Mackenzie considered admitting that Lewis was probably right; she was probably just getting jumpy, and she couldn't be sure she'd really seen anything. She was about to hop off the rock to make one last check behind the other debris clusters, when a heavily-accented woman's voice rang out. She pivoted on the spot, eyes easily finding the flaming cloud of red hair ([i]How did I miss that?[/i] she asked herself, silently). She only understood about half of what was said, but this young woman seemed to offer no threat, and said something about being a doctor. Mackenzie was still formulating a reply when another voice sounded from behind a rubble chunk a few yards away: [i]"Alright, I'm getting up. Don't shoot me either!"[/i] A justifiably uncertain-looking young man arose slowly, hands over his head, taking in the somewhat tense scene.

In comparison to the expectation of a grizzled bandit, this guy looked pretty regular, and he didn't seem to be itching to draw a weapon. If he'd had a gun, he would have pulled it by now, and if he had backup waiting in the wings somewhere he would have called on them already. [i]"Uh, hi. I don't want any trouble,"[/i] he offered. She lowered the spear, fitting the butt into a dimple in the rock and wrapping her lower arm around the haft, fingers tapping out a soft rhythm.

A corner of Mackenzie's mouth worked its way upward as her aggression evaporated. "Ya won't find any trouble here, least not from me. Sorry about the scare; thought ya were a bandit." After a moment, she jumped down from the rock chunk, careful to move perpendicular to the young man's position as not to startle him. "Quit airin' out y'armpits, wouldja?" she quipped with a grin, nodding to indicate his hands reaching for the sky.