The question that Theron had, one that was burning in his mind more than anything else, was why the Shonagh Clan would hand something so important to Chen. Even if they trusted him and had already named him the heir apparent to their empire, that wasn't grounds to put his life at risk like this.
If nothing else, it wasn't a matter of trust, but a matter of logic. Why would they put one of their weaker pillars in such a line of fire? Chen was surely important to the future of their Clan, but that didn't need to be proven or shown in such a way.
There were good odds that Chen was someone who was in the middle of some sort of ritual. Maybe the Shonagh Clan had some sort of rite of passage that every future Clan leader had to go through, and that was why something so important was on his person.
