Amber had barely finished speaking when Gawain whipped his head around and stared at her so intently that the Half-elf thief's skin crawled. "W-what's with that look...?"
Gawain looked as though he were staring at an alien creature. "Why do you know a druid?"
"Why shouldn't I know a druid?!" Amber planted her hands on her hips, entirely justified. "I'm half an elf, you know—every druidic order in the world originated with the elves. Haven't you heard?"
It would have been one thing if any other pointy-eared elf had said that, but coming from the Disgrace of Elves, it had absolutely no credibility. Gawain looked Amber up and down as she maintained her righteous expression, then finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. "Is it the kind of acquaintance where you stole something from them, they held a grudge, and sent people all over the world to hunt you down?"
"You're insulting my character, I'm telling you!" Amber immediately sprang up like a cat with its fur raised. "How could I possibly get caught stealing?!"
Gawain: "..."
Something about the angle of her rebuttal felt wrong.
Still, despite his verbal doubts, Amber looked so certain that she really did seem to know a druid. She even began introducing him like a merchant hawking wares. "I'm telling you, the guy I know isn't just a druid—he's a scholarly druid, the kind who knows a bit about everything. His order is the legitimate Heart of the Forest, and they're especially skilled at dealing with plants and animals. He's absolutely reliable..."
Gawain finally believed her, but he did not press for details about how Amber had met this mysterious druid, or his name and background. Asking such things now would obviously have been impolite. After listening to Amber's sales pitch, he asked only