Jasper wasn't sure if he was insulted or amused by the woman's blunt statement. While he knew the Djinn were supposed to have horns, he was really quite grateful that he didn't, so if the cost for that was being perceived as 'ugly,' it was a cost he was willing to pay.

There was nothing ugly about the woman standing in front of him, though. She was on the petite side, short enough that even S̆ams̆ādur would easily tower above her, and her sparkling emerald eyes indicated likely Fey ancestry. A smattering of freckles ran across her cheeks and nose, nearly blending into her tanned skin, but her most unusual feature was her slightly disheveled hair, a light blonde interspersed with streaks of lavender. Did she dye it, or does she have Gemlirian heritage? If she was descended from the trolls, it couldn't have been a recent ancestor, as her exquisite features and delicate frame could have given an elf a run for their money.

His reaction shifted to concern, though, as he began to notice other small details. The slight trembling in her hands, the hitch in her voice, the blood on her skirt. He wasn't sure who the woman was, or how the hell she knew his name, but she was clearly afraid of something. Deciding to play along, he inclined his head to the left in a gesture of respect and answered her greeting. "Ah, Lady Naklāti, so good to see you."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion at the fake name, and as she cast a fleeting glance over her shoulder, Jasper figured out what had her rattled. Two men in well-worn travel gear hurried across the street, the scabbards hanging at their sides empty despite the fact that Jasper couldn't see any weapons in their hands. What the hell is going on here? He wasn't sure what he had stumbled into, if this was just some random street robbery or something more complex, but he grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her behind him. "Keep an eye on her," he whispered to Ihra, not ruling out the possibility that this was a scam that the woman was in on, and stepped out into the street to intercept the two men.

"Looking for something?" He hailed them pleasantly.

The three eyed each other, and apparently, Jasper came up lacking, as the two men settled into an aggressive stance. "Aye, we're looking for that little lady, and if you don't wish to earn the ire of House Bidalkas̆, you'll step aside. One way or another," the man grinned nastily, "we'll get what we came for."

"House Bidalkas̆? House Bidalkas̆!?" The girl behind him yelled increasingly incoherently. "You can't just call yourself a house-"

"Let me talk to them," Jasper said, gesturing for her to be silent, and surprisingly, she complied as he turned back to the men. He'd never heard of a House Bidalkas̆, though that wasn't saying much, considering how many noble houses the Empire boasted, but the name's hint at an inglorious origin - silver merchants - suggested to him that the woman was telling the truth. "And what exactly do you want with her?"

"It's not any of your business," the man spat, "and don't try to pretend you know her - we heard you call her by the wrong name."

"Fine, I don't know her," he shrugged, "but it doesn't mean I'm going to let you do whatever you want. Why are you after her?" he asked again, giving them one last chance to either explain themselves or back down.

Unfortunately for them, it was a chance they didn't take. The two men moved in harmony, daggers dropping out of their sleeves and into their palms as they darted past him - or, at least, tried to. They'd only take two steps, though, before a pair of red-hot manacles manifested from thin air and clapped around their ankles. Momentum was not their friend, and the loud pop of broken bones filled the air as the men slammed into their pavement, with their legs at an unnatural angle.

Ouch. Jasper almost felt bad for them as the men groaned in agony, but he acted quickly, kicking the daggers out of their hands before they could recover, and refreshing the spell when the man on the left tried to struggle to his feet.

"Sto-stop! We didn't mean to pick a fight with no mage," the thug stuttered out.

"And yet you did." Jasper crouched down beside him, careful to keep out of arm's length just in case it was a clever ploy to lower his defenses. "Why don't we start again - what do you want with the girl? And this time," the man flinched as he raised his hand and let a trickle of flames run down it, "I'll know if you're telling the truth."

"We're just here for the ring," the thug snapped, "it doesn't belong to her." Surprisingly, the man seemed to be telling the truth - or, at least, he believed it was the truth, an inherent flaw in Jasper's spell, and Jasper glanced over his shoulder at the girl wondering if he had leapt to the wrong conclusion. After all, a pretty face wasn't necessarily a harmless one.

"What's this ring they're talking about?"

"The ring Akīlu forced on me," she replied sullenly. "And he can't have it back."

"Akīlu?"

"The heir of House Bidalkas̆," the thug rasped out, only for the girl to yell over him.

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"There is no House Bidalkas̆. You're just a bunch of upjumped merchants who tried to force me into a marriage." She, too, believed she was telling the truth, somewhat to Jasper's relief, and he scowled at the man.

"Yeah, I'm not helping you kidnap her. I suppose you didn't actually harm anyone, so I'll let you go," he said, standing up, "but if you're stupid enough to try something again, I won't hold back."

"We're not trying to kidnap her - we just want the ring," the man blurted out. "The Emperor may have annulled the engagement, but he didn't say nothing about no ring."

