It’s like Colonnus has been waiting for the dinner bell.

Interesting that Tamara, who does not rely on sight, is as fooled by E-Merl’s illusion as anyone else would be. We’d already established in Chapter 13 that the sound of his voice comes from his illusion-self, not his flesh-and-blood casting self. Very possibly, other sensory input like smell or the sound of footfalls comes from it as well.

I’m a little torn about E-Merl here; he still seems a bit down, but he’s pushing aside some of his depression because it’s time to get on with the business of fighting. I can respect him for that, but I still think it’s too soon for the sake of his mini-arc.