Having the couple as part of their group filled Ellie with a strange sense of unrest. Throughout the day, she caught herself looking back over her shoulder to them and paid little attention to the few informational remarks Aaron made. Those had become few and far, after having spent over two years under his guidance, and he was a rather quiet traveling companion. Usually, that tended to bother Ellie and she would spend her time trying to bait some reaction from him: An annoyed glance, a scoff, a sigh, a raised corner of his mouth or perhaps even his loud laugh song and myth spoke of... at least she had never heard it in person. She was never quite sure whether he was annoyed with her talking and being more cheerful than him. He seemed genuinely pleased with the progress she had made in matters of survival but she couldn't shake the feeling he would have preferred to leave town on his own more than once, even though he never openly said so.

But at least this time, he didn't have to worry about her talking too much. Slavers, especially Dannette's group, were no laughing matter. Even in what little time she had spent in Silvershaw she had only ever heard people talk about them in hushed whispers that they usually reserved for particularly brutal murderers and Supermutants, which didn't speak for their moral integrity. Slavers, that much she had gathered, were bad news and as upbeat as she tried to be, everybody around her seemed just as melancholic about the prospect of fighting some of the worst this area had to offer. And as if to add insult to injury, the couple and their quest to recover their son reminded Ellie all too much of her own loss, turning an already solemn journey into thoughtful, almost depressing exercise. The only things that bothered her while she wallowed in memories were the occasional rock to stumble over and a nagging, all too familiar headache that was starting to creep up on her towards the evening...

As they gathered near the ancient ticket office, Duela presented them with their options. There weren't many to speak of and none of them sounded very appealing, if Ellie was being honest. Perhaps that was why the woman who was even quieter than Aaron, Lux, decided that she would go ahead and scout the area. Aaron almost immediately stepped forward to declare his agreement and to follow her.

"I'll go as-", Ellie was about to do the same when the Supermutant stood up - Ellie hadn't even noticed that he had sat down, since he still towered them all - and stood in their way. His voice was loud, gravelly and commanding. Yes, perhaps he wasn't very eloquent but what he said wasn't stupid. People had kept telling her, whenever Supermutants were mentioned, that they were incredibly big, incredibly strong, incredibly aggressive and incredibly stupid. She wondered how much of that was reliable information.

She slowly stepped forward, sensing some tension in the people in front of her, to stand next to and, since she was smaller than him, even a little in front of Aaron, to gather McTavish's attention.
"Worry not, Gentle Giant", she said, a genuine smile on her face - she knew she had heard that in one of her dad's stories but she couldn't remember which - doing her best to not let any doubt or fear show but only curiosity and a friendly attitude. "We need to find out more about them. Making a decision right now doesn't do us any good if it's not based on information."

Ellie turned her head towards Duela and the others. 
"For what it's worth, I'd much rather stay unnoticed as long as possible - I don't like the idea of them being aware of somebody coming into their midst, at least not if we can avoid it."

She turned back towards McTavish.
"But you have to let us pass to find out if that's an option to begin with. Don't you agree?"