Too good, they're just too good to him. "This one will do his best to be helpful," he says, and closes his eyes, the better to focus on absorbing the energy they give him without wasting any of it. He can manage that much, at least.

As his thirsting meridians are gradually refilled, his mind clears, and his emotions begin to untangle themselves by at least a small fraction. He sighs, sick to death of being such an embarrassment to himself. "I'm starting to think I need looking after myself," he says, a very wan attempt at a joke. He's certainly not doing a very good job of it himself.