For the next couple of days, Daryl had Mallory continue her routine of carrying the log up and down the stairs to build her strength, eating healthy portions of meat in between training. Instead of making her sleep in his hideout for the nights, he brought her with him to the inn he liked to stay at. She asked him if he had his own home, and he responded with a delayed, "I used to." The last time they were at the inn, Daryl convinced the innkeeper, Shay, an old friend of his, to make Mallory a pair of pants for a small price. When she asked him why, he told her that a dress is not appropriate attire for someone who fights with a sword. Shay gave him a surprised look, realizing that Mallory was his apprentice, and agreed to it. It took the girl a while to get used to her new article of clothing, since she could not remember a time in which she actually wore pants, but she figured that it only made sense because it was hard to imagine anyone sword fighting in a dress.

While Mallory understood that the strength training was important, she wondered how long it was going to take for her to get back to using a sword. On the third day of training, it must have been apparent on Mallory's face that she was getting tired of the routine, because Daryl asked her, "Something wrong?"

Looking down on the chunk of wood she would have to carry up and down the stairs again before her arms and legs would give out, she asked her master, "How much longer do I have to keep doing this, Master?"

Daryl tilted his head and uncrossed his arms, dropping them at his sides. He squinted his eyes to give her the scariest look she had seen from him since he locked her in his hideout.

Mallory gasped inwardly and stepped back. "I-I didn't mean any disrespect, Master," she assured.

"Getting bored already?" Daryl hissed.

"N-no!" the girl insisted. "I...I just wanted to know—"

"Climb this log," Daryl commanded, stepping to the side and gesturing to the log that Mallory hacked at a couple nights ago.

The girl examined the log up and down, with its rough bark, towering at about fifteen feet high. The platform it rested on worried her. She knew it was strong enough to keep the log in place whenever someone would swing at it with a sword, but she had her doubts about whether or not it would stay put if she tried to climb it. In addition to that, she never climbed anything before, so she could not imagine what it would be like to climb something so high with no prior experience. She glanced at Daryl to make certain that he was sure of what he told her to do, and, of course, he still had that commanding scowl on his face, confirming her silent question. It was clear to her that there was no use in arguing with him. If the man were to change his mind, he would tell her, she figured. The girl continued staring at the log, only able to think about how badly she would get injured from the fall.

"What's the matter?" Daryl asked, noticing her apprehension. "You wanted something more challenging, didn't you? Your body isn't sore enough, is that it?"

Mallory shook her head, unsure how to answer the man.

Daryl narrowed his eyes and motioned with his head towards the log. "Get to it."

With a few shaky breaths, she started walking towards the platform, looking up at the staggering height of the log one more time. Then, she placed her hands down against the smooth wood of the platform that kept the log in place and hoisted herself up. She swung her legs up to plant her knees on the planks, and then she stood up. With the log directly in front of her, it became even more clear that she would likely get cuts on her hands, seeing segments of bark protruding from it. She pushed back some dangling strands of her hair and placed a hand against the log. Wrapping her arm around it, she proceeded to grab it with her other arm and put her body against the log. She exhaled and placed her right hand higher than the other, pulling herself up and raising her left leg to press the edge of her foot against the bark, thankful that she was not barefoot. The girl felt her breathing become erratic, so she took a moment to calm herself down, squeezing her eyes shut and inhaling deeply through her nose. She looked down at her foot still planted safely on the platform beneath her, and then she looked up at the top of the log. With how much she was already trembling, it seemed like an impossible distance for her to climb, but she tried to block out her doubts and brought up her left arm along with her right leg. Getting her right foot against the log, she held onto it with a firm grip, her whole body hugging the wooden pillar.

Daryl watched his apprentice make her attempt at climbing the log, sure by her consistent hesitating that she never climbed a tree or anything similar before. He could tell she had a good grip and a decent pattern down, but he knew that it was only going to get harder for her the higher she went. How high until she stumbles?

