Asher snorted, and waved a hand. "That's just it," he muttered. "At one time, I [i]had[/i] an idea of what I was looking for. I even had a lead, someone who had made it quite clear they knew something about a vast trove of gold somewhere in Sevitel. He was quite the hard man to miss, too. I was tracking him, for a while, but I'm no expert, and once the roads clogged, I lost him in the crowds."

He sighed, leaning back on his hands. "Hunting for fortunes isn't anything like the storybooks tell you it is. I should know. They leave out the freezing knights, or the bandit raids you [i]aren't[/i] prepared for. The kind that leaves you naked and hungry in the middle of nowhere. They leave out the pain, the discomfort, the actual, mind-bending brushes with death. You know, that one lucky handhold isn't always there."

He glanced back at her, noting with some confusion her total change in demeanor. "Tell me some more about yourself. I'm not the only one with a story to tell, I'd wager."