Northstar Vale (o,..,o)

I'm fine, he says, but his dull gravelly voice gives him away.  Still, she does not press; it is rude enough that she came upon him without introduction.

She decides for a while to abandon the prospect of small talk, instead pawing at the surface of the water herself.  She had hoped to find cleaner water underneath the algae and assorted bug gore, but all that met her was stench.  No messing with that anymore.

Sorry to intrude.  I forget, sometimes, not to be so forward.  She dipped her head at him as sort of an apology and sighed, shaking off her dampened paw. What brings you out this way?