Al is a dark gray dragonborn whose scales have the dry, finely pebbled texture of old slate, with pale mineral flecks catching at the jaw and knuckles. He keeps his horns polished to a low sheen and his whisker-like facial scales combed into narrow, exact ridges. His tail moves in small, measured corrections rather than broad sweeps, and he rarely turns his whole body when a glance will do. A tiny brass button, far too bright for his otherwise restrained dress, is sewn inside his left cuff; he touches it when making a difficult decision. He leaves the impression of a man who has arranged even his silences in advance.

Al is patient enough to let a silence do his work, yet impulsive when someone vulnerable is in immediate danger. In public he is polished and dryly amused; alone with Laios he becomes blunt, almost parental. He enjoys being underestimated but resents being treated as merely useful. When calm, he bargains with careful fairness. When ashamed, he overcompensates by taking on everyone else's burdens.

Alierd, called Al by everyone who wants something from him, grew up with his cousin Laios in a cramped river district where family debts were settled before breakfast and remembered after dark. As a young courier, Al learned that people watched the obvious threat and ignored the person carrying the message. He became Laios's fixer: arranging safe passage, quiet settlements, and favors that never appeared in writing. Years ago, a warehouse fire trapped several workers behind a jammed loading gate. Laios ordered Al to save a shipment of contraband first. Al disobeyed, broke the gate, and got the workers out, losing the shipment and earning Laios's lasting resentment. Since then, Al has kept Laios in the public role of boss while privately steering the crew away from reckless choices. His old friend Sava, a dock medic who treated the fire survivors, knows the truth and insists Al eventually make amends to the workers. Now Laios has promised protection to a violent new client without consulting Al, and the client is demanding a shipment that will pass through the same district where the rescued workers live.