Swamped

You try desperately to think of who else might live in a swamp.

"Don't know how you guessed I was a muck fisher, but I got out by joining an acting troupe." You try to sound as surprised as you actually are, with a touch of indignation. "To the artistic types, it doesn't matter where you grew up if you got talent."

You then walk off more quickly. Hopefully that comes off as taking offense.

Your plan hasn't changed - you're going to talk to the wizard and see if he has any ideas about this stuff. Or about anything, really. Especially if he knows anything about how you can get back to your own damned time, but you aren't especially optimistic on that point. And there's way too many people who can listen in for you to have a decent talk about that here, anyhow.

Speaking of listening, you feel like you're hearing a faint sound. You pause and try to get a better sense of what it is... but the noise seems to stop once you're not moving. Then, a little after you start walking again, you swear you hear it.

Is there something on your shoes? Unlikely - you just cleaned them with the rest of your armor. Is it something to do with the ether Long warned you about, or...

Wait, there's a more mundane answer. Someone's following you. They're trying to time their footsteps with yours to cover the sound, but apparently they're not quite good enough at it.

That seems risky. There's a lot of people who might spot them... except, you're probably drawing more attention, what with your uniform and all. For that matter, maybe it's nothing sinister, just a nervous and curious patient.

But you'd also prefer not to deal with a nervous and curious patient right now, so maybe you ought to do something about it.