She listened to his tale, if it could be called such when so sparse in details and nodded at the appropriate moments. It had the feel of something more complex than he was saying, as if he were editing out parts as he went. But she didn’t press, it wasn’t her way and she found herself pondering what his pale face must have looked like seven years ago. She could just picture the scene as he was rescued. Did he burn in the sun as his pallor suggested he would? Was that part of his trials in the woods? She pictured him as he must have looked wandering all mud-spattered into the town in the escort of some salt of the earth folk. A skinny scholarly kid in university robes. She could just see him, all limb and joint with just the barest hint of scruff on his chin. Studying until the wee hours, bent over his work, staring at those scrawling black symbols that meant everything to those in the know and nothing to one such as her. 

She had observed that students in the university typical fell into two categories, the over-privileged youth who squandered funds and learning like it was sand, of limitless supply. Typically debauched in all ways possible. The other sort, quiet and studious, little ghosts in their black robes. She grinned at his ink-stained fingers and congratulated herself on squaring him away so neatly. She took a quick swig from her flask to celebrate.

But he seemed less comfortable in the silence of the forest, if a forest could ever be silent. But the common sounds of the wood seemed to bring him no comfort and she wrinkled her nose trying to think of something to ask that wasn’t prying.

“So you’ve known Charles that long have you? That is the Charles we met at the Church isn’t it?”

She scratched at her head and wrinkled her nose at the bit of loose hair she felt, must have been caught in a low lying branch and pulled at some point, she’d have to fix it when they stopped. 

“Did you meet at university?” she added with a smile in her voice just to further cement her mental image.