Some hours passed and the training grounds began to fill as the rest of the guild gradually gathered for Rod's announcement. Once more and more people started coming down the stairs, Daryl called for Mallory to stop her laps and come down. He stopped her partly because she had been at it for an extended amount of time without many breaks in between, and partly because he noticed the other swordsmen giving her some hostile glances as they passed her. Mallory did not have to make eye contact with them to know that they still did not accept her being there. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but one that she tolerated for the sake of getting stronger. She set the hunk of wood down by the stairs and made her way back to her master. He grabbed her by the wrist and weaved through the crowd toward the opposite end of the beach. Most other swordsmen revered Daryl's presence due to both his title and his appearance, so they made way for him with ease. When he got to the front, Daryl stood to the side of the crowd with Mallory, being aware of his size and knowing that standing at the center would obstruct the majority of the guild's view. The only reason he went to the front was because he knew that Rod would probably want his input for the announcement, since he was the one who brought Liam there in the first place.

The crowd faced a platform with stairs on either side of it, set up like a stage. It was only used whenever Rod had a special announcement to make to the guild, so everyone knew that Rod was likely to come out of his quarters for the night to make the announcement about Liam. On each side of the podium were two posts with torches at their tops. The men started to get rowdy after about ten minutes of waiting and standing close together.

"How's it goin', champ?" a voice greeted behind Daryl.

He was glad she greeted him before she playfully punched him on the back, because he probably would have assumed swordsman was getting violent in his impatience, but he knew it was Grace before he even turned around. She brushed up against his arm with a smirk. He looked away from her with a stale expression and scolded, "You really shouldn't strike me from behind."

"Aw, did it hurt?" Grace teased with a faux, sympathetic pout.

"Get serious," Daryl ordered, crossing his arms. He looked around and brought his voice down a bit to keep from making the others suspicious with his next statement. "We don't know how they're going to respond to this news yet. We need to be prepared for anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Grace replied, straightening her face out with mild irritation. Then, she turned her attention to Mallory at Daryl's side and feigned a serious look yet keeping a big grin on her face. "Ya hear that Mallory? We gotta get serious!"

Seeing Grace's silly smile and the way she put her fist up, Mallory actually giggled for the first time in a long time.

"Is he coming down anytime soon?" Daryl asked, starting to get impatient himself.

"Yeah," Grace answered, "he was just waiting for Liam to come back."

"To come back from where?" Daryl asked.

"He went to go get some representatives from his guild, or something like that."

"Hm," he grunted. Daryl was not sure how to feel about that. On one end, having other sorcerers there would make it more likely for him to get answers about Mallory's stalker, but on the other hand, meeting and befriending more sorcerers still rubbed him the wrong way. He only helped to form the alliance to strengthen the guild, and for the sake of finding Mallory's father. He had no interest whatsoever in sorcery, rather he was opposed to it, so having to interact with more of them made him feel a little sour.

Not too long afterwards, the door swung open and out came the hunched over old man himself, walking steadily down the creaky stairs with a lit torch in his grasp. With his appearance, the guild became quiet, most of the younger ones straightening their stances with respect. There was the slightest look of worry on his brow, but his expression was mostly in its usual, drunken droopiness. It was a wonder he did not fall flat on his face with his constant intoxicated state, and it was especially concerning with him holding a fiery torch. Thankfully, the old man made it in one piece down onto the beach with his guild, and he slowly made his way up the podium. As he walked across the edge of the platform, he lit the four torches with the smaller one in his grasp, illuminating the evening with a flickering, orange glow. After he lit the last torch, he picked up a branch with a snuffer cap attached to the end of it that was resting on the platform. He put out the fire he held with the tool. With both objects in his hands he looked around behind him, seemingly for a place to put them down, and then lazily dropped them in a random spot, making his way to the center of the stage as the torch rolled off the back end of the platform. The only distinguishable sound that could be heard other than the tide was the pitter patter of the torch rolling off and the plop it made once it landed in the sand, further emphasizing Rod's overly leisure pace.

Seeing Rod slowly make his way to the stage and awkwardly set himself up for an announcement certainly was not an abnormal sight for the guild but given what his announcement was going to be about, a thought occurred to Daryl. Where's Liam? He looked down to Grace and whispered, "I thought you said he was waiting for Liam."

"He was!" Grace whispered back with a shrug.

The corner of Mallory's mouth twitched, looking up at the stairs to the guild and hoping the sorcerer would make an appearance soon. I hope he's alright...

