Horatio

"The best self defense is runnin' away. Crackin' skulls won't make you any happier."

Horatio confronts the Hero on first meeting, demanding to know what he's doing there and whether he's looking for trouble. If the Hero stays calm and says he's new, Horatio softens, noting he seems alright, since every day some new fool shows up looking for trouble. If instead the Hero needles him about being a rice farmer, Horatio warns that working the fields doesn't make him helpless and offers a beating.

Asked why a man like him works with the farmers, Horatio explains he is done fighting pointless fights, since fighting is what landed him in the Colony to begin with. He recounts a drunken brawl back home, accidentally killing a man by knocking his head against cobblestone, and shouting at the body to get up before realizing it wasn't happening anymore. He implies he swore to himself never to attack anyone again, though he will still teach.

On why he joined the New Camp specifically, Horatio lays out his view of the Colony's factions: Gomez and his Old Camp warders are "bloodhounds fleecin' the diggers out of every last nugget they have," the Loons of the Swamp Camp are decent enough but he doesn't buy their talk of the Sleeper, calling them poor souls looking for hope where there isn't any. He's unsure if the New Camp's Water Mage plan will actually work, but says it's all the same to him since he's found his peace, and suggests the Hero try the same.

If the Hero asks Horatio to teach strength, he only agrees once the Hero states the reason is to take on the Rice Lord and his goons, refusing outright if the goal is self-defense or general respect, warning, "before you know it, you have another bastard on your hands. No... I won't teach you." Afterward, he tells the Hero to use the strength for a just cause, and only for that. He also thanks the Hero for bringing him water sent by Lefty, saying he was just about to drink the mud.