:I thought so. Seems good to be un-confused, given the stakes around this entire situation. Do you have any sense of why it was hard to think about, before?: 

Leareth starts to answer, and then pauses and makes himself give it more consideration. :- Because I am not sure it is strategic. I think. And - it feels like - making a demand of him, to - want to talk to him even when there is no war-related justification for it, and I should not do that: 

:And?: There's definitely an 'and' there. 

:And...maybe I should be more detached, here. Since it is not obvious this makes my judgement here better rather than worse, and I cannot afford biases in my thinking:

:But you don't want to be more detached: 

:I...suppose not: Weird. 

Melody waits for a while, to see if he's going to add anything more, and then eventually leans forward, propping her elbows on her knees and chin on her folded hands. 

:That makes sense. You're lonely. For most people it's at least somewhat damaging to - deliberately yank up their own emotions by the roots, usually they're there for a reason. I don't think the war situation gives you an obligation to not care about Matirin as a person and only think of him as an ally with resources. Seems hard, honestly, he's very likeable: 

:I do not yank my emotions up by the roots: Leareth protests. :Usually I look at them until I understand the information they are conveying, and then often they shift to become different emotions: 

:Sure. Do you think your, er, feeling-of-investment in Matirin's wellbeing will shift to something else if you stare at it awhile?: 

How's he supposed to know that in advance of doing it. :I am not sure. I should try it, though. ...Probably if I think about this properly, I will stop - mysteriously wanting things and being off-balance about it? It seems not necessarily unstrategic to find him likeable and worthy of respect, and it is actively helpful that I trust him, but...it is not very strategic to - let my emotions have too much of a say in my decisions here: 

Melody narrows her eyes at him slightly. :Well, I think noticing what's going on in your head is always the first step to working with it rather than fighting it, and might be most of it for you, you seem very in-control of your mind. Is there anything you're still confused about, here?: 

He thinks, silently. 

:...I am confused about whether this is helpful information for Matirin to have: he says eventually. :It - feels fair, somehow, but I do not want him to feel he is obligated to take care of my emotions or something, and I am going to try not to let it affect my decision-making anyway: 

:Do you want to tell him? It's a pretty common friendship-feeling to, er, want to tell your friends that you're friends with them. Also it might make him less confused about why you were so stressed, before: 

Leareth considers it. Eventually nods. :I will see if I still wish to talk to him after I have spent some time mulling on this and finding all the loose ends: 

He seems more relaxed than before, Melody thinks. Or, not quite that, but - less off-balance, more grounded? She's not sure how to describe the change in his tapestry but she'd call it an improvement. 

:Anything else you want to talk about?: 

:No. I think that is all. Thank you: 

She nods, smiles at him, and heads off. 

Leareth spends the next couple of candlemarks thinking about Matirin rather than thinking about morph. At which point it's late and he should probably get some sleep. 

In the morning, it still feels like a good idea for Matirin to be un-confused about his actions on the ship, even if Leareth expects it not to cause any problems going forward. Just so he knows what he does and doesn't have to worry about. 

He has breakfast and then goes looking for Matirin. 

Matirin is on the other Dome ship temporarily, talking with Nerefir, but he gets back less than an hour later. <Leareth. Cayaldwin says the research seems promising?>

:Yes. I am unsure how many more avenues of exploration it will take before I can crack it and what the timeline will be, but I am becoming more confident it is possible. Anyway. There - is something else I wished to talk about, hopefully it will not take long: 

<Of course. Should we grab a conference room?>

:Sure, we can do that: He heads over to one with Matirin. 

<What's going on?>

:Melody spoke to me yesterday. She said that you had asked her to because I seemed stressed. I - think it would be helpful to give you context on why, even though I do not expect it to be decision-relevant in future or require any particular actions of you: 

< - oh. All right. I - did not mean to put you in a difficult position, I'm sorry.>