Alvi is intelligent enough to recognize when he is being addressed, and so as Vervain speaks at him, he peers right back down at the priest and appears unmoved. For the foreseeable future, this is where he will remain.

"Let him sulk," Tuo tells Verain wryly, "he will be delighted by those acorns on the morrow," but his eyes discreetly follow Dain as he moves around the vicar's office carefully collecting those feathers. Unless Dain should look his way, of course, at which point Tuo's attention is reserved exclusively for the blind priest before him.

"Nothing's the matter with your wagon, is it, Tuo?"

"No, no--damp got into the firewood. My own carelessness, unfortunately." He does his best, for the moment, not to let his sudden anxiety about his little home creep into his voice. Should the wrong set of eyes catch a glimpse of the engravings on the wood panels... well.