"You hurt her.  You're supposed to help her.  Not hurt her."

"I know, and I'm going to apologize to Desta for what happened as soon as I can.  It was an accident, on my oath.  But - you're not big enough to carry all that sadness I... dug up, Opal - and I am.  I know how to.  Please, let me help her - and please let me help you.  ...If you told me that this doesn't hurt you, too, I think we both know that would be false."

...

...

The door creaks open, Opal just close enough to reach the handle from where she's sat herself and Desta.

(Well, it doesn't literally creak open.  But still - it opens but a crack.)

...She's still fixing an 'I'm-watching-you' glare to her face, though.

...As is, however painfully, her right.

...Right.  She's inside, the door's shut, now how is she going to distract Desta from the all-consuming grief...

"...Opal, you can stay with Desta for now, but once the rest of the world has Desta's attention again, the things I want to talk to her about might be private, okay?"

"...I guess that's alright.  If Desta wants that.", she says, while - in Alicia's fancier words - 'testing the hypothesis' that things that help Alicia when she's sad might also help Desta, by introducing a small soft thing to hug, squeeze, and/or pet.  (...Alicia calls him 'Mr. Rabbit', sometimes, but he's a toy, not a pet bunny.)

"...Yes, if Desta wants that."

...Okay, that's going to go how it's going to go, but....  Hm.

If she starts up a magelight - not the enchanted sort, but a little free-floating ball of light - and moves it around, is Desta tracking it?

Being moved to what she's assuming is the room she's supposed to sleep in tonight, rather than her own room in her own bed, has made things worse rather than better. So, uh. No.

...oh dear.

"...Opal, dear, let's move Desta to the quiet room, instead of in here, hmm?  I don't think it's helping her.  ...I mentioned where she'd be sleeping, and I think that was the problem.  So, while this is a private space, and it's good that you thought of that, it's not good for Desta to be here right now."

...Oh no she made it worse? --

...She's going to have to apologize too.

Uh.  Is Desta still going to move with her?  If she tries to do that?

Yeah she's clinging pretty insistently.

Then, yeah, Opal will move them to the quiet room.

And Niriel will walk between them and the rest of the room as they do that.

The Quiet Room is, well, quiet, as well as dim, and there are quite a few soft things in there.

(She signals an older kid, themself an orphan who has volunteered their time to their juniors, to make sure that nobody else comes in.)

The change in location helps, a little.

...That's good.  And - she appears to be tracking the magelight, this time.  That's...  Good.  She was worried that she'd need to take Desta to the infirmary.  (She still is, to be honest.)

The question, of course, is - having at least proven that Desta is not completely catatonic - whether her charge will be able to process much else - for instance, writing - let alone communicate anything she might need to say.

...If Opal knew this was the kind of problem that Niriel was dealing with, she would definitely agree it was beyond her means.  As it is, she's just focusing on hugs and possibly providing soothing stims (as observed from Alicia), not that she would know them by that name.

...One step at a time, Niriel.  First, compose a message - "Can you read this?" ought to do - and second, introduce it.

She watches what Desta is looking at carefully, as she presents the piece of paper beneath a magelight.  If it doesn't look like she's reading things, then...

Hm.  Perhaps she could light each word up, one at a time.  It's just identifying the ink, it can't be that hard.

(For many mages it would be relatively difficult, but she's cheating.)

She's reading it, or at least she looks like she is, briefly.

Alright.  First, stabilize the kid.

'This might sound kind of silly, but when you are feeling too much, it can help to take slow, steady breaths.  People feel with their bodies, as much as they do with their souls.

'I can tell you how to breathe in a way that should help you with how much you're feeling.  If you want me to do that, please nod your head.'

She thinks she is feeling a perfectly reasonable amount for how horrible things are, actually. But it's rarely a good idea to be upset when grownups don't want you to be. She nods.

If she had any insight into what Desta was thinking, she would agree that this whole situation is very horrible, and the problem is that life must go on anyway, but, well, she doesn't.

What she does have is a neat little illusion and some breathing instructions, which are in this narrative elided because the author doesn't trust their ability to make recommendations.

...sure.

It takes her a bit to focus on the exercises enough to do them, but they work pretty well once she does. She continues to cling to Opal and she's clearly not happy but she's not actively freaking out anymore.