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Andarien blinked, and his whole demeanor changed instantly. "Really?" he asked, looking at Shoneah curiously.

Shoneah nodded and smiled. "Yes. I was hoping to ask you about that, actually. I will need metalworking tools to make my bullets and care for my pistols, and I was hoping that I could use them, if that's all right with you."

Andarien was grinning widely. "Yeah ... yeah, I think that'd be okay. You do metalworking, then?"

Shoneah arched one eyebrow and glanced at Miyuki before turning back to Andarien. "Yes ... some. My da is the real smith."

Andarien leaned over and picked up his katana, sheathing it quickly before turning towards the girls again.

"All right, off we go!" he said cheerfully. He started leading the way back to the tents.

Shoneah let him get a bit ahead of them and then stepped close to Miyuki. "Forgive me if this is out of line," she said, keeping her voice low, "but is he a bit ... off?"

She looked at Miyuki, her brow furrowed anxiously.

Shoneah's brow furrowed deeper, but she shrugged and followed after Andarien without further comment.

It seemed like more than just social trouble to her. To go from furious and writhing in pain to bright and cheerful in the space of a few seconds wasn't social trouble. That was just strangeness.

Shoneah spent a bit of time with Andarien, then had a chat with Wren before spending some time on her own. She wanted to speak with Eron, but unfortunately the opportunity didn't arise until that evening, after dinner, when most people retired to their tents for the night.

She saw him sitting near the fire and moved to sit next to him. Her own clothes had dried during the day, and she was once again dressed in them, and finally comfortable.

"Hi," she murmured, smiling at Eron as she sat beside him. "Up for a talk?"

"Well, it's nice to have a good night's sleep," Shoneah smiled at him. She was glad he was open for a chat. She still wasn't comfortable with most of the people they were now with, and though she hadn't known Eron long either, he was the closest thing she had to a friend here.

"So what do you think of all this?" she asked him, looking around at the tents around them. "I mean ... a large group now, and ... very ... um ..."

She struggled to think of a word that could accurately describe the way she was feeling. Some of the people here were about what she might have expected, if she thought about it, but there were others who ... well ..

"It is," Shoneah smiled sheepishly. "Some more than others. Miyuki was lovely to talk to, she's got so much information about this world. Her brother, though ..."

She trailed off and smiled faintly. "You're sharing a tent with him. Have you spent much time with him yet?"

Shoneah rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and sighed. "Yeah ... he sure has a lot of them."

She frowned suddenly, her brow furrowing slightly. "Did he ... seem ... I don't know, a bit ... off to you? Like ... a child in an adult's body?"

It had been bothering her all day, and she didn't know what to make of it or how to react to it.

Shoneah nodded thoughtfully. "In some things he is ... very mature," she murmured. "He ... I will admit, he is brilliant in his skill with tinkering, but ... in some ways ... I mean, today Miyuki and I went to find him, and he had been in a lesson with Kaito ... Kaito was teaching him about pressure points, and rather than explaining anything he just inflicted pain on Andarien. Andarien was furious, and rightly so - positively writhing with pain. Yet the moment Miyuki mentioned I was hoping to borrow his tools, it was as if ... as if the incident had never taken place. Like throwing a dog a bone to make it forget that just a moment before, you were kicking it or throwing rocks at it."

She looked at Eron, genuinely confused. "I have never seen anyone like that before. Is that ... I mean, are there people who are like that? It's a bit ... creepy, if I may be honest."