Before he even finishes speaking, Meridia shimmers, and is replaced by an utterly plain and forgettable peasant woman; slightly dirty, tired-looking, with a simple, homespun dress, with a few patches in it. She'd blend in any crowd of commoners in the city. "Better?" she asks, in a utterly sincere tone. "I learned about espionage at my mother's knee a century before you were born, mortal. Don't presume to lecture me, especially when I find out that your encounter with the Obsidian Tiger wasn't unique. Either there's more than one in the region, or that one has been moving extremely quickly. Either way, the fact that there are any here at all bodes ill, considering that they prefer environments that never see direct sunlight."