<I shouldn't have told you> he says to Alloran, because it's the first thing he thinks of to say, <that I wanted a lighter sentence.>

<I would have noticed> he says immediately. There's a rush of relief - he wants to talk about this. <I watched all the news very carefully. I could see what you were doing. I - wished I could have done it sooner - you were twisting and tugging everything, for this one outcome, it will be much better when you have a broader set of interests in mind.>

<I think the interest in the research Mhalir was doing is in fact broad.>

<It would be a strange coincidence if the most notorious war criminal in the universe was also the best at using other peoples' brains for planar maths. Maybe you should audition other Yeerks.> This is directed at Cayaldwin, who does not respond to it, either.

Leareth says nothing. He's still focused on security foremost, still not having any emotions, but this is an increasingly fragile state of affairs, it's hard to maintain when everything is slowing down and staying still. And when Matirin is here. 

Melody grits her teeth. :Matirin. I'm going to focus on trying to stop Cayaldwin shredding his mind about this: She wouldn't normally be that blunt about describing her Sight but she's having such a bad day right now. :Can you. Please get Alloran somewhere safe - I don't think he's a threat to anyone else - and then take care of Leareth before he falls apart about this: 

<Can you take the paralysis off?> he asks Leareth.

Probably Matirin has a sensible plan here. Leareth does this and also takes down half of the shield, the half away from Cayaldwin, Melody seems to be watching him now but she can't physically block him if he attacks. 

:Cayaldwin. Look at me. Cayaldwin. It's Melody: 

Melody is this close to putting some sort of dumb block on him just to stop him causing so much damage, it's awful, he would reasonably be furious with her for doing that but gah. 

<Everyone is dead> he says to her, which is arguably an improvement over not talking to her at all. <Are you ever going to do anything about that, instead of running around making understanding faces at people? I was going to do something about that. Mhalir was going to do something about that.>

<I want you off Earth> he says to Alloran, and starts walking.

Alloran follows him. 

<It was my right, and you know that.>

<Yes. Did you - go home at all, or did you fake it somehow ->

<I went home. I practiced magic. I did not tell them what I came here to do but I told them I did not want my absence to be learned of, and they will not be surprised.>

<I do not think anyone will be surprised.

I wish it hadn't happened like this.>

<It would have been better if there were a cheering crowd> Alloran says, in a tone that does not invite much further discussion.

The Gate is still up from before. 

:My Gifts are kind of useless for that purpose: Melody is saying to Cayaldwin. :I settle for helping make Leareth and whoever else I can more effective at it. I'm sorry: 

Leareth hasn't moved, though there's increasingly little point in him standing here and very closely watching the scene for danger. 

<You - Alloran - did you know ->

:That he had learned magic, that he was planning this at all...? Guessed he was planning. Read his thoughts briefly, before he left, did not get specifics. I - would not have thought - he could have pulled this off at all...: 

He was underestimating Alloran. He feels a flicker of faint respect, despite himself, and through that opening all of the other inevitable emotions are trying to squeeze through and it hurts, there's anger and regret and bitterness but mostly just undiluted pain, not even specific enough yet to be called grief. 

Cayaldwin turns and walks away from both of them, not very steadily. He is still tearing his head up but more systematically, threads rather than whole bunches of them.

Melody follows him. 

This is Cayaldwin so if anything is going to work at all, it'll be bluntness. She pushes across a sense-impression of his tapestry, the focus on the hole. :What are you doing to your head, exactly: 

<I am trying to keep in mind that everything that matters in the world is lost and my father is dead and nothing worth doing will ever be done again. I think I forgot. It was stupid of me.>

:I'm sorry: Melody is thinking, now, about the memories she saw of Leareth's immortality, when she scanned him a long time ago, and wondering about Mhalir. But it's probably unhelpful to say her wild speculations. :I'll leave you alone, if that's what you prefer: He doesn't look to her like he's about to kill himself, and her Mindhealing Sight can cover him at reasonable range, once he settles down somewhere she can slip in nearby enough.