"Couldn't say," Ellis would have known, "But I presume there's a reason Anora hasn't ripped it back. No mud masks for you."

Or whatever the latest fad is. Construction here's makeshift: Repairs emphasize function, and an easy view to approaching travelers. Someone's already sighted them; a figure ducks from stone pillar, and out of sight.

Isaac hesitates, wary, then shakes his staff alight, into a low blaze of flame. It isn't that he doesn't trust his contacts —

It's only that they're his contacts.

"Rosana and I were in Montsimmard together," He is, a little, thinking aloud. But the context can't hurt. "We'd the same instructor, if separate paths."