Rod looked around at the guild for a moment, nodding his head and sticking his hands in his pockets. He started his announcement with, "So, how's everyone doin'?"

The audience replied quietly with an awkward murmur of the men answering, "Good," at different times.

Rod nodded in return and continued, "Good. Now, I have some good news for you all. The Swordsmen's Guild is on its way to becoming much stronger than what it is today."

The murmur in the crowd grew more curious and excited at the statement. An older swordsman called out, "How so, sir?"

"I understand that Garrison's appearance the other night brewed some confusion," Rod started, some people reacting loudly to Garrison's name being mentioned. "Said confusion coming from what he claimed about a red-haired young man some of you may have seen or already met in the workshop. For those of you who weren't there, Garrison claimed something along the lines of our guild not being 'one guild' anymore." Rod took a moment to clear his throat, and then he continued, "I'm here to tell you all that what he said was true, in a sense."

The swordsmen started talking amongst each other, the vast majority of them wary of what their leader was telling them. If it was something that the strongest, most respected swordsman in the guild did not even want, then it could not be something that they could all accept with open arms, either.

Once their talking started to quiet down, Rod explained, "What he was implying, and what is actually happening, is that the Swordsmen's Guild is gaining a new ally. That ally being another guild. A relatively new one, at that."

There was an uproar in the crowd, people calling out things like, "We don't need any other guilds!" and, "We've been doing fine on our own!"

Rod took a deep breath and took his hands out of his pockets to make a lowering motion at his audience. "Calm down, now. Just calm down. Hear me out a little longer..." Rod winced and rubbed his temple in an attempt to quell the headache he was likely to get from the prolonged complaints. As if noticing their leader's distress, the crowd quieted down for him to continue. "I realize this is troubling news for a lot of you. That's actually why Garrison isn't here tonight. As you all know, he's not known to be very welcoming of others."

Understatement. Daryl recollected not only the fact he tried to kill both Liam and Mallory the night he saw them in the workshop, but also how he reacted to realizing that Daryl was a part of the guild.

"Every guild is based on its members' specialized skills, and not all of those guilds are compatible with one another. Allow me to tell you this much: for those of you who are still opposed to the idea, even after what we show you tonight, I won't force you to like it. I won't even ask for you to stay. I only ask you to keep an open mind. Because what we're going to show you will certainly astonish you..."

The men looked around at one another in a murmured puzzlement.

Daryl narrowed his eyes, wondering how much Liam would even be willing to show. I really hope he doesn't go overboard. He'll terrify them...

Rod looked up at the workshop and cupped his hands at the sides of his mouth. "Liam!" he called, with a surprisingly thunderous voice. "Wade! Time to introduce yourselves!"

The double doors above swung open to reveal a chipper looking Liam. His smile did not seem smug like it normally did. Instead, there was more of a genuine excitement behind it.

"Ugh, it's the redhead!" people started groaning. It took a moment for the swordsmen to realize that he was holding hands with a boy about half his size, looking to be Mallory's age. Upon realization of the child's appearance, the people started to quiet down, to which Rod smirked a bit.

Daryl knit his eyebrows, somewhat bewildered by Liam's choice. He brought a child? Why wouldn't he bring that other one? His name was...Simon. Why not him?

Mallory's eyes got big noticing that the person Liam brought was just a kid. That's a sorcerer...?

Grace was just as lost as Daryl and Mallory were, so she looked to her father to see if he approved of Liam's choice. She saw that he had a satisfied smirk on his face staring up at the two coming down the stairs. He glanced at her after realizing that he was getting stared at and he gave her a wink. She jerked her head back with a sort of baffled curiosity and then looked up at the sorcerer and his companion again. What are they about to show us?

The boy had very short, scruffy brown hair that hung down slightly over his forehead. He had these large, yet angular dark green eyes that were complemented by thick, black eyelashes. His lips were thin, and he had a round nose. The boy had tan skin, about two shades lighter than that of his hair. He wore a cloak that looked almost identical to Liam's, except it was navy blue and appeared just slightly too big for him. His expression seemed rather blank, but there was nothing sinister or creepy about it. Rather, there was something peaceful, even calming about his look. The boy's disposition felt so serene, in fact, that the swordsmen even responded accordingly as the boy neared the beach. At the sight of this newcomer, the swordsmen seemed to completely forget about their frustration towards Rod for making these changes.

