[h3]Zerul City[/h3]
Even though Thomas tried eagerly to convince Jaelnec and his companions to meet the survivor of the Withering in person, the young nightwalker maintained that they needed to find Aemoten and Thaler before doing so. Jaelnec wanted not only to ensure that Aemoten had all the information he needed to lead the group wisely, but also could not be rid of the burden of leadership too soon. The survivor could wait until later in the evening or next day, if need be. Olan supported the decision to prioritize finding their friends wholeheartedly, it turned out, wanting nothing more than to find Thaler and honor his promise to her, to always return to her side as soon as he could.
Luckily it did not take too much time or effort to convince Thomas to delay taking them to the survivor, after which the boy remarked that he had arranged for the companions’ stay per William’s request, and that they were all free to come with him and stay at the Remdal estate, where they would be hosted, fed and – he remarked with a glance at Angora – dressed, should they wish to be so. Once again Jaelnec and Olan declined, citing once again their wish to find their friends as soon as possible. Thomas described the location of the Remdal estate and how to find it nevertheless, noting that they might not be able to find their friends and, even if they did, were free to bring them, too. If any of the group wanted to, going with Thomas was most likely the safest and most comfortable way to spend the night in Zerul City.

Jaelnec and Olan entered the city, though, and started their search. It proved a simple task to track the others at first by simply asking various street-vendors and the like whether they had seen a creature matching Etakar’s description, and for most of the search they were optimistic that finding their friends would prove relatively quick and easy. There were still dead ends in their search, of course, and sometimes they had to ask around quite a bit before they found someone who had either seen Etakar or heard about him from others, but eventually they managed to locate the dekkun... only to discover that the foreign beast had parted ways with his human, likely having found no suitable accommodations for himself wherever Aemoten and Thaler had settled.
They asked around a little more after that, hoping that someone might have either noticed Aemoten’s somewhat foreign appearance, Thaler being a white-haired daywalker, or where about Etakar had parted with his riders. By then it was getting late, though, and the streets gradually drained of the people who had been out and about during the day who either retired to their homes or migrated to different parts of the city. Sullen and defeated the nightwalkers finally followed the instructions given by their greeter and, in what to them was blessed darkness, arrived at the Remdal estate.

The estate was nothing less than a mansion, it turned out, located in the wealthiest part of the city and being significantly larger than most other residences near it, and one of the rare Zerulic cases with a building actually having two floors. The inside was richly decorated, the floors either tiled stone polished to mirror-like sheen or luxuriously soft carpets, depending on the room or hallway they found themselves in. The food and drink on offer was less extravagant than the estate itself, it turned out – according to Thomas there were limits to how much he could procure at the moment, especially with his father gone on business – but it was still quite plentiful, varied and well-made enough that both of the nightwalkers got to eat their fill before being shown their separate chambers.
The estate turned out to have quite a few bedrooms, and though not all of them were equally exuberantly furnished, they were all a huge step up from sleeping on the ground. Every room had a large bed big enough for two people to lie side by side, with mattresses filled with wool, more pillows than one could possibly need and warm quilts, and all had curtains run around them; clearly Count Remdal was used to hosting people of high standing. The bedrooms also all had the necessary equipment for grooming and bathing, a pitcher of water and a chamber pot.

After a night of better rest than Jaelnec could remember ever having, morning – and an offer of delicious breakfast – came, and the nightwalkers reunited and made to rejoin with their companions once again; both those they had left at the city gates and Aemoten and Thaler.