Though she was not even a foot above the platform, Mallory felt that if she could just keep climbing in a pattern alternating between raising her arms and then her legs, she might be able to reach the top. She took a few more deep breaths and continued her ascent, passing the dent she made a couple nights before, effectively making it a quarter of the way up the log. Mallory was able to keep a steady pace, until the fatigue started to set in. Twinges of pain started to run throughout arms and legs, an effect from her previous training combined with the climb. Her shaking got worse, and at that point, it was less like a steady ascent and more like an excruciating, upward crawl. She clenched her teeth, slowing to a halt, only about halfway up the log. She tried to catch her breath for a moment, and then reached up to continue her rise. When she lifted her left leg, it gave out on her, startling her and making her lose her grip. She slid down with her arms still around the bark, getting several scrapes in the process. Mallory yelped in pain but forced her legs back around the log in order to stop her fall. What ended up helping her catch herself was the dent, which acted as a foothold in that moment. She clung to the pillar as hard as she could, her eyes shut tight, sweat dripping from her forehead down her chin, her heart beating so hard she thought it would explode. I can't do it... I can't do it... Before she could stop herself, the words came aloud, yelling, "I can't do it!"

Daryl squinted his eyes at her. He thought about bringing up her father, but he heard her voice crack, and noticed tears were coming down her eyes. It was doubtful to Daryl that she would be crying from disappointing him. That made him realize that she was likely already thinking about her father, and the possibility that in this moment of failure, she was letting him down. He decided to take a different approach, one that his own master would have went with. "Mallory," he called to her, "tell me who your master is right now."

She blinked out several tears and glanced back at him, and then immediately hugged the log once she felt herself losing her grasp in doing so. She winced, feeling the bark agitate her scrapes some more, and answered, "You are, Master!"

"No, I'm not," Daryl argued. "I told you to climb that log, and now you've decided you can't do it, which means you're not listening to me anymore. You're listening to something else."

Mallory continued to twitch and quiver against the wooden pillar, unsure of what to say or what Daryl was getting at.

Daryl could see in her silence that she was not going to catch on anytime soon, so he explained, "It's fear, Mallory. Fear has become your master, and it's the master of anyone who allows it to be." The swordsman looked down on himself and rubbed the scar on his neck. "It's a feeling that will never go away, not permanently. It's only natural for fear to influence our actions, to keep us safe." He let go of his neck and looked back up at his apprentice. "But until you learn to go beyond your human nature, to let go of your fear, you will never grow in your training."

Mallory's eyes shifted around, trying to get a hold of herself, listening to the swordsman's advice. She tried to think about how her father was still waiting for her, and that she could not afford to wallow in her failure. However, the soreness in her limbs kept getting to her, and imagining herself plummeting onto the platform and breaking her bones stopped her from trying again. She clutched the log tighter, keeping herself in place, not wanting to climb down and give up, but also not wanting to end up hurting herself again.

I'm not getting through to her. A more forceful tone might do it."Stop letting fear control you!" Daryl ordered. "If you ever want to become a swordsman, if you ever want a chance to save your father, then fear can no longer be your master! You have to become your own master!"

All Mallory could feel was terror, her cheek pressed against the log and her body trembling, but hearing Daryl tell her to become her own master sparked something in her. It was like his speech reminded her of all she went through just to keep herself alive for eight years. In that moment she was reminded of who she was. I already am my own master! She knit her eyebrows and gritted her teeth. Despite how much it hurt, she threw her right arm upward in conjunction with raising her left leg, feeling as if she had hurled herself upward.

"That's it..." Daryl said under his breath. Whatever you do, don't let that fire die out, girl.

Mallory surprised herself with how much distance she covered with a single movement, taking a moment to realize that she almost managed to get back to where she was before she slipped, and she lunged upward again. She was careful not to go as high the second time, because that time she had to lose her footing on the dent in the wood that she was using as a foothold from earlier. Getting her right foot in a secure position for the second leap and being more than halfway up the log, she steadied her breathing and tried to psyche herself up for the rest of the ascent. The girl looked up at her destination, and instead of imagining herself falling, she imagined herself standing proudly at the top. With that in mind, she took another leap upwards, this time, missing her footing and slipping once more. She fell only an inch or two that time before she regained her grasp, scrunching her face up in response to the bark breaking her skin once more. Her breathing came out in hisses, one thought driving her mind. I can do this. I can do this!

