It seemed that he could get no rest. Only moments after his calm cautiously returned, the door swung open. He jumped, sure that he was about to have to fight. He relaxed, slightly, when a woman stood in at the door. Perhaps she was a serving girl.

Then she entered, and alarm once again swept into his mind. She was his room-mate. Oh, gods. He tensed up as she sat on the other bed. [i]I know that there's not a lot of room, but surely I could have been paired with a man.[/i]

Her name was Johanna. An interesting name. Quite pretty, in fact. What wasn't as pretty was the threat. And the dozen more he could see boiling in the back of her mind. After a few moments of cautious preparation, he reached out and gingerly took hold of her hand. "Nice to meet you, miss. I'll keep my hands to myself tonight, don't you worry. My name is Asher. Asher Thyne." If she knew his name, he reasoned they'd never see each other again after that night, so there was no harm done.

While he spoke, he carefully absorbed her image in his mind. She was definitely attractive, though he suspected she'd be even more so if she would smile or at least stop scowling. Her features were well formed.

Her words spoke determined, of a tightly controlled mind. She definitely sat with rigid discipline, a kind of stature he'd only seen on two types of people: the wealthy or those who pretended to be.

Asher could almost hear Emerson's voice. "That's all very well and good, my boy, but what else can you tell about her with that information?"

He frowned. Well, she was in an Inn for refugees, yet she carried herself as if she were nobility. That likely meant that she either wasn't welcome at home, or had been displaced by the war in Sevitel.

Yet she didn't seem to be the type of noble who had been pushed away from money and wealth. For one thing, she was sitting in silence, not complaining about the lack of her own room, or how she was too rich for these base conditions. That meant she was either brought up well, or used to such situations.

He decided to hazard a guess. If he was right, wonderful; if not...well, he'd never see her again anyway. "Has your family been without money for long?" The question was probably the best way he could have put it, but he still winced internally that he hadn't come up with something that felt more natural.