Waver went very still at that question. No. He was alone. For the first time in years back home he had something like a working partnership, and now he was back to being alone. He had barely processed that.

"I don't know anyone else here, no," he said as even handedly as possible. No one needed to know what was going on in his head. Desperate to avoid talking about it further, he spun the question around. "You?"