Neverwinter Forest a distant land caused me to linger

He almost had a witty rejoinder, until she spilled why she had been there in the first place. To say it intrigued him would have only been half-true. Dirge had no taste for getting caught up in the affairs of others, let alone invest in making problems of his own. But he did know the world to be an unexpectedly cruel place, moreso when there happened to be more mouths and bodies around. To think, to his grandfather—how he didn't think of him so—he could have fit this bill. The unwanted, the nuisance; the list poured on and on until it all bled together and thoughts turned from words into actions. That said, it was also not his place to judge. Instead Dirge made a noncommittal sound, his expression turning to slight surprise.

"And here I thought you were just hunting wild hare." Her quarry was definitely larger than that. It would certainly have more fight in it, that much was for certain. How bothersome. "But you were right about needing more than a hare or two. A good meal would be decent, add somewhere warm to bed down," he trailed here, "and I suppose good company would make a start. Maybe a bath too," though that wasn't so high on his list—cold water in his undercoat would turn him popsicle in this weather. He kept things jovial, nonplussed that she wasn't exactly rushing headlong to some bull elk with a bum leg so he could pick the bones clean. Dirge still hadn't resorted to cannibalism yet, though the summery little Mouse hadn't been seen again.

He shook his head, words once again finding a void to fill.

"Those luxuries I have missed, I suppose. It will probably be another evening of tree bark and bones for me." And how much easier it was to find humor in the act that he was lawless and free, or as she had thought, wild.