Nate stays silent for at least half the journey, excluding small mumbles about 'bugs the size of his head' or 'wonder if that's edible' in addition to 'don't touch that, you're probably allergic'. Somewhere along the line, he started a tangent on the Muiscas, but is effectively silenced when they come up on the sunkissed sight before them.

"Huh," he adds insightfully, hands on his hips. "Could probably make a nice buck with a good picture of that."

He finishes the thought without a hitch, but his thoughts afterword immediately move to Elena, and his grin loses its teeth. He distracts from it by pulling out his journal again to eye the patrol routes.