She ran her pale eyes over the Tainn woman as she integrated the identification with her appearance. Borlla, of Magnolia Glen. And a Leader, no less, even though she hardly seemed any older than Fiora was! "I don't see any magnolias around here," she remarked hoping the gleam in her eye came off as playful and not snarky; for once she actually didn't mean it that way.
Their introductions had eased her a bit, which was undone by Borlla once more mentioning her earlier fault, which was even further undone when she uttered those words: You seemed to be doing a good job... oh, that was just the air her ego needed to inflate once more. The feeling of success warmed her skin as she tried very, very hard not to let the pride seep into her posture. There was nothing quite as dorky as getting overly excited at every compliment - which, even though Fiora certainly did, she was at least apt enough not to show it. The brief exhilaration she got from the stroke was enough to dull any whiplash from her split-second mood-switching and make her at least momentarily more pleasant company.
"I was just being cautious," she explained, which was a white lie if she dared to admit it. Fiora let her ice-blue gaze wander the red ferns once more, as if someone else might appear out of the foliage. "I'm not really familiar with these parts so I had to, you know?" A little quip lay on her tongue about having been out for a stroll, lookin' for some tails, but she figured it was too soon for that. For now she'd keep stepping on egg shells.