On The Roads Again (Xue)

Xue ponders this a moment. "I... don't think so. We weren't really saying anything at the time. We'd just arrived in town, and the guard at the gate had suggested I seek the Celeste in the harbor, as I was looking for passage out of town. On our way there, Peng stumbled badly, and this huge man helped him up. It turns out that was Winnow, captain of the Celeste, though he was just a very large and friendly man in the street at the time."

"When you put it like that, it does seem a little suspicious, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like Peng to stumble, first of all. Was that all some kind of setup?"

"No, I'm just being paranoid. Why would anybody want to entrap me? I'm nothing."

"Clearly my friend that is not true. What are the odds that a group of people from Amber happen to come across you and you begin to journey with them. Then upon your return you encounter a man who for years has been fruitlessly searching for this place. I do not believe this can be coincidence."

"Oh, that's because you aren't nothing. At best, I'm a footnote in the story of Leeland's quest to find his ancestors."

Xue assumes a strange posture, and his voice follows a bizarre sing-song cadence, "'[i]And lo, it came to pass that our hero Leeland found word of Amber. A traveller in Farmouth had come across a ship from that mysterious land.'" Switching back to his normal manner, he continues, "That's all I get to be: 'a traveller in Farmouth'."