diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 60d8b8d..2cc8e35 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
     "require": {
         "php": "^7.4 | ^8.0",
         "nikic/iter": "^2.0",
-        "symfony/polyfill-php80": "^1.17"
+        "symfony/polyfill-php80": "^1.22",
+        "symfony/polyfill-php81": "^1.22"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "phpunit/phpunit": ">= 7 < 10",
diff --git a/src/AbstractPath.php b/src/AbstractPath.php
index 2846cf0..2275975 100644
--- a/src/AbstractPath.php
+++ b/src/AbstractPath.php
@@ -4,21 +4,26 @@ declare(strict_types=1);
 
 namespace Arokettu\Path;
 
+use Arokettu\Path\Helpers\DataTypeHelper;
+
+/**
+ * @internal
+ */
 abstract class AbstractPath implements PathInterface
 {
     protected string $prefix;
     protected \SplDoublyLinkedList $components;
 
-    abstract protected function parsePath(string $path): \SplDoublyLinkedList;
+    abstract protected function parsePath(string $path): void;
 
     public function __construct(string $path)
     {
-        $this->components = $this->parsePath($path);
+        $this->parsePath($path);
     }
 
     /**
-     * @param RelativePath|string $path
-     * @static
+     * @param RelativePathInterface|string $path
+     * @return static
      */
     public function resolveRelative($path, bool $strict = false): self
     {
@@ -37,20 +42,31 @@ abstract class AbstractPath implements PathInterface
     /**
      * @return static
      */
-    protected function doResolveRelative(RelativePath $path, bool $strict): self
+    protected function doResolveRelative(RelativePathInterface $path, bool $strict): self
     {
-        $relativeComponents = $path->components;
+        if ($path instanceof RelativePath) {
+            // optimize
+            $relativeComponents = $path->components;
+        } else {
+            // allow external implementations
+            $relativeComponents = $path->getComponents();
+            if (!array_is_list($relativeComponents)) {
+                throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
+                    'Poor RelativePathInterface implementation: getComponents() must return a list'
+                );
+            }
+        }
 
         if ($path->isRoot()) {
             $newPath = clone $this;
-            $newPath->components = clone $relativeComponents;
+            $newPath->components = DataTypeHelper::iterableToNewListInstance($relativeComponents);
 
             return $newPath;
         }
 
         $components = clone $this->components;
 
-        $numComponents = $relativeComponents->count();
+        $numComponents = \count($relativeComponents);
         for ($i = 0; $i < $numComponents; $i++) {
             if ($relativeComponents[$i] === '.') {
                 continue;
@@ -120,6 +136,11 @@ abstract class AbstractPath implements PathInterface
         return $components;
     }
 
+    public function toString(): string
+    {
+        return $this->prefix . \iter\join('/', $this->components);
+    }
+
     public function __toString(): string
     {
         return $this->toString();
diff --git a/src/Helpers/DataTypeHelper.php b/src/Helpers/DataTypeHelper.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb8b8de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Helpers/DataTypeHelper.php
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Arokettu\Path\Helpers;
+
+/**
+ * @internal
+ */
+final class DataTypeHelper
+{
+    public static function iterableToNewListInstance(iterable $iterable): \SplDoublyLinkedList
+    {
+        if ($iterable instanceof \SplDoublyLinkedList) {
+            return clone $iterable;
+        }
+
+        $list = new \SplDoublyLinkedList();
+
+        foreach ($iterable as $value) {
+            $list->push($value);
+        }
+
+        return $list;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/PathInterface.php b/src/PathInterface.php
index 5f975dd..8bf69c9 100644
--- a/src/PathInterface.php
+++ b/src/PathInterface.php
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ interface PathInterface extends \Stringable
     public function toString(): string;
 
     /**
-     * @param RelativePath|string $path
+     * @param RelativePathInterface|string $path
      * @return static
      */
     public function resolveRelative($path, bool $strict = false): self;
diff --git a/src/RelativePath.php b/src/RelativePath.php
index 50a6b5a..2cf5ca0 100644
--- a/src/RelativePath.php
+++ b/src/RelativePath.php
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ declare(strict_types=1);
 
 namespace Arokettu\Path;
 
-final class RelativePath extends AbstractPath
+final class RelativePath extends AbstractPath implements RelativePathInterface
 {
     private bool $windows;
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ final class RelativePath extends AbstractPath
         return new self($path, true);
     }
 
-    protected function parsePath(string $path): \SplDoublyLinkedList
+    protected function parsePath(string $path): void
     {
         $components = explode('/', $path);
 
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ final class RelativePath extends AbstractPath
             $parsedComponents->unshift('.');
         }
 
-        return $parsedComponents;
+        $this->prefix = '';
+        $this->components = $parsedComponents;
     }
 
     protected function buildRelative(string $path): RelativePath
diff --git a/src/RelativePathInterface.php b/src/RelativePathInterface.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3865b87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/RelativePathInterface.php
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Arokettu\Path;
+
+interface RelativePathInterface extends PathInterface
+{
+    public function isRoot(): bool;
+}
diff --git a/tests/RelativePathTest.php b/tests/RelativePathTest.php
index 752bc4f..10b6638 100644
--- a/tests/RelativePathTest.php
+++ b/tests/RelativePathTest.php
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ declare(strict_types=1);
 
 namespace Arokettu\Path\Tests;
 
+use Arokettu\Path\PathInterface;
 use Arokettu\Path\RelativePath;
+use Arokettu\Path\RelativePathInterface;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 
 class RelativePathTest extends TestCase
@@ -145,4 +147,64 @@ class RelativePathTest extends TestCase
 
         $p->resolveRelative($rp, true);
     }
+
+    public function testExternalRelativeImplementations(): void
+    {
+        $p = new RelativePath('i/am/test/path');
+
+        $rp1 = new class implements RelativePathInterface {
+            public function __toString(): string {
+                return '';
+            }
+
+            public function getComponents(): array
+            {
+                return explode('/', '../../i/am/test/path');
+            }
+
+            public function toString(): string
+            {
+                throw new \BadMethodCallException('Irrelevant');
+            }
+
+            public function resolveRelative($path, bool $strict = false): PathInterface
+            {
+                throw new \BadMethodCallException('Irrelevant');
+            }
+
+            public function isRoot(): bool
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+        };
+
+        $rp2 = new class implements RelativePathInterface {
+            public function __toString(): string {
+                return '';
+            }
+
+            public function getComponents(): array
+            {
+                return explode('/', 'i/am/test/path');
+            }
+
+            public function toString(): string
+            {
+                throw new \BadMethodCallException('Irrelevant');
+            }
+
+            public function resolveRelative($path, bool $strict = false): PathInterface
+            {
+                throw new \BadMethodCallException('Irrelevant');
+            }
+
+            public function isRoot(): bool
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+        };
+
+        self::assertEquals('i/am/i/am/test/path', $p->resolveRelative($rp1)->toString());
+        self::assertEquals('/i/am/test/path', $p->resolveRelative($rp2)->toString());
+    }
 }