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Though pleased by your willingness, the chief hedges about the exact nature of his questions.

But you get the impression that he doubts the fidelity of someone he knows. Who could it be? One of the River People? Someone from a rival tribe? You don't know enough about this place even to venture a guess.

The River People's three worthies converse among themselves too quickly for you to follow, then Vecla seems to remember your presence. She tells you to take in the open air to speed your healing. The tiny herbalist wiggles away from her porter, the scarred man named Losh. She lands on a basket near the screen door and you are finally able to see more of her than her small golden face.

You had expected some kind of little person, perhaps with a birth defect. But Vecla appears to be…a worm.

"Don't ask me," Stralchus mutters, slipping out past the herbalist.

Vecla's body is small, pale, and grub-like, with two soft gripping appendages instead of hands. Her face is golden with black eyes and spiky black hair; her features are different from the other River People, but you have no idea what she actually is. The herbalist manages a little shrug, as if to make it clear she does not know either, then gestures again for you to step out into the village.

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