At the time

We spent the night at the edge of the forest, keeping a more alert eye than ever. The beasts weren't well known for leaving the forest, but one could never be too wary. I had the third shift, and I watched the dwarf as she slept, the moon offering a clear illumination. She was brash, and loud, and decidedly crass, but the same could be said of any other dwarf. But there was something different about her. I hadn't met many dwarfs in my (admittedly short) life, but those I had met had be far more cheerful. There was a wounded sadness about my companion that was just too hard to ignore.

I didn't know why I was so obsessed with her state of being at that time. To be honest, I didn't consider it odd that I was thinking so deeply about her. It was late, and however vigilant I might have been, I was still half-asleep in my reasoning skills. So I though little of it.

When I woke Leonard Stone for his watch, I walked past the Dwarf on my way to a comfortable-looking bit of grass just beyond her. I thought I heard her mutter something that sounded like, "Cronan", but I couldn't be sure. I wasn't sure why that struck me, but it did, and that one little mutter stayed in my mind for the following months.