Rooster gives an uncertain baying noise as he's led by a stranger out of the creek, dancing hither and thither on the reins; maybe it's fright that makes him more cooperative than he was with Fern. It's hard to say.

For her part, Fern is so startled (and, though she won't admit it, petrified) by the appearance of a strange shemlen that she remains rooted to the spot in the muddy creek, her eyes wide and defensively hostile, one hand pulled up to her chest with the barest spark of fire flickering at her fingertips. Yet when it appears that this strange woman has no interest in either stealing Rooster, nor in harming Fern herself, the fire at her fingertips fizzles out.

Still, when Kattrin starts to wade towards her, she scrambles crab-like backwards through the water a few clumsy paces, until she hears the woman's offer. "I have a blanket you can have while we dry your clothes."

"I don't need your help, shemlen!" she snaps back, but fright makes her voice a high-pitched squeak, rather than the defiant alto she'd been hoping for. She flinches at the sound, swallows, and suddenly looks far more afraid than angry.