Annie’s feet hurt. That’s not really the kind of thing you admit to people when you’re supposed to be a scary monster hunter, but they did and she was irritated about it.

When Connor had said they’d found the first crime scene deeper in the canyon while on patrol, she hadn’t thought he’d meant over an hour of hiking through barely maintained game trails, a trudge through a creek, and a brief foray into rock climbing. What the hell kind of patrol was that?

She was trying to be deep in thought as Connor dragged her through thickets and shrubs deeper into the Canyon. Unfortunately the random swats of branches in her face kept interrupting her brooding. The Paladin was keeping a steady pace ahead of her.

“Do you mind going over what you found at the motel again?” He asked over his shoulder.

Annie grunted, “Sure,” Then paused. Frowned even deeper than usual. “This is the third time you’ve asked.” She gave the words a tone of accusation.

Connor was diligently looking ahead, “We were… Friendly.”

Friendly? Annie thought, The man is a golden retriever on two legs, he’s “friendly” with the whole damn town!

[Need to showcase Connor being friendly with more townsfolk to have this make sense, do it in an earlier vignette as they walk through town to get to the canyon]

Annie’s mouth opted to abstain from the delicacy the topic probably deserved. “Bullshit.”

Connor stiffened and Annie had to stumble to avoid crashing into him or face planting into a bush. He turned to her.

“This is a small town, Annie,” his voice was cold and mechanical, “Folks here don’t welcome outsiders.”

Annie bristled, “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

Connor faltered a bit, “Sorry, that came out wrong. I just mean I’ve been here a while and it was… Difficult to make friends at first.”

He had a sort of kicked puppy look that gave her a pang of guilt. She smothered it, “And here you are continuing the tradition.”

“Miss Annie, I—“

“Deputy Kenton, I am not here to make friends. I am here to work. To kill monsters.” She gestured to the pistol strapped to her hip.

“I know that ma’am.”

“If you or anybody here is going to make that difficult, I can just leave!”

That wasn’t strictly true. Annie was somewhat lacking in the funds and food necessary to make the trip back across the desert. A fact which reared its head in the form of her growling stomach. She hadn’t even gotten to eat breakfast.

The two of them stood there for a moment, Connor dutifully staring at the ground to avoid Annie’s glare and pretending not to have heard her stomach growl.

Annie broke the silence. “The site’s not much further from here, is it?”

He sighed, “No.”

“Then lead the way Deputy Kenton.”

“Fine. It’s just through here,” Connor pushed through a thicket of yellow-flowered brush and tugged aside furrowed tree branches that let out tufts of white fluff to drift gently in the air like snow. He turned to Annie again, letting more of the stuff scatter around them and holding the branches aside for her allowing a glimpse at a small clearing beyond.

“It’s just through here Miss Annie.” He stepped the rest of the way through the thicket and held the branches aside for her.

He such a damn gentleman, it makes it hard to be mad at him. Annie thought. It didn’t actually stop her from being mad, but it softened the blow a bit. She brushed past him with a huff and then stared at the clearing.

“This is it?” She asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Conner nudged into the clearing behind her, sidestepping Annie to stand at the edge of the creek, “She was found just about dead center on this little island here.”

The island in question was little more than a mound of pebbles in the creek; there was also a log, some moss, and little else. Annie was getting a headache.

“What exactly was the sheriff doing all the way out here?” She asked.

“Oh, we patrol the canyon once or twice a week.” The Deputy chirped.

“Both of you?” Annie was having a hard time believing Sheriff Mustache doubled as an avid hiker.

“Not together, one of us has to stay in town in case something happens.”

“Has something ever happened?”

“We get some creatures wandering in from the wastes every so often, but they’re easy enough to scare off,” Connor thumbed the pommel of his sword and forced a smile, “Though I have slain a handful myself!”

“Right…” She trailed off, turning back towards the creek.

Connor bit his lip and huffed out of his nose a bit, putting his hands on his hips. Were all Slayers this abrasive or was Annie just uniquely aggravating?

He was silent for a moment while she paced around the creek. Then, with the air of a man who’s been tortured into giving up top secret information, he said, “Tulvir was the first person to welcome me into town.”

Annie stopped mid-pace, “Huh?”

“Lamaryll stationed me here to protect the windmill, since Millpoint agreed to connect it to the Union’s power grid.” He said, “Tulvir was the first person here who talked to me like a person instead of an inconvenience.”

[Author’s note: Annie is a bitter, emotionally constipated (clam) rich kid who has fallen from grace. She hates talking about feelings.]

She wrinkled her nose and turned back to Connor, “That’s why the Union sent a Paladin so far from the center ring, they usually keep y’all on a tight leash.”

“Yeah.”

“And Tulvir was, uh… Was your first real friend here?”

“Something like that. We got very close, if you take my meaning.” Connor's cheeks flushed.

“Oh.” Annie made herself busy studying the mud on her boots, letting the words hang in the air.

A silent and uncomfortable moment later, Connor coughed, “Well, I’ll give you some time to look around. Have to get that key from the Sheriff!”

Oh thank the Greys, Annie thought.

“Sounds great, I can find my way back on my own.”

“Right!” Connor spun on his heel and called over his shoulder, “I’ll see you back in town, then!” Then he dove into the bushes, vanishing from sight.

“Fucking hell.” Annie pressed a thumb into her temple to try and beat back her now pounding headache.

People didn’t usually like to talk to Strangers. They gave them a job, the Stranger killed the monster, then pay them and move on. It was one of the perks of the job. Talking to people for more than a few sentences wasn’t usually part of the package.

She groaned. The quicker she found the monster the quicker she could leave, and this dinky little island was going to give her some clues damn it!

Gritting her teeth, the Stranger got to work.

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[Connor heads back to town and leaves Annie to investigate]

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