They walked back from the farmland without speaking much.
Vera had been quiet through the whole visit, walking slightly behind Darion and Seren, looking at things without commenting on them. She examined the dead animals, the trampled soil, and the burned houses visible beyond the wall. She took it all in without visible reaction, just cataloguing.
Halfway back to the castle she spoke.
"I'll help you," she said.
Darion looked at her.
"I came here expecting to see progress," she continued. "A recovering barony, farmland being restored, evidence that what you told me was true and not just what a desperate man needed me to believe." She paused. "I saw it. Not the way I expected to see it… but I saw it."
"The destruction proves it," Darion said.
