Henry had only a few moments to ponder her words before the stampede reached him. The three energetic brats who had latched onto him on the street were the first to reach them, having been certain of his arrival. "Henry! You did bring the short lady! Yay!" This came from Theo, who was now clinging to Henry's side. Behind these three though came four more children near their age - preteens, bubbling over with energy and excitement. Henry had only a moment to twist himself as he was swarmed under children, and he fell over, landing on his side with laughter bubbling out of his throat.

"Easy, easy you little monsters!" He had been holding his fiddle out when he toppled over, and his outstretched arm was now poking through the seven children who were hugging their victim tightly. The kids were talking, babbling over one another in their excitement as they refused to let one another get an opportunity to speak alone. Each one wanted Henry's attention on them, and didn't want to give it up to any of the others.

Except for Theo, who had leapt off of Henry when the older male had fallen over. The boy was now standing close to the dark-skinned girl, and was beaming at her with the kind of grin only children could match. Down the halls, more footsteps were coming, albeit at more sedate paces. Soon enough a range of teens came into view, though there was only one as old as Henry in attendance, all the others were younger by several years. Three looked to be young teens themselves, closer in age to the kids that had swarmed the musician, while two of them looked to be the same age as the teen who had come into town earlier. That teen, Lethro, was not present at the moment. The last two teens looked to be a couple years older than the other.

"Children. That is enough, do be so kind as to allow your brother to regain his feet." The sharp, strident voice barked out a command from one doorway, as the speaker stepped into view. It was clear this was Matilda, an older woman with a shock of stark white hair pulled up into a severe bun on the back of her head. She was leaning, ever so slightly, on a polished metal cane. At her command, the six kids that were still laughing and keeping Henry on the ground rapidly moved off of the brown-haired man, finally allowing him to stand up. He rose, and moved over to the old woman, who peered up at him through half-moon glasses. Henry took her hand and bowed over it, and she studied him for a moment.

"You've grown. I thought you had finished with that, Henry. Now give me a proper hug, you scoundrel." Henry let out a helpless laugh and wrapped his arms around Matilda, who gave him a brief hug back, patting his hip with her cane. Then her eyes swung to the short, dark skinned woman, and they narrowed, measuring the woman. "Who is this then? You haven't gone and gotten some poor girl pregnant, have you?" Her gaze swung back to Henry, who had turned a vivid red.

"N-no! Mother Matilda, no! I met her in town, and the kids invited her along." The old woman harrumphed and turned her attention to the girl again.