"A mark is a thing." He says it obstinately, annoyed that there's some weird form of semantics going on here. After all, a piece of a rift may be called a mark of a rift or something of the like. Whatever.

"I wasn't going to ask anyone outside Riftwatch, that seems like an easy way to get myself killed." After all, he knows about the Venatori now and didn't, when he first arrived. As for her other point about asking anyone in Riftwatch, well, he skips straight past it.

"What does it do?"