Daryl asked for the handler to take them to Miss Stanford's hut, giving him directions on where to go. The handler was happy to oblige him and took him there with no concerns.

"Well," Liam started, pulling the necklace out of his pocket and holding it up to Daryl, "here it is. Go claim your prize, great swordsman."

Daryl looked at the necklace and at Liam's stupid grin. Then, the swordsman looked away and said, "I didn't do anything to retrieve that necklace. That was all you, Liam. The reward is yours."

Liam leaned back with surprise. "What?"

"You heard what I said. Go before I change my mind."

Liam's eyes were big, and he looked ahead at the handler who had surely been listening to see that he, too, was shocked. The sorcerer put a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "Alright then, if you say so." With that, Liam hopped out of the carriage and strolled up to the hut.

Daryl watched, pleased that he did not have to deal with the old lady again. He'll probably be in for a surprise when she answers.

The unsuspecting Liam knocked on the door, awaiting the woman's appearance. A few moments later, Miss Stanford opened the door looking down with that stern look on her wrinkled face. "What do you want?" she asked, not noticing the necklace dangling in Liam's grasp.

"Hello there, Miss Stanford!" Liam greeted, lowering the necklace so that it could meet her gaze. "Look what I got!"

With the graduality of a gate being opened by crank, the woman's face lifted, her eyes being filled with a light of wonder that completely transformed her countenance. She gasped and snatched the necklace from Liam, marveling at its glamor and moving it back and forth in her grasp. "My turquoise!" she whispered with a beaming, gummy smile. Then, she spread out the chain and fastened it around her neck, covering up the tan line that had been left on her throat after wearing it for so long. She looked up at Liam with tears in her eyes and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him tightly. "Thank you so much, young man!"

Liam could feel the blood rushing to his head with how hard the lady was squeezing him. She almost knocked the wind out of him after slamming her head into his rib cage. His arms were stuck out, trying to give her the hint that she was crushing him. "Miss...Stanford!" Liam managed. "You're...squeezing me...to death!"

The woman opened her eyes and looked around, seeing the carriage and the handler who looked like he was trying not to burst into laughter. She noticed that Liam had nothing else in his hands and she pushed away from him. With no clear reason for doing so, she scowled at the man she was just hugging and asked, "Where's the head of that hooligan?"

Liam exhaled upon his release and leaned back to stretch his back out. "We couldn't find him," he lied, grunting under his breath while he stretched side to side.

"We?" the lady asked, looking back at the carriage and seeing Daryl sitting inside. She grimaced even harder seeing the swordsman. "Oh, I forgot about that brute. Well it's no wonder you couldn't find him then. Can't trust a man like that to find someone on the run."

Liam frowned at her and said, "Actually, I couldn't have found your necklace without him. We found the necklace at the black market and talked the merchant into giving it to us for free."

Daryl caught word of some of what Liam was saying and felt confused. Why is he still lying? I don't care what she thinks of me anymore.

"For free?" the lady repeated, raising a skeptical eyebrow. She touched the gem—or rather, the rock—on her necklace and grunted. "Hmph, the merchant was a real fool for that. This here is worth about a hundred tokens!"

"Right," Liam played along, "but you did say the reward would be one hundred and fifty tokens, didn't you?"

"Ah yes," she agreed reluctantly, "I'll go fetch it for you then."

"Many thanks," Liam responded with a smug grin.

The woman walked back inside her hut mumbling to herself. While she was gone, Liam looked back at Daryl and gave him a thumbs up with a smirk. Daryl rolled his eyes in response, his arms crossed. Miss Stanford came back out with a full pouch of money and handed it to Liam. "Thank you for returning my turquoise," she said dryly, "now leave."

Liam scoffed at her bipolar behavior and stuck the pouch in his pocket. He turned around and waved a hand at her, saying, "Gladly. You old bag."

Miss Stanford jerked her head back with wide eyes hearing the insult. In any case, she gave him a final scowl and went back into her hut, slamming the door behind her.

