I'd almost want to give the training to the Yeerks, not the humans? That's closer to the way Companions do it, they have a whole culture and set of expectations around where to step in and help versus let their Heralds succeed on their own. ...Hmm, now I'm wondering if the Yeerks could get that by sending someone to spend a bit of time in a Companion's head and absorb the way they do things, and then they could train the others: 

<Huh. That seems maybe promising, if the Companions would be all right with it. I guess with a compulsion in place it's just - knowledge transfer, there's less of the thing that makes it so awful...>

:It's really impressive for that! I was thinking, if Andalites do figure out morphing Gifts, it's the best way to get the procedural knowledge to use them. I'd be very up to volunteer for that except for the part where they would then know everything I do about all of my patients, which is awkward, but for mages and such it's fine. Gods, imagine, all of them could be as good as Leareth at Gates, it'd be so useful...: 

<I am not sure Leareth would be delighted to let us do that. But - yes. One of the things I'm thinking about is how to - start undoing the horror my people feel about everything to do with Yeerks. But it's going to be hard, because - well, we might have been wrong about the initial fight with Seerow but we're not wrong about - everything that has happened since then.>

:No. You really aren't: Melody stares ahead, woodenly. :You know, I'm angry with Seerow too, though it's probably unfair. Because - if it'd been handled differently at the start, maybe the Yeerk faction who wanted voluntary hosts could've just gotten backing then, and there wouldn't have been so much trust burned on both sides. There's so, so much damage to be fixed before things can be okay, and, just... Wish it hadn't gone that way, I guess: 

<Yeah. I - we can't ask what he was thinking, because he's dead, but I am sure he never wanted this.> Sigh. <Velgarth magic can't bring back the dead, right?>

:What?: For an instant her face clenches, a flicker of pain-anger-bitterness-regret in her mindvoice. :No. Or, well, Leareth thought maybe he could, someday - same way he comes back, and how the Companions are supposedly reincarnated Heralds or something. But, I don't think that'd work here: 

<I figured. Well. Thank you. I'll - think some more about this.>

Is Leareth awake?

Yes, though he's annoyed about it, he went to bed really early and then had a nightmare about everyone on Earth dying and now he can't get back to sleep. 

<If you're up for it, I was hoping you could read the latest communications from the Yeerk who is inexplicably like you and tell me what he is probably thinking.>

Oh, good, something productive to do. :Yes, of course: He shows Matirin a quick mental flash of which conference room he's in. 

Matirin heads over and shows him their communications. "I am not delighted about the idea of sending you to him as an envoy in the next couple days. You're still injured from when he gassed you, and - there's still a lot of ways for this to fall apart."