Martel has thoroughly explored his limits in all manner of directions; there is no one who can speak more wryly of them, and perhaps if he were to hear the flatly stated opinion that the world might've been better if Vanion had killed him when he had the chance, he probably wouldn't disagree. It would've been the right call -

But he would have been replaced, and with someone they knew less well to predict, and so it is a self-pityingly pointless fantasy in which Martel vastly overestimates his own essential purpose in the world. So perhaps it's just as well she's not quick to reward his modicum of self-awareness.

"How long has he had?" he asks, letting the rest go - not quite following her but fanning out a little, keeping her in easy reach on the offchance she loses her footing. He'd rather not have to dive for her, for pity's sake.