Villainy and Coffee

Now, Rafael might have walked away at the personal matters part. However, when the helmeted man accused him of sticking his nose in other people's business, warning bells went off. It was an odd thing to do ... accuse a stranger when they, themselves, were in a public place doing something not overly suspicious, was just odd considering the snow and weather.

"Why should I mind my own business?" Rafael asked evenly as he calmly stared at the man, clearly not threatened by his words. "You are in a public area, moving through a public street. I see no issue with me asking an innocent question." he pointed out, waiting for a reply.

Rafael almost said something not so nice to his friendly advice comment. However, since he considered himself to be a fair person, and somebody with good breeding, he decided to let the comment slide by.

"There is no issue, no," Rafael admitted in a polite, yet somewhat unconvinced tone,. His gaze straying to the thing the men were carrying. It was rather large and strangely awkward looking.

"Where are you headed? The pier, or the wharf?" he asked as he looked at the snow-covered streets, and recalled where each one went.

Okay, now things were getting really quite weird. Rafael knew for a fact that the wharf had no ships scheduled today, and the only ones there at the moment were owned by the company that regularly brought goods to the island.

In fact, Woodland had just purchased a warehouse for unloading and loading shipments right next door to the aforementioned company.

"And who did you say the trading deal was with?" Rafael asked Gyres suspiciously as he flexed his fingers in his gloves, trying to stay warm and in the process drawing that invisible spark of energy from the world around him in case he needed to use his magic.

"Cause the only ships there at the moment are the ones that supply the island," he pointed out.

"I see," Rafael said in a very neutral voice. He didn't quite believe the man, nor his story, but he wasn't about to start an altercation in the middle of the street and in the middle of the day for something that was just speculative.

"Of course," Rafael said in a curt but still fairly polite tone. "By all means, I didn't mean to hold you up," he told Gyres. "I will let you by on your way."

Rafael then took a step back, and stood there, waiting until they started off again.

As Gyres and his men took off, Rafael slowly began to disappear, blending in with the white snow and the background. He stood there unmoving and unnoticed now by anyone watching. And letting Gyres and his henchmen get a little further ahead, Rafael waited until he was sure they wouldn't notice a set of footprints following quietly behind them in the snow.