"No juicy gossip here, I'm afraid," Raylan said, taking the cup from her. He took one polite sip and then put it down, silently deciding not to touch it again. Not because he didn't trust her or didn't want to drink anything or something, but because tea was disgusting.

"I've been in the Hinterlands," he said. "I stayed in my tower as long as I could after the rebellion." He didn't shrink from calling it that, even if he didn't consider himself a rebel. "But things were going south quickly. I spent the last eight months in a shack that was abandoned when I found it, setting whatever mines and wards I could think up to keep fighting away from me." He gave a little chuckle. "A young man came through, told me about the Inquisition. I was finding that I'm not quite self-sufficient, anyway, and the Inquisition seemed like a better option than getting scurvy 'cause I couldn't find any vegetables."