"It did. Thank you." He was grateful, especially since he wasn't really sure he deserved the help, but he couldn't shake his worry, either. Hakkai had seemed so certain it would be fine, and caught off guard that it wasn't. He wasn't sure what that meant, but it probably wasn't anything good.

"I don't think I'll be running a marathon, but I'm not going to fall over." And in feeling a little less miserable, he felt he had a little more control over himself. How long that would last, if the institute got up to his usual tricks, he didn't know, but it was something, anyway.