He winces. This isn't even where the story turns in his favor.

If it ever does.

"I had already ingratiated myself with Riftwatch, more or less," he mumbles to the ground, "so my new task was to return as if nothing had happened, explain it as a misunderstanding, and send information back home." He shakes his head.
"I couldn't do it. I broke immediately. I'd been unhappy here as a prisoner, before, but it wasn't until I came back that I realized the value of... of being here. With these people."