"In Arum, our business is war," Seoraj says, thoughtfully, and he's taking a roundabout way to his own point this time, too. "Not our own; we do our politics around a table, that's as is." It's also not the popular perception of how they work, but they don't tend to fuss too much about what foreigners think about them. Do said foreigners have money? Are they going to give their money to the Arums? The interest tends to end there, since they're not going to take problem-solving advice from the people who hire them.

"No, but, we fight for other people. They'll hire a clan, and maybe their enemy hires another clan, and we do all the hard parts for them." This explains a lot of how Seoraj interacts with people; probably more than he realizes. "It's our trade, it's what we are. Soldiers, none better in any land we know. But I don't often get to visit cities where I can leave my axe where it is."

He tosses and catches the aluminium bracelet. "It's different." And he likes it.