["I will keep it well,"] the Chairman replied, returning the half bow respectfully, ["it is best that you change into your Guard persona at our first stop. You will ride alongside the carriage where you will be nearest to Lady Rose. The longer we wait to make this change, the likelier you are to be recognized by someone."]
["Thank you, Chairman. Your care and discretion in this matter is greatly appreciated."] Amore said.
Their first stop was a larger trade route village called Niyon - a place of constantly changing population and faces. It was the traveler's rest stop where the only people that stayed year round were those who had managed to make a foundation in lasting business. The Inn they stayed at doubled as a tea house, but nothing quite so posh and polished as the White
Orchid. The entertainment was traveling bards and musicians, the lodgings were compact and mostly comfortable, the food was good if you weren't expecting high cuisine - it settled a belly that had spent the day on the move.
["Your name will be Captain Feng,"] the Chairman explained over dinner in a private booth, ["you are my most trusted of the Guards and you have been working for me for over ten years. You wear a mask because during the fire at Hu Zai that destroyed several of my buildings, you saved a young child from death and sustained terrible burns to your face."]
["...I sense that these are not made up stories."] Amore intoned curiously.
["Certainly not. My losses at Hu Zai took years to recover from. But that child did live thanks in part to the efforts of one of my guards. A child of a local fisherman ... not anyone that garnered much of any attention beyond the fisherman's family."]