"Man," the handler started, watching Liam go back to his carriage, "that lady was a real creep, huh?"

"You can say that again," the sorcerer agreed. Liam hopped back into the carriage next to Daryl.

"What was the use in lying to her?" Daryl asked. "You were already about to get what you wanted, and as soon as you did you insulted her. What was the point of that?"

"Well," Liam started, "maybe I'm just tired of seeing people frown up at you for no reason. I mean, there is a reason, but I just don't get how people can be disgusted by colored people. You're all so cool looking! And look at you, you're cool!" Liam turned his attention to the handler, who pulled the reins to his horse for it to get going, and continued, "This guy thinks you're cool! Isn't that right?"

"Oh yeah!" the handler agreed. "One of the best in the guild!"

"I get it," Daryl butt in, feeling annoyed with the awkward praise. In a way, it did not even feel like praise. Ironically, it just made him feel more ostracized.

Seeing the unmoved, unamused expression on Daryl's face, Liam started scratching the back of his head with anxiety for what he was about to mention next. "And, well, that's not the only reason. I also just like to think that...we really are friends now. Friends stick up for each other, y'know..."

Daryl looked down at him, wondering if he was playing at some sort of game with the complimenting and the declaration of friendship, but he could see in the sorcerer's embarrassed, rosy cheeks that he was serious. "Why would you want to be friends with a monster?"

Liam looked away. "I'm sorry I called you that..." He looked up at Daryl and smiled softly. "You proved me wrong today."

Daryl grunted and looked away from him, ahead at the handler's back. He shrugged and said, "Think what you want, then." The swordsman frowned up at the unusually stiff handler and barked, "You didn't hear any of that!"

The handler jumped up and whimpered a bit, and then he tugged at his harness again for the horse to go faster. "Yes, sir!" he responded with a startled crack in his voice.

***

The handler dropped the two off at the front of the workshop and went about his travels for another job. Before they entered the workshop, Liam stopped Daryl from knocking on the door saying, "Hey, Daryl?"

He turned around and asked, "What is it?"

Liam gave him a stern expression and then reached in his pocket to pull out the pouch of money that he was rewarded.

Daryl saw what he was doing and groaned, "I told you the money's yours, you're the one who..." The swordsman stopped himself seeing Liam dig into the pouch for five tokens. He held them out to Daryl, keeping that solemn expression on his face. Daryl looked down at the tokens in his palm and asked, "What's this?"

"I...still owe you this much," Liam explained, looking away with a reluctant pout. "For that day I, uh, tricked you. Remember?"

Daryl raised his eyebrows at the unexpected gesture. He recalled full well that trick. It was the first time he got genuinely furious with the sorcerer. Compared to how many tokens he had made in his thirty years in the guild, five tokens were nothing. He was aware Liam knew this, but there he was offering the five tokens like it would make a difference in his wealth.

Liam turned his eyes back to the swordsman and saw the puzzled look on his face. It made him more embarrassed and he started to get frustrated. "Look, I know you're rich, alright? But I took these from you, and I'm just payin' ya back, okay? It's the thought that counts!"

Daryl nodded in response and took the tokens from Liam. He was about to thank him but given the reason why he offered the money in the first place, he figured that the gratitude would be unnecessary. He turned back around to knock on the door.

Liam got even more heated from that reaction. "You could say something, y'know! That wasn't very easy for me to do!"

"Thank you for stopping me back there," Daryl blurted without thinking, sticking the tokens into his robes.

Even though Liam wanted some form of thanks, he was not expecting Daryl to thank him for that instead. His eyes got wide in reaction to the comment, but then he smiled. "And thank you for listening, Daryl."

Without looking back at him, Daryl nodded. He figured that Liam's earlier praise and the fact that he was lying for his sake was his reaction for feeling guilty about how suspicious he had been. Giving him the five tokens was his way of clearing his conscience. Although the sorcerer still had to prove himself as an ally, especially for the rest of the guild, he felt like he could trust him a little more. You're not so bad after all, sorcerer.