He recognized the name 'Vanya' from the list of the Long Night lost, but he hadn't realized that she was Ronin's wife - and therefore Aoife's mother - until the captain stumbled over her name. Blue eyes softened for a moment, and any witty quip Jigano might have made was swallowed back as he merely nodded acknowledgment of his guest's loss.
The next question, however, was one he was more prepared for, and he chuckled at Ronin's smirk. "It's an odd thing," he explained. "A living thing, somehow, in a way that is difficult to describe, but easy to experience. It doesn't care for intruders - and specifically intruders from within the Hollowed Grounds." He shrugged, tapping his mug lightly with a nail filed short. "Although most of us Outlanders were dropped in here thanks to the Voice, it seems some may have been deposited outside the barrier somehow. How many and where they might have ended up, we don't know yet. But I have met one, a man calling himself 'Ianto,' who claimed to be from Northhaven, and who is able to travel the forest with apparent ease. It is apparently a matter of intention," he added, glancing aside to the little ones as the ball went flying from a smack of paw or tail, eliciting a fresh bout of happy sounds from the playful pair. "The woods can sense your desire to go somewhere, and the harder you wish to be there, the sooner you get turned right back around to where you started."
The next question, however, was one he was more prepared for, and he chuckled at Ronin's smirk. "It's an odd thing," he explained. "A living thing, somehow, in a way that is difficult to describe, but easy to experience. It doesn't care for intruders - and specifically intruders from within the Hollowed Grounds." He shrugged, tapping his mug lightly with a nail filed short. "Although most of us Outlanders were dropped in here thanks to the Voice, it seems some may have been deposited outside the barrier somehow. How many and where they might have ended up, we don't know yet. But I have met one, a man calling himself 'Ianto,' who claimed to be from Northhaven, and who is able to travel the forest with apparent ease. It is apparently a matter of intention," he added, glancing aside to the little ones as the ball went flying from a smack of paw or tail, eliciting a fresh bout of happy sounds from the playful pair. "The woods can sense your desire to go somewhere, and the harder you wish to be there, the sooner you get turned right back around to where you started."
