To anybody else, she thinks, we must look quite the contrasting pair, if not a little ridiculous. He was breathing in relief and letting himself unfurl from whatever tension he had been carrying, while Sila was seemingly fighting some grand battle beneath her very own skin. Is there a name for it? she can’t help but ponder. Exposure therapy, maybe. Years ago, her mother had stressed the importance of introducing children to fear and worry in healthy doses, allowing them to fight off the negative associations one step at a time. In a way, she’s doing that. Facing him, speaking with him, letting her eyes explore both he and the world around him. In the few minutes in his company, she was quick to decide that she likely could not have hoped to meet a better stranger to train the fear out of her today.
It feels like a very long time but in truth, it is only seconds before she finds herself able to finally breathe her own sigh of relief as he chuckles. She grins, this time a little less nervously, more earnestly so. "I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do think it may have been a bath that got you into this sorry state to begin with,” she jabs back with a cocked brow and a lopsided grin. Ah! It does feel good to not have to speak so...properly. She wonders how long it has been since she was even able to make a...joke. At least, she thinks it was a joke – a joke wrapped in truth. Oh...she feels it again, that little spike of anxiety in her stomach. Worrying over words..."But you’re in luck this time, at least!” She cuts off the feeling easily enough, rushing to her words with a sweeping wave of her tail – hopefully he wasn’t able to notice the passing insecurity over her face. "If we – uh, you? - head just a little further inland to meet the river, it becomes pure spring water towards the north.” She doesn’t want to intrude after all, even if some part of her can’t help but desire the company, and desire the duty of ensuring he actually was okay despite his own once-over.
She’s thankful for his name then, making her feel less a stranger and much less intrusive. Why, she might even ask to come if he does go that way. After all, she needs to head north too eventually, and why not with some company and a sense of duty? This time, the grin is completely real as she straightens up and gives him a little bow, as customary of many pack-wolves of Moladion. "It‘s a pleasure, Arkin. I’m Sila myself, and many call this Aplos River. However, it is but part of the larger Moladion, which stretches far north into the Lumira tundra, east to the packs of Diveen and Glorall and west to the mountain ranges of Spirane,” she motions to each direction with a small tilt of her muzzle before she pauses and grins sheepishly. "I don’t need to remind you what lay south, I’m sure.” But the words alone make her blink again, a little taken aback by her realization as her ears give a flicker. She was only just thinking about it, wasn’t she? How he came to be here? Well, if she was feeling so...brave, she might as well. "Speaking of the south. Arkin...you arrived nearby, didn’t you? Or you would know at least some of the names and places of this area. All that lays south is the sea...How did you...?” She isn’t able to fully articulate the question, suddenly frowning as she thinks of the real possibilities. If he were washed in, where did he come from? Was there land further south, beyond the water, just as Glorall’s island was? Or was he moved along the shoreline, from the far west? Or east, even? It fascinates her, and she cannot help but find herself staring at him with bewilderment and awe, suddenly aware that he was more than just a stranger but a real, fully formed wolf with a name and history.