"I don't see why," Martel says to that last remark, without missing a beat. "Let's not pretend I haven't earned it."

A promising start, that. He does know the nexus fairly well by now, though, and the place he leads Sparhawk is out of the way without being so far from civilization that he could be accused of luring him out the back to knock him over the head or God only knows what. It's quiet, lakeside, and the still water seems like an appropriate enough backdrop.