The smile melted into warm laughter, and she stepped back and into step beside him, her steps slow as they approached the fountain. "I greet everyone differently. It depends on how I feel at the moment, how they feel, and what they need. I do not like social customs, as you may have noticed," she said unnecessarily; you could hardly spend five minutes talking to her without realizing that.
"You are a medical man interested in the occult. Where I am from, this makes you a shaman, and I shall call you it if I choose," she smiled over at him, the warm sunset air swirling around them. She smiled at the feel of the outdoors. "One of us must think of you highly, and you do not seem inclined."