The matriarch nodded her head, the hair flowing about her like a waterfall, moving as if alive on it's own.  "Truthfully, one could step in a mole hill while looking at the mountains in the distance.  I fear that your news of the demon's proximity has awakened an emotion I have not truly felt in many decades, if not centuries.  I fear for my people.  So too do I wonder, I am the last of my kind who remembers the forests of my youth.  My goddess has said that our villiage and people would be returned 'home,' but for all save me, what is home other than this villiage?  For everyone else going back to the forests of the long night would mean a new and strange world, not a home."<br/><br/>She shook her head, "I prattle on, forgive a very old woman.  I had entertained the thought of inviting you to my bed, but I think maybe that time has passed.  Too many things need to be done, and you are not ageless and need far more rest than my people.  You should rest well and make sure that you are prepared for the coming conflict, for I think neither of us know when it might be.  But you should make the most of your time, for we both know not when the time will come."<br/><br/>It seemed like a dismissal, and yet, she made no move to stand or see him off.  It was as if she knew that it would be best to let him go, yet was loathe too.