Squeak and Creak

On instinct, her head went down as the beast approached, although, as the brown female began to study her, it rose slowly again until the two were on eye level. Now that she had realized the hag wasn't a demon, Arayne felt less frightened, although she knew better than to let her guard down totally. This "Cattina" looked haggard and ragged, not exactly royalty. Arayne knew what noble bloodlines looked like, she possessed one herself.

Not that that would help her much here.

"Empress?" she repeated, a bit more incredulously than she meant to say it. This skull-wearing hag was an Empress? Empress of what, a rusty hunk of metal on a frozen coastline? Scents left by Cattina near the entrance usually ended up being blasted away by the blizzards, but little did Arayne know that farther into the ship was the witch's lair, festooned with grisly trophies. Cattina would have come home to an empty ship had she seen it, as she would have been at least a mile away by now if she had. "I'm just here to wait out the storm." she replied defensively. "I haven't hunted or taken anything."