[crow]

Sivain blinked. He hadn't been expecting the man to be that generous. If it had merely been a discount, he might have dismissed it as whimsy, but this kind of charity made him suspicious. The man had to have some ulterior motive; either there was something he stood to gain or...

... The thought hadn't escaped Sivain, that this might be the shopkeep's idea of flirtation. If that was the case, he was going to have to go somewhere else.

[crow]

"I can't accept that," he said, shaking his head. "It is... too much." He dearly hoped it wasn't what he thought. Nevermind the discomfort; if Rhodes caught wind of it... The cat's nature wasn't to tease, but it was still mortifying.

The man laughed. "Oh, please, I don't mean anything strange by it. But you aren't from around here, are you?" He was smiling again, but this time it was kinder, softer around the edges. There was almost a paternal note to it.

[crow]

Sivain looked up, frowning. "People have been telling me that, yes," he said. "Is it so obvious?" He had never thought of himself as a native, but it was disheartening to see that it was so blatant a fact. Perhaps this was part of why he didn't get on very well with his fellow soldiers. If he appeared like a bumbling outlander everywhere he went---

"Hmm, well, you just have this look about you," said the man, crossing his arms and giving Sivain an appraising look.

[crow]

Sivain stiffened under his scrutiny. The man paced slowly around, then gave a shrug. "Like you're lost. It's not a bad thing; we have enough travelers in these parts that it isn't really a novelty."

"Travelers," said Sivain. Privately he was relieved at the assessment. It was close enough to the truth, but not unusual enough to be alarming. If he merely appeared like a lost traveler, then he would consider himself fortunate in the matter. "... Yes. I have come from quite a ways away."