Herder stopped eating. He did not expect this question to arise or that Walker would have an appraisal skill. "Well, that is a less exciting story than you might expect." Herder looked around the fire and found that all the attention was on him. Even the small black serpent had raised its head off the dragon's back to look at him. Herder realized that he had become the designated story teller for the moment.
"When I was half my age I was herding a group of salt lizards to the coast line. I went along the mountains then south to avoid the swamp lands. It is safer that way for myself and the salt lizards. My client wanted the salt lizards so he could train them to consider the salt that came from the ocean breeze. To be honest I thought it was strange that someone would specifically train salt lizards for this reason but I did it anyways."
