Stone Circle The stone of lost souls.

"Oh," he said softly, and felt a pang in his heart, "no, I didn't know that," and Kaito found he now looked upon the stone before Valette with a feeling of longing. Did his own mother miss him in the way Valette missed her children? Did she pray for him, too?

He wished to ask Valette on who her other children were. Their names, their faces, the memories she held of them, and he would have listened to this for hours, even, if she had been willing. But the matriarch shifted her focus back to him, and Kaito supposed "another time" was what simply what he would have to settle with, and what he would have to look forward to.

Kaito cleared his throat. "Well - um - I have some herbs stored up in the mountains further South that I gathered and preserved before I joined Easthollow. Since the weather's warming up, and the skies are largely clear, I thought it'd be smart to, y'know, fetch them now. It'll take about five days, round trip, and I - I wanted to let you know my intention before I left to collect them. I also..." and he trailed for a moment, pawed the ground, and splayed ears in sheepishness. Worst she could do was say no... right? "I also wondered, if you might permit your daughter to come along with me. Arlette, I mean. I thought I could show her how to transport herbs over longer distances, in case that need ever comes, and this would be a really good way for her to practice that... but, uh, I wanted your permission first, before I asked her."