Redsand Canyon (M) The needle.

She wondered if that was what life was: watching your children disappear after you raise them and missing them for the rest of your life… it seemed cruel, but then, wasn’t life? She hummed softly with sympathy. A raised eyebrow came at her next question. “I thought canoodling was just cuddling… but you made it sound like it involved something a little more gritty.” Perhaps that was her labelling Towhee as the ‘slut’ that she had already claimed to be? Hell if she knew. Either way, Aquene quite enjoyed cuddling. It made her feel safe.
 
 Her eyes widened in undeniable horror as the woman detailed just why relationships had never worked for her. “He did what?” She asked, verbally expressing the horror and disbelief she felt even just hearing it second hand. There was something seriously wrong about a man like that. Did every woman in Mereo have some kind of trauma? First she learned of Ruenna having a man she was afraid of, and Aquene clearly had her own issues… and now Towhee too. Maybe that was why they all got along. Aquene hummed, distracted for a minute as her mind drifted until the mention of Rue came back up, her attention snapping, and she nodded.
 
Aquene wanted to help Rue too. “She found me, you know… I didn’t find Mereo, it happened the other way around. I’ve been wandering for a long time… I had to leave my home in a hurry, and I was alone and just barely surviving on my own. She was looking for some horsetail in the woods… and she just happened to find a healer and she saw something in me… she gave me a home, a safe place… and I want to help her in any way I can just for that. It's why I'll always do whatever she asks, no questions.” It was truly invaluable, having a safe place to call home.