The children scatter as two large beast-kin men come charging up the path toward Lucien, boots kicking up dust, expressions set somewhere between suspicion and outright hostility, spears held level, gleaming in the midday sun.
Lucien throws both hands up immediately.
"Merchants!" He calls out preemptively. "We're merchants, not monsters!"
Behind them, Val chuckles low as Serenith drifts up beside him, watching the scene unfold with open amusement. "I genuinely wonder how he's going to talk his way through this."
"Please," Serenith says, smirking. "This is the same man who talked himself into your hoard and talked you into signing a blood-bound contract in the same afternoon."
"That was different." Val groans.
