Verdandi had only managed to further how lost she was within the past 48 hours, however the fae hadn't a care in the world for that now. She'd caught a wiff of an unmistakable scent, one she was all too familiar with, and she was not going to lose it by attempting to craft some sort of mind map of her steps as she chased after it. Not when there was treasure on the line.

Stopping dead in her tracks, the young Archer lifted her head to carefully observe her surroundings. The perfume was almost overpowering now as it wafted through the gentle breeze and into her nostrils. "Ick." she proclaimed, involuntarily squinting as her head swiveled to each and every tree. Too bad she hadn't really paid much attention to the changing of the seasons sooner, could of had a one-up on the pesky fella. "You're smart, I dont doubt that. But I know you're here so you might as well just save us both the trouble and come out now." Verdandi scoffed, raising her snout in a pompous manner.

The overcast sky did nothing to brighten the already dimly lit forest, and the sickly looking pine trees melded together until he was so turned around that Leander wasn't even sure what way north was. He hoped that at some point the clouds would pass, and the sun would guide him out, but the more time he spend in the Fen, the less realistic that seemed. The place was creepy enough in the light, so he really, really didn't want to be there after dark.

Eventually, a woman's voice floated through the trees, light and haunting as it touched his ears. If it weren't for the fact that he was pretty sure that ghosts didn't say ick, he would have turned right around and hightailed it out of there, but luckily it didn't have to come to that. Turning towards the sound, the wolf made his way to her, hoping that the stranger might be able to offer him directions, or at the very least tell him which was he was going.

His eyes had just grazed her figure when the next words fell from her lips. Was she... talking to someone? He couldn't see anyone, but that would make sense since she was telling them to come out. Lifting his nose to the air, Leander searched for the other scent, but came up short. Oh. Oh. Maybe she was talking to him.. Slightly embarrassed, and thinking that she must have thought he was hiding from her, the tawny youth stepped out of the shadows. "Uh.. were you talking to me? I wasn't hiding from you or anything, I promise. I was just.. I need directions out of here. I'm sorry, I should have probably announced myself before."

Verdandi jumped a little at the sound of the strangers voice. Head snapping immediately after toward his frame, the young witch examined her new company with the same squinted eyes she had offered to the trees just moments prior. His scent was... Was the creature disguising itself? No, the smell wasn't strong enough. Perhaps.. A friend? The Archer hadn't thought that to be possible, but hey, she was no expert.

"Not talking to you.." she responded in a tone soft and slow. "Can't help, don't know where I am either." she frowned, trying her best to steal glances from all around and behind the boy. "Are you alone? Bet you've got friends out here, dontcha?" He couldn't protect it forever. Verdandi did not come all the way out here for no reason.

The woman.. hadn't been talking to him, nor did she know where they were, which left Leander a little more than perplexed. He tested the air again, and swiveled his head around so that he might catch on to whatever was actually happening here, but he came up with nothing.

"O-oh.. uhh ok." He felt as awkward as he probably looked, shifting from one paw to the other. "I'm not really alone." His brothers were somewhere, just not here. "Well.. I'm sorry. Are you talking to me now? Or.. who are you talking to?" Gods, he hoped it wasn't ghosts, but the way her bright blue gaze was flickering around at all angles didn't give him much hope.

Not really alone... "Aha!" Verdandi's maw morphed into a big toothy grin as she took a couple steps closer toward the boy. "I knew it! You smell just like them, you know! But it's not your fault. I mean, there just really isn't any covering up that obscure stench once it's on you." She was sure he did the best he could with what he had to give off the illusion that he wasn't harboring any of the little critters, and if it were anyone else he probably would have gotten away with it, but this Archer was an expert. Poor guy. "So how many of them are there? Just one, orrr...?"

He took an uncomfortable step back as she approached, lowering himself just a little bit to make him seem smaller than he actually was. The strange woman then launched into a.. tirade? No. It was more like a weirdly confident explanation about how she knew that he stank? "I.. do I smell bad?" His ears flattened as his nose dipped towards his chest in an attempt to smell out whatever it was that she had noticed, but to the best of his knowledge, there was nothing out of place. Was it fleas? He didn't think he had any.. but maybe he was wrong.

Leander was as polite as possible, hoping that his confusion wouldn't garner some unprovoked response in the soil-hued girl. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."

Taking a moment to really process the boy in front of her, it was becoming painstakingly obvious just how uncomfortable she was making him, and for that Verdandi frowned. He seemed genuinely confused, but how could that be? "No, maybe stench was the wrong word..." was there better phrasing to explain it? The fae furrowed her brow. Had she been bamboozled? Had they perhaps rubbed their scent on this poor bystander as they passed on through to get her to stop and bide them some time? Definitely sounded like something they would do, being as intelligent as they were. But even so, she had to of just missed them, right? It still clung so strongly to the air here. The scent, that is. Ugh. Verdandi's head was beginning to hurt. Maybe it was time to call it quits, this wouldn't be her last rodeo with them after all.
"Different. You smell different. Unique? No. That sounds bad too.. I don't mean that you smell bad, just you smell a lot like them. I'm sorry, I seem to have allowed myself to be tricked. I dont think you're hiding any gnomes here after all."

The woman frowned, perhaps displeased with him, or his scent, or something, but as strange as she was being, he didn't like the idea of making anyone frown. His head turned, cocking slightly to the side as she searched for a new word, landing on 'different', then 'unique', until she found what she was looking for. Them. He only had a moment to consider her meaning, wondering if perhaps she was talking about his brother, before she made herself clear. Gnomes? "What.. uh.. what are gnomes?" Considering the strange way she had looked around, he could only assume that they were either really small, or invisible.

"Oh they're uh... little... earth fellas..." she frowned, half-heartedly sniffing around for any sort of hint toward where the pesky creatures had actually gone after they'd so rudely tricked her. "They have horrible manners and love to play tricks on others. I'm sure they're absolutely tickled with the fact that they've just bamboozled me. You get treasure if you can catch them though." Verdandi sighed. She really wanted that treasure. "Ugly little things.. I wonder how they managed to make you smell so much like them without you realizing. Hope that's all they did-- mess with your smell, I mean. Might want to stay home the next few days just in case though.." What a bummer. Well, there really was no helping it now. Best for her to just forget about it she supposed.