Knox Greyfriar couldn't say that he'd expected this, but when it did he found it understandable. Rigel was always so confident and well-spoken (in his own way), and in his years Knox had met more than a few people who were steady on the surface but holding back something more difficult to face. He'd intended the Silencing to force Rigel to listen, but it seemed it might do more for him: help him face the silence of his own thoughts. Poor boy.

The Headmaster watched the student carefully, noting with a worried brow the upwelling of emotion. Rigel wouldn't wasn't the first student to have an outburst in his office and wouldn't be the last. Knox was far from a perfect mentor, but he tended to allow these experiences to run their course and honor where they ended up.

Telling someone to calm down usually had the opposite effect.

When Rigel collapsed into the seat Knox came around the desk. He retrieved the pencil and paper from the floor and took the seat next to him.

"How do you feel? Can you name it?" he asked quietly and put his large hand on the back of Rigel's shoulder. He held out the paper and pencil.

He began to take control of his breathing slowly. Knox had asked him how he felt, he didn’t know precisely. Was it shame? It wasn’t close to anger although that’s how it presented itself. It was more like exhaustion from digging a hole, which he now lay in.

His breath returned to normal, he let out a deep sigh and leaned back into the chair. He looked at Knox at his left and took the offered paper. He scooted his chair forward so he could properly write on the desk.

He sat there, pensive, trying to articulate in words rather than speech. It was a change of pace for him to have to think about what he was going “say.”

Rigel could come up with nothing. He gripped the pen tightly and put it to his forward to force words to come out. He caught himself in this state and deemed it as frustration. Through a shaky hand he wrote it. Then he apologized. Well he tried to but the casual reminder of having no sound pushing through his vocal cords made him write his apology, which helped in its sincerity. Rigel was not good at apologizing, so it would seem.

“I’m sorry.”

He sat and thought what he was sorry for.

Knox lifted his eyebrows at what Rigel wrote. It didn't look like it was done easily.

"That's a grand start," the headmaster said and gave Rigel a sort of final pat on the shoulder. Then he stood up. He pointed to the two words on the page. "It's important, but don't linger there. The sincerest regret grows stale if left too long. Don't forget the next part."

There was a small part of Knox that questioned the spell. But really, far stranger things had happened in these halls. Rigel Acrux was due a wake-up call and the rest of them were due a break. He'd survive, Knox had no doubt about that, and hopefully come out of it with a few more thoughts in his head. Knox would've liked, maybe, to fall into some convoluted and morbid parable that the students seemed to dread from him so much, despite how insightful and motivating he knew they were. However, Rigel had nothing to defend himself with, so it might be one step too far.

The Headmaster managed what he hoped was a comforting smile.

Rigel waved the felt pen watching the feather catch in the air. He knew he should be sorry but he didn’t quite know how to articulate it.

“For my yelling,” he wrote almost with a confused brow. That made more sense than the rest of his guesses.

Knox turned his head to see what Rigel added. He was trying, but Knox had been too cryptic. The Headmaster put hands on the arms of the chair and pressed himself to standing.

"I mean, Mr. Acrux," he said, "that an apology is the beginning of a process. A journey for which I wish you the best of luck. Could be a thorny path, perhaps labyrinthine. You have my sincerest hope that you'll find your way through."

Around to the back of the desk the Headmaster returned. He was tired and Rigel looked spent. Perhaps the merciful thing to do for them both now was to release the young man to the rest of his night.

"I'll speak with your professors, and I'll not turn you away if you require further counsel. But for now, I shall send you on your way, Mr. Acrux."