He's a little surprised by that, and reflexively glances down at his hand to see how that might have worked, spreading his fingers to engage the blade again. Their fingers?

The answer doesn't come right away, because it's a good question, but eventually he looks back up.

"I would suffer the loss if it meant ensuring the liberty of others," he says, then rolls a shoulder and continues, "but it does not seem very practical. I suppose our numbers were larger then, if we could afford to be that obvious."