"Back again?"
The man stepped out from behind a post, doffing his hat with a cockeyed grin, while one eye squinted against the blinding afternoon sun.
"You startled me," replied the woman, as she pulled the door of the herbalist's shop closed behind her. A small satchel hung over her arm, heavy with her purchases.
"Sorry, then," he countered, falling into step beside her as if this were the expected thing to do.
A black shawl was wrapped loosely around her glossy, chestnut-colored hair, and held beneath her chin with pale, slim fingers. "You wish to walk with me again?" she inquired, glancing up at him, for he was much taller than she.
"Always!" He pointed to the bag looped around her elbow. "Can I carry that for you?"
"No, thank you," she said, sweeping her eyes over the street carefully, before moving along with a graceful gait that appeared more like floating than walking. "You make me curious. What do you hope will come of this?"
The tall man fell silent for a few minutes, and the only sound was that of his heavy shoes clomping along the cobblestones, for her feet made little sound.
"I don't know," he said, smoothing a hand down the front of his tunic. "I guess I'm hoping I'll discover something I didn't know before."
Her dark, rosy lips perked into a small smile. "And what do you know now?"
The man made a blustering, surprised sound. "That you're polite and affable. Always have a smile for me. Always kind and nice to talk to." His eyes moved to the satchel on her arm again. "And I wonder why you need all that."
"All what?" she inquired, glancing at him as they neared the west-gate of town, and the golden-green countryside was glimpsed beyond.
Her question was met with a "you're really going to ask me that?" expression from her companion.
Her steps paused, and for a brief few seconds, it seemed she was going to continue feigning her ignorance. Instead, she turned to the man and sighed quietly. "You can't ask me things like that."
"I can ask you anything I like, actually," he countered in a voice that was also lowered to match hers. "You may not answer, but I can ask. So why don't you tell me why you haven't taken me up on my offer?"
She hesitated, then lifted her face slowly to meet his stare. His eyes were a pleasant mixture of earthy brown and mossy green, like the floor of a dense forest. Eyes were what she seemed to recall the most sharply about people. The multi-hued eyes of the entertainer. The deep, azure pools of the Gondorian. If you looked long enough at any set of eyes, you could eventually see a soul, no matter what facade had been painted over it.
"Not today," she murmured gently, allowing her gaze to linger on his for another beat, before turning and continuing through the gate, knowing that he would not follow.
