Characters: Lain, Triss, Zoe, Swiftsand.

Salamandastron: Underground Spring
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Salamandastron *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
This is a small, circular room with a pool in the middle - the lifeblood
of Salamandastron. This freshwater spring allows the mountain a water
supply in the event of a siege. The spring bubbles up from the center
(and providing a great assistance to bathing: having the water already
warm). A passage leads slightly uphill to the Store Room for easy
transport of water between the two rooms.
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The small smile on Lain's face goes unnoticed by Triss, her attention given to shoving her bookmark in and standing. "Um...what're you all doin' down 'ere?" shes asks quietly, so as not to send a loud echo throughout the chamber.

Well, lack of words to explain, Lain glances at Zoe and shrugs a bit, turning back to the ground and not really moving. Lack of respect maybe, or just plain comfortableness with these two. Ah hah... She should be familiar with her aunt and mother, shouldn't she? Paw idly wandering to her flute and pulling it free of her belt, she blow gently over the mouthpiece, the faintest sound escaping the instrument in her experimentations.

Staring uncertainly at Triss, this being just about the first time she's seen Triss, save for the occasional glance in the dining hall, since Ox died. This should be awkward, right? Right. Because Zoe feels extraordinarily awkward. Thus, she lowers her gaze. "Just wanderin' about. Uh. You?"

A head peeks out from the store room, slighly splotched with dirt and adorned with the occasional bit of grass or sand. Swiftsand moves the rest of herself into the room slowly. She blinks in momentary confusion upon seeing so many. "Uuh, ahem!" She clears her throat too loudly and blushes at the amount of noise. "Em, g'day chapesses." The hare nearly trips over her own footpaws as she moves to the water to scoop some into a wooden bowl. This done, she lowers some roots into it and watches them soak, trying to be unnoticed.

"Same," Triss replies, walking slowly over to Lain and Zoe, offering a paw to Lain on the floor. Blink. The echo created by Swift's voice makes Triss wince. "'Lo..." she mutters, watching every movement Swift makes.

Her attention a bit distracted by Swiftsand, Lain blinks (a slight cringe still intact), tilting her head to a side before turning back to the paw held out for her. Smiling and taking it, one paw grasping the staff and flute and the other in Triss', Lain follows the Major's gaze to the hare, and then glances at Zoe in question. Huh?

Smiling briefly at Swiftsand's arrival, Zoe dips her head in a nod, "'Lo, majah.. How were yer travels? Well, I hope?" Apparently, she's not succeeding with the 'unnoticed' bit. Considering that everyone's looking at her.

Swiftsand feels eyes on her and shakes slightly. A month away from civilization has only hindered her emotional recuperation. The roots done, she drains the water by holding one paw against the roots and overturning the bowl. As she does so, she nods to Triss and almost fearfully raises her face to Zoe. "Yes, well, Colonel, got- well, y'see, some o' these," she holds up a rather unattractive root, "an' a bit o' fruit, but most o' the berries weren't in season, y'see, an'..." She swallows and trails off, feeling as if she's said too much. Water splashes against her sleeve, but she doesn't seem to notice. She only stands the bowl upright before her and dabs at the vegetables with a bit of cloth.

Giving Lain's paw a reassuring squeeze, Triss lets it go. Turning to Zoe, she raises a brow and then turns and amused look on Swiftsand. "Er...Y'need any 'elp?" she asks. Perhaps looking for a way to break the awkward silence?

Awkward silence indeed. Lain glances at Triss, then Zoe, then Swiftsand and then the ground. Her gaze trails to Triss' paw, but she shrugs inwardly, tilting her head at Swiftsand and then gnawing her lip for lack of a better thing to do.

Er. Blink. Zoe tilts her head slightly, squinting at the apparently-nervous Swiftsand. "Er, aye. Need a bit o' help there, Swiftsand?" She takes a couple of steps forward, and then pauses.

Triss has left.

Swiftsand rises from her crouched position abruptly. She blinks rapidly at Zoe. "Oh! Yeh probably busy an' all, marm. Ah've only what one hare could carry back from th'woods." The major falls silent as she eyes one of the roots critically. Shrugging, she disappears momentarily into the store room. Reemerging, she bears two bowls of apples. These she sets before the water and begins to rinse, taking care not to lose any in the spring.

Eh. Invisible Lain shrugs a bit, looking idly up at the ceiling, slipping her flute back into her belt and her paw into her pocket as she leans the staff against her shoulder.

"No.. not busy. Relaxin', actually. Got one o' the younger lads t' watch Miette fer.. me." Blink. Oh. Swift left before she was born. "Er. Ya know. Miette. M' babe. Ya left before..." The colonel shrugs a bit, and offers a kind smile. "Ya ought t' meet her... Nip seems t' like 'er. The little lad was evah so helpful with her t' othah day."
Zoe_Lang then glances to Lain with a small quirk of her brow. But, really, suppose it's hard for the girl to join in on conversation.

Swiftsand watches Zoe with a rapt expression as she speaks. She absently bobs an apple up and down in the water. She frowns for a moment, then exclaims, "Ah!" with a smile. "Ah quoite forgot, seein' as y'aren't swelling any more! 'ow is she? So nice to relax, eh?" The reference to her own little rascal broadens her smile. "Did 'e, eh? I 'oped 'e would, marm, when ah found y'were t'have a..a..babe." She trails off, the smile gone, feeling slightly miserable. It seems as if she's made reference to the wrong time.

Shuffling a bit and glancing to the side of the pool, Lain frowns a little as Swiftsand falters, keeping her curious gaze to the ground despite all the wanting to look at the Major incredulously. It's her job, see. Yesh.

Zoe_Lang gives an appreciative nod and a smile, "Aye, nice t' relax... And Miette's jus' fine.. She's such a happy little deah... Not sure -where- she got it from, but 'm' glad she has it..." The Colonel pauses, frowning slightly as Swiftsand trails off. "You.. a'right?"

Swiftsand moves her gaze to Lain for a moment. Then back. "A'right? 'course, marm, 'course. Nevah been fittah, though I'll need t'work on m'combat a bit. Strange lack o'enemies thah was, out thah." She jerks her head to some location to the left and back of her. Scrambling to cover her lapse in spirit, she turns slightly to include Lain in her line of vision. "an' you, Lain? 'ow've y'been?" She clutches the apple, almost digging her nails into the fruit. Her shoulders sit tensely, bearing the weight of grief and a lack of self-worth.

Looking up sharply, blinking back her surprise, Lain gives a quick glance at Zoe, wondering if the Colonel will answer for her but gives a double-nod instead. A sort of motion for, "I'm okay," supposing that the beast knows exactly how removed she is from silence. Well.

Glancing from Swiftsand to Lain, Zoe quirks a brow somewhat. "Ahh. Lain can't, ah.. well." Zoe coughs lightly, and shrugs. Heh. "Anyway, ah, glad yer doin' well, then... Ah. Well, any time ya want t' get some trainin' in, I'm up t' it.. Need t' get back in shape, aftah everythin'."

Swiftsand blushes an absolute scarlet, if one can see such a color through her pale fur. Her face says 'social idiot' all over it. She barely raises her eyes to Zoe's as she responds. "One o' these days, ah'd be honored, Colonel." She pauses to busily soak a few apples, then continues, hesitantly. "Any updates with th'vermin? Or things goin' similarly?"