Where's Mhalir.

Marian goes digging frantically in her pharmacology reference book. 

Mhalir and his host are asleep in their conference room, it's pretty late. 

He opens the door. <Mhalir, wake up, I need your help.>

Mhalir is not someone who will sleep through someone thoughtspeaking him, and he's awake in under a second, though Amanda's body takes longer to let him sit up. "What." 

<Leareth is dying. They are trying to get him conscious so he can morph it off but he's - disoriented, and really confused, and he's not going to be able to concentrate very well, and he's never morphed before ->

"Shit on a stick–" Apparently that's the first swearword phrase easily available in Amanda's brain? He scrambles up. "You want me to...?" 

<Can you morph for him.>

"Yes, of course. Someone can - do a compulsion, if you want, so I cannot use his Gifts..." He doesn't know how long that takes though. 

<I'm going to ask Nayoki, yes.> He's already heading back over to the medical bay.

Visser 3 follows him, on Amanda's legs he has to trot to keep up. 

Someone is Mindspeaking him but his head hurts and he feels like he's suffocated and nothing is working. 

:?: Leareth manages, not Mindspeech so much as a vague projected flailing at everyone nearby. 

<Nayoki can you compulsion Mhalir to not run off with Leareth, he's going to go in and morph for him.>

:Yes: She starts doing it. She's so worried. 

Mhalir's thoughts, when she reads them, contain no intentions at all to run off with Leareth, just worry and fear for Leareth, and surprise and confusion - and gratitude - that Matirin is breaking the Andalite laws for him. 

If they didn't need to catch up with the Pool ship it'd have been - a hard call, at least. Right now it isn't. They need Leareth.

And he's so tired of people dying when they could've been saved.

He paces.

<Today has been so unreasonable but you are doing really well> Mhalir says to Amanda, encouragingly. <Can you bring me to his ear please.> He starts vacating her head.

A stimulant has been administered and Leareth is now more awake, although not really any less disoriented. He’s mostly panicking about the fact that he can’t breathe and also can’t move.

Amanda can catch Mhalir and bring him over to where Leareth looks terrible surrounded by alien medical machines and panicking nurses and Healers.

He slips in. 

<Leareth, you are going to be all right.> He takes over Leareth’s body fully, mostly to stop him from panicking. The Gifts are, as promised, out of reach, so he can’t Mindspeak anyone to confirm what he’s doing.

He tries acquiring the human nurse who’s currently attempting to hold Leareth’s head still so she can clear all the blood from his airway. 

Aaaaaaaaaaah what’s happening he can move even less now.

It’s more of a struggle than usual, in a brain which is really not in great shape, but Mhalir is very experienced with morphing and he gets started.

He keeps an anxious eye on the nearest Thoughtsenser even though probably Mhalir is not going to betray them all and Gate out even if he can - it's just that 'probably' is still very anxiety-provoking -

:I am going to set-command him right away if he tries anything: Nayoki tells him flatly. :He seems disinclined to:

Wow, Leareth turning into her is in many senses an improvement but it’s also very unnerving!