Time flew rather quickly.
The next evening, as the sun set and Elkrim's darker elements began to stir, Rey met Lady Z at a prearranged location—a nondescript alley in district four that served as a transition point between the legitimate city and its criminal underbelly.
Lady Z had transformed her appearance dramatically.
Gone was the commanding young leader who'd presided over the Advisors Meeting.
In her place stood a woman who could have been any mid-level criminal operator—leather clothing designed for mobility, her distinctive features altered by Artifacts that changed bone structure and skin tone.
Her bearing was also deliberately less refined.
Rey, already experienced with disguise, had adopted a similar approach.
His elderly merchant persona had been replaced with someone younger, harder, the kind of person who'd survived years in violent trades and carried the scars to prove it.
