this is... a slightly random m9 take that is definitely just my own opinion, but i’m always so annoyed by meta of the ‘no more children on the pyre’ scene because its always framed like Caduceus helped Caleb come to that decision but that’s not what happened. THEY, the M9, made assumptions about his motivations. Everybody tried to place themselves in Caleb’s shoes and what they came back with was ‘vengeance’. Caleb was cool with vengeance too, but his main motivation was always love - for his family that he lost, for his childhood friends that he prayed could be swayed, and for his ‘brothers and sisters’ he hoped would never meet his fate. The M9 didn’t teach him that - they just finally learned how to speak his language. They finally bothered to ask him directly.