Probably not as surprised as the woman seemed to think - Castyll...well, corruption and big cities went hand in hand it seemed, and plenty of Aurellians had been around that hadn't needed Clovennian help in that department one bit. She'd seen enough to know to keep her nose to the grindstone instead, and if that left her a little spare on the finer points of navigating political pitfalls and the like then so be it.
"And, to be fair, I said we wouldn't muck it up bad enough to stop it." Darrow retorted, small smile belying the sober sentiment, "World's made of sterner stuff than that." And perhaps her tone went a little wistful on the end, momentarily getting distracted by the cool earth beneath her feet again. The wall of cool, unyielding earth that went so far beyond what she could sense...hard not to put a little faith in it. "Think of it...like pebbles I suppose." She called one into her hand without a thought - maybe it said something about her, that she'd willingly use her gift in mixed company, in a stranger's company. Or maybe it just said she'd stopped caring years ago - twisting it around just above her palm, "Easy to move, to gather, to scatter." And down it drops, back to the packed earth at their feet, "Hard to make much of a difference to what's beneath though." She eyed the still pebble for a moment longer, before blinking and shaking her head, giving the other woman a slightly sheepish grin, "Listen to me, going on. More tired than I thought." Which was true enough, she supposed, when she actually took a second to assess.
And the woman's request gave her just the excuse she needed to head back into town anyway. Much as she liked her nighttime walks, she really should be heading home - just to be back at work come dawn. Not that she was complaining, mind, just acknowledging that much later, and she'd be feeling it in the morning.
Moving slowly - as careful as she'd been not to spook the woman earlier, wouldn't do any good to do so now either - she accepted the offered hand, gently pulling it to rest in the crook of her elbow. "Can't rightly say no to that, now can I?"