Even children knew that if the Yeerks won not being a soldier wouldn't make you any safer.

:War is so awful. That's - it must be generations of your children, who grew up with that. Jisa did too, you know, she doesn't remember the time before the war started. She wanted to be a mage and go fight like her Uncle Van - I suppose you haven't met Vanyel, he's on the Dome ship right now helping with the war effort. Peace effort. Whatever. I hope you meet him at some point, I think you would get along: Melody is kind of rambling at this point, it's hard to fill so long with one-sided conversation. 

Visser Three liked to pretend that if he won he'd just explain to the Andalites that he didn't plan to enslave them all and they'd believe him and that'd be that done with, then. Alloran pointed out, sometimes, that if the Andalites lost they would do the same thing for their own people that they'd done for the Hark Bajir - protect them, at least, from a lifetime of torture, from being used as the instruments of the destruction of yet more people. It was one of their half-arguments that always seemed to run aground on Visser Three being evil.

Melody can't tell, from just this, if Visser Three actually believed that, in which case it's shocking naiveté, or if that's only the way Alloran remembers it, but of course that isn't the point at all. 

:Your people won't have to do that now. Leareth is allied with the Andalites and he wants the war over. I don't know how it's going to end up looking but he won't accept enslaved planets. You've already helped a lot, I think, by telling Matirin about conditions elsewhere, that intelligence is - in no way ever going to be worth what you went through, but it's very valuable to have now. I know you want to help your people. You're very strong, you know. Most people would not be able to endure twenty years of slavery and torture and then, days afterward, be debriefing on it to military commanders so the war can be won:  

Melody is a bit emotional about this fact although her mindvoice is still level. 

<I am an Andalite War-Prince.> He - twitches, just a little bit, not trying to do anything but trying to check whether moving is a thing he can do.

:I saw you move just now: Melody withdraws from his surface thoughts. :I'm going to stop reading you now. If you're up for it, we can start working on getting you up and back to the stable, and you can sleep? I think sleep will help. Normal Mindhealing is already tiring, and having a six-year-old do a lot of it at you by accident is going to be more tiring than that: 

<I can do that.>

Melody gets up, waits for him. She keeps all her movements slow and deliberate and carefully avoids fidgeting even though it's haaaard. 

:You did a very good job of telling Jisa off for using her Empathy on you without asking, by the way: she says conversationally. :When you told her that your head is yours and no one else gets a say about it. Her mother says that seems to be really sticking with her, which is good, she - means well, but she's six and so she does a lot of things impulsively. I suspect she'll think about it a lot harder from now on: 

<I am not sure small children should have mind control powers.> He stands up, shakily.

:It's terrible, honestly. They usually don't, most children get their Gifts at, oh, twelve, thirteen - and most Gifts are less dangerous than Mindhealing. I don't know why hers came in so young. I might ask Leareth if he knows a way to temporarily block it until she's older: 

She stays nearish to him until he seems a bit steadier, and then starts walking very slowly toward the stables. 

Taver joins them on the other side, silent but present and clearly protective. 

<I apologize for the fuss> Alloran says to him stiffly.

:I think you are not the person in this situation who owes any apologies. I apologize that we let this happen. It is my responsibility to look after the herd and you are part of my herd right now: 

<It is reasonable to expect the members of your herd to be able to defend themselves against tiny children.>

:I do not think there is anyone in Haven who could defend themselves against being unexpectedly attacked with mind control powers. Perhaps Melody could: 

:Honestly I don't know that even I could have, it's hard to shield against: 

Alloran keeps walking until he reaches the stables.

Without being asked, a couple of the foals and one of their mothers join him in the big stall. They've noticed he prefers not sleeping alone. 

:Get some rest: Melody says. :It'll help: 

She doesn't say this at all but she's wondering if Jisa's little misadventure will incidentally end up helping him. Obviously it wasn't worth it for just that, and if it does help it'll be later this week and not now, but some of her extravagant piling-on of unformed Mindhealing was clinging too hard to be worth removing, and has maybe left the thin, delicate substrate of his worn tapestry with more material to work with and incorporate. 

Matirin doesn't go near this; Alloran would not want him to see it. He does ask Melody what happened as soon as she leaves.

:The King's six-year-old daughter was out trying to befriend him and - she's already had Empathy for months now, she started projecting at him without asking. When he noticed, he understandably panicked and nearly attacked her, which scared the piss out of her, at which point her Mindhealing must've awoken the rest of the way and she reflexively hit him with a lot of it. Which was easy to fix in itself but, um, understandably given his particular trauma, he was very shaken and needed a while to re-orient. I don't think it'll be too much of a setback in the long run: 

Sigh. :If you're willing to talk to King Randale briefly, I think he's really worried this will cause a huge diplomatic incident with your people. He's very embarrassed: 

<I would be happy to talk with him.>

Randi is available to talk right away and can come out to one of the gardens, since the Andalites don't really fit inside the Palace that easily. 

He drags a hand over his face. "War-Prince Matirin. I am so sorry about my daughter misbehaving. We should have been supervising her." 

<That is often hard to do with young children. She should be aware that it can be dangerous to startle soldiers, though. I am glad she is safe.>

"- Gods, so am I. He could have killed her. She knows that, I think him shouting at her actually sank in a lot more than any of our attempts to discipline her, it just - we should have managed it before now. It's not okay to use her Gifts without asking on anyone, whether or not startling them is dangerous."