Truth be told, her mouth was dry and her head was starting to give the warning signals of a tension headache. She needed just a moment to calm and sort herself. Not only that, but he had drank from the canteen. That meant one of two things. One, the water was not drugged. Two, he was not affected by what was in the water or he had already taken the antidote for it. A small twinge through her eye reminded her that if she didn't relax, she would quickly become incapacitated by a tension migraine.

Taking a deep breath, she held it for a count of three before slowly letting it out again. She did this again and the ache faded away. She studied the man who had said his name was Ward. What had he called himself again, a guardian? Truthfully, he was not giving her any of the gut warnings that she usually felt around those with ill intent. She'd always been able to sense hidden agendas, that's why her father had her sit in on so many meetings. And right now, her gut was telling her that the man was concerned but not a threat.

Not only that, but Ria had read enough survival manuals when that became a trending subject to know that the human body would not last long without water. Food, yes. Water, no. Swallowing hard, she firmed her resolve. One thing that she had never been was indecisive and she wasn't about to start now.

Taking a step forward, she accepted the canteen before taking a hurried step back away. Her actions didn't appear to phase the man, his expression still calm as he tried to appear as nonthreatening as he possibly could. She scoffed inwardly at that. The man was clearly dangerous from his dark brown hair to the tips of his sturdy boots. However, he made no move to close the space between them, so she would take what she could get.

Watching him from the corner of her eye, she cautiously brought the canteen to her lips and took a tiny sip. To her surprise, the water didn't carry the metallic taste that most canteens gave water. No, instead the water tasted as fresh and cool as if it had just been gathered from a mountain stream. There were no lingering chemical undertones or bitterness as if drugs had been mixed into it. Still, she waited a few minutes to make sure that there were no adverse reactions.

She waited in silence and Ward did the same, not seeming to feel the need to fill the silence with meaningless chatter like so many people did. Finally, she could wait no longer and drank deeply from the canteen, feeling her head clear with every swallow. She reluctantly stopped when the canteen was half empty. It was never a good idea to eat or drink to fully after being drugged. In order to pull her mind away from the remaining water, she carefully screwed the cap back on, making sure that it was on just so.

Once she was certain that it was secured, she turned her attention back to Ward. She sighed softly. This situation was beyond odd and like it or not, he was the only one around at the moment. She grudgingly spoke, "Thank you for the water."

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He nodded, a slight tension around his eyes easing, "No problem, Miss Willows." He hesitated before continuing, "I think that we got off on the wrong foot. I would like to start over. Welcome to Audilandre. I am Ward Kiftan, Guardian of this section. Are you injured or distressed in any way?"

She rubbed absently at her temple, reluctantly amused. Whoever this guy was, he was truly dedicated to sticking to his story. She decided to just roll with it. After all, the more information she had, the better prepared she would be. First off, courtesy was always best. Since he'd shown her respect, she would reign in her anger. "I am not injured, but I am rather distressed. To the best of my knowledge, I went to sleep in my bed last night and woke up here with no idea of how I managed to reach this point. I believed that I'd been kidnapped, but the lack of people and restraints are making that theory less likely. Since you seem to be the only one around, maybe you could help me straighten out this matter?"

He frowned at that, his expression serious. "You are certain that you cannot remember receiving an invitation for the adventure of a lifetime?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm content enough with my life at the moment, I would not wish to embark on an adventure of any kind."

She knew that many people found her life boring, but she had clawed and fought to be able to even live her life as freely as she currently did. She wasn't lying when she said that she was content. Even more than that, she would fight to keep the freedom that she had managed to win using all of her will and cunning. Her hands curled into fists involuntarily and she forced herself to relax them. Never allow anyone to see her rattled, that was her mantra. She was cool and composed, no matter what the situation was.

His frowned deepened and he seemed to be picking over his words carefully when he spoke, "Miss Willows, I give you my oath that I mean you no harm. I'm sure that you must be uncomfortable standing in the hot sun with no footwear. Why don't we move over to the shade and sit comfortably while we sort this matter out?"

Crossing her arms, she drummed her fingers lightly on the top of her arm. That was the crux of the matter, wasn't it? She needed to make a choice. To trust him or not to trust him? True, the water didn't appear to be poisoned. But still, he seemed to be the only one besides her in the middle of nowhere. Out of the pool of suspects, the pool consisted of just him being at the root of her being in the middle of a purple, freaking, forest. And yeah, she was still having trouble wrapping her mind around purple trees, so what? They were by far the oddest things that she had encountered since waking up.

Still, she could hear her father's quiet rumble in the back of her mind, "There's never such a thing as too much information, Ally. Information, no matter how seemingly inconsequential it is, can save your life. Your first goal should always be staying alive so that I can find you. But your second should be gathering as much information as you possibly can. Understand?"

So, did this situation fall under one or two?