Swamped

"Are you Kandrian?"

He actually seems intrigued by this.

"Through muck and moss," he says.

Huh, sounds like a proverb they'd say out in the swamp, though not one you've heard specifically. Doesn't exactly answer the question, though. And your interrogator doesn't seem sure where to go from there.

"And you say you were just passing by," he says after a while. "Is there a particular reason you chose to intervene on our side?"

"Yeah," he says. "I've met that Heron fellow before. Figured he wouldn't be up to any good. For all I know, maybe your crew isn't either, but I didn't think I'd go wrong messing with whatever he was scheming."

This conversation is proving tricky. You're trying to get a read on both Long and the guy questioning you, while he's trying to get a read on both Long and you. And you can't tell what Long is trying to do at all, though it's probably safe to assume he's looking for information too.

The end result of it is that the discussion shifts direction easily. It's easy for the third person to move it somewhere else if they don't like what the other two are talking about.

So maybe you need to find a topic that two of you can be on the same page about, then. Which is probably easier with the gang leader here, since you're having a hard time pinning Long down on anything.

Follow his lead, maybe. Build off his last question somehow. He seems lost in thought again, so this could be a good time to interject.