She had taken off the earrings. Now was not the time to be training herself not to be expressive with her ears. In order to do that, she had to be in control of herself. Right now, Ashira was anything but. Ever since she had come back from that hunting trip to find that Brand wasn't there, her ears and been twitching constantly. Switching back and forth between emotions faster than she could understand them. Grief, guilt, anger, frustration, confusion. It was far worse than the mood swings she suffered due to her body's child making capabilities. Once Ashira would have walked through the Nightwood with confidence and a head held high. Now she stared down at the ground, allowing her long black locks to cover her face.

Despite the fact that she was looking down the entire time, her body weaved naturally through the trees, not bumping into anything or tripping even once. If it had been any other time, she would have been in the trees, leaping from branch to branch. But she had neither the energy or the desire to do so. This place was her home and she loved it more than anything, but right now every tree, every plant, every creature, just mocked her for what had happened. She had been there, she could have done something, anything. Offered him support from the trees, fought by his side to the bitter end, at least been there when he died. But instead she had been sent out on some stupid hunting trip. For once she was glad her siblings had all left. Because right now she didn't think she could face any of them.

When she got to the edge of the Nightwood, Ashira paused and finally looked up from the ground. Steeling herself, she put on a brave face. A request for herbs had come in from the owner of the tavern known as the Scuffed Boots. Without Brand here to fill the request, it was just up to her. After taking another moment, Ashira left the Nightwood and headed into town, striding past the guards outside without so much as looking at them. They all knew who she was of course, she had been here most of her life after all. So even in the dark like this, they didn't stop her. Thankfully the Scuffed Boots wasn't too far away, Ashira preferred to stay in the Nightwood than head into town, so it only took a few minutes to get there.

When she entered the tavern, Ashira didn't even so much as glance at the patrons. She really didn't feel like dealing with drunken men and their poor attempts at flirting right now. Instead she made straight for the bar, where the tavern's owner was, ready to serve up drinks to any who came inside. Placing the pouch filled with herbs on the bar, there was a short conversation before the owner took the herbs and went to the back. Ashira, like Brand before her, wasn't going to accept money as payment. Instead the owner offered to give her a free drink. Hot cider, the none alcoholic kind of course, as Ashira wasn't much of a drinker. As much as she wanted to get out of here, she took him up on the offer, a warm drink would do her some good right now.