“Hmph. I guess my hand slipped.” Ash simply shrugged at Rohaan’s weak protests, reinforced by the fact that these protests weren’t particularly serious. She didn’t find him to be trustworthy at all. Of course, if proof was provided, then she would be forced to accept whatever he claimed to be true, but there was still a long way before she would accept him as well-intentioned. If this was just another job to him, which it had to be, then it would be at least transparent. The fact that he wasn’t a man had nothing to do with that. Still, a Shifter was dangerous in its own way, which was making her much more cautious than she normally was. She wasn’t bloodthirsty at all, and neither was Rohaan, she suspected. Ash would fight to the death to defend herself, especially if he tried to force her cooperation. She was having a sneaking suspicion that they’d be in each other’s company for the foreseeable future. That didn’t mean that she was obligated to like him at all.

Ash visibly grimaced as Rohaan came over to sit across from her. She considered moving away to keep her distance, but decided against it. She wanted to receive answers to her questions, and it was absolutely no interest of hers to drag things out even longer than it rightfully needed to be. Without much thought, Ash tossed her knapsack to Rohaan that was filled with food and other amenities. Of course, much of that was food that she had taken from the village in the valley below - no one in that village had been of the right mind to stop her from doing much of anything. Though it was mostly dried meat, cheeses, and other foodstuff that didn’t perish easily. She had her fun earlier, and even if she wasn’t fond of the Shifter at all, there was no greater torture that she could have inflicted than depriving a hungry man of food. Besides, it would serve as a nonverbal truce between the two of them.

“Help yourself.” Ash offered, officially sealing her act of goodwill. However, as soon as Rohaan began to speak again, she instantly came to regret her actions. Bastard daughter of the Emperor of Man? Who in their right mind would accept that as truth? Rohaan was clearly insane or a liar. Possibly even both. Yet, he knew so many personal details about her, much more than any stranger should. Ash’s head began to spin. Before she managed to gather who wits, Rohaan flicked a silver ring towards her direction, and more out of instinct than anything, she effortlessly caught it. As it rested in her palm, the ring slowly changed to blood-red, with glowing letters appearing on its surface. To a trained eye, the letters were clearly Old Elvish, but Ash had no such eye. As time continued to pass, there was a strange urge for her to put the ring on, and she did, against all her better judgement.

The ring grew hotter as it was on her finger. The heat wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either. Then, before her, there seemed to be a shimmer in the air. Out of pure curiosity, she reached out and touched it, and the air rippled like water before it reformed itself into a man. This man was finely dressed, and he was looking over something, possibly documents on a table. It was hard to tell exactly, since only the man could be seen. Still, it was fairly obvious that the man wasn’t really there before Ash, since he looked like a reflection in water, slightly distorted. Although his back was turned to Ash, something seemed to grab his attention. It was a ring on his right hand, visibly identical to the one that Ash had, and he turned around. The man was Karl Valdemar.

Ash recognized him, even through all the distortion. She had spent years bowing her head in front of a portrait of the Emperor every morning for nearly as long as she could remember. She was completely in shock. Karl Valdemar only returned a slight smile.

“Girl, why don’t you place your hand on the Vokurian? It is best that we include him in our little conversation.” Ash did as she was commanded. For the first time in her life she was at a loss for words and completely out of her depth. She brought herself closer to Rohaan and placed her hand on his shoulder, allowing the Shifter to see exactly what stood before them.

“Shiftling… you make excellent time, don’t you?” The Emperor said as he turned to acknowledge Rohaan.