Daryl's eyes widened with each leap his apprentice took, impressed by the progress she was making, yet concerned about her second stumble. Try not to rush, but don't give up either.

Her limbs were burning, sweat made its way into one of her eyes and made it sting, but she looked above to see that the top was not much farther away. She huffed out some more breath, and then she took another upward lunge, making it about three quarters of the way up the log. Managing to get secure footing and a solid grip once again, Mallory took the moment to catch her breath and examine how much farther she had to go. The top was only a few feet above her, meaning that if she were to stumble badly enough to fall, she would surely break her bones. On the other hand, all she needed was one more good lunge, which is what she decided to think about instead. As she readied herself for what would likely be her final climb, she blinked out the stinging in her eyes caused by the perspiration and clutched the wood tighter. She pulled her head back to see her destination, some dangling strands of hair getting thrown back in doing so, and then took a final leap towards the top of the log. Her right hand hit the flat surface, while she kept her other hand and legs around the circumference of the log to stay in place. Mallory's eyes widened, her heart starting to race with excitement rather than fright. "I did it," she whispered, and then she looked down at Daryl and repeated with a proud call, "I did it!"

The swordsman looked down for a second to shield any visible satisfaction from Mallory, knowing that there was still a lot more for her to do before he could express any form of pride. Daryl then looked back up at her, regaining his stern countenance, and replied, "You're not done."

Mallory froze, an astonished look on her face. Seeing Daryl motion to the top of the log with his head, it dawned on her that he wanted her to literally be on the very top of the wooden pillar. She was hoping that he would just let her slide back down once she got a hold to the top, but she should have known that even that would have been too easy for his standards. Being a rather large pillar of wood, Mallory could feel that there was enough space on the top surface to for her to sit on without having to worry about tipping it over. Deciding not to waste any more time thinking, she threw her other hand onto the top and pressed against the surface to hoist her upper body toward the top. Once she was high enough for her waist to press against the edge of the top, she twisted her body around and placed her bottom on the surface, her hands resting against the smooth top at her sides. She looked down at her master, fear once again rising up inside her seeing how high up she was. The girl could even see over the fence and at the other swordsmen training on the other side. Before she knew it, she could feel her fingers curling up, digging into the log anxiously.

"Mallory," Daryl called to her, "an important part of being a swordsman is knowing balance. You'll have to have perfect balance over your own body to reach your full potential. That being said, your body is going to go through a lot of changes during your time here. So, in order to keep up with your own growth, and to make sure you keep your balance, you'll be climbing logs like these consistently."

Mallory knit her eyebrows. Balance? What does climbing the log have to do with balance? I thought this was strength training...

"I've been meaning to do this from the beginning," Daryl explained, "but I thought it may have been too soon for you. Turns out I was wrong, because you're already strong enough to make it to the top." Daryl narrowed his eyes, noticing that she did not figure it out yet, and then he ordered, "Now stand up, girl. Like I said, you're not done."

Mallory gasped, realizing that he wanted her to balance herself on the top of the log. Her body was still aching from the work she had already done. In her sitting position, she was not even sure how she was going to pull herself up to stand on the surface without falling or tipping the log over.

"Don't just sit there," Daryl ordered. "Get to it."

Mallory felt her breathing become uneven again, worrying about toppling over in her attempt to pull herself up. She looked up to avoid thinking about how high up she was, and then she slid her hands farther behind her. Her hands and wrists stung from the scrapes she got earlier, to which she winced. Using her arms to pull her back, she scooted her bottom across the surface, just past the center, her feet slightly dangling over the edge. She looked back to see how much space she had behind her and held back a whimper seeing that she was closer to the opposite edge than she thought. Looking back ahead of her to shut out any more thoughts of falling, she leaned forward and placed her hands by her knees. With a long exhale, she hiked up her right knee and planted a foot as close to the center of the top as she was able to. Thankful that the log stayed in place and that she did not trip, she gritted her teeth and brought up her left knee, getting her other foot onto the surface. In doing so, the pillar started to wobble with the sudden shift in weight. Mallory yelped, straightening herself up and taking a step back after feeling the log move forward. After doing that, the log jerked backward, and then Mallory spread her arms and kept stepping backward and forward in order to keep the log steady. To her relief, her brief dance stopped the log from swaying, and she used her arms to keep herself from falling. Her huffs of breath came out in a high pitch, starting to hyperventilate again. She could feel her face contorting into a mortified expression, once again noting how high up she was and feeling tears form in her eyes.

