So, one can imagine the alarm Brittlebark and his deer felt when three outsiders, two of which were armed, stumbled across their patrol. In the middle of the forest. Close to their city. Apparently having not been previously intercepted by any other deer warband of any of the other tribes between the forest's border and Whisperwood. Literally the only reason they were probably still alive was because Whirlwind was with them. Whirlwind's odd behaviour and his seemingly desperate attempts to control the conversation and not raise the ire of the chieftain was the only thing preventing the deers' natural xenophobic paranoia from reducing them to bloody remnants for the carrion. Well, that and the new chieftain holding a candle for their idiot of a stag, providing Thorax with just enough energy to qualify for dinner and a show. Didn't change the fact that the only reason any of them was still breathing was because of dumb luck. They were walking a razor's edge this entire time. If any of them did anything to compromise that, the good will they built would instantly evaporate. That made it all the worse when she realized that that was almost exactly what she had done.