It takes a moment, but he is able to steady himself and steel his resolve. Now is not the time to be catching his breath, that'll have to wait until later.

"Right as you may be, I'm afraid I cannot abide by that, young Eska. I will not rest whilst there are lives potentially at stake. If you are willing, I'd like to propose we do this together, instead."

He's gotten a good enough first impression from the alleged monk to trust them with this endeavour. That, and it'd be mighty hypocritical of him to not trust them after so easily trusting the other anthropomorphic creatures he's met beforehand.