[It does not escape him, that stance. He's seen the Emperor's guards standing similarly enough times to connect it - Azanharad of the Brotherhood is brusque and formal, but not quite so given to a formal training as those guards. He wonders, idly, if Need and Commander Shepherd find kinship in a history of fighting, as he and Need to on the matter of the Gods.]

An unfamiliar person? [Celehar says dryly.] To me, concerning, but not altogether unknown. I was a frequent subject of speculation in the Amaleise newspapers. A strange flower, however, gives me reason to wonder what maz is afoot, and why it is that maz knows my name.

[They've spoken about name-maz before, but also, talking flowers are not so much a thing where he's from, for all the skeleton had described them to him before he got lost.]

... They seemed to want a reaction. Whether that was for me to bargain, or to follow their lead, I could not say.