"Oh," Nihlus pauses, trying to describe exactly what he felt about the matter before just settling on: "Sounds... kind of awful."

The discomfort is obvious in his tones even without the empathic read. And under that, there's also a quiet little flicker of... fear? It's a shivery flicker, there and gone again, pushed, along with the discomfort, back under the the steadying, cool mental weight.

Deliberation follows suite, a quick calculation of possible of outcomes and a note of curiosity.

"So what happened on Kaittos?"