It had been quite some time since he'd ventured this way. Not since the march towards Dunmeath at least by the vast army, numbers vastly reduced by the time they returned in scattered dregs and many not making the sojourn back at all. It seemed like the funeral processions had lasted forever, the city a mass sea of black mourning and faces dry of tears were few and far between. Like a non gaunt one was now. Thankfully he'd amassed, scraped and saved enough coin to be able to afford food for himself and to still pay his assisstant a livable wage in these trying times, but those stores wouldn't last forever, and his kindness was going to have to become somewhat limited again. After all, he didn't want to have to go back to his previous career. While lucrative, certainly, he didn't want to bloody his hands further. He'd left that life  - largely - behind. He hadn't even seen Hui in awhile to come and collect any manner of 'favors' either.

His eyes caught on motion above him, his ears twitching faintly as they tilted in better observation of his surroundings. The flap of the straw satchel would close, looped through the leather throng to contain his gathered herbs. Despite his hired help's insistance, he'd wandered out today instead to do the gathering, finding a need to stretch his legs through something other than the cobbled streets.

A familiar scent bittered the air with its presence, one he recognized well. He would straighten, rolling his shoulders to relinquish the tension built from crouching so close to the soil. One hand rose, rubbing over the back of his neck as he made the small hike up the mossy knoll to better perceive the stranger perched on the over arching log. Only to see them pouring the liquid from their seat and into the open air below. "Decide you aren't thirsty after all, friend?" The rasping gravel of his intonation would reach out, while not overly loud, he hoped to be heard over the bauble of the merry stream as it danced over the rocks.