Daryl looked behind him at the audience staring at them with subtle awe, feeling puzzled by their silence. I understand it might be a breath of fresh air for them, in a way. He's a white boy with normal looking hair, but even then, shouldn't they still be on edge?

Liam felt Wade's fingers twitch anxiously in his grip right before they could step on the beach, the boy halting their descent on the last step. He looked down to see the boy's eyebrow knit with worry, something Liam had never seen from him before. That is when Liam realized that the Swordsmen's Guild was probably the biggest group of people the boy had ever been in front of. Liam bent over to speak to him. "It's gonna be alright, buddy. They're gonna love you!"

The boy glanced up at Liam, seemingly unconvinced.

"Look around," Liam implored, following his own advice to see that the men were looking on with patience and curiosity. For once, they did not look in Liam's direction with even a shred of hostility. That was because they were more fixated on Wade, but it was still new to Liam. Wade did as he said, and Liam felt his hand relax a bit in his. "You see?" Liam continued. "They're already warming up to you. Now, we just gotta do a little more convincing!"

The boy looked around at the guild, noticing that some were not much older than he was, and he took a deep, silent breath. He looked up at Liam and gave him an affirming nod, to which Liam stood up straight and gave him a proud squeeze.

Once they reached the beach and started walking by the side of the crowd toward the podium, Daryl and many others were able to get a better look at the newcomer. Although he did not look all that different from any little boy one would see on the streets, his presence was unlike anything Daryl had ever felt before. He started to understand why all the others got so quiet upon his arrival. Somehow, as the boy approached closer and closer, Daryl felt some sort of tranquility that he had not felt in a long time. Why do I feel...lighter?

Grace and Mallory felt the same way, except with Mallory it was an even more powerful feeling considering that she had not felt peaceful for years. As the boy passed Mallory by, he glanced in her direction. A feeble smile formed at a corner of his mouth, yet for Mallory, it only appeared feeble. She felt her heart flutter in that moment, because there was something about the look he gave her that felt sympathetic, as if in that instance he was able to peer into her soul and offer condolences. There was a subtle, yet authentic joy that rushed through her. It was nothing like the small joys she felt when she got to sleep in a comfortable bed or got to eat freshly cooked meat. The joy she felt then and there was the one that she longed for. It was the happiness she wanted to permanently stay with her once she found her father. The boy looked away and continued walking with Liam, and as quickly as Mallory felt that happiness rush through her, it diminished. For a second, it saddened her to feel it go away, but ultimately it left her puzzled, thinking that maybe there was nothing real about it at all. Did he just do that to me...on purpose? Mallory did not know if she should have felt grateful or angry towards the boy for giving her that feeling. In any case, she did not even know if it was intentional, or if he had any control over it. With that in mind, she decided to simply wait and hear him out, because she noticed that all the others were affected by his presence as well.

Soon enough, the two made it up on the stage and stood next to Rod. Once they were positioned confidently before the guild, Rod cleared his throat to continue with, "Here before you are two representatives of the guild that we will ally ourselves with. Now, gentlemen..." Rod made a gesture with his arm towards Liam.

Liam gave a quick nod in response and let go of Wade's hand to step forward. "Hello everyone! I'm Liam Wilson." Liam felt a rush of excitement with his introduction. Oh, thank the gods, my voice didn't crack! He smiled a bit wider and swallowed a bit to make sure his vocals were free of anything that might ruin his speaking voice. Then, he gestured toward his partner and started, "And this here is—"

"Let the boy introduce himself!" a voice from the crowd demanded. "Yeah!" another man agreed. "We've heard you run your mouth just about every day you've been here! We wanna hear the kid speak!"

Although Grace dreaded the meeting getting worse by the minute, she could not help but chuckle at the comment about Liam's motormouth and the look of disappointment on his face after hearing it. Still, she felt bad that the others did not plan on warming up to him anytime soon.

There was a short roar of agreement amongst the men, and Liam shifted his eyes back and forth between the audience, Rod, and Wade, unsure how to respond. He noticed Wade had a mixture of worry and fear on his face, to which Liam responded with a crooked, hardly reassuring smile. Despite the weak attempt of putting him at ease, Wade nodded back at him anyway.

To Liam's relief, Rod stepped in to stop the chaos with a calm raise of his hand. "Quiet, everyone," he commanded. The crowd's complaining slowly died down in response. Rod rubbed his watery eyes as if he was fighting to stay awake, and elaborated, "I'm sure Liam's companion here would love to introduce himself to you all, but he can't."

