Ignis would have expected Liliana to preen, over something like that, even if only a little, just enough to toe the line of his disapproval, so the fact that he caught not even a trace of it in her voice was...

...well, nothing about this could be called encouraging, but it was...something.

"Mm."

So much infused into such a short, small hum, pulled up from somewhere in Ignis' chest more than from anywhere else; a keen eye would observe the minute way in which his frown deepened, but anyone could now notice his hand had stopped moving, where it instead rested on Liliana's arm and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze, albeit probably far more for himself than for her...

And he knew that what he wanted to say next was probably the worst thing he could say, which left him to just have to trust that Liliana would not be so foolish--

(Would not continue to be so foolish....)

--as to keep using it until they did find out more.

(Was it the magnitude of that level of trust that caused it to hurt as badly as it did? Or just his utter lack of confidence in that trust, ultimately, that did it?)

"Comparatively," he agreed, dismissing another thought that filtered through his head, words that he could have said instead, that would have been used to just appease her, no doubt, but he didn't feel inclined in that direction right now, either, "yes."

And, with so many thoughts and things to say, but none of them seemed to fit quite right, he just...let himself sigh, for a moment, before focusing on that which could, perhaps, be at least productive.

"So," he said, with a careful and measured paused, that seemed to match the careful and measured words themselves, "when do we leave, then?"