"Aye, that's an understandable and reasonable demand. And by all accounts, I believe most of us here would agree with you. Unfortunately for us, however, we have those who might not feel similarly, and those are the ones who are in power here," Ned replies, voice more quiet than normal. There were oft times where Ned can't help but question the veracity of just about everything he feels or thinks he knows. His distance and separation from Westeros, from the life he'd had before, it all seems so much like a dream now that he wonders whether any of it was real to begin with. He's not spoken about this to any of the others, least of all his family, though he's been meaning to bring it up with his sister, Lyanna. He could always go to her with the dark thoughts he'd often find in his mind. "And in situations such as these, there is another game of balance to play - finding out information without bringing about punishment."