Leareth is instantly in motion. Unfortunately he's human right now (he prefers not to be in morph when he transfers Mhalir, just in case he has to demorph fast for some reason, not dumping Mhalir into z-space with the morph template takes effort and he's slower at it.) 

:Fetching: he diagnoses, his mindvoice clipped and empty of emotion. :Through the shields–: the layers are all there but three seconds to reach the door is long enough to dive in closer with his mage-sight on just that aspect, it's there and nearly perfect but it's not his, he doesn't know whose work it is but someone planned this... :Call an alarm: he barks, :whoever's in command: Think, what next. :Probably within a mile - Thoughtsensing, you take north -: and he reaches out to the south, scanning rapidly for minds, scanning specifically for minds in morph with Gifts, and he doesn't have Farsight in this body, damn it, no time to morph it...

Cayaldwin contacts Nerefir and doesn't even make a face about it and scans north - 

<23 degrees off due north> he says after a second.

:How far - who, Cayaldwin -?: No time to run on slow clumsy human legs (stupid, he wasn't paranoid enough, somehow) and Leareth is already spinning around on that bearing, flinging together the doorway of an unscaffolded Gate big enough to fit both of them, assuming that by the time he needs to drop the other end he'll either have an answer from Cayaldwin or have found it himself. 

And Mhalir is suddenly somewhere else. Yeerk senses on their own aren't that informative, but he can tell vaguely that the air is different, colder and moving, the light is different - maybe the warmth of sunlight from one angle - 

And he's helpless. He can't even call out to Leareth for help; he's unprotected by shields, a Yeerk can't wear a shield-amulet, they thought the shielded room in a shielded base was enough and they were wrong and - in a fraction of a second he adds it all up, lands on a high probability that he's about to die. Without even knowing how or why, maybe. 

He's terrified. It's not going to help, but it's not like anything is going to help, he has no options - look for an ear, maybe, but unsurprisingly there is not one conveniently right there, and he can't orient much to his environment. 

His morph tether isn't linked up right now. Mhalir doesn't have morph in his own body. 

- Leareth will know, Leareth might still find him in time, Mhalir knows what his combat reflexes are like...but probably still wishful thinking...but at least he'll know, and he knows about the other hidden contingency-plan, elsewhere in distant space, and - 

- and if everything fails, in the end, then it won't be all right, but at least the world will still have a Leareth in it and that's not nothing - 

He's so scared. 

<1481 meters north of here.>

Andalite precision with numbers = excellent. Leareth aims a Gate for 1480 metres because he doesn't want to land inside whoever it is, though probably he won't get the bearing exact enough anyway - and then the Gate snaps up and he's surging through -

Alloran is standing there. In morph, of course. Quite still. His tail bobs slightly in acknowledgement, as they race through. <Leareth> he says, neutrally.

Leareth doesn't acknowledge him. He's acting almost entirely on instinct, in that moment, and he flings out a well-honed paralysis spell at Alloran, overpowered in his haste, it takes him about half a second and at the same time he's diving in with Thoughtsensing, ransacking Alloran's surface thoughts if he can but mostly looking for Mhalir's mind, is Mhalir there - is he alive...? 

Mhalir is not there. Alloran is thinking that Mhalir is in forty-eight pieces on the grass at their feet and this is the best thing that has happened since the end of the war.

Leareth is not having any emotions right now. The world seems very clear and bright and a little slowed-down, he's aware of his exact position relative to Alloran and Cayaldwin and his still-active Gate and the - remains - on the ground... He can assess the exact threat level of the situation, which is negligible to himself.

Non-negligible for Alloran, because Cayaldwin is right there, and probably his reactions in this sort of situation aren't as fast as Leareth's, but he's not going to be calm and emotionless and ruthless about it, he's going to be– 

Leareth flings up a shield over Alloran's paralyzed body. 

:Cayaldwin: he says, flat, icy. :Go back through, activate the interworld Gate. Get Matirin here. Now: 

<I don't think that will help> he says back. He doesn't move. He doesn't move at Alloran, either, not while he's paralyzed, that'd be cheap.

:You are not going to harm him: It's not even an order, really, just a statement, level and distant. Leareth keeps the paralysis spell and shield in place. 

And reaches for Nerefir. :Alloran murdered Mhalir. Busy keeping Cayaldwin off him. Activate the Gate, get Matirin here: His mindvoice is even more curt, this time, a little jerky. 

<Acknowledged>, he says, sounding surprised.

Cayaldwin does not move at all. 

Alloran is so so so happy. All of his thoughts are about how happy he is. It's like the universe is - back in focus, in a way it hasn't been for twenty years.

Leareth is watching Cayaldwin very closely, ready to intervene and paralyze him too if he has a go at the shields, and he's watching Alloran's mind, noting his delight, not feeling any particular way about it, except tallying up the reduced threat, if he's busy being delighted he's not planning to hurt either of them. 

(Leareth's model of Alloran has no desire to hurt either of them, he notes too, he's unsurprised about this and unsurprised by Alloran's joy and pride and - it's very impressive - he's surprised, not in a way that hurts, yet, just a tug to update Alloran's threat level...) 

He waits. 

Eventually Matirin tries to find him with Mindspeech. <Leareth - is Cayaldwin all right ->

:Just come here right now. Please. He is - with me: 

And shortly after that, a very out of breath woman reaches them. "Can someone. Please tell me. What the fuck. Just happened." 

Leareth tries to answer, and for some reason the words part is not happening at all right now. 

Melody has eyes, though. And several mind-Gifts. 

"Oh," she says, more an exhalation than a word, and she holds very still, and waits. Her eyes are on Alloran but her attention and her Mindhealing Sight are almost entirely on Cayaldwin - Leareth is also kind of a disaster but probably a stable one for the moment... 

Cayaldwin is not stable at all! He is ripping up chunks of his tapestry and throwing them in the hole in its center, his thoughts jerky and choppy and he's mostly not here at all, he's mostly remembering watching his father die -

Matirin approaches from the interworld Gate-terminus.

Leareth says nothing. Matirin already knows the basics and he's got eyes, too, a reasonable number of them in fact, and the situation hasn't changed - it's kind of the opposite of urgent, since they were too late. 

:I need you to make sure nobody tries to murder Alloran: Melody says to Matirin, tightly. 

- and turns to Cayaldwin, moving closer to him. :Cayaldwin. Look at me: 

Reach back, :Leareth can you morph Andalite: Cayaldwin might find that at all comforting... 

Leareth dedicates half a second to assessing whether the situation is enough under control that he can afford to be distracted and mostly unable to fight while morphing, and assesses that it is, and starts. 

:Cayaldwin: he says while he still has his usual Mindspeech, it sometimes fades out in the middle before he gets Gifts again. :We are going to get him back. He has a brain scan backup. I know where it is. I will probably need your help with it: 

Cayaldwin does not acknowledge this.