"The Emperor?" Jasper stared at the man incredulously. There was no way Lord Eligon had time to worry about some random engagement between a minor merchant house and whoever the hell the girl was, which meant the man either had some way to deceive Jasper's spell or he was a certifiable loon. "You're claiming the Emperor annulled your master's engagement?"

"There was no engagement," the girl shouted from behind him. "Akīlu wouldn't take no for an answer, but I never agreed to a betrothal. And if he wants the ring he forced on me back, too bad. If Lord Eligon had cared, he would have said something about it."

"Wait - what?" It took a second for Jasper to realize that not only was the woman not denying the thug's delusions, she was actively affirming them. Does Eligon actually know these kooks? As the thought ran through his mind, he remembered she had called him by name, and the pieces began to click into place.

Ardûl hadn't given him much of a description of the ambassador; he knew her name and the place they were supposed to meet, but having never seen her himself, the Moon-kissed commander couldn't tell him much more than that. He had mentioned, however, that she was an oddly low-leveled woman for her position, which could explain her sorry state. But if she's the ambassador, where are her guards? He found it hard to believe the Emperor would have sent her by herself, but he supposed it was possible she had chosen to go for a walk all alone. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

With a visible effort, the woman composed herself and, inclining her head to the left in greeting, gave him her name. "Sēlenīlat marat Mārekdu, of House Yarru, and I believe you are Lord Yas̆peh and Lady Ihra, no? I had hoped to meet in better circumstances, but, still, 'tis a pleasure," she replied formally.

As hard as it was to believe, it appeared they'd stumbled on the ambassador purely by chance. So much for a vacation…Although I suppose we at least made a good impression. His gaze hardened as he glanced down at the wounded men, who hadn't budged an inch, even though the manacles around their ankles had dissipated back into the ether. "I don't know who your master is but if he thinks it's a good idea to go after the Emperor's new ambassador, he's an idiot. Fortunately for you, I don't kill people for being stupid." Grabbing two healing potions out of his bag, he placed them just out of their reach. "Once we leave, you can use these - and like I said before, if I see you again-" He didn't need to finish the threat as the two men's heads bobbed in frantic acceptance.

"Now, Lady Sēlenīlat," he turned to her with a smile, "perhaps we should move our conversation somewhere else. I believe they're expecting us at the Wounded Boar?"

While Jasper had a million questions to ask her, like 'where the hell are your guards' and 'why is a merchant house bold enough to trouble you,' it wasn't a conversation to have in public. After offering to heal her, which she quickly declined, they headed in relative silence to the gate leading into the second ring of the city.

The guards eyed her blood-stained skirt with curiosity, but their questions quelled as Jasper and Ihra flashed their guild badges and explained they were headed to the inn. The second ring of Merôm was nearly entirely residential, with quiet tree-lined streets of cottages interspersed with the occasional craftsmen's workshop, but the traffic picked up slightly as they reached the square where the guild headquarters and army barracks faced off against each other. Their target, though, was the tavern across the way, a large, sprawling edifice with a half-dozen wings attached to it with no concern for design.

It didn't take long to get their rooms; though the receptionist initially ignored her in favor of greeting Jasper instead, as soon as Sēlenīlat flashed the letter with the Emperor's seal, the staff hopped to attention. Fifteen minutes later, they were ensconced in some of the nicest rooms in the tavern, with food on the way.

"Where are your people?" Jasper asked, once the last of your servants had taken their leave. "At first I'd thought you'd snuck away to be by yourself, but you hadn't even checked in yet. Why are you wandering the city by yourself? Where are your guards?"

She shuffled her hands in her lap, not quite meeting his eyes as she answered. "They, uh, they wanted to see the city. I left them in the market."

Jasper wouldn't be shocked if they were indeed in the market, but if she had really wanted them to be there, he doubted she would have acted so squirrely. "Is that really what happened, or did they leave you?" he pressed.

"They said they're only here to protect me from the elves," she folded, "and since there aren't any elves here…"

"Then they're wrong," he replied bluntly. "Lord Eligon is just as worried, maybe more, about attacks from Celestians as he is about the elves. And even if he wasn't, they shouldn't have abandoned you. Why aren't they listening to you?"

"They don't like taking orders from someone…as weak as me," she admitted slowly.

"That can't be all it is," he frowned. "Even if you are a bit underleveled, disrespecting you is disrespecting the emperor."

She didn't respond, but noticing a brief hitch in her hands, Jasper realized she knew something more. "What's the real reason?" he pressed.

"There were many in court who were upset when the previous ambassadors were dismissed. They felt their friends' errors should have been overlooked, and have caused problems for their replacements, nothing large enough to get the attention of a man as busy as Lord Eligon, you understand, but still..."

"So the guards?" Jasper prodded her to continue.

"Whoever assigned my guards was likely a friend of the former ambassador to the Stythani, the man my brother replaced; all of them are connected to him in one way or another."

"Well, then whoever did that messed up," Jasper snorted. "Because I'm not going to stand by and let them ignore you. Come on," he said, standing up abruptly. "Time to round up your guards and put the fear of God in them."

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