A confused murmur snaked its way through the crowd at Rod's statement.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at the boy, trying to read his facial expression. Is he too nervous? No, that wouldn't really make much sense. Rod wouldn't have said that if that were the case...

Rod gave Liam a nod to explain the rest. The sorcerer rolled his shoulders and regained his composure. He explained, "My partner Wade, here, cannot introduce himself because he's a mute."

There was a quiet, collective "oh" from the swordsmen as they all turned their attention back to Wade.

Mallory frowned, not sure what a mute was. She looked up to Daryl and asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means he can't speak," Daryl answered, balling his fists and gritting his teeth, "it means he's the worst representative Liam could have possibly brought."

Mallory's eyes widened and she looked back at Wade, his mouth remaining shut as he looked around at the audience before him. He really can't talk at all? I didn't know people could be like that...

"No," Grace chimed in, her eyes still on Wade, "I think they're onto something. Don't count him out yet."

Daryl flared his nostrils and fixed his gaze on the boy, trying to calm himself down. Although he was willing to admit that the boy had a powerful presence, it infuriated him that Liam chose someone who could not even verbally advocate for his guild. He really thought the best one he could bring was a mute. What does he think this will say about the rest of his members? He looked around at the guild again. They seemed much more understanding than what he expected out of them. That is when he realized that their fascination with the boy had overcome the general skepticism with Liam's guild beforehand. He whipped his head back to examine the mysterious newcomer once again. Is this the boy's sorcery at work? He hasn't even done anything yet. Could he really be that powerful?

"Wade hasn't spoken a word in his entire life," Liam explained, "but he always had a certain air to him that no one could explain. He was raised at an orphanage, where he still lives, and the priest there told him he had that soothing presence ever since he was just a baby. I'm sure you've all already felt it. I sure have! As a matter of fact, Wade is the only one of my guild I've always gotten along—err, I mean uh—"

"What?" someone shouted. "He can't even get along with his own partners!" someone else noticed. "How are we supposed to accept them?"

Liam clenched his teeth and put a hand to his forehead. Why did I say that? I'm such an idiot! "Wait!" he shouted, trying to calm down the increasingly anxious crowd. "I didn't mean that! The other members are great, too! It's just, uh..." He stopped once he realized the swordsmen were not listening to him anymore.

Grace had a nervous grimace on her face looking around at the men becoming more and more opposed to Liam's proposal. All the confidence on his face from before had vanished at that point. He's dying up there!

Mallory stood on the balls of her feet, moving up and down with worry.

Daryl smacked his forehead and dragged his hand across his face. He locked eyes with Rod, who seemed to be tired of trying to ease everyone's concerns, and the old man gave him a subtle nod. Looks like that's my cue. With a deep breath, Daryl stepped forward and turned to face the guild with a hard scowl on his face. "Enough!" his voice thundered with the echo being heard. The crowd immediately went silent with the new, intimidating spokesman making his stand. Daryl allowed a moment to pass by, just to make sure he had their attention. Then, he continued, "This man is not your enemy. This man is offering his help in exchange for ours. You may think we don't need their alliance, but we will in the near future." Daryl heard some whispering, and before another murmur could arise, he yelled, "Not. Another. Word." The guild became silent again, and Daryl hoped they would stay that way with what he was going to say next. "I am the one who brought this man here, because there's something I've set out to do. Many of you have seen that I've been training a new apprentice."

Mallory shuddered, not expecting Daryl to make her the center of attention.

"Her father was kidnapped by the leader of the Hunters' Guild, who has formed an alliance with the Craftsmen's Guild. Once she's been initiated into the guild, we plan to set out on a quest to find her father, which would inherently involve making enemies with both the Hunters' Guild and the Craftsmen's Guild."

"And why should we care what happens to her father?" a voice called out from the crowd.

Daryl's eyes shifted in the direction the voice came from, seething with rage, and met eyes with Braden the Brash.

The man's gaze was unwavering under Daryl's glare. His eyes did not appear antagonistic, though, he looked more inquisitive as to how Daryl would respond. "Why put the whole guild at risk for her?" Braden inquired.

Mallory's top lip raised in a snarl at the swordsman's words.

"You may be opposed to it," Daryl started, "but it's our decision. We're going after the Hunters' Guild no matter what. And all I want is for our guild to be as prepared for any retaliation from the other guilds as possible. With this man's help, we will be prepared. The Hunters' Guild is our enemy, not him."

Liam smirked slightly at Daryl backing him up. Nice! Good thing I have him on my side at least!