Vella stopped him at the guild hall doors and smoothed the white strands away from his collar with both hands.
"The whole capital is going to stare, and I want them jealous," she said, letting her fingers trail across his jaw before releasing him.
Juna flattened her twitching ears and muttered something about inappropriate timing, while Loccy copied Vella's pose on his other arm.
Hajin pushed the doors open, and the noise of two hundred adventurers died in a single breath.
Conversations halted mid-sentence, tankards stopped halfway to mouths, and every head turned toward the white-haired stranger in the doorway.
The pressure of the reconstructed core slipped out before he could leash it, and the nearest tables went quiet in a spreading wave.
'Three rings, and the whole room can feel it through the floorboards.'
Gold and blue streaks shimmered through the snow-white hair, catching the sunlight while mismatched eyes swept the hall.
