Lon listened carefully, both to the conversation at his own table, and the one full of merchants and warriors next to them, with the new addition - Lauren, or something similar? He'd taken note of her as she walked in the door, but her manner of dress and bearing suggested she was nobility, or at least considered herself to be. And she had addressed the person next to her (introduced as Rain? That couldn't be correct) as Sir Warden? He did a double take - he'd been sure earlier that Rain was female, but now that conclusion had been called into doubt... Perhaps Lauren was mistaken? He watched the two of them out of the corner of his eye... the slow wobble of barely contained flesh distracted him for a moment, but then he caught sight of a marching line of dust off of the edge of the table near her elbow.<em>I've seen that effect before,</em>he thought to himself, and turned his head, thinking deeply on what little he'd learned under the old man's tutelage.<br/><br/>He noticed Joli glance at him, smirking, and he realized that he hadn't paid attention, and had lost the thread of the conversation. He arched his eyebrows as he came back to attention, and snuck a little smile in her direction, a mixture of embarrassed apology and thankful recognition, and he looked back at Balfor and Alchfrid. "Oh, so you were raised in the wilderness? You must be a<em>very</em>good scout, then."