Chrys was thinking while Attie went to gather information. The idea of checking his credibility wasn't wrong, but it would be difficult to actually confirm anything without anyone to investigate deeper. She waited patiently according to Attie's instructions, listening to anything she could pick up from the nearby plants. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise and not much helpful details. The girl couldn't blame them though, they were rooted to one place and could only hear what passed by them. Attie returned after a while and told her everything she had asked and what the man named Brandon had said. Now was the challenging part–deciding how much they should trust this person they had just met. "Thanks a bunch Attie, you were really thorough. Let me see the names he gave you on those orphanages. Even if we can't confirm them now, I can pass on this information to my mom and her cousins to double check." She didn't say anything about Attie's observations of Brandon's behavior during the questioning, and although everything seemed to sound alright she still had one more thing she wanted to do…
This time she wasn't going to tell Attie everything she was planning. Even if this man was telling the truth, she wanted some way to track him down if they wanted to see how the baby was doing later. Asking wasn't going to do much good, so Chrys instead wanted to obtain 'something' from him in case the worst happened. It would require a little ingenuity, but she knew it would work. Looking to her friend after thinking for a while, she smiled. "Alright, now it's my turn to ask him. I'll be back in a jiffy!" Handing the baby over to her friend, she waved before going her own way to throw off possible pursuers. She took a more roundabout way of familiarizing herself with the camp before going to where the orphans were. Acting natural was something she'd practiced as a kid. In her pocket she had a handful of seeds notoriously known for causing mild hay fever. Tossing them onto the wind, she watched as they drifted and settled around the tent where Brandon was. Working her magic, the seeds sprouted and developed into mature plants, which started to release their pollen. With the amount of wind in the area, soon there would be sneezing and a slight runny nose.
"Hello there!" She peeked into the tent where Brandon was caring for the children, waving with a smile. "I heard you were offering to take in children who were recently orphaned?" From the sounds of sniffling, the plants were working like a charm. "Yes, that is correct miss. War is the hardest on those who cannot fend for themselves. How can I be of service?" Brandon said before turning away to sneeze. "ACHOO! Oh, excuse me." Quickly Chrys rummaged through her pockets to pull out a handkerchief. "Here, you can use this!" The man gratefully took it as the situation of his nasal passages became incredibly urgent. Clearing his nose, he was relieved. "Thank you, oh though allow me to repay you for that. It would be rude of me to return your handkerchief in this state." She held up her hands as if to stop him. "No, no that's alright! It's fine! Sometimes an emergency pops up when you least expect it. You don't need to pay me anything, really. I'd feel bad if I accepted money from someone who's already working hard to help other people."
Her genuine attitude and well-timed wording won the man over, and she got her handkerchief back. If it hadn't been clear from the start–this was the 'something' she wanted from him. Kind of a gross way to go about it, but she could have a diviner use this to find him no matter where he went. They talked more, with Chrys having successfully lowered his guard with the handkerchief. She asked similar questions as Attie had, and he gave the same information. Looking contemplative for a moment, she then allowed herself to have an expression of epiphany. "That's a relief. I almost thought I wouldn't be able to find someone who could take care of a child I found with a search party. I'll leave them in your care mister, I'll be right back!"
She returned to Attie and the child, nearly out of breath. Faking that enthusiasm sure was tough, but nothing she couldn't handle. "I'm back. I asked him again and he told me the same information. Also I got this–" She held up a used handkerchief. "It's kind of gross, but I made him have a small bout of hay fever so I could get him to use my kerchief to blow his nose. Even if he wasn't lying to us, we can now track him with the right people." Ultimately based on her gut instinct, she felt there was a good chance Brandon was alright. "I think letting him take care of this baby for us will be alright. It's hard for me to let go, but allowing others to help where they can is the best way."
'All that is gold does not glitter, not all who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.'