How do I mediate when two people are at war?

When two people are truly at war, the air in the room turns heavy, and freezing in that moment is a very human response. You are caught between two forces, both wanting you to take their side, and some part of you fears that any move makes it worse. So you lock up. That does not mean you are bad at this. It means you care about getting it right. Here is what unlocks the freeze: you do not have to find the whole way through. You only have to find the next small step. You are not the judge who decides who is right. You are the person who keeps them talking instead of destroying each other. Lower your aim from solving it to simply slowing it down, and the pressure eases. Next time you feel the freeze coming, do one simple thing: ask each person to say what they actually want, one at a time, while the other just listens. It is a small move, but it breaks the deadlock and buys you room to think. You do not need the answer. You need the next honest question.