[ It's a fair question, though one which Ardbert finds difficult to answer. He pauses, taking a moment to enjoy a sip of his drink first. It had been so long since he was able to eat and drink that he's been sampling the offerings from the dining car as often as he can, and he can't hold back on the content sigh he lets out after indulging. ]

As well as they can be.

[ Which is a statement that requires some explanation, he realizes. He shifts in his seat enough to look the woman over again. Casual as she may seem, he can only imagine she's eager to hear news of someone she called friend. Especially as Ardbert suspects it's been quite some time since last she saw him. ]

We were facing a dangerous enemy. [ "We," he says, but he had been part of the fight in the end, hadn't he? And how good it had felt to finally be able to do something. ] But we succeeded, and last I can recall, they were making their way back to a safe harbor of sorts, to celebrate.

[ It's as they'd been approaching the Crystarium that everything becomes fuzzy in his recollection. He thought he'd seen his old friends, Branden and Lamitt and the others, but then...

Well, once this journey is over, he hopes he can see them once more. ]