Balthier listened closely to Rishfee's explanation. He was going into a bit more detail than Balthier had expected, but it was easier than having to ask for details and explanations every five seconds. He couldn't help but get the impression that Rishfee was holding back on certain things, but that was to be expected. Balthier, too, would have done the same thing.

So Rishfee was a soldier of some sort... One with a girl on his mind, at that. Not too rare a find, really. Neither was the fact that he seemed to be wrapped up in the midst of political unrest--a victim of it, as it were. It wasn't the first time the dead had managed to wander through the gates of the city. Indeed, it seemed to be common enough to nearly cease to be a wonder for the pirate. Or maybe it had stopped when he had seen his father's face.

It made sense, though. Death and poison threw enough off on their own without adding transformations into the mix. Even Rishfee's idea of going after the Heartless had some ring of logic to it, though something told Balthier that it wouldn't go quite as well as Rishfee thought it would.

"I have to wonder," Balthier replied, deciding that steering away from a conversation based around death was probably one of the better courses of action he could take for now. "How much do you know about the Heartless here? Admittedly, I know less than some others here, but I can tell you now that if you were to have any trouble with these transformations of yours again, I doubt you'd much care for these Heartless'... poorer qualities. You do know that they're called 'Heartless' for a reason? Even if the reason is a bit of a misnomer."

He glanced at Fran, curious to see what she thought of all this.