She replied, slipping back inside to check the couple of cabinets, whether they had old items or were left empty. Aside from a blue-painted pot, they held nothing inside.
"In the cold, too. Um, but I'm used to it, uh-- Where did you travel all the way from? The clans aren't really by anything, so..."
"I'm from the north- Welkinclan, to be exact. We were located on a very high clifftop." He said, reaching his hand up and sculpting an imaginary platform in the air for visualization. "But our clan got sick, very sick. We couldn't grow crops, and the animals had all left to more bountiful areas- and who could blame them?"
Stepping back inside, he began to unpack his cooking supplies from his bag and put them on a counter top. "I lost my wife to a disease that eventually wiped out most of us. My two sons and I decided to leave a few years ago with nothing more than what we could carry."
The name of his former clan wasn't anything familiar to him, but she listened to his tale, regardless. Unfortunate luck was to blame, although likely more than luck as a sole factor. A nightmare that could happen to anyone, and rather quickly, too. Witchling felt for him, but it seemed more out of empathy than mere sympathy.
"How old are they now? Um, this room might be okay for little ones, but not for much older of a family. Oh, of course if they're um, that much older and are a different class or something."
After shutting the doors to cabinets she had rummaged through, she moved over to the small desk, poking around at drawers. A half-empty ink bottle sat in the very back corner, but it had plenty of bamboo and wooden slips for writing. Another drawer down was stuck, the girl's prying left unsuccessful. It seemed to be caught on some fabric, but every time it was pulled upon sounded a high-pitched grating noise.
"Oh, they were taken from me about two years ago. Some smugglers on the path ambushed us and took them, probably a slave caravan. Knocked me out, otherwise I would have died trying to stop them. Sometimes, I wish I had been killed." He said, eyes glazing over with sadness as he stared into nothing. "I don't deserve to ever see them again, I failed them as much as any father possibly could..." Korosu sighed, now taking his hammock out.
Easily, she felt ten times worse for talking, as if she didn't already have a tough time breaking out of her shell to speak freely. Refraining from tugging on the drawer handle again, she instead started to fiddle with her snowflake-shaped pendant dangling off a necklace.
"You can't help that, that's... that's beyond unlucky. There's a chance they're okay, and then there'd be a chance to talk things over with them. Um, what were their names? There's so many wanderers out there, um, stay determined."
"Trevor and Newt. They'd be 16 and 17 by now." He added, smiling slightly to himself. "I'm sure they're alright. They were strong boys. And I'll always be proud of them." Ending on a happier note, he started to hook up his hammock and knock leaves out of the tucks. "What about you? Why aren't you with your family?"
His optimism was unexpected, yet more than welcome. Huntress attempted to remember their names, although she wouldn't likely need to recall them. A hopeful, wishful thought, if nothing else, to be able to recall the names for good reason. Many wanderers traveled through during the summer months, after all.
Mid-thought, his question dragged her away from cementing the names, each disappearing as her face went pale.
"I, um, wasn't family to them. Not really. They saw me more as a pet than anything- if even that- but because I'm not biological to them, uh, well, I prefer this family."
Not the most details, but more than she thought she could explain to him, for someone she had only met a short time ago. Nearly forgetting the task at hand, she immediately went back to trying to help him organize.
He was quiet as he finished setting up. Her answer was strange, but why should she trust him with anything personal? "So far I do. Our leader is quite the character." Sighing with content, he gave her a smile. "Thanks a lot for welcoming me and helping out. It means more than you know. I think I'll take some time alone now to wander about, okay?"
Snowflake straightened herself up, taking a second to brush off her shorts before walking to the door. Sure, she felt comfortable speaking with him, but she had also felt like she might be overstaying her welcome by remaining there any longer. He may or may not have meant it as such, but she took his words as a hint to do so.
"You can hold onto the broom for however long if you need to. Um, see you around, then!"
After flashing a smile, she took her leave, hurrying back to the work she forgot was left unattended.