'Because I took a job, kind of.'

He lights a smoke off the end of the last one.

'Friend of mine needs someone that can do the sorts of things I do. I'm in a bit of a predicament back home so its no problem to stay away from there really.'

The last bit is a big lie. He has trouble reconciling staying away from Columbia.

'But no guns where he's from, so I had to learn sword. Sorceror helped me out - so I'm as good as someone of my age would be if I'd been training all my life, but no more than that.' Grin. 'Come talk to me in a few hundred years and I might have a go at beating you then.'