The final fifteen minutes felt like ages for Mallory, while for Liam, who was practically on pins and needles the entire time, was surprised by how fast it seemed when Daryl called, "Time's up. I'd say that's long enough."

Both Liam and Mallory sighed with relief. "Thank the gods..." Liam exhaled, slumping his shoulders and wiping some sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Then, he smiled and looked up to Mallory, calling, "Okay, Mallory, you can come down now!"

Daryl narrowed his eyes. It's not good enough."No, she can't," he said under his breath, but loud enough for Liam to pick up on.

Liam shot Daryl a wide-eyed expression and snapped, "What?"

Daryl noticed Mallory moving slightly towards the edge of the log and he yelled, "You're not coming down yet!"

Mallory shuddered at the sound of Daryl's booming voice, and the fact that he was telling her she had to stay up there. She shifted her feet backward, centering herself on the top once again. What else does he want?

"She's already been up there for thirty minutes!" Liam argued. "Why can't she come down?"

"Because she's only spent thirty minutes in that position," Daryl explained.

Liam narrowed his eyes and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Ignoring Liam, Daryl called, "Mallory, stand on one foot for fifteen minutes."

"Are you insane?" Liam blurted.

A grave expression overcame Mallory's face. She lost control of her breathing again, the sheer thought of standing on one foot at such a height terrifying her.

Liam started, "You can't just—"

"I want to see her try," Daryl interrupted.

Liam jerked his head back, frowning and clenching his teeth, trying to come up with something else to argue with. Deciding to hold his tongue, he turned his attention back to the girl twenty feet in the air.

Mallory's gaze went down to her feet, realizing that she would have to move one of them to the exact center of the log in order to fulfill Daryl's command. She shifted herself to the left so that her right foot was dead in the center of the surface. Exhaling a lengthy breath, she lifted her left foot and raised it against the back of her thigh. When her upper body jerked to the right after doing so, she instantly jutted out her arms to retain her balance. No matter how hard she tried to keep herself still on one foot, she kept swaying hard to the left and right. Even though she felt she did a decent job at blocking out the fear from earlier, in that moment, it rushed in like a tsunami. Her face got hot and her eyes got misty, coming to the conclusion that there was no way that she could stand like that even for a full thirty seconds, never mind fifteen minutes. I'm gonna fall, I'm gonna fall!

"Daryl...!" Liam pleaded through clenched teeth, balling his fists up toward his face watching the girl teeter on the log.

"A little longer..." Daryl insisted.

About fifteen seconds into her stance, she tilted too far to the left. In an attempt to regain her stance, she hopped to the left, but ended up losing her footing. She yelped as she fell backwards off the left ledge of the log, the back of her right calf hitting the surface on the way down, causing her to flip.

"Mallory!" Liam shouted, about to sprint towards the girl so that he could catch her. Before he could, he caught a glimpse of something that did not even seem humanly possible.

As soon as Daryl caught eye of Mallory's plummet, he wasted no time to hop onto the platform holding the log in place, landing on his right foot, and then launched himself around ten to fifteen feet in the air to intercept Mallory's fall. He caught her so that her body was upright against his own, his arms wrapped around her shoulders and her head against his chest. At the peak of his jump, his upper body began to dip forward, looking as if he would fall head first. As soon as he felt himself falling, he tucked his chin and hurled his legs forward in a front flip, getting his body upright for the descent. He landed in the sand to the right of the log in a squatted position, immediately straightening his legs and putting Mallory down so quickly that he practically dropped her.

Mallory got dizzy from the abrupt, midair collision with Daryl, in addition to that flip he did. In her perspective, it was like the whole world was spinning in darkness as he held her. When he got to the ground and let go of her, she stumbled backwards from the vertigo and landed on her bottom.

Liam snapped himself out of his amazement when he saw Mallory stumble and Daryl walk away from her with indifference. "What's your problem?" Liam yelled to the swordsman while he rushed over to Mallory's side.

"I can ask you the same thing," Daryl responded, leaning against the wooden pillar and crossing his arms.

Liam ignored the swordsman's remark and held out a hand to Mallory. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Mallory caught her breath, just thankful to be down on the beach again for the time being, and then took Liam's hand. "I'm okay," she answered softly as he helped her back on her feet.

Liam shot Daryl a look and started, "Y'know Daryl, you really—"

"Stop!" Mallory pleaded, squeezing Liam's hand.

Liam looked back at Mallory and raised an eyebrow, surprised by her interruption. The girl's outburst even caught Daryl's attention.

Mallory had a stern look on her face, not breaking eye contact with Liam. "Stop worrying about me," Mallory insisted, "and stop getting so mad at him. Master saved me when I fell, and everything he's making me do will help me in the end. I know that." She took a deep breath, looked down, and finished her speech with, "So please, just...stop."

