A dozen days after setting out from the Monteraynian capital, Dustin and Bella found themselves threading through a series of rural villages and farmsteads in the south of Innutuk. Keeping their course steadily northward, the two mostly received and returned smiles with the locals tending their fields or traveling along the road. Occasionally, Bella would spot a stately carriage rolling over a hill, and she would urge for covering their faces with their cloaks, just to avoid any chance at recognition. But on the whole, Dustin found common folk seemed to be common folk, whether Monteraynians or Innutukians.

The two took their midmorning break from riding amongst some trees along the banks of a river. While the horses made their way to the water for a drink, Dustin and Bella took seats opposite one another under the trees, slender trunks providing adequate back support.

"In a day or two, we should reach the capital." Bella said, rummaging through a small bag she'd slung over her shoulder before sitting down, "Considering we intend to infiltrate the ranks of the Innutukian guard, we ought to look the part."

Dustin squinted while also nodding. "How are we to accomplish this?"

"Well, we should start with you, since the consequences are far worse if you get recognized. Take this."

Taking a small elliptical frame from Bella's hand, he glanced over its wooden back for a second before flipping it around and finding his own eyes staring back at him. Mirrors were a rare commodity, and he'd only held one once or twice before. But to look upon his own face as another man truly was a novel sensation.

"Frankly, I'm convinced I could pass for an Innutukian." Dustin said, "I have been mistaken for one before."

"By who? Whoever thought you were must have been some novice, because as one who's seen many lands and many peoples, you look distinctively Monteraynian."

"It was when we encountered an arm of the Forbachean insurgence. They treated us with suspicion at first, thinking Jude and I Innutukians."

Bella snorted. "Jude too? One could hardly look more typically Alcontean."

"On that, I must agree. But if I'm to pass as Innutukian, how will we accomplish that?"

"First off, your hair is too thin and wispy. I have no way to make it any thicker, of course, but I'm afraid we'll have to shave it down to make your ancestry less obvious."

Dustin glanced in the mirror, running a hand through the smooth brown hair he'd inherited from his mother. "You're asking me to cut this?"

"We don't have much choice, if we want to go unsuspected."

"Very well, then."

So over the next few minutes, Dustin watched through the mirror as Bella gently worked through his hair with a sharp knife. She didn't slice his locks quite as close to his scalp as he'd been imagining, but still a significant reduction in length. When she'd finished, Dustin kept about an inch of hair, just enough for him not to object too strongly, but also short enough to make discerning its texture difficult without close study.

Next, Bella pulled some animal skins out of her bag, which she held up to his hair as if to match them. None of them did, so she settled on a tan, retrieved a mysterious jar, and began applying pigment to darken it. Before long, she appeared satisfied with her color match, and then she made a quick cut into the skin, creating a hole in the middle.

Only when Bella held the perforated skin up to his face did Dustin realize what it was—a false beard. She made a few more cuts to fit it around his mouth convincingly, and once she was done, she applied a sticky paste to attach it. He couldn't help but laugh at the final result staring back at him; he'd never yet been able to grow a beard, and seeing it now was more than a bit amusing.

"Well, now we've turned me into a true brute," Dustin said lightheartedly, "but what about you? Your face doesn't exactly scream Innutukian either."

Bella took the mirror back with a wry smile. "I concur."

"Don't tell me you're shaving your head too."

"Of course not! That'd turn even more heads; it'd be needlessly unusual."

Dustin nodded vigorously. "Agreed, so that brings me back to where I started. What of those auburn locks?"

By now, Bella was stirring something in a little pot. Something thick and black, Dustin observed with a frown.

"Just as you do, I already have green eyes." Bella said cryptically, "All I need is dark hair to look the part."

"So is that paint you're mixing? Somehow, I feel that will hardly look convincing."

"Hair can be dyed like cloth, if you know what you're doing. A bit costly, of course, but I have the crown's backing."

Dustin shrugged. "Can it ever come out?"

"I wish it could, but no. It will grow back in its natural color, but it will be quite some time until I have a full head of my own hair again."

"You could just cover your head somehow. A helmet, perhaps?"

Bella shook her head. "Chances are I'll have to take it off at some point. This is more foolproof."

With that, she began applying the black potion, running it through her hair again and again with her hands until all glimmered with a dark sheen. Pointing to a clay bowl in her bag, Bella bid Dustin to fetch some water from the river. Once he had, she splashed it over her newly darkened hair. Murky runoff pooled in the grass.

Two more times, Bella repeated the process. Black concoction rubbed into the hair, washed off with water, and repeat. Then at the end, she turned to Dustin with a coy smile.

"Well, do I look the part?" she asked.

"You do." Dustin said in awe. Now, all the strange gleam was gone, and she truly appeared as one who naturally had raven-black hair cascading down her shoulders. The dark tresses contrasted with her emerald eyes and accentuated them all the more.

A few minutes more, and Bella had worked another magical feat, applying makeup in such a way that all her freckles disappeared. The mottling that had previously served as such a prominent feature of her face was entirely gone, and combined with the hair change, Bella Holt hardly looked the same woman.

Dustin laughed. "You really do look like any Innutukian woman I've ever seen."

"Such is my art." Bella said with a slight bow. "If things go as planned, we won't need to draw our swords even once."

"I wouldn't count on that."

"Even so, we're now equipped to succeed through trickery as well as through physical prowess. Let's get back on the road."