"And we'll talk about it later," Hughes said, tossing aside the bit of cloth he'd used to clean Leon's wounds. "I'm fine, as you can see for yourself. Let's just say...I took care of some old business last night." He wondered if Ed would understand what he meant. He didn't want to talk about something so personal and involved in front of other people. He hoped Ed would get that much from his cryptic answer, at least.

"Thanks for the metal," he went on to say to Anise, smiling. "You can just dump it with the rest, that'll get us ahead of the game. Ed, this is Leon, he's our client for the evening. Ed here's our alchemist, he'll get you set up."