A lesson he'd learned in first aid on how to ground a panicking camper: four, seven, eight. He figured he had the four a little too well covered, and he kept it in past the seven until he remembered how he - Skyler - had actually stopped to listen to the Red Cross employee all those years ago. Something about wanting to do the job right, if he had to do it. It had seemed important.

He counts up to eight as he lets go of the breath, mentally chastising himself to breathe in for four, to remember to do that. What use is training if you forget it when it counts?

He cycles through the numbers until he's back in the present, resurfacing just in time to catch Riku asking about whether a lantern had always been green. The lanterns. He remembers something about that. He needs to contribute. Hold, six, seven.

"Rosinante," he says, surprising himself. He opens his eyes and this time looks down at Link's hand, using that information to ground himself before shutting them again. Not willing to risk another echo here. "His lantern was weird. Cracked. Like he dropped it."

He has so many things to add to that observation, plus another question about magic and keyblades that might trigger another echo but he has to know. It's not the topic now, though, and his eight second allotment of breath was through. He also doesn't want to summon his own weapon when Link is so close and he doesn't know where his hands are. (He'd dismissed his own keyblade at some point, hadn't he? Somewhere on the walk between the bonfire and the village. He can't remember that happening.)

Anyway, he doesn't want to poke Link's eye out by accident. That'd make things way worse than they are now. He'll keep breathing with his eyes closed, counting, trying to find his hands mentally. He's not sure if that's a grounding thing, but it's something he can do.