Firestone Hot Springs these are the pros and cons of hitchhiking

The girl sounded confused, not aggressive. The realization calmed Rue, but now instead of being frightened she was embarassed. Her eyes followed the grackle as it lit upon the pale girl's shouder. The bird clearly trusted his canine companion, but Rue was hesitant to follow its example. She had been burned too many times trusting strangers during her brief stint as a lone wolf. 

Why was Rue sorry? "I thought..." Rue began to answer, voice barely above a whisper. Her words were drowned out by the girl's continued speech. That was fine. Rue had no idea how she would have finished that sentance anyway. 

"Oh," she said simply to the other's admission that she didn't live here. 

"Ruenna," the woman replied, relieved to be able to give an appropriate answer that she didn't have to think about. Since the incident with Sjorn, when Rue was frightened she turned completely stupid, and it took some time before she could recover enough to talk like an actual person.  "..from Blacktail Deer Plateau," she added, with a look over her shoulder to indicate the direction of the plateau. It never hurt to let a stranger know she had a pack behind her, should the interaction go south. 

The girl still seemed confused with Rue, and Rue couldn't really blame her. "Sorry," she almost said again, but she caught herself. Instead she offered an excuse. "I'm.. not used to being startled." It was true, Rue was usually so hypervigilant that very little caught her off guard. "I- I just feel weird, like someone's watching us," she admitted, hoping that was explaination enough for her odd behavior.