"Nor do I," Alan agreed. Because while he'd tried to figure out a few ways to help Sand, he didn't think that was precisely the way to go about things. It wasn't the fact that he had strange powers over earth that had him keeping himself awake for twenty-something days in a row like a madman half the time.

Alan followed along with the clothes and the briefcase, trying to be unobtrusive and mostly succeeding.

"I wouldn't bet against you," Alan assured him as they walked. "If Storm was that capable-looking woman who walked off with them. I think we might have skipped a few introductions in our haste earlier. That happens."