Aeotha barely had time to breath before Skandra snatched the quarrel out of the air, Aeotha finished that gasp and one lone tear ran down her cheek before the footfalls and sudden arms of a woman were slung around her legs. Aeotha wavered there for a moment, face pale, mouth dry, and eyes wide. It had happened so fast. Her hands came down instinctively and both hands rested on the woman's head even as she sat down. Out of Aeotha's mouth came a strangled sort of prayer, one that seemed to calm the children as much as the woman there. But the ease was only there for a moment, all of them were still frightened when she finished because Skandra was asking her what she wanted to do with them.
"You're already forgiven."
Aeotha didn't know what she wanted to do with any of this. Were they real? The elven woman felt real enough, Aeotha dropped down to her knees there in front of them and reached out a hand to reach child. She set her hands on their shoulders and looked the woman in the eye. She could not tell the difference, but she did not know this woman so it could not simply be her imagination playing tricks on her. For one brief moment Aeotha had thought it was her mother and her two brothers when they were so young. One moment. They were not them.
They didn't even look remotely like them.
"I want to help you." She whispered, her eyes shining then. She hadn't known what she'd find here, or if everyone would be dead. But here, they were alive. Three of them. Two of them children. Aeotha thought of unshouldering her pack and giving them all the contents, but she could not move. They could not be figments of her imagination.
"But I need to know what happened to your village. To your home.. and how long you've been here. What have you seen?" She chose her words carefully. She did not want to ask how many were dead, or dying. Such thoughts could be so jarring and could keep one from speaking for weeks. "And your names.. I'd like to know your names."