Antiva, she repeats the name internally, adds one more mental note to the tapestry of locations, facts, historical tensions that she's read up on so far. She may not have a single inkling towards diplomacy - preferring the direct and impatient approach most times herself - but that doesn't mean she hasn't absorbed. (Thedas: A History is getting read five times before she joins the Riftwatch.)

What does she know about Antiva - a wealthy nation, mercantile. Merit-based politics? Probably not, she vaguely remembers -

"Ha, do you think so?" She looks around, and then returns the smile. "I'm not sure, there's a certain air about the place, it makes me feel like I'm in the Library and should be whispering."

(Hermione has no elfblood in her, so she sees the Crossroads as a tragic and drab place.)

But around they go. She waits for a few moments of companionable walking in silence, before breaking it with: "What happened?" To his hand.