[Tifa's gaze fixes on him momentarily, and when they accidentally meet eye contact, she quickly shifts it away, not wanting to seem too pointed about that. Yeah, she hasn't forgotten how hostile he was, but she'll put that behind them—for now—for the sake of the dogs, and for him.

But she finds herself staring around the tree, as if its presence is somehow so suddenly ominous after hearing those words. Something about the tree...]

You think they're trying to protect it? From what...? No one's coming down here looking to cause trouble, far as I know. I don't think anyone would try to hurt it, or the dogs.

[Not without reasonable cause. Of course, she did consider burning the entire thing down at one point, but she had reasonable cause, so...]

What makes this place so special...