A lot could happen in three weeks. The Nein, in particular, knew that very well. Sometimes a single day could stretch on endlessly and sometimes weeks flew by with barely a thought beyond moving forward, onward, to whatever they were chasing this time. He almost chuckled, though, when Caduceus started looking him over. Caleb lowered his head and let his eyes fall closed briefly. If he had snapped and lost his mind again, it wouldn't be anything Caduceus would be able to see. But he might have been able to fix it. Someone had, once. For a little while. She had at least brought him out of his stupor enough that he could begin working on the rest himself. And it made sense that his friends would worry that he might have relapsed after their encounter with Trent. He had. But there was nothing much Caduceus could do about that either except for what he was already doing.
Once they were safely upstairs, though, Caleb felt a bit more comfortable speaking a bit more freely about their circumstances here. He sat down on the end of the bed and pushed himself up enough that he could cross his legs. Frumpkin noticed their guest as well and hopped from one bed to the other so he could brush against Caduceus.
"I was with you," Caleb said, "and I was also here. I know it sounds absolutely mad but there are those who have come and gone and again and they have said that life simply continued on while they were here. Back in their homes, a version of them had been carrying out all the day-to-day tasks they would have carried out otherwise. And they remember nothing of this place when they return. It's only when they come back here that the memories all coalesce. And there are others who return here and don't remember it at all."
It was patently bizarre. He knew that. He knew how insane it sounded. But he was doing his best to explain it. Only then he realized he was still holding Caduceus' hand, too, and rather than letting it go he just pulled it closer and wrapped his other hand around it too. "I can't feel Lucien here," he continued, "or Beau. But the eye is still there. Sometimes I dream that this place is Cognouza. That we're trapped like all the other souls until it decides to release us." And maybe it was, maybe they were. Maybe they were all simply doomed. Caleb wondered what it would matter if they were. "I don't really think that's true, though. But it does, sometimes, feel like a dream."