So there he had his answer that couldn't have sounded any less satisfying to his ears. Whether he recognized the figures or not, and he certainly did know the former, any name being spoken would have evoked an identical, numb feeling within his chest.

All he could muster was a barely audible hum of affirmation before his hands wandered to open the small pouch at his side in which he always carried his trusty deck of cards, now additionally hidden within an ornate case the girl had gotten him as a Starlight gift.

But it wasn't his weapon that he sought, instead retrieving another item located next to them that held even more value, for it was his own life and the lives of many others, sealed within a blue crystal feather that gleamed even in the dim light of the room.

The boy then carefully closed his fingers around it, lowering his hand to rest it against his knee. It felt like enough, for now.

"You've said that things changed, after the incident. If the energy within our crystals had been altered by those... entities," he didn't know how else to name them, "what did it mean for all the rest?" His tone was thoughtful and collected. "I know of the conflicts."

Or he thought he did, at the very least.