Someone spoke her name. Hearing it had made Ruby jerk suddenly, caught off guard by both the word and the voice that delivered it. In a way, the voice was familiar, and yet it was not. Age had changed it, and Ruby's name was seldom spoken in relief. Immediately, Ruby stiffened, but she felt like water when she found the scent there, in the shadows, with her. It was hard to believe, and she struggled to understand, trying to conjure up some kind of coincidence or reason for her to be there - Lethe, her sister, her only sister. Had the stranger come with her? No, she thought, for Lethe moved beside her and not him, and he did not seem to welcome her as one might expect. Ruby's head buzzed, and it took all her strength to stay present. She had to fight off thoughts of their father, and how she had not seen him since that day in the grotto. Had Lethe been there the whole time, waiting?

...Ruby's throat tightened. She had moved to speak, to say Lethe's name, but had shut her mouth with a metallic snap of her teeth. Instead, she leaned towards her sister's warmth, seeking to press her shoulder into hers. She sought comfort in a way, but she sought to warn Lethe too - Ruby didn't know who they had encountered, and things weren't certain to be safe. There was a lot Ruby had to say, but how could she in the presence of a stranger, in the dark where Angels with sharp, vicious teeth or prying spies could be hiding? Instead, she wanted to know it was Lethe for real and not a ghost. Her sister's warmth was what gave Ruby the certainty to stand tall and proud once again, sizing up their mysterious companion.

"You give yourself away, or seek to tell lies to guard your true intentions," she said, her voice sharp despite how hard it had been to conjure up again. "You are near our borders, stranger. I protect these borders, and if you are near them, I assume you want something to do with them." But Onias had told her more than she had expected, and she mulled over the revelations offered to her. He had children in Iromar, and perhaps a mate? She could think only of their Soothsayer, for children had not been a common occurence within Iromar except for Avery's own. This man was certainly not Arkane, Ruby knew that at least.

"Lethe..." She could finally say her name, her voice quiet as she turned to where she could feel her sister. "Obisidion...? Zera-Zerachiel?" She bit down, knowing she had slipped up and shown more of herself than she had wanted to in front of the stranger. She had paused, hesitated, to say their father's name, and then she had jerked back a step when the stranger had moved suddenly. It made her heart sink to think she had shown some kind of weakness, so she was quick to turn back to him, her head high and eyes hard. "If you...return so often, then why is it you linger out here?" It was the best question she could think of, but she'd quickly lost momentum. He was strange, and his alleged connection to the Soothsayer made sense in that regard, but his strangeness put her on edge. How was she meant to know if he was lying, or trying to manipulate them? He wasn't like Blackthorne, even, who had been prone to bouts of strangeness too. He was something else, and not something Ruby had ever handled before.