The avian is a specialist in mental dis-orders.

In this world and time there exists a way of "upgrading" yourself to what equates to being immortal. An upgrade not for the faint of heart as less than one percent survive the process.
Arkenstrom lost his wife in her attempt. When his daughter tried without telling him she barely survived, leaving her in what centuries before, was called a coma.

In Arkenstrom's time they call it "Dreamwalker's Syndrome."

A telempath is a very rare form of telepath and empath in one. They can "mind meld" with someone in the attmept to try and find where that person's "self" has disappeared. Such a "disappearance" can be from a variety of causes,
but in the case of a Dreamwalker the rescuer can themselves become lost very easily and it is always fatal.