It's the loss that's easy to translate more than the specifics. He frowns as Linden goes to them, talking of names, an apparent distance. Which, really, was a given - it's hard to be close to an Avox. He had his own issues even being as mad at the Initiate as he wanted to be when he ran into him after he was made one.

"What was it like?" he asks, tone similarly softened. "Having a parent who's..." He motions. "You know. Tell me to screw off if I'm asking anything weird, but so long as everything's depressing and you've got a maimed hand to distract yourself from. Trolls just don't have parents, let alone like that."

Besides that, baking the false knucklebone is sure to take some time. Sitting around silently won't make it pass any more quickly.