A new purse-spective

[Anders]

Still no name. That was unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. Anders nodded his understanding. It seemed she was somewhat of a fellow paranoid, as he was. Which meant that the two of them having this conversation at all was rather unlikely. Both of them had managed to overpower their caution in order to sate their curiosity towards one another.

"Of course, I understand," Anders said, "It would be wrong of me to expect your cooperation without first shedding some light on the situation."

He now didn't believe she was affiliated with his hunters, regardless of how things appeared back in the market. If she was supposed to be lying for them, she was doing a pretty terrible job. It she was supposed to be leading them into a trap, well...there were few enough witnesses here, that was true, but it was still a difficult place to enter without being seen. Not the location Anders would have chosen to take a shot at someone. To be safe, however, he scanned the upper branches of the tree before him as well as the nearby rooftops around them in a second or two. As was the case with the girl, he didn't know enough yet about what he was getting into, if anything, to let his guard down further.

"As you correctly assumed, I'm not from the city. I hail from a land far to the west of here. A prettier place, with more trees. I'd go back, but I'm afraid my own ill fortunes have made the residents of my former home rather...inhospitable towards me. That, and there's nothing there worth returning to anymore."

His father had seen to that.

"I've been here in Marn for less than a year, with little trouble, but I'm certain my countrymen did not look kindly upon the manner in which I left. It's possible that they've tracked me here, and want to drag me back home. They would do so forcefully."

That was about all he was willing to give her at the moment. For one, he didn't wish to alarm her too much with what he had done in the past. If she believed him too dangerous, she would probably bolt, and disappear back into the market. And second, the details of the events he spoke of were extremely personal, something he hadn't shared with anyone since leaving his homeland.

For the moment, Anders saw no reason to share it now.