"I'd like to just sit here a while," King told Annie. "If that's okay."

"Of course," she said without even thinking about it. There was no harm in letting the stranger out and about, so long as he maintained his distance from Annie and her people. The man with them nodded toward a rocky outcrop and wandered that direction; he needed to pee, which Annie figured out quickly enough.

"I like it here," King said. "It's nice." 

"It is," Annie said, again without having to think about it. She liked her home; always had, likely always would. "It's a nice place to grow up. The ocean, the mountains ... good, loyal, friendly, hardworking people. What's not to love?"

A figure climbing the hill toward them caught Annie's attention. She grimaced seeing that it was her father; he was certainly coming to ruin the fun she was having with their visitor. She smiled to him, though, calling out, "Papa, hvorfor klatrer du op ad denne bakke?"

"I'm climbing this hill," he called to her, translating her Danish for King's benefit, "to tell you that you have chores." He looked to their guest, saying, "I'll keep King company."

Annie began, "But Papa, I thought--"

"That someone was going to do your chores for you...?" he cut her off. Jerking a thumb down the hill, he said with fatherly authority, "Get going."

She pouted out her bottom lip to her father, but when she realized that King had also seen the childish expression, she sucked her lip back in and turned away. She groaned before heading down the trail, "Fine." She stopped after just a few steps, though, turning to give King a wide, flirty smile. "See you soon." 

She headed away, almost dancing down the trail. Twice before she lost sight of the pair -- the trio, once the [i]peeing[/i] man returned -- Annie looked back, still smiling. Bran made some chit chat with King, during which the escort mentioned their guest's desire to climb the pass.

"I can take it up with the Council," Bran said after a moment's contemplation. "It won't happen until you've been released from quarantine, though. In the meantime ... I promise you some freedom to be out and about, like this morning. You'll need to be under guard, obviously. And ... if you aren't bored with her already ... I'm sure that Annie would be willing to keep you company."

It didn't take a genius to see that King liked the idea of spending more time with Annie. Bran reminded the man about the importance of maintaining his distance from his daughter and others, then told him, "I'm going to check some traps. Why don't you come with me."

They headed off on a trail that ran along the side of the mountain. It was a well-worn path that, at places, had been dug out of the hillside or built up with stones to allow safe movement. After a couple of hundred meters, Bran left the trail to check a snare in the rocks of an overhang. He came back empty handed, but a few minutes later at another snare, he lifted the corpse of a large, white hare. 

They continued onward, checking another half dozen traps before Bran led King down another descending trail to the village. They delivered the hares to a woman and her daughter who went to work dressing the animals with obvious skill.