With even more glee than usual, Emeryl pranced out of the rectory early in the morning. This was very odd for him since the priests often had to force him awake.
      Sneaking about he spotted Eric in the middle of the town, alone, staring at the breaking sunrise.
      "Eric?" he cantered over.
      "Hmm? Emeryl?" he glanced back.
      "Hey, you're wearing Alan's mantle." Emeryl blinked. The shiny golden mantle with the embedded rubies covered Eric shoulders. He looked very similar to Alan; maybe if Alan had grown his hair long they'd be twins.
      "Yeah... I decided... I'm going to keep adventuring. If Blake can make undead, and you can make ice, and Prism can do all those things he does... There must be some way to bring back Alan. I mean, he still is here, in a way." Eric swung the sword slowly, still mastering the technique.
      "That makes sense, actually. I wonder, if we could restore Alan, we could restore Maskini too." Emeryl pondered.
      "What are you doing up so early?" Eric asked suddenly.
      "Oh, I couldn't sleep. Maskini appeared in my bedroom last night, and we danced around until the abbot came to check on me... He thought I was going crazy. But I was just too excited to sleep, so I came outside to see if Prism was awake yet, because he always woke up early." Emeryl explained in his elongated way.
      "No, you just slept late." Eric nudged him. Emeryl nodded lightly, with a light flush.
      "I, think I'll go now." Eric took his first step.
      "Huh? You're leaving without us?" he quibbled.
      "Don't worry, I'll be fine." He smiled.
      "But I want to go too!" Emeryl objected.
      "No, I think I should do this on my own." Eric rejected him.
      "Well, where are you going?" he continued.
      "To those mountains. I'll look there first, see if I can find anything." He pointed.
      "Ok." Emeryl nodded.
      Waving, Eric left him behind and headed out of the city.