"Right. I was walking, anyway." Vash settles his bag better on his shoulders. "But Nai-- or do you prefer that I call you Knives?" It's important to ask. He's pretty sure.

"There was a definite shift in time, with whatever happened. JuLai was right in front of me, and then it was a crater that had been like that for years. And there are no plants nearby. At all." Beat. "Other than us, obviously."

Deep breath.

"So there may not be anyone in the town to answer."

He may or may not have run into a couple of towns like that already.