She's going to have to try a lot harder - he's been through much worse. I was doing just fine not hurting anyone; we don't hurt each other sinks deep, and for a moment he has to bite back his words, because the first thing to come to mind won't help: that not hurting anyone doesn't mean they won't hurt you; and that the other sali is doing a pretty bad job of not hurting anyone else.

(There is still a frightened, angry child in him, and that's not going to help here.)

Trying to think of something to say goes nowhere, and his attention snaps back to the battle as the older sali's attack changes, summoning vines the way he's seen Persephone do. He tears his wrist from the shepherd's grasp and hurls his knife, not at the attacking sali but at the vines themselves, hoping to sever at least one of them and give Jingyi some room to maneuver.

But Jingyi says the right words - something important - and Ryo remembers the conversation over the SCAs earlier and snaps the pieces into place. Jingyi's right - that might be the key. "I spoke with one earlier, on the center island. They asked me to bring them crystals." To help another voidtrecker - another 'outsider' - but that's beside the point. "There's one on this island, right? Can you take me?"