The young woman was not the only one making a mental note of the local flora. Crux was taking some of his time away from Triss to start getting a good idea of the lay of the land and figuring out what herbs might be useful to replace the ones he was more used to. It was a sort of culture shock really. Crux had lived his whole life up until only a few months ago in a place where herbs were much less common and he was almost overwhelmed by the abundance of options. Even though many were actually unfamiliar to him. He frowned, lowering himself to furrow his brow at a clump of plants he didn't recognize.
Crux considered himself a pretty skilled healer at this point. Not talented, no, but when push came to shove he tended to drop into the zone and could handle most things he'd been thrown this far. So he wasn't exactly happy to realize he would need to seek the advice of someone more familiar with the local flora. He'd worked hard to feel even a little confident in his abilities and it felt like that work was slipping away right in front of him. He at the very least wanted to find what could be used for pain management, infection and coagulation...
It was these thoughts, and the heavy masking effect of the mists he was very much not used to yet that meant he didn't really notice another wolf getting close until she practically tripped over him. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't been prepared and the sudden weight and his already compromised balance saw him stumbling as he scrambled to stay on his paws. He was only partially successful, his hind legs splaying out from under him. His cuffed leg on full display before he could awkwardly try to tuck it under himself and protect what pride he had left by at least not sitting like a wolf with a bad leg... Which by point of fact would have been accurate but annoyed him nonetheless.
Crux blinked at the younger wolf, taking a moment to catch his breath and then really looking at her. He flashed a nervous smile and shook his head, old habits kicking in almost immediately. Protect himself, protect himself by appeasing. "It's okay." Crux was trying to sound friendly but it came out much more awkwardly than that. He hadn't really grown out of the awkward teenage phase, at least when it came to his social skills around strangers. "This mist make it pretty easy to bump into each other." It was strange... The pressure of his family's reputation was lessened here and yet so too was the protection it had brought. Here he was just a young wolf with a bad leg, to many he knew that made him seem weaker, easier to push around, worthy of their hatred... Here he was more vulnerable than he'd felt in a very long time. Trying to save whatever face he had left he gave her another smile. "I'm uh, Crux. Sorry I haven't gotten a chance to introduce myself to many others here yet." Because Triss had dragged him off basically the moment they were free to do so after the founding meeting.
