[Ryunosuke flinches at the harshness of her voice, but he doesn't cower back so much this time. He shoots her a sharp look instead, snapping:]

I-- I don't know! I just, I just need to think a moment--

[The last few days have worn on him greatly, and docile as he tries to be be most times, he has his limits.

Even so, the subtle differences in her behavior haven't totally escaped his notice. The ferocity with which she's guarding Estinien in particular... He can't put much thought to it right now, but it's something he'll contemplate, when he thinks back on this later.

His eyes are scrunched closed in frustration until he manages to take a calming breath, exhaling slowly. When they're open again, they glance over the pieces of shattered crystal she'd indicated before, which he contemplates with a frown.]

We were at the Lodestone before this... We'd just left Venera. Before that we were in a fight, he-- He saved me from the Kenoma, but that thing possessed him in the process. And then it came back again, after we got the most horrible news...

[He looks pained, at the latter point. None of this is best explanation, but he's mostly thinking out loud, more than telling her what happened. Trying to sort through his thought processes, figure out why Estinien came here, and how he wound up in this state...

Did he... Did he come here to try and negotiate with it...?

Ryunosuke looks up at her again suddenly.]

Oh! W, Wait! You said he was crystalized before, did you not? But, but he clearly isn't now-- What was it you did to free him?