This should have all gone differently. Not for the first time, John considers how much blood it would have taken to trade for a better outcome. All those pour souls, dragged beneath the earth, would they have given him something better if he'd had time to grab for it?

His hand lifts to the nape of her neck. He turns his head to kiss her temple.

"We'll put it back together," he promises. That much he is certain of. But there are other factors to consider. He has been able to catch no word of Billy, whether he is alive or dead. John had thought, briefly, that there would be no better man to safeguard Madi's people, to see through some alternate means of supply while John returned to Kirkwall.

But Billy may very well have died. He may have been dead before they ever set foot back on Nascere. They'd need to find another way.

"We don't need to know how yet," John tells her, before she can raise objection. "We have the entire journey to divine our way forward. If nothing else, you can trust that I've assessed that much correctly?"