Looking disgruntled at the comment would require Vervain was gruntled in the first place--but all he's got at the moment is a vexed bewilderment.

"No--" His tone's polite enough for all that; Gram'd expect as much. "Only I'd not been asking anyone in particular."

Given the reception or lack thereof, he probably ought to shut his mouth there; but curiosity, as ever, gets the better of him. "What's happened?" he asks in an undertone, head angled in roughly Ben's direction.