Katja bristled as the woman burst into laughter. Had she said something funny? She certainly didn't think it was funny. The woman quieted, finally giving her name, and Katja's hackles lowered as she considered the woman, though she did not relax from her stiff stance. Her name was one more than familiar to Katja. The name of a god, from a clan named after the gods. It bordered on blasphemy, but then there had been a long tradition amongst vikings - kings and karls alike - of claiming descent from gods. All this did was declare her origin to Katja, rather than offend her. And she did claim royalty, which would go still further to explain her name. A foolish conceit, in Katja's eyes, but then again many things were.
"Katja Finnvi am I," she answered cautiously, though her eyes narrowed and her tail twitched with irritation at the saucy wink thrown her way. "Regent of the empire Ebony." She cocked her masked head to the side in some curiosity despite her annoyance. "Your name does suggest you be also..." she struggled a moment to find a word in the common tongue to describe what she was looking for, and finally had to settle on the closest thing she could. ".... Viking?"
