"Demon!" One of the soldiers shouted involuntarily as the Rohaan began shift through many forms following the removal of the [i]ishun-tai[/i]. The Emperor only looked upon Rohaan with pure fascination. It was rare enough to come into contact with a Shifter in the Age of Man, and rarer still to witness them transform into anything. Still, Karl Valdemar wasn't completely composed. His gloved left hand and arm began to inhumanly convulse and twist in an entirely unnatural way, clearly in reaction to the old shapeshifting magic of the Shifter before him. Gripping his left arm with his right hand made it far less noticeable, yet the pain was indescribable. If anything, he was a stoic man, and suffered in silence. At the same time, the Emperor was genuinely curious whether or not the Shifter would make an attempt on his life, but he wagered the silverblood was still far to weak and drained to maintain a significant form for long. Besides, he had other assurances for that. He was many things, but a fool was not one of them.

The constant disregard to the Emperor from Rohaan clearly ground on the nerves of the captain until he had his own outburst. "You worm, you should be prostrating yourself. This is Karl Valdemar Sigurdsson, Imperial Sovereign of All Mankind, Avatar of Sigus, Son of the Great Restorer, Dragon of the North, Hammer of the Centauri Hordes, Grand Prince of Last Vigil-"

With his left arm once again calm, the Emperor raised a hand to once again silence his overzealous captain. "Titles are of no importance at his present moment. Besides, if they were to all be rattled off, we'd be standing here until the sundown. I am in need of your services, which forces us to be equals for the time being." Many thought he had gone mad to even consort with a Shifter, but it had become both necessary and unavoidable. It did contain a sense of irony, considering that his father had purged most of the non-humans that had once resided in these lands during his many campaigns to restore the empire. Perhaps there was an additional level of animosity between the two of them due to that, though that was likely beyond the interest of the glorified thief that now stood before him.

"You know," the Emperor began as he glanced towards the fishing poles arranged on the shore, "there's a degree of honesty associated with fishing. A man can feed himself and his family with enough effort. Something that you should really consider, though I suppose you're no man."

"It even surprised me that your fellow cutthroats were so eager to cut your throat. The Imperial Crown still resides at the Old Imperial Capital. It was never actually moved to Last Vigil, despite the rumors. And yes, those rumors spread like wildfire with enough bribes." The Imperial Crown was older than the Old Empire itself, and was never meant to be worn. It was the temporal power of the God of Mankind bestowing his favor to the emperors that ruled in his place. Karl Valdemar doubted any of this was all that interesting to the Shifter at all. It was largely doubtful that they even followed the same gods, though the theologians would claim that they were merely variants of the same gods. Still, he knew that this particular Shifter was extremely clever. By this point he had probably pieced together that he had been set up and thrown into a trap. His confidence would remain, Karl had to guess, given it was clear to this point that he had a vested interest in keeping the Shifter alive.

"I even went out of my way to arrange for your death to be faked. Another prisoner of similar appearance. Turns out both men and Shiftlings burn much the same at the stake." There was always a level of discretion that he was forced to maintain, though much of this had been arranged by the Imperial Spymaster than the Emperor himself. He had far more enemies than friends, which made the Emperor and the Shifter not all that different, in an odd sort of way. That had precluded the option of directly contacting the Shifter. Too direct and obvious. And the channels to do so weren't secure at all.

He clapped his hands. Seemingly out of nowhere, appeared several servants. They laid out a large table not far from the lake itself, consisting of various food and drink. The Emperor took his own seat and offered another chair for the weakened Shifter. Truly the setting for this meeting wasn't due to the remoteness of this location, though that just happened to be an additional benefit. Summers were short in the Pale Reaches, and Karl Valdemar always took advantage of this by taking extended trips fishing, hunting, and engaging in a plethora of other recreational activities. This location wasn't specifically chosen for this particular meeting. Rather, this just so happened to be where the Emperor was at this time.

The Emperor allowed Rohaan to enjoy the food and drink for a moment before continuing. "It is well known that I can grant you almost anything that you could possibly desire. Thus, the motivation and compensation should be no issue. There exists a certain person I need retrieved. Yet I must wonder... is this something that you are capable of?" These final words rang with a tinge of mockery and genuine curiosity. This curiosity wasn't concerning the skills of the shiftling, no. He was already well aware of that. He was most interested how the Shifter would answer. After spending so many resources in arranging this meeting, he had to wonder what kind of person he was truly dealing with.