Need to get cracking on this; a week to go!
Up close our northern friend looked even more out of place than he had when I spotted him. Which was the only reason why I spotted him; on his home turf he was probably a ghost. He was of medium height, sported a short beard, and had grey-blue eyes that didn’t keep moving because they were already seeing everything at once. If the heat was bothering him in his leather coat and trail jeans, he didn’t show it.
He didn’t run or posture, either. What he was was careful as I approached, and I made damn sure I was, too. I nodded at him. “Evening, mister.”
He looked at me, calmly enough. “Evening. But I thought it was ‘senor’ down here.” He spoke Court English with an almost Deseret rasp. I don’t know why that didn’t surprise me.
I gave him a smile. “We try to be friendly to visitors,” I said. Which is true: visitors have money, and we have so many things for them to spend it on. “But can I ask why you’re tailing us?” He blinked at that, so I shrugged. “I know, it feels dirty to just come out and say that, somehow. But my friend and I, we’re kind of in a hurry.”