Pleased to see she's helped at least a smidge, Vaya sat back on her heels to focus again on the pressing issue: the potential threat she'd fed. While he answered, she scrutinized his expression, searched for honesty in his words. She tried looking into his eyes, the same way she did when she was trying to tell if Faust was fibbing or not, but a pang of a headache distracted her and she found herself dizzy.
Buona let out a laugh, "You've stumbled upon our grove running away from your former fling?"
Sumie was less amused, grumbling a string of curses as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Reaching out to steady Vaya, Aslit let out a concerned hum. She patted his hand and took his arm to stand again. "I think our stranger here is telling the truth," she told the man at her side. Cautious as he may be, he would always take Vaya's word as law, especially when she would blinking as sweetly as she did. If this was a tactical move on her part, no one would accuse her but Sumie, who was just as powerless against it.
"And I think he's too lanky to carry and I'd rather decide what to do with him now before he's dead weight," Nana pointed out, despite Sumie's wail that it shouldn't be a decision in the first place, have you all gone mad-
The argument was over just before it could reignite the moment the owl perched nearby stepped onto the forest floor as another woman, stern in all of her features, and commanding in her very presence. She did not spare Puck a glance and instead directed the others with a few flicks of her hand to shoo away errant feathers.
"Sumie, you see about the wards. If you think there's a breach, I'd rather you address the issue than gripe."
"Run along before another stray makes his way in. Aslit, you be a good boy and keep that sword no less than a foot from his neck at any given moment. Nana, Vaya, help the man to the house."
She whistled and, from the woods, two more hexbloods emerged in the blink of an eye, torn between standing at attention and gawking at the newcomer. "Lucia, you run home and tell Yevriel of our guest. Faust is to stay in her room. Barricade the door if you must."
"And you know she'll still find a way through," Battista mumbled, earning a snicker and a punch in the arm from Lucia.
"Battista, you go help Sumie and make sure she doesn't come back with that hot head of hers." The siblings steal their last glances over their shoulders at Puck before scampering off in their respective directions.
Already, Buona was tinkering with the trap while Vaya reached out to trace another minor healing spell over Puck's head-keeping him just handicapped enough for safety, of course, but he was rather lanky and it would be difficult to carry him entirely.
Heilwig turned on the stranger last, not bothering to crouch to his level, looking down the bridge of her nose at him. She looked as though she had any number of threats she could toss, but she merely sighed and turned heel to let the others help him up, "Don't do anything silly. And be sure to say thank you to my girls if you make it."
