"That's at least a better reason than I feel like the people back home have."

"It amazes me that it works but given that it does I cannot fault them for continuing it. Ourselves, we have the second-largest Skaven settlement to our north just across Troll Country, and no one bothers to pretend Skaven don't exist while Hell Pit's fumes can be seen from Praag on a clear day."

"How does that work when they come to trade here then? I guess most people aren't traders but I'd expect there to be enough."

"'Ignorant backwater merchants, they're as superstitious as peasants, would you believe they think there are talking rats in the sewers!', more or less."

"Ah, yes. That's part of how we keep things secret back home too."

"Well, if it works twice, it must not be a fluke. I still suspect that whoever got the thing started was a grandmaster wizard of the Lore of Shadows, which is all about deception, manipulating perceptions, smoke and mist and shadow. One of their emperors a few centuries before Kislev was Mandred Skavenslayer, and they forgot all about it anyway."

"Thousands of years ago the System Lords ruled our world until... we're not actually sure quite how they got thrown off. The ancients might have been involved, but the records don't seem to have survived. There's legends about them though, the system lords I mean, or maybe legends that they took advantage of there's some debate about that. But nothing as explicit as a famous person being named after leading the rebellion or anything."

"Hmm. Not that long, to forget everything, but I suppose parchment decays, if no one calls it worth copying ...You know, we haven't checked, are your years and days the same as ours? Four hundred days, twenty-four hours, it's been about an hour since we set out?"

Rodney checks a small device on his wrist. "That's at least close on the hour. We can check more exactly if we need to. And 24 hours to the day is what we had on our world. Atlantis has a bit more than 27. The years on our world were around 365 and a quarter days."

"Close but not very. 'And a quarter', really? What, do you roll a die to start New Year's or do it again?" 

"We add a day every fourth year in one of our months. Well actually it's a lot more complicated than that but the more complicated bits only come up every hundred years or so."

"That's surely more sensible than my way but I think I'm still glad we don't have to bother with it. Twelve months, 33 days each except the starts of the season which take an extra day, fifty weeks nice and even and every Shoika Day and equinox is Nachaloned*."

*Start-of-Week, more or less 'Monday'.

These guys seem distracted with nonsense! Let's try to pick the soft-looking outsider's pockets!

What the hell is this metal blocking the pocket? Shit, did my nails clink against it?

Sheppard turns his hand at the pistol holster at his side. "I understand that my friend may look like a tempting target but I'd advise you to look elsewhere."

"Really?" Rodney asks Sheppard.

Teodor and his assistant just straight draw their guns. (It's possible they waited on purpose to see what Sheppard would do.)

"Run away, street cat.* These two and their friends with the same style are witchy business."

*You don't call them street rats. The position is taken.

Sheppard nods blithely. So it would have been okay if he drew his weapon he'll keep that in mind.

The kid looks at the scary faces, backs away like five steps, and then turns and books it.

"Sorry. That rumor should get out quick and cut down on repeats. I do appreciate you not immediately drawing on the kid."

"He was just a kid and Rodney already made sure he wouldn't get anything important."

"They might get smarter, those pockets don't look pick-proof to someone determined. But hopefully the ones thinking about how they work will also be the ones who heard you're off-limits to anyone sensible."

"It's true, they're not. They just make it harder."

"Probably more secure when you're moving fast, too? I couldn't quite see how they work but it was a very smooth motion to open and close."

"That's what they're for yeah. Some of them are supposed to be water proof too but that's not as reliable."

"A mechanism tight enough to keep out water? At that scale? Even unreliably, damn. Pretty sure the Dwarfs would pay to be taught that, and from 'manlings' that would be a first."