“‘Sniper’ — is that what they’re calling it these days?” Virmad laughs. “And will you believe me if I say I’m neither?” he asks. “I probably wouldn’t, in your position. Or, if I’m a test, it’s for myself as much as it is for you.” He sighs and puts his hand, just for a moment, into his left pocket to touch the lantern pendant there. “I have so many questions I’d like to ask you, but we picked you up at the wrong point in your timeline and I can’t pose them now with any certainty that I’ll get the answers I’m looking for. So we both have to trust.”