Shwaan heard her enter the pub before he saw her. He couldn’t turn around, of course. That would give the whole game away. Her arrival was supposed to be a surprise to Ashwin Kwan. But Shwaan had spent days watching her on TV, listening to her voice and memorising her posture and style from TV sets in various motel rooms and shop-fronts across the country before flying to Ragah to actually see her in real life. He had tailed her for almost a whole day – her and many others – to determine who would be the best suited to his purpose. He had dug up everything he could find on her and then some; he needed to be able to anticipate her actions if she was going to be any use to him in the long run. By now, Shwaan was pretty sure he could predict the exact moment of Casia Washi’s next sneeze, if he wanted to.

So of course he recognised her footsteps when she strolled casually into the pub as if she owned the place, as was her wont with almost any place she graced with her presence. It was a quality he rather admired.

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He smiled into his citrus-flavoured cocktail with the little umbrella on top and remained seated, waiting for her to make the first move. Casia had dutifully followed the careful trail of rumours and speculation he had left for her in his wake, tracking him to Himli just as he had expected her to. He could admit to himself that he was impressed. While he had wanted her to find him, he could not afford to have made it too easy, lest it raise suspicions. But she had not disappointed him so far, and he trusted her not to do so now. He took a long sip of the orange beverage in his hand, savouring the various layers of tangy flavours that suffused his tongue and warmed his throat, and waited.