"Oh, for me?" Lau raised an eyebrow. "That's remarkably - some might even say suspiciously - considerate of you..." His voice trailed off when he saw the insignia on the ring. It was a gold signet bearing the emblem of Earth Kingdom royalty in fine green jade, sized to fit a woman's small hand. Lau was a verbose man by nature, so the sudden silence meant that his composure had completely faltered. His ever-present smile twisted into an unreadable expression as he took the ring and slid it over his smallest finger, carefully turning the jade towards his palm so the insignia would not be visible.

"Why, Judar, you must have stolen this from the Queen's finger before the rigor mortis set it," he murmued. How fitting it was that the woman who'd ordered the executions of his family would meet a similiarly ignominious end. Lau wondered if Judar knew the significance of his gift, or if he'd just stolen the first expensive-looking item. Perhaps the firebender was more cunning than he'd thought.

Finally, Lau smiled again. "You have my thanks. Shall we head to my airship to talk? I'm renting an apartment in town, but I mainly reside on my ship." This was Lau's roundabout way of offering Judar a place to stay. "That way, if anyone eavesdrops on my conversations, it's easy to drop them from few thousand feet up."