hold your breath my dear, we're going under

For a beat, Rogue could do nothing but just… stare at the strange girl. He was bewildered by her ignorance of his pack and his family, of the notoriety of the Ashen Empire, of what basic borders and territory claims meant! Her words baffled him probably as much as his baffled her, if not more so. She used language he’d occasionally heard his father mutter under his breath when he was frustrated and didn’t know the pups were listening. He didn’t know how to feel about that, especially since his mother always turned pointed looks toward his sire if she caught him sweating around the pups. This girl was wild, clearly a lawless heathen that had trespassed into his home. Her devil may care demeanor was bizarre and strange to the boy who had only known the decorum of a noble family.

Oh but she was waiting for some sort of response from him! The girl took a step closer to him, looking at him like he was some sort of strange creature she’d never seen before. Rogue didn’t shrink or shy away; the prince held his ground and met curious ruby eyes with his own bewildered sunset gaze. "Uh, the Ashen Empire is only the greatest pack in the land, duh! And it’s also the one you’re trespassing in right now," he responded, then looked around at the arid red rocks around them. "The land isn’t actually burned, silly. That’s our name because-" Rogue paused, realizing he didn’t actually know why their pack was called Ashen. He hadn’t received that history lesson yet. So he defaulted to the next logical answer. "…because my mom said so, and she’s the Empress." surely she would be able to understand the logic there. She was the Empress, she was in charge, so what she said goes! But there was a more pressing question on Rogue's mind. Looking back at the hole in the earth she had been digging at, Rogue asked, "Who are you anyway? And what are you even doing?"

"Rogue Klein"