There was an odd reverberation to her words as she introduced herself. As I followed after her, my head swiveling around to examine this place, she explained that she'd been here for months. I had to admit, finding out that that.... guardian was one of her... Her what, her people? She didn't actually say what they were beyond her guard dogs, but they at least had the intelligence to determine if an outsider was hostile or not.
So... That one had chased me, making a tremendous amount of noise along the way, but now that I thought about it, the only injury I sustained was from when I tripped over the low wall and hit the ground. Did that mean that thing had been pranking me? It did kind of feel like it almost, all the loud noises, the angry attitude and the chase. But that was assigning human emotions to it, nd I didn't even know if it had any. Better not to go sticking terms to things I didn't understand.
Then we entered what had to be a study, and my jaw dropped. If you ignored the bare walla and just focused on what was in there, the place looked downright cozy. Couches arranged neatly around a small table that was currently covered in writing implements and paper, and along one wall were bookshelves shoved to the brim. From here I could see old, worn out tomes that had obviously seen a lot of use.
Anyone who read this much couldn't be that despicable in my books. So when the... Girl? Woman? I still wasn't sure. When she sat down and offered to take a seat, I gingerly sank down onto one of the couches across from her, a small plume of dust and dirt rising up around me as I did so. If those things were her guards, no wonder people didn't come into this stretch of the woods.
I cleared my throat and inclined my head. "I am by trade an Alchemist, Miss Madison. That is the reason I am here, frankly. I explore around, searching for rare or unusual plants and animals, minerals and the like, trying to find new things that will help expand my repertoire of potions, tonics, salves, etc. This particular region is actually abundant in unusual plants, due to the proximity the forest and the ocean have to each other. Generally woods don't grow up to the water's edge as they do here, so I got a bit... Enthusiastic, about samples. There's just so much here that is rarely seen elsewhere that I couldn't help myself." I coughed and colored a bit in embarrassment. I hadn't meant to go on like that.
