Ward was on his usual patrol, working his way slowly through the district assigned to him. He hadn't been to this quarter for a while, restlessness in a different area having kept him quite busy. Since that section had finally settled, he decided to go over the rest of his district with a fine-tooth comb, just to make sure that he hadn't missed any other issues surfacing.

Still, he was relieved to almost be done with this sector, the largest on his route. Once he finished with the forest, he'd be able to stop and spend a few days with his family, catching up. It had been months since he'd had time to sit down and visit with them properly and he was looking forward to the smiles they'd wear when they learned that he could actually stay for more than a few minutes.

His mouth was already watering for a taste of his mother's stew when he heard a feminine voice call, "Hello? Anyone there?"

He frowned, pausing in his stride. Last time he checked, there was no one living in this forest and even if there were, they shouldn't have detected his presence. He'd spent months making sure that his movements blended in with the natural rhythm of the land once he had arrived here. There had even been a few near misses before he'd mastered it, but that had been years ago.

Silently unsheathing his sword, he switched direction towards where the voice had come from. Frustration laced her voice as she called, "I demand that you show yourself at once! What sort of kidnapping is this, that it's done so shoddily?"

He frowned at her words. Kidnapping? That was a different matter altogether. As the guardian of this district, he should've been notified immediately if someone had gone missing. Pulling up his notifications, he quickly checked to see if he had missed any messages, but his inbox was still empty, so it wasn't that.

Gripping the hilt of his sword, he worked his way towards where the woman was quietly muttering now, anger lacing every word as well as what sounded suspiciously like swearing, although he couldn't be entirely sure on that point. He had to school his face before stepping into the clearing after a particularly strong oath fell from her lips. If she had been kidnapped, he was starting to feel just the tiniest hint sorry for her abductors.

However, when he stepped into the clearing, he was not expecting the sight that met his eyes. The woman was clearly a star traveler, not someone from this world. But if there had been another drop, he should've been notified immediately by the system. He glanced at his menu again, was it malfunctioning? But that didn't make any sense, he'd been here for a decade now and it had never had a single error. No, something else was going on here.

He sighed as he stepped a little further into the clearing. If this woman was a star traveler and he hadn't been notified, that meant that something larger was afoot. Something that would most likely cause him an enormous headache before it was properly sorted.

That was the moment that she spotted him and her purple eyes, so like the forest around them, narrowed as she studied him. He noted distantly that she had placed her back to a large tree so that she wouldn't be vulnerable to rear attacks. Smart move on her part, considering that she was in what could be considered a foreign land. However, the weight of the branch that she was holding like a club would undoubtedly only slow her down, its heaviness outweighing its advantage.

Before he could speak, she straightened her shoulders and said firmly, "Why have you kidnapped me? If it's a ransom that you're after, I assure you that your chances of success are quite low."

Interesting that her first assumption was that she had been kidnapped instead of panicking that she was in a strange place. Of course, she could've already had a panic attack and he hadn't witnessed it. However, she showed no signs of tears or dishevelment that would usually come from such an episode. So, either she had been kidnapped multiple times or she was an heiress of some sort that had lived with the possibility of being kidnapped her entire life.

Still, he'd better take control of the situation before she became truly agitated. He asked calmly, his voice deep in the surrounding silence, "What makes you believe that you have been kidnapped or that I have anything to do with it?"

She observed him calmly, her eyes dipping down to his sword before meeting his eyes again, "Several reasons. One, I've seen no one except you and I around here and you are the one that happens to be armed. If my father had sent you to rescue me, you would've already had me on the move back to safety. As to why I believe that I've been kidnapped, I went to sleep in my bed last night and woke up in the middle of a purple forest."

Disdain practically dripped from the word 'believe' and he had to fight to hide a smile. However, she had built up a full head of steam and continued, not noticing his amusement. "I mean, where in the world are purple trees even located? Something like this should be all over the news, it should be well documented. But the fact that I'm seeing purple trees means one of two things. Either I've been drugged and am currently hallucinating, which is not outside the realm of possibility. Or I've been taken to a secret location that's far beyond anywhere I could possibly know."

She sighed loudly shoving a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she scowled at him. "So, I would just prefer if you were straight about the situation with me." She gestured at herself although he noticed that she kept a firm grip on her stick. "After all, it's not like I have a lot of options here at the moment. But if you're honest with me, I might be willing to cooperate with you until you and my father can reach an agreement."

Ward snorted at that, her icy tone clearly declaring her lack of intention to do anything even close to 'cooperating' with her 'captor'. Whoever her father was, he must have a lot of pull in whatever world it was that she came from. Her show of spine amused him as well as encouraged him that she might be one of the travelers to assimilate easier into the world here. And since she had demanded the truth, well...

Sheathing his sword, he stepped further into the clearing and smiled. "Good news, miss. You have not been kidnapped. You have arrived in the Sprinth forest on Audilandre."