Hushed Willows it’s a most unusual day

His eyes grazed over the stranger, briefly glancing up to the bird in the tree above them. Were they.. together, in some sense?

You come to the mountains. Why? The question was direct, but genuine. Not many did, not without reason. That, and he did not want Phobos to be discovered. The herbalist, battered and unmoving, belonged to him now. He was Chaudry's secret.

The boy in front of him reminded him of Tousaint in a sense, but only in the youth they shared. For one reason or another, that alone kept Chaudry in place.