Even though he's been in Baedal less than a month, Xas is relieved when he twists around to look and sees someone perfectly human and not engaged in any alarming or odd activities. "Hello," he says, smiling, and extracts his hands from the deep, narrow trench he's made around the roots of the shrub. They're brown with dirt, so he doesn't offer one for a shake. A thought occurs to him before he could, anyway, and he adds, "I don't know if I'm allowed to do this." Maybe he's not; if this man is about to tell him so, it's less embarrassing to preempt it.