[Her hesitation gives him pause in turn. He... was probably too harsh, and there's a reason for that today, but he still stops to consider his words. There's always a part of him that never wants to drown out hopes, no matter what, because sometimes that's all you have to keep going.

And here, there's not a whole lot of it to begin with.]

It's something we have to think about.

[--is what he says, finally. It's not a concession so much as a clarification -- they're not on different pages, no, but perhaps they're reading in different directions.]

If a sacrifice is demanded every week.

[They'll still need to do their best to try and prevent deaths -- murder or other -- but there's no denying that it hasn't been working so far. He thinks there are still other options. Just, frustratingly, they're still elusive.]