"It is!" Tazendra hadn't known what state Aerich had been, but it didn't really matter. She would have welcomed anyone from the Empire not actively wishing her dead; that it was a dear friend was a joy. "I had not known anyone had arrived, let alone a friend. Please, come in! Mogmi, if you would be so good as to fetch refreshments. Are you newly arrived?"

Surely she would have noticed if he had been here for long; she knew that Heroes arrived regularly, but not how often it was. And her own arrival had been unorthodox in several different ways.