[quote="Kerrick Helmsworth"] "Ara was his wife? I apologize for bearing even more bad news, but she...suffered from the same affliction." Kerrick bows his head for a moment of silence. [/quote]
The man looks horrified, then confused, "She...did? Your pardon, M'lord, but...she seemed untouched by Ned's affliction. She was a simple woman - loved her husband and children, mind - and did not seem as changed as him..."
[quote="Kerrick Helmsworth"] "You say his children were missing? Do you know when they disappeared? Enough tragedy has struck this family already; if it is possible, I would like to be able to at least return his heirs to the family business." [/quote]
The man wipes at his eyes with the rough fabric of his sleeve, sniffling, "Yes...yes. They...left, I suppose...a bit more than a week ago. They were not so young as they couldn't leave, Edmund nearly a man, though none saw them go. It's like the others; gone, and none see them leave," the look in the man's eyes is a haunted one, "but all are left to wonder: who's next?"
He looks to the sun for a moment, then says, "I should best be off, M'lord. My missus would no doubt wish to hear news of Ara. And I'd as soon be behind doors after sunset."
He hesitates for a moment, as if waiting for Kerrick to say something more, then turns and heads back up the street the way he came.