"You have to calm down," Daryl called. "Block out your fears and focus on staying still."

Mallory closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths, her face straightening with each exhale. Lowering her arms, she opened her eyes and looked straight ahead, trying to admire the clouds in the sky. She swallowed back a lump in her throat and grimaced, feeling the fatigue in her limbs and the sun's heat beating down on her being so high up.

"Just keep your eyes forward," Daryl continued, "hold yourself still and you'll be fine. I want you to keep that position for about thirty minutes."

Her eyebrow twitched upon hearing how long he wanted her up there. She felt like complaining, wondering how standing on top of a log was going to help her become a better swordsman. As usual, though, she figured there was no use in complaining about the training, knowing Daryl would just dismiss her concerns anyway.

The two of them stood in the same position for about fifteen minutes, Daryl making sure that Mallory made progress in keeping herself well balanced, noticing that the log did not wobble at all once she had gained her composure. From Daryl's perspective, she was doing much better than he expected, but Mallory felt like she was not making much progress. As much as she tried to remain perfectly still, she kept feeling her body twitch from feeling both sore and tired, thinking that she might fall at any moment.

"Daryl!" a voice yelled from behind the swordsman.

The yell startled Mallory and she jumped slightly. She felt the log wobble a bit underneath her and she stuck her arms out to regain her balance.

Daryl sighed and turned around to find a panicked Liam rushing over to him. "What is it?" the swordsman asked.

Liam stopped at Daryl's side, wild eyed, his gaze shifting back and forth between the swordsman and the child standing about twenty feet in the air. "Why is Mallory on top of that thing?" he asked.

"She's improving her balance," Daryl explained, looking back up at her to see that her arms were spread out and no longer at her sides. Daryl frowned and said, "You're throwing off her concentration. You don't want her to fall, do you?"

"Of course I don't!" Liam snapped. He shot his head back up to the girl and called, "Mallory! Are you—"

Daryl slapped a hand against Liam's mouth before he could finish. "If you stop bothering her, she won't fall," Daryl assured. "I told you that you could watch her training, not interfere with it."

Liam pushed Daryl's hand off of his mouth and responded, "I'm not interfering! I was just asking her a question!"

Daryl grimaced, shaking off some of the sorcerer's slobber from the palm of his hand, and asked, "Does she look like she's in a position to be answering questions?"

Liam groaned and replied, "You know what I meant!" He looked back up at the girl with an anxious furrow in his brow and asked, "How long has she been up there?"

Daryl shrugged and answered, "I'd say around fifteen minutes. She'll go for fifteen more."

Liam shot Daryl an incredulous look and asked, "How do you even know that? You don't have anything to tell the time!"

"After training with my master for almost twenty years under a strict routine, I've gotten pretty good at telling time."

Liam raised an eyebrow and looked back up at Mallory. "Don't you think this is a bit intense for her?"

"Intense?" Daryl repeated, glancing up at his apprentice for a split second, and then leaning in towards Liam. "The girl's going to face off against death multiple times once she's an official member of the guild. This is nothing compared to that."

Liam gave Daryl an uncertain side eye, and then sighed with the thought that Daryl made a decent point. He turned his attention back to Mallory and started bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

Daryl noticed that Liam did not have his bag with him, and he asked, "Where have you been the past couple of days?"

"Around," Liam answered, still moving up and down nervously.

"What do you have against giving me straight answers?" Daryl demanded.

"I'll tell you," Liam assured, keeping his eyes on Mallory, "I just wanna make sure she doesn't get hurt."

Daryl grunted in response and looked up at his apprentice, who was still staring straight ahead, starting to lower her arms again.

Mallory rolled her shoulders around, trying to relieve the tension that sprang up after hearing Liam's unexpected outburst. She stretched a corner of her lips to the side of her face, glancing down at Liam for a split second and noting his look of concern. Please stop worrying about me. It's hard, but I know this is all for the best.

***