Descending the stairs from the second storey of his West Corid Avenue estate, came a much different Aralim than his friends had seen ascend the night before. Dressed in baggy pants that tied off at the ankles and a loose, faded blue tunic, Aralim had shaved his beard clean off and had trimmed his long, brown hair short.
Miresh and Nill, waiting in the foyer for their farewells with him, stared in shock as their much-changed friend came down to them. His staff was strapped to his pack, but there was no sign of the lantern that usually hung from it.
As Aralim approached her, Nill reached out to touch his face. “What did you do? Your…chin! Your ears!”
Aralim smiled and let her touch his smooth cheeks. “I’ve decided to grow them out again. I’m too recognizable for what I need to do,” he told her. It had been a long, long time since he had looked this way, but it was refreshing in its own way—and would certainly afford him some privacy during the first leg of his adventure.
“Is this what it was like when you returned from Tal’lashar and I had changed my hair?” Miresh asked, innocently.
“You should see the tattoo,” Aralim teased, and gave her a shove.
She laughed and shoved right back.
Soon enough, the rest of Aralim’s party arrived. Nill was sad to be left in Rema, but she understood the dangers Aralim faced and his desire to keep her safe. Instead, Aralim was only to be accompanied by Sergeant Grendar and his subordinates, as well as the Aura. He was pleased to see it was the same member of the Aura that he had dressed in blue—and that the man was still wearing it.
Grendar introduced Aralim’s retinue: Lerela the Silver-eyed accompanied them, as well as two new troopers, Vallan and Torlo. Grendar smiled after reuniting with Aralim. “Hopefully we won’t need to travel the Crimson Highway again…”
Lerela scowled. “You’re telling me.”
“I’m not planning on it,” Aralim assured them. “But this journey has even less of a plan than the last one.”
“Good…” Lerela muttered, sarcastically. Aralim was happy to see she still served as a guard, after the doubts she had expressed following the mishaps on their last adventure.
When it was time to set out, Nill embraced Aralim and held him close for a few minutes. “I might just make Miresh teleport me…” she murmured.
Miresh, standing close enough to hear, said, “I might teleport myself.”
Aralim was anxious to get going, but he gave them a moment. “I might see you in Saanazar then,” he said, with a smile. He reached out to pull Miresh into their embrace.
With that, the disguised Walker and his guards stepped out from the mansion and marched into the streets of Rema. It took an hour to reach the waterfront, and then they were out into the rainforests of Numa’nakres once again.