Klein was still meeting his eyes. Refusing to look away even though every instinct screamed to break eye contact.
"She needs to recover her artifact at all costs… That's the biggest one. She told me that even with my help she couldn't negotiate yet because what her uncle Orion wanted, 'giving her the star', but to 'use on the front lines', couldn't happen in any way. That's why she hadn't chosen anything yet. And she also wanted to wait to have her rewards secured to negotiate properly."
"Use the star?" Ren interrupted, confusion breaking through anger. "I don't fully understand all this about having it but not using it, and why is it so important?"
The question was genuine. Not rhetorical or aggressive. Real incomprehension about what made an artifact, even if an important family heirloom, worth this level of desperation and political maneuvering.
"I asked her something similar..." Klein's voice softened. "Basically… It's somehow her mother's crystallized heart."
