What I'm reading from these pages is how absolutely impromptu this whole escape was.
Klaus is running for their lives with the total supplies of one (1) sword and one (1) baby.
If we're feeling generous, they also have one (1) baby blanket. But only one. (Skifander may be warm, but caves - sorry, Jules Verne - are not.) He doesn't have anything to carry baby Gil in (or put baby Gil on) if he needs two hands for something. If he wants to take that torch with him, he's going to have to put the sword away. He doesn't have so much as a water bottle, much less a baby bottle. No supplies, no backup, no plan, no nothing. This man looks like he's lucky he's got shoes on.
That doesn't sound like the Klaus we know now.
And that tells me that whatever happened in Skifander, there was no warning. None. Zero. Not even a rumor. Klaus didn't have time to think about this. He didn't see it coming. He didn't have time to plan for it. He didn't have time to consider other options. He didn't even have ten seconds to throw baby stuff into a bag.
He just grabbed baby Gil - maybe the only baby in reach - and he ran.
I'm convinced he didn't mean to leave Skifander. I'm coming around to the idea that he might not have left baby Zeetha behind on purpose - he just didn't have a baby sling to hand.
No wonder this man is such an absolute control maniac. Emperor of Europa in all but name, and all because back in Skifander, he got blindsided by something he wasn't prepared for.
I imagine that this is the thing driving Klaus. This fear. This moment he had nothing, and he was the only thing keeping his son alive.
I think Klaus has never left this moment. I think he exists here.
