Estinien watches her, his expression softening. He can tell how much this distresses her, how much it seems to go against everything she believes in. For him, it seems malicious but common enough to not be surprising. He knows the Ishgard of yesterday would have done the same thing to its prisoners.

He can also see there's no point in laying it on thick. It's hard to shake his own fears of the days to come, but...

"...I expect that she has tried, but found little success," he says, a bit more gently. "This place is not unlike my own world... even the most well-meaning souls can be waylaid by opposition and bureaucracy."

He sighs.

"It was clear when I spoke to her that she was at the behest of the king and queen, that she could not save us without damning herself. I have hope that her efforts may make some difference, however slight."

If not for him, then for someone else.