Though they'd been familiar long enough, the murky aura that douses Saya in mystery hasn't entirely let up; even one as perceptive as Magdelena cannot penetrate the veil that continues to cloud the other with obscurity. The Orrean is unreadable in many aspects, which makes anything she is willing to disclose all the more receivable.
But being given context for the nature of Saya's disappearance, Mags' expression sours. The cyborg has had ample time to process her own reactionary emotions—she can only hope it translates as sincere.
"In candor, this is an explanation I was not anticipating," she, too, takes a lengthy drag from the end of her clove cigar, ribbons of smoke lingering like ectoplasm between the two women. "I was– made aware of his failing health in age, though there was hope I held for his recovery."
Hope isn't all healing, as she's discovered the further she's dug into her own sordid past; in fact, blind hopefulness feels more like self-sabotage than it does any meaningful way to cope. Perhaps she's become slightly nihilistic in the other's absence, but after everything that's been experienced and along with every memory that's resurfaced, Magdelena finds validity in her presumptions.
The dejection in Saya's tone is tangible to say the least, as red eyes organic meet those artificial. Despite feeling a sense of elation to reunite with one of the few she's come to connect with, Mags feels the immense mournfulness that pervades the threshold of Saya's home, the typical festerings of Pyrite going on about them per usual. Grief is still something Magdelena struggles processing in any healthy capacity—admittedly, she's still much out of her own depth.
"...though not a consultation, I am grateful you had not perished in the wastelands—it would have left Orre with one less person to remember your grandfather's altruistic legacy." Memories may be painful, but they are proof of one's humanity. It is something the cyborg has had to make peace with upon recollecting her origins, regathering herself enough to even have a conversation on such topics.
"I do not wish to come across tactless, but your death would have also left me with one less compeer." A brief pause and the smallest smile she can genuinely muster follow. "It is good to be in your presence again, after such time."
