He opens his mouth and closes it again. There's a part of him that wants to lie to reassure her that no, it was an order and she wasn't getting a sterner hand than him ... but she's probably a lot better at smelling out lies than he is at telling them.

"If you want an optimistic take, they could just be worried about you." He offers. "Have to go through a lot of painful memories, come back and find out someone you cared about is gone ...? Could leave someone in a bad place."