He looks up and his face clears momentarily. The something bothering him about this life is a toothache of a feeling that's hard to ignore, but one of the few things that can pull his full attention away is the herd. "Oh, wonderful, we thought we'd lost her altogether," he calls back.

He sticks the trowel in the earth and comes out to meet Astrid, her figure familiar enough to seem in place but not well-known. His smile is small, but unusually, it does reach his eyes this time. "My thanks. Can I offer you a meal in gratitude? Do you have time to linger for a moment?" Once he gets close enough, his hand goes to the mare's neck, absently checking that she's well for all the animal clearly seems to be unhurt at a glance.