the compromised return from the fragrant pines
Hal had no trouble beelining right upon them, compromised though his navigational systems were after fifteen or so secret minutes alone in the fragrant pines.
Context
The payoff of the whole structured walk, dropped as an aside at the scene's edge: the fifteen secret minutes in the pines have happened, and Hal comes back with his "navigational systems" compromised — high, in plain narrated fact, at the exact moment his brother needs finding. The euphemism does the concealing even here, in the prose's own voice.