Detlef just looks at Dain, wondering not for the first time how, exactly, he's still alive. If Lance were to walk by right now it would be the perfect tangle, really. Dain's supposed to catch people like him. If the stranger had any idea that Dain knew, Dain could be in trouble, and so somehow Detlef needs to make sure that this stays calm so that Dain doesn't have to kill Detlef to save his own shepherdy skin.

"The cat knows me," he says, sounding as exhausted as if he'd been up for 48 hours straight. Can he cover for Dain covering for him? "He, Lord Frigatebottom, he'd been in the stables until he got underfoot and I stepped on his tail, it was my fault he was out in the cold in the first place, I couldn't just leave him in the cold, and then he got caught..."

Everything would be a lot easier if he didn't care so much. But he does. He can't possibly ignore when animals are suffering. He just really hopes that it doesn't cost him his life any time soon.

"I'm just going to take him home?"