Briar caught the look Gwen shot him after he moved. With only a twitch of his mouth to hint at a smile, he informed her seriously, "I always have a couple tricks up my sleeves. That's where I keep my knives." He also had tricks in his belt pouch, and in the kit on his back.

Banter was good. Banter would keep Briar from panicking. Maybe. Of all the places from his own world he could be, why Gyongxe, and why now? Hadn't he returned enough times already while he slept?

He shook his head. "I can't leave yet. If my foster mother and my student are here... I can't leave them here." He looked down the hallway in the direction he'd been heading. "There's flames one way and the other... won't be pretty either."