It was a lot easier to follow the instructions he was being given than it was to work through all the things he was feeling. Sometimes he was awe-struck by how well Caduceus - someone who had never been any further from his home than the next village over - had such a deeper understanding of human thoughts and emotions than he did. But then he remembered all the world they'd gone through, with Trent, to wring the very last drops of empathy out of themselves. It had taken him over a decade just to regain as much of that as he had. And what was there was generally the result of paranoia and guilt. Things like this... they were hard for him. He felt like he had to intellectualize it because if he let himself run on pure emotion, he would just collapse in on himself.
He was getting better, though. That was in no small part due to Caduceus. Every once in a while he caught a bit of something from Beau or Jester or a deep drop of wisdom from Yasha. But on the whole, the strides he had made had only been made since Caduceus joined them. Maybe it was just that firbolg warmth because he remembered feeling a similar sense of calm and safety around Nila as well.
"I will," he nodded, answering the request, his shoulders straight and square again, at least for the moment. At least until Caduceus told him that he could let go of the position. Everything felt a bit fuzzy, but that sharp pang of anxiety had mostly subsided, leaving him with this deep chasm in the middle of his chest. He just wanted to fold himself up against Caduceus' chest again where he could safely finish processing everything that had happened, but he knew he had to wait a little longer.
He offered up his hands, rolling his shoulders a little to work out a kink in one of them, and settled a bit deeper where knelt. It probably wasn't great that his default position was a slouch, but now that he had permission to sink back down into it, he did. "Off, please," he answered and finally looked up to meet Caduceus' gaze. The first time since he'd woken up. He gave another nod, swallowed hard, and started counting in Zemnian. "Eins, zwei, drei, vier..." His voice was soft but stable now, his breathing even. His cheeks were still a little red, but he seemed calm again. He would go back and revisit the sheer terror that had struck him when he woke up, but not right now. Maybe in the morning. There was just so much and right now it seemed far more important to focus on this.