One pale brow arched at the abrupt answer, but he let it be, keeping focused on the woman's body language even after she put her sword away. Sometimes what wasn't said could be as telling as what was, and he knew a great deal about physical reactions and reading truth from lies. It was easier when he wasn't on edge and wondering if he was about to be running or fighting, though, and he relied on his instincts as best he could.
A breeze brought another scattering of red and gold autumn leaves from the trees around them, but he didn't so much as blink as they fluttered down between the two tense humans. He smiled tightly at her quip, without showing his teeth in the expression. "What a civilized place you must come from," he murmured, only half-joking. "Are you a soldier, or guard of some sort? Perhaps a knight-errant?" Not likely the last, but not impossible. But she was a warrior of some sort, if she sought out play-fighting for fun and training. Jigano wasn't sure he ever had crossed blades with another person when it wasn't in deadly earnest, or done as part of a choreographed performance. There hadn't been a lot of in-between in his line of work. Learn fast... or die trying.
He watchedAshetta move, no less wary now that their weapons were both sheathed - he had lost his quickest defense, after all. But her eerily silent steps only took her to the spot he'd indicated to claim a stick of a length similar to her blade. His brow went back up at her showy twirls, and he chose a spot a littler further away to search for his own 'weapon' - always keeping her in the corner of his eye. "I'm afraid not," he responded, not nearly as casual as he made it sound. "And something tells me you aren't, either. Are you one of the Northaven folk, then? Or from someplace... else?" He straightened with stick in hand, bringing it into the same guard position he had used earlier with his sword, and waited on the balls of his feet for her to make a move across the intervening distance between them.
A breeze brought another scattering of red and gold autumn leaves from the trees around them, but he didn't so much as blink as they fluttered down between the two tense humans. He smiled tightly at her quip, without showing his teeth in the expression. "What a civilized place you must come from," he murmured, only half-joking. "Are you a soldier, or guard of some sort? Perhaps a knight-errant?" Not likely the last, but not impossible. But she was a warrior of some sort, if she sought out play-fighting for fun and training. Jigano wasn't sure he ever had crossed blades with another person when it wasn't in deadly earnest, or done as part of a choreographed performance. There hadn't been a lot of in-between in his line of work. Learn fast... or die trying.
He watched
