They stopped as the group approached, letting the torchlight reach them before doing anything else. The sound of laughter and easy conversation had been carrying down the road for a little while before the riders themselves came into view, and it cut off almost the moment the two groups caught sight of each other.
The man at the front pulled his horse to a halt and smiled. He was somewhere in his thirties, broad shouldered and relaxed in the saddle in the way of someone who spent a lot of time on horseback, and the smile he was wearing was wide and unhurried and did not quite reach his eyes.
"Look at what we find here."
The woman riding just beside him glanced between Nathan and Hanzo with an expression of theatrical surprise. She was slightly younger than the man, with sharp features and the kind of smile that knew exactly what it was doing. "Two travelers. Really shocking indeed, Shige."
The people behind them laughed at that, the sound bouncing off the treeline.
