Seems they've put themselves in a good position to test that theory.

They have...

Want to take the lead at the next tavern?

Sure.

It marks a local crossroads, not too large. Mostly servicing farmers in the surrounding area, the occasional peddler or merchant, a few other miscellaneous itinerants.

They've already figured out clothes that don't stand out too much for two travelers around here, though their faces are a bit odd - but that can't be helped.

She observes people for a bit - listens - but gets itchy after too long, and sets to asking someone who looks friendly for gossip about the road ahead.

Word is there's bears about, tracks been seen on a couple farms and all. And that big storm last week, best watch for fallen trees on the road. Then of course there's them seafolk from that fancy new port city. No telling what plans they've got next.

- Has there been trouble over in that direction?

(She asks, after a few mental attempts to reword.)

Eh. He doesn't personally know anyone who lived there before, but the only people who live there now is them. And the traders keep coming back with all this funny money. How can you trust it?

(Serious nodding, and an open expression, and body language that makes him feel heard.) What happened to the people who used to live there?

Big shrug. Who knows? Moved out, taken across the ocean, conscripted as a workforce to build the seafolk city... No way to tell, really.

...Do people just - vanish?

It's not like anyone's running around the countryside counting heads.

...Where did she say she was from, again?

- Out east. She's...

(Awkward shrug.)

((Nyarie has met women running away from something at home. She knows how they look when they're evading questions.))

((She's also not the best liar, but.))

She's traveling.

Suspicious squinting.

"I might avoid going that way, either way. It doesn't sound like - there's a real community."

Grunt. "Can't trust those foreigners at all."

"At least not from out that way."

"Nope."

(That seems like about all the information she's going to get out of this one.)

She'll keep being lightly friendly, but she'll let the conversation drift to a close, and stick to innocuous topics with others she talks to that night (though she still listens...).

Not too bad, for a first try.

She thinks she did okay. (...And she learned a good bit.)

That's the important thing.

And she didn't totally blow their cover!

The other important thing. (They're still in a position where they can recover (heh) from that, anyway.)