If they don't, thought Martin, I have to do something, don't I? That's...I'm supposed to, aren't I? His face scrunched up with a frown, staring hard at the opposite side of the room as he wrestled with the thought. He remembered his hands, lifting his free one and squinting at it, flexing his fingers as he turned it palm up.

I can't do that anymore, though...

He let out an almost huffy kind of sigh through his nose as he let his hand drop into his lap, pushing those thoughts away as of no use.

"I'll think of something," he insisted, both to himself and to Bariyan.