[ cutting in for a moment, because he's the one who's seen the crater: ]

The northern crater is old. The pattern of snowfall and when the stone was moved doesn't fit the theory you're suggesting, unless you also suggest that they moved the stone from the east to the north, stored it there for a while, then moved it again—

Nevermind that an impact crater like that had to be created by something in the first place, which then leads to the question of where the stone that originally fell to the north went instead.

[ drums his fingers along the spine of his time for a moment. ]

It's all fragments from the same source; [ the moon, that is, not the single stone ] if some of these pieces have been cut and refined by now it'll be hard to tell. I maintain it's more likely that the northern stone was the original— the one we retrieved is a perfect fit for what would have made the crater— and that someone who just so happened to come across it took a chunk out that could have gone to both the west and east, or either of.

Which does make both of those countries notably more suspicious, considering there's evidence of some kind of collusion from Collodi's part, even if he was betrayed, and we already know that the West should be regarded with caution due to their emphasis on technology and apparent research.

[ gun to his head he'd point fingers at west tho, lbr. ]