Herbalists' Cache though winter be a brittle beast

the halfling's porcelain diadem canted to the side, wisps trailing, at the lurch in his soft baritones -- wondering though she would never find the courage to ask, knowing well there were some bones better left buried. still, she dared to inquire: "ye 'ave lived 'ere once, then?" 

"aye, but chin up, friend. like many things, it could be vorse, no?" aerin chuckled softly as she said it but could only imagine what it must be like to be lost in this. 

curse her. always asking and never expecting that her own curiosity might be weaponized against her. for a few heartbeats, silence swelled between them in a pregnant pause as the midwife's lips parted. no sound escaped as they closed and opened again, at a loss of how to answer. 

did he mean how she had come to reside in teekon in the first place? or mayhaps just the reason as to why she was camped out alone in the woods. 

"truthfully? i donnae think i 'ave a purpose 'ere. I am only.. vandering," the exile confessed in an honest sough, a whisper to the rage outside.