The sorcerer's expression softened at the apprentice's request, unsure what to make of it. It was hard for him to imagine the amount of distress she was going through for the past couple of days, and he felt she was asking quite a bit from him to stop worrying after watching her nearly break her neck. At the same time, though, he knew that she just wanted to get stronger so that she could venture out to find her father, so she was willing to do anything. All his bickering seemed to just be making things harder for her, so he gave her a sullen nod in response and agreed, "Alright, little one. I'll back off."

Mallory glanced back up at his grey eyes, his brow furrowed and a slight, sympathetic smile at the corner of his mouth. His grip felt firm, yet gentle on her hand. Something about the moment made her blush, and she pulled her hand away from him. "Thank you," she said, looking away from him and hoping he did not notice the red on her cheeks. After thanking the sorcerer, though, it came to her that Daryl was the one who just saved her. She looked past Liam and called, "Thank you for saving me, Master!"

After giving Mallory a subtle nod, he turned to Liam and asked, "Have you seen Grace at all?"

"No," Liam answered, "but according to you, she's usually here by now, right?"

"Right, so who let you in?"

With a groan he answered, "Phillip. That was uncomfortable."

Daryl's frown deepened and he responded, "It wouldn't have been if you'd learn how to comply."

"I am complying!" Liam argued. Then, with a sly grin, he added, "What do ya think I was doing on my stroll through the village?"

Daryl cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, nothing," Liam teased with a shrug, "just that Phillip was a lot happier to see me when I told him the news!"

Daryl unfolded his arms and stepped forward to face Liam. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "What did you find?"

Mallory kept looking back and forth between the two of them, having no idea what they were talking about.

Liam's grin grew wider and he answered, "Someone who's seen the turquoise necklace!"

Daryl raised his eyebrows and nodded, pleasantly surprised. "You found some information. That's good."

When Mallory heard Daryl mention a job, she realized that they were talking about a job they must have taken up some time when she was not around. Although she did not understand the details, she liked that Liam was willing to help Daryl and hoped that it would help them get along more often.

"Good? I'd say it's awesome!" Liam gloated.

"Try not to get ahead of yourself," Daryl suggested, "what exactly do you know?"

"The guy I spoke to is a merchant from a black market. He said a kid named Madison tried to sell him the necklace. He told me he doesn't know anything about jewelry, though, so he has to get it checked out by an expert to give the kid a fair price."

"This Madison," Daryl pointed out, "did you ask the merchant what she looks like?"

"Madison's a guy," Liam explained with a chuckle. "I know, who names their son Madison?"

"What does Madison look like?" Daryl demanded, a growing impatience in his voice. "Did he tell you or not?"

"Oh, he's our guy!" Liam confirmed triumphantly. "Hazel eyes, just like Philip described!"

Daryl nodded. "Good. That's our target."

Liam's smile vanished, forming into a faint grimace. "I'd say our target is the necklace. Madison would be yourtarget..."

Mallory's eyes got big hearing that last exchange. Daryl's going to kill someone, isn't he? She looked down at her hands, a few scrapes on her palms from the climb, and knit her eyebrows. And that's what I'm training to do...Lowering her hands, she tried to make herself feel numb, to avoid the pain of knowing that she might have to be a killer someday.

Daryl noticed the dead look in her eye, realizing that she was picking up rather fast on what they were talking about. He even noticed Liam's eyes shift behind him, seeming to realize that the girl was right there listening and inferring what Liam meant. The swordsman sighed and continued, "Anyway, it's nice to see that you're making yourself useful."

Liam looked back at Daryl and smiled, stretching his arms up and responding, "Ah, well, y'know, what are friends for?"

The swordsman looked back at his apprentice, that empty look still on her face, and started to think about what the constant training and being around him was doing to her. Before he could block it out, that image came back in his head: the boy kneeling down, reading that book. Daryl swallowed back his apprehension, eliminating the thought once again. Her life here shouldn't just be training. She needs something else... "Liam."

Liam stopped his stretching for a moment and asked, "What is it?"

Daryl walked over to the chunk of wood that Mallory was supposed to carry up and down the stairs before he made her climb the log and picked it up with both hands against his chest. He took it to Mallory and placed it in front of her, and then turned back around at Liam. "Make yourself useful again and watch her train for me. I have to go talk to someone up there."

"Seriously?" Liam asked incredulously. "You're gonna make her train more after..." He stopped himself and looked down at the apprentice, remembering that she did not want him arguing with Daryl anymore for her sake. As if in confirmation of his realization, she bent her knees to pick up the log by its opposite ends, grunting and struggling to lift it over her shoulder. Liam raised his eyebrows at her impressive grit. Wow, she really is a tough one!

As the two men watched the girl manage to get the lumber over her shoulder, Daryl shrugged at Liam and asked, "You were saying?"

"Alright, alright, I'll watch her for you," Liam assured.

"Good," Daryl replied and started to walk away. On his way through the gate, he called back to Mallory saying, "Mallory, you know the drill."

The girl exhaled, trying to bare the weight of the log and responded, "Yes, Master."

***