Claire let out a heavy sigh of relief as her companion suggested a new topic for them to discuss. Feeling herself beginning to dry, Claire took another drink of the water, a good deal more than the sip she had taken before. As she spoke, the green skinned woman brushed away the discarded thorns from her skirt, smoothing out the fabric as she did. "Well, when my brother and I were children, we ran away from home. Our father was abusive, you see, and we figured that we could survive better without his constant misuse. My brother was a decent hunter, and he kept us alive. I knew magic, but that only aided us if and when we were attacked; I was more or less useless at hunting. Going from place to place, we performed menial tasks for coin, though we really needed no money to survive. With the money, we instead bought supplies so that we could make our way here to La'Marri where we knew we would be safe. That was when I got my first book of the healing arts. I fell in love with it and decided that was going to be my profession."
Here Claire stopped, smiling and gesturing over to a corner of the room, where a well worn book stood on a pedestal, like a place of honor. "We made the treacherous journey on foot. We had to, no one wanted sickly looking green children on their caravan. It was a pretty long journey, but I was glad to have my brother there. We finally arrived and, finding a spot of land that no one else had laid claim to, we set out to build ourselves a home. Brother, when I asked him, had been more than happy to make the place larger, so that it could accommodate patients if I ever received them. And after a while, I did. They came at first only one or two at a time, and didn't stay very long. They saw that I was... inexperienced, and risked finding a more competent medic."
Pausing again, Claire once again took up the water jug, this time taking a rather large gulp of the liquid. Remembering that she needed to leave some for her guest, Claire quickly put the container down and wiped her mouth. "Apologies. I seem to be drier than I usually am this time of day." She reasoned that it was because she had not been allowed to drink the water she had taken with her to the clearing, but she wasn't about to tell Alicia that. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, of course. Well, to cut a boringly long story short, some twelve odd years ago, I was caring for a severely wounded man. He was almost ready to leave when, unfortunately, the men who had been the ones to cause his injuries arrived. My brother fought them as long as he could, but in th end both my brother and my patient were dead. I was distraught, and then the men set fire to my home. I lost it, for lack of a better term. Some of the men escaped, but the ones that didn't. I buried them all in the clearing next to my brother. It was, after all, the right thing to do. It took me three years of hard labor, but I eventually rebuilt my home the way you see it now."
As Claire finished her tale, she seemed more relaxed. She seemed used to telling that particular story, but nothing about her appeared upset or pained. "Sorry if my story is kind of depressing. I look at it this way. If my life wasn't the way it was, I wouldn't be here today. My brother's death, though difficult, helped me learn to do things for myself. I would have never learned that lesson if he were still around."
