Rohaan was a very good lockpick, exceptional really. Berlin had taught him everything he knew and Berlin was one amazing thief, plus he'd learned some things in his short hard life on his own. But he hadn't touched that door. The blonde smiled. "Windows, mate. People living in high towers think they're safe from the likes of me. But then, they've never met me." He laughed. But his mirth was sort of clipped short a bit when Xander called him tainted. It wasn't an insult, especially not coming from the partially transformed boy, who obviously really was tainted by the Darkness. Rohaan probably earned a bit of trust from that assumption...just...it wasn't true. Rohaan had been able to shift since he was a toddler, and he had not personally encountered a Dark creature until he was about five. There weren't many near his tiny island home, as they were far from the mainland. But the ocean has Dark depths, too. His father had been there to protect him then, and neither had been infected. No, Rohaan's and his father's shifting had nothing to do with the darkness. Yet people were so convinced otherwise.

Rohaan did not speak on this at the moment; what would he say anyway? Berlin, and subsequently his crew, were the first people to ever see him as anything more than tainted. They weren't the only ones, but that list was sadly few. He'd tried explaining once or twice before, but they'd always scoffed at him, or resented him more for trying to pretend he was normal and whole. He'd think of what to say to Xander eventually. The boy stepped forward and actually revealed his mutated arm; Rohaan inspected it with a mixture of fascination and pity. "That's really something, innit? I'll admit, I don't actually know much about infections like this. Does it erm, does it hurt? How's it feel?"

Most people would have leaped back and some would even pluck a coal from the fire and try to burn the lad on the spot. But not Rohaan. He kind of saw himself in Xander a bit. Looking at him once again reminded Rohaan of the night he'd met Berlin. Rohaan was a half-feral, starved, beaten thing at the time and had tried to pickpocket the sea captain. He was caught, but instead of beating him or shouting for the local guard, Berlin let him go and followed him. The man did not see a monster, he saw potential. So when his attempts to coax Rohaan to him with food were unsuccessful, and since they did not share a language to communicate with, Berlin captured him. It seemed a great injustice at the time, but Rohaan learned fast that it was the greatest gift he'd ever been given in his life. Xander's story was different in many ways, but Rohaan couldn't help but see an outcast in the lad, and himself a fellow outcast who could help him. After what Berlin had done for him, how could he refuse that gift to someone else?

Down in the common room, Rohaan mopped up the runny egg yolk with a chunk of bread with relish. But he'd been relatively silent. Thoughtful. Rohaan was a talkative sort usually, but he was still sort of hung up on Xander assuming he was cursed. Rohaan didn't really take it personally--Xander wouldn't know better. No one did, especially not a kid from a small hamlet. But it gnawed at him still. Probably because they were going to be traveling together for a while. Partners. Xander needed to understand the truth.

"We aren't tainted," he said, seemingly out of nowhere between bites of bread. "Shifters, I mean. I know that's what you've been told. But it's not true. Yggdrasil never paid any attention to us, cursed or otherwise. My people barely even believe in him, or at least not the ones from my tribe. We're a people. A whole culture with history and traditions. We have a language. Didn't know that, did you?" He smirked a little, pointing to each different food on his plate as he spoke unfamiliar words in a thick accent that made it clear where he came by his usually more subtle one. Rohaan sighed, a little defeated. He doubted Xander would really believe him anyway. Few did. "Doesn't matter, not really. But there's a lot you don't know."