[In some ways, she knows Ben's perspective is skewed. In others, that's why she wants to hear from him instead of anyone else, because even if he doesn't really understand family, he understands her desperation, the shape of her world defined by his authority. She lets out a low, shuddery breath at Ben's last words, at use you as an excuse. It's plainer language than she ever put it in, but it's right, and it bolsters her.]

Thank you.

[She centers herself, continues. He asked what happened next.]

Lua kept me - not sane, really, but. Talking, on the comm. They got me out eventually.

[There are a lot of glossed over details there, about radios and the monsters and a stunted tree as her only marker, but survival is the part that matters.]