It had taken an hour, but Mimi finally convinced Ales to leave his work and welcome the new heroes. After all, she told him, who knew if there would be complications with the arrival like last time? At least he would spare them several minutes of confusion and panic.

Once the Teensie and Moogle reached the Crystal of Fire, they could see that something was wrong. The Moogles were all there, thanksfully, but the heroes milled around, talking with one another just as worried as the group Ales came with. He spotted one of them keeping to herself and eyeing the others mistrustfully. Perfectly understandable, but not a good way to get by in this world. Obviously, he had to talk to her.

Dressed in his elaborate Scholar robes and a large hat, he walked up to Lightning with a smile, his Moogle closely following him. "Good afternoon! You've just arrived here today, I see. I'm Ales." He made a sweeping gesture as he spoke. "How have you been finding your arrival? Everything going smoothly?"