[ Cruel is right. Pitting people against convincing imitations of friends and allies is one hell of an underhanded ploy. It's all news to Yuri, but now that he hears it, it truly is no small wonder why Shez was so shaken when they'd found one another in the labyrinth. And of all the Oracles, the Harbinger.

He wonders what the point of it all was, but there's no sense in trying to answer what they may never know. All they can do is learn from it and be more cautious, lest they fall prey to similar tactics in the future... Yet he and Byleth had been so cautious upon first encountering a "mimic". What had gone wrong after their paths diverged?

This he dares not ask. He'd avoided inquiring after any details his fellow mercenaries haven't volunteered, deeming it best not to pick at still-healing wounds. Oracles may be cruel, but he doesn't intend to be.

For now, he places a companionable hand on Shez's shoulder in a gentle effort to tether him to the present. It seems to him that his friend may be wandering down avenues it's best not to tread, at least in this moment... And he was the one who had asked, and thus prompted it in the first place. ]

Starting to think there's some little group for powerful inhuman entities to brainstorm twisted ways to torment people.

[ A jest, and admittedly a weak one, but the effort is made. ]

Sorry you all went through that before. Can't say the rest of us had any idea what happened at that time.