Despite what Ridahne had said, she wasn't much of a sleeping in person. For years she had trained her body to wake early and typically that's what she did. This morning was different, however, and for once the elf actually slept in a little. Not terribly late, but later than usual. It felt good, especially after so long on the road and the events of the night before. Not to mention she really didn't get much sleep the night the two idiot horse thieves found them. It felt wonderful just to sleep without any worry. Eventually she did rise, and, still wearing her more traditional clothes she came down for a bit of breakfast. After eating, Ridahne went to go check on her animals. She had no doubt that they were well taken care of if not outright spoiled, but she learned long ago that animal partnership was not just about meeting basic needs. That was the first step, but it was important to connect to them on a personal level. She found Tsura chewing on some hay in the shade of a little open barn.

[I]"Getting nice and fat, are we?"[/I] She teased in Azurian. The horse simply snorted and kept eating, so she combed through his black mane with her slim fingers. It was already very smooth and brushed, but she enjoyed the feel of his coat on her fingertips anyway. She took the opportunity to check his iron shoes and the health of his hooves too, as they had been on the road a long time and crossed all kinds of terrain. There would be more to come. Mitaja she found rolling in some cool grass not far from the farmhouse, pleased to be basking in the sun and also sleeping in late. 

After that she wasn't sure what to do. She didn't see either Darin or Talbot but had no worry for them, not here, so she didn't pay that much mind. It felt strange to just stand there while all these people, who had shown her such excellent hospitality, were hard at work. But she looked over at the group of people pulling certain plants out of the ground and tossing them in wheel barrows, but they left others alone. The practice had a name, she knew...but what was it? In the region of Atakhara where she was from, the land was completely arid and sandy and outright terrible for growing anything but extremely hardy palm trees. And water was a commodity so no one in her village ever farmed, or at least not in the sense of working the soil. There was lots of livestock that was fed on hay or grain purchased from the northwest or brought in trade from the sea. 

She walked up to a human man and asked, "What is it called, this thing you are doing?"
If he thought her question odd or naive, he made no sign of it. "Weeding," he said simply.
"Oh. Wee-ding. What is its purpose..?"
"There are some plants that spring up and grow very thick very fast. They can steal nutrients, water, and sunlight from the crops, so it's best to pull them out."
Ridahne nodded. "I see." And, meaning to help she said, "Like this?" But she reached down and curled her fingers around the base of a plant and pulled, and out popped a kind of squiggly, stringy little orange root that was not yet finished growing. Ridahne cringed. "Not those plants, I see...sorry..." and then a little awkwardly tried to plant it back into the soil. "I'll um...just leave you to it..." She offered, and backed away. They must know a lot about what plants look like what to know which to pull out and which to leave alone, she thought. She knew which ones would be useful in the wild and could identify those, but outside of that her knowledge of flora this far north was poor.

But then she heard a familiar sound, a rhythmic [I]whack-thud[/I] sound that she knew at once. She found an Orosi woman with skin even darker than Ridahne's and short wooly hair cut neat and close to her scalp swinging an axe and making her way through a pile of logs to split. Ridahne approached her. "Do you have another axe?"
The woman smiled. "Yes, in the shed there. But don't feel like you have to join in the work. You have a long road ahead of you, Guardian." 
Ridahne bowed slightly. "Nevertheless I will show thanks to my host with my hands." She went to fetch an axe and began splitting wood with the woman, stacking the firewood on a small cart. This was what she was doing when Darin returned with the hawk. 

Ridahne saw her approach and set down the axe to go and meet her. At first she was looking at the hawk, but then she looked up to Darin's cut face and her eyes lingered there for a moment. She did not cluck over her like a worried mother, but there was an odd expression on her own face, and for a moment she actually shivered a little before forcing her eyes away from the cut and back to the hawk.

"Oh, what've we got here?" She cooed softly to the bird. She could see the way it held one wing and knew it was hurt; for a lot of birds, that spelled death unless someone intervened. But she had no doubts it would be taken care of. She spoke softly to it in Azurian, telling it that it was in good hands and was a handsome bird, and other such compliments. She looked up at Darin, though she pointedly looked into her eyes and not at her bleeding cheek. "Are you going to leave him in their care or bring him with you? Hawks are good partners if you befriend one. I assume this one tried to fight you a bit...? When you get him settled, there's a wooden container of salve in my saddlebags. You should put some on that cut."