( He nods along with her words, part listening, part out of habit. She speaks, he acknowledges. He is a man who has often acknowledge. )

I'm afraid I'm not. ( Sheepish once more, but firm. Knowing. As if there are natural limits to his banality, and now they've been struck.

A 'cool local.' Now, is there still such a thing? Behind them, all of Alem falls. Before Alem, others surrendered. )

But it is a fine dragon. Beautiful specimen. We thought the last of her kind were extinct, when we looked for... relics of... ( A wave of his hand, dismissive. A man can get too caught up in the indulgences of his own past. )

In my old line of work, we were always looking for relics. You spend so long looking at dead things, you forget... you forget to focus on the living. I hope she is as good to you as you intend to be to her.