She was a wary creature, but seemed friendly enough, and he appreciated that she was willing to give as well as take. Part of him wished, badly, that he had met her before things had gone so sideways within the Woods, that this conversation could be light-hearted and an equal exchange of curiosity. Instead the fear for what had happened to his friends continued to coil in his belly, keeping him from being able to relax as he weighed her words and tried to decide whether he could trust her, and how far.
"I hope not," he agreed with her quietly. "I would very much like to be wrong about it. But I know so little, and with lives possibly at stake it is hard not to rush to assumptions." Lives that he had put at risk by leading them into the forest. Lives that had trusted him, and that he had let down. Lives that would be safe and sound in their homes right now if not for him...
He tilted his head at her confirmation of Ianto's words, but his expression fell a little at hearing that there were no other people in the Woods. No humans, then, and it did narrow down their ambushers to being Fae after all. Though that still didn't rule out different groups of Fae acting independently.
His lips quirked a little at her rhetorical question, and he tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Something that happened recently, in fact," he told her, offering information freely since she had been kind enough to do so for him. "A group of outsiders - Outlanders, they were called - appeared without warning back in Leafchange. Soon after others began to arrive, one or two at a time, but in a fairly steady stream. The native-born met them with a combination of open arms and tolerance... at worst, indifference. And as the Outlanders made their homes alongside those who had lived here originally, they worked together to help and welcome others who came later. I won't pretend that no problems arose, but early on, at least, the newcomers were met with peaceful integration." He gave a slight shrug, offeringEliza a wry smile. "Not that you don't have an excellent point, but we haven't seen a Fae or the world beyond the barrier in three hundred years. We had no idea if things had changed, or how to contact your people without going looking for you."
Her question was a fair one, and he nodded in acknowledgment of it. "Ianto asked the same thing," he admitted wryly. "And the answer is simply: we didn't know what we were seeking. Freedom, mostly. The barrier fell, Frey and Ludo and Safrin were freed... and Rae, Vi, and Mort were no longer lost to us. We had some records of what the world beyond was like before the barrier fell, but no idea how things had changed since then. We were curious, and reaching out the only way we could. We were peaceful explorers - or at least, we were trying to explore, though the Woods kept spitting us back where we started. As it likely would have continued to do, if Ianto hadn't arrived and offered to lead us deeper in... and shortly after that my companions were taken, one by one." He had no idea why he had been spared, only a devouring wyrm of guilt nesting in his guts and raking strips from his heart every time he thought about what his lost friends might be going through.
"Eliza...if it were Fae who took my friends, what would happen to them?" he asked quietly, letting some of his worry seep out in his voice and the bleak blue of his eyes as he watched her.
"I hope not," he agreed with her quietly. "I would very much like to be wrong about it. But I know so little, and with lives possibly at stake it is hard not to rush to assumptions." Lives that he had put at risk by leading them into the forest. Lives that had trusted him, and that he had let down. Lives that would be safe and sound in their homes right now if not for him...
He tilted his head at her confirmation of Ianto's words, but his expression fell a little at hearing that there were no other people in the Woods. No humans, then, and it did narrow down their ambushers to being Fae after all. Though that still didn't rule out different groups of Fae acting independently.
His lips quirked a little at her rhetorical question, and he tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Something that happened recently, in fact," he told her, offering information freely since she had been kind enough to do so for him. "A group of outsiders - Outlanders, they were called - appeared without warning back in Leafchange. Soon after others began to arrive, one or two at a time, but in a fairly steady stream. The native-born met them with a combination of open arms and tolerance... at worst, indifference. And as the Outlanders made their homes alongside those who had lived here originally, they worked together to help and welcome others who came later. I won't pretend that no problems arose, but early on, at least, the newcomers were met with peaceful integration." He gave a slight shrug, offering
Her question was a fair one, and he nodded in acknowledgment of it. "Ianto asked the same thing," he admitted wryly. "And the answer is simply: we didn't know what we were seeking. Freedom, mostly. The barrier fell, Frey and Ludo and Safrin were freed... and Rae, Vi, and Mort were no longer lost to us. We had some records of what the world beyond was like before the barrier fell, but no idea how things had changed since then. We were curious, and reaching out the only way we could. We were peaceful explorers - or at least, we were trying to explore, though the Woods kept spitting us back where we started. As it likely would have continued to do, if Ianto hadn't arrived and offered to lead us deeper in... and shortly after that my companions were taken, one by one." He had no idea why he had been spared, only a devouring wyrm of guilt nesting in his guts and raking strips from his heart every time he thought about what his lost friends might be going through.
"Eliza...if it were Fae who took my friends, what would happen to them?" he asked quietly, letting some of his worry seep out in his voice and the bleak blue of his eyes as he watched her.
