Vargas felt that same twinning--loss, and hope--as the Orthoclase continued its circle around the drain. It was circling, yes, but it wasn't yet sinking too far and at least it was moving. The body language was clear, twitching, snarling, shuddering.

The snarl took him aback. He hadn't expected aggression. Angry at me, or at my question? he wondered. He could have chided it, despite its apology--should have, really--but he let it go. It does feel cornered, he realized, though whether by him or merely the implications of his presence and questions, he couldn't tell.

Its question, though, gave him pause.

Tell me what to do.

Oh, child, if only I knew. The thought was not a loving one. It was the sort of thought a grandmother might think, while shaking her head at a lost cause of a criminal grandson. It was a thought spawned of cycles of fruitless repetitions of that same question: what do I do? What does Alpha do? -From cycles of repetition with no improvement, and no answers. It was, in a word, exasperated.

What could he say-? Tell it to find its own way? To take the time out to find a name, a calling? I have tried that. Tell it to resume its duties? To find normalcy in its old, soulcrushing grind? It does not want that. To dismiss it? To tell it to go and find its freedom? It will think itself useless, worthless, then. I have tried that, too.

Maybe if he took "figure it out yourself" and wrapped it up in the guise of a decision, and pushed it away to calm it down, for now. That seemed to be the best, and Vargas quickly worked to phrase it. His words were still deliberately measured, quiet, so as not to startle or threaten Alpha further. Calming, even--as best the Leviathan could manage.

"Very well. Go enjoy your health for a day or two, and find the Zoisite when you are done. Spend time with it. When you are more relaxed, return to me. We will try you on minor Overseer duties one day out of three, and you can decide after one cycle if you wish to continue. Does this sound acceptable?"

Simple enough. Broken down, translated, he was saying: "leave, before you drive yourself into another breakdown. Go be with your child and see if you can relax and bond. Then come back and learn you are not unwanted, and test the waters yourself to make your own decision." With loose deadlines applied, so that it would not be lost in a wave of its own indecision.

Would it work?

Vargas snorted--mentally.

It was just as likely as anything else.

Well, it didn't look great--the quills were all over the place, again. But he had no real way of knowing just how deep Orthoclase-Alpha's turmoil currently dipped. Was it totally and utterly traumatized somehow, deaf to all his words? Or calmed and relatively ready to carry out his (half-baked) instructions?

Until he learned to read minds, Vargas knew, the point was wholly moot.

"Good!" was all he said. "I am glad you have come out healthier. Go; and try to have a little fun..?" There was amusement in it, humor. Vargas himself had fun all the time, after all: he believed in it.

It was just that his brand of "fun" tended to align perfectly with his own duties. Hunting rebels down and killing them, for example. That was always fun.

Vargas watched it go.

He did not follow. He would not count away the hours it was gone, like pushing beads along an abacus.

He'd trusted it once to find its own way and it had failed completely--it had all failed completely. But it was clear that his presence had been distressing it. Unfortunate, but... perhaps it would pass. That was all he could hope for, for now; to turn it loose again, healthy this time, and try to guide it to find its own way.

You weren't much help, he thought with a snort, Lord Dhracia in his mind.

Well-! Time not to dwell on this, then.

He had Masterly things to do, and Alpha had... whatever it was going to do. He couldn't afford to constantly worry, not now; he'd done what he could for the time being. It was time to let Alpha steer its own course for a bit. If it didn't check in in a week, he would find it. If it did, they would... well, they would go from there.