The Andalites take much longer to pick up any morphing skill because they can morph so many fewer times a day, but they set themselves to trying, very excitedly. It would be nice to be able to have a good body plan and magic at the same time.

Leareth is going to be doing this morph a dozen times a day until he can get it with all the Gifts! He spends more time in Andalite form once he can have Gifts that way too. Andalites are fast, for one, Leareth was not previously a person who liked sprinting places for fun but it's very satisfying actually, and also now that he's comfortable with the form, he can make some use of Andalites' naturally greater mathematical and numeracy ability. 

Once Leareth's body language is not off enough to be aversive it is very cute to see him galloping around appreciating all the merits of being quadrupedal and having eyesight in all directions and having a tail. If he wants to learn to fight with the tail Andalites will spar with him (they have rubber covers for people who are just starting to learn tail-sparring so they don't grievously injure anyone by accident). 

The eyesight in all directions is great. Leareth is the sort of person who likes to sit with his back to the wall in crowded places so he can see everything happening around him. 

He would really like to learn to fight with the tail! It seems potentially useful, it could actually be faster than magic in some cases, and also he's spending all his time doing fiddly magic and sometimes he desperately needs a break to do something physical instead. (He makes sure to get some exercise in his actual body, since presumably morph-exercise doesn't keep you in good condition, but it's not nearly as enjoyable.) 

Andalites will tail-spar with him! They're way better at it. Moving an Andalite tail feels less like moving an arm and more like selecting a place you want the tail to be, and then getting an understanding for the trajectories it will tend to take to get there. Tail-sparring is a popular pastime and most of these Andalites have put in many thousands of hours at it, but they are delighted about Andalite Leareth and will pepper him with as much advice as he's interested in. 

Leareth, honestly, doesn't pick up physical fighting skills as fast as he does new magic, it's just been less of a priority across his thousands of years of accumulated procedural memory (and also physical reflexes just transfer less well across bodies than mental habits, since the bodies are all different, and this one even more so.) The understanding-the-trajectory part makes it feel like a fun puzzle game, though, and Leareth likes sparring-type activities in general. He's very competitive, and he retains the advice he's given well even when he's not reliably able to implement it yet, and he works out exercises for himself to drill specific sub-skills until they're more instinctive.

It's interesting being in Andalite form among other Andalites. The instincts and procedural skills that come along with the morph aren't nearly as 'loud' as some of the Earth animal morphs he's been picking up (squirrels are awful, he had never realized before that apparently squirrels are terrified of everything most of the time, squirrel-Leareth spent a while panicking up a tree). Still, there is a sort of...background herd-mentality feeling to it, and when everyone around him is behaving right and seems relaxed, he feels safe and - surrounded by friends - along an angle he's never paid much attention to before. 

Matirin has such a good bribe with which to bring Nerefir around on this alliance. He spends almost all his time on the other Dome ship, personally apologizing, explaining how Gifts work, presenting morph-Gifting as a collaboration of Andalite and Velgarth researchers (which is true). He mentions that the Velgarth researchers see some angles on the nothlits problem. He says he expects the research collaboration to be even more fruitful after the war when the Andalites can share more of their work freely.

Nerefir is a reasonable person. He wants to win. 

After a week he tells Leareth that it would no longer be particularly politically complicated if communications with the homeworld turned out straightfoward and were possible immediately.

Leareth makes some progress on the nothlit problem, but it's mostly just a really hard problem, because morphing tech is absurdly complex and he needs to replicate all of it, in the right order, hooked up to the right places, and if he gets it slightly wrong he murders someone. (Well, if he gets it slightly wrong in tests he murders a rabbit.) 

He'll set that aside, maybe giving himself a break will let his brain percolate new ideas on it, and move on to redoing the same process he used to find a route to Earth from Velgarth, except more straightforward because he's succeeded once and he knows how to account for the gravity wells and such. 

Also it's time for his regular meeting with Mhalir, and he wants to ask about the morph-immortality. Which presumably they don't want Mhalir's human host learning about.

:Actually: he tells Matirin, :the simplest plan, if he confirms he can help, would be for me to bring him back here in secret, in my head. I could do the usual compulsions so he cannot override me or use my mage-gift, and then he could directly talk to Cayaldwin about his work. Do you think Cayaldwin would be open to doing that? I am willing: 

<I think Cayaldwin would be willing to do that. I ...really cannot give Mhalir morph, though, so don't promise that or anything.>

:I was not planning to! He will not be able to re-demonstrate it for us, but hopefully he remembers enough to describe and then Cayaldwin and I can experiment from there. I - do want to help him figure out some other method, which does not involve doing any murder, but - not morph: 

<I don't even mind, but it'd be really impossible to defend if it ever came out, and anyone with mage-sight could notice.>

:I know: It's inconvenient but he understands. :Thank you:

Before heading out to meet with Mhalir, he Mindspeaks Cayaldwin to confirm whether he is, in fact, fine with this, on the condition that Leareth will be piloting his own body and intends to only let Mhalir have access to his Mindspeech for ease of communication. :I think it could be very valuable to your research, if I am right about what he discovered here: 

<Huh. Sure, I'll talk with him. Do you not mind him reading your mind and knowing everything you've ever thought and so on?>

:I mean, if I had been considering it upfront I would have needed to think very hard about the strategic implications, but he has already done it once - twice - without asking, though I suppose the second time he had Matirin consenting on my behalf. I have hardly learned much new over the past few weeks. Anyway, I think it helps him to have my accumulated wisdom and he will make fewer stupid choices as a result. I would mind more if he were not a tiny-me who happens to be a Yeerk: 

<I guess that makes sense> he says grudgingly. <If he figured it out then I should absolutely talk to him. Does he have it set up right now - no, he couldn't, he's not morph-capable in his own body...>

:No. I am hoping he could describe his research to you in enough detail that we can then make faster progress on recreating it: 

<Sure.>

And he Gates out to meet Mhalir. 

They cover their usual agenda first, so Mhalir can pass any updates on to his staff, and then carefully Mindspeaks Mhalir and only Mhalir. (Mindspeaking only Amanda wouldn't work, Mhalir would hear it anyway, but she doesn't have access to all of his thoughts.) 

:It is about the matter we discussed privately before, without your host. I...am wondering if it is as relevant to Cayaldwin's research as I am hoping: 

Mhalir is very still for a moment, and then nods fractionally. 

:Would you be willing to catch a ride to the Andalite base in my head, and tell Cayaldwin of your work so we can attempt to replicate it? I will do the usual compulsions first and I want control of my own body. You can use my Mindspeech to talk to him though: 

Visser 3 hesitates for a long thirty seconds before finally nodding. 

<Amanda?> he says finally to her. <Leareth and I have some private business. How would you feel about an evening off?>

He's tried to give her blocks of time off when he can, though even a full day is hard to wrangle. Also as much ice cream as she wants. With potato chips to dip in it if she so desires. 

Sure, sounds good, she thinks. Try not to die.

Awww. <Leareth is very good at not dying, I promise.> And he starts extracting himself from her head. 

Leareth takes him from Amanda, thanking her politely, and does the compulsions first before lifting Mhalir to his ear. It's painless and takes about thirty seconds, though he keeps control of his body this time. 

<Leareth?>