Chapter 68
They arrived at the training hall and said goodbye to each other as they all went to their training groups. Really only M'redith went separately to her training group as Jay, Aiden, and Norri all used a staff. The staff was a standard starting weapon for most casters and the three friends walked over to the other staff users in a small cluster.
Multiple classes had shown up that morning for practice and the weapon groups were quite large filling the hall to capacity. Not large enough to go unnoticed however as other students made room for Jay and his friends when they approached.
Everyone settled down as T'lly took the main stage next to a smiling Warren, who was wearing a set of leather armor that looked as if it were fairly new.
“Good morning!” T'lly said without smiling. Some of the class responded with good morning, others groaned. T'lly didn't seem to care either way and continued speaking.
“Today we'll be going over converting the blocks we taught you over the past few weeks in to combination block & strikes. It'll be easy, don't worry. Before we do that though I understand that everyone is still a bit worked up over yesterday's monster break out.”
The class began muttering with each other and T'lly let them talk without yelling at them for it. She pointed out and called up M'redith who walked up next to her with a confused expression.
“Yesterday, as some of you may know, some of our trainees didn't make it to class.” T'lly said with a grin.
The students dutifully chuckled.
“Instead they managed to fight and hold off a fully grown Glimmerhide, not an easy task even for a group full of full-members, let alone students. From what we've been able to gather from those that witnessed it M'redith and her group put on an amazing performance yesterday and managed to not only survive but keep the monster busy until help arrived, saving who knows how many lives in the process.”
The effusive praise felt almost unnatural coming from the normally prickly T'lly but she appeared to be quite proud of M'redith's group. The class all clapped and some even cheered as M'redith smiled and stood there awkwardly as she nodded her head in thanks.
“I once stood where you stand now and had my trainer tell me that Guild members run TOWARDS the monsters when everyone else is running away. The Guild would like to recognize a group that did exactly that. Due to the difficulty of the encounter and the manner in which the group handled themselves, not to mention the way everyone worked so well together, it has been decided to allow M'redith's group to apply for official recognition early even though they have not yet graduated.”
Jay's eyebrows rose as he looked at M'redith's face break out in to a grin. The crowd of assembled students whispered to each other at that. Forming a group as a student was not normally something that was done or allowed.
T'lly motioned to Warren who handed her four slim flat wrapped packages.
“When you graduate you will be given a badge to allow you to identify yourself as a full Guild member. People will recognize that badge and afford you certain privileges. Some members carry the badge in their pocket, others use small wallets to hold them in.” T'lly said before nodding to Warren to take over as she smiled.
“While you can't have your badges until after you graduate please accept these badge wallets. Each has been hand crafted using materials from the same Glimmerhide you four fought yesterday.” Warren said with a smile.
M'redith had unwrapped one of the packages on stage and the wallet immediately caught everyone's interest. The leather was smooth and soft but it was the coloring that was the most impressive. The Glimmerhide monster used a dizzying light display of reds and yellows that would sweep across its hide to confuse its prey. Whoever had crafted the wallets had captured that effect and the leather appeared to have flames dance across its surface as the colors constantly shifted.
The color shifting was not some side effect of the light catching it a certain way but was an active effect of the hide itself that would show regardless of lighting or angle of view.
M'redith smiled, “Thank you!” she said happily. Her wallet had the wedge shaped tusked head of the Glimmerhide monster embroidered on to its outer face. The badge wallets were beautiful and had been worked by the hands of a skilled craftsman.
T'lly and Warren both shook M'redith's hand and let her return to her weapon group.
“The rest of you can just wait until you graduate. Or fight a Glimmerhide yourself. And no that is not an invitation to go and try!” she said with a glare as she swept the room with her gaze.
Jay leaned over to Aiden, “I fought off a Glimmerhide and all I got was this wallet..” he whispered. Aiden cracked up but tried to hold it in and ended up half snorting and half grunting. Jay thumped him on the back until he could breath normally again.
Norri didn't hear the comment but smiled anyway. She was just happy to be in the group.
“Ok, that's enough chatter for one day. STARTING POSITIONS!” T'lly yelled as Warren stood next to her and winced at the volume of her voice.
The other students calmly broke up in to pairs. T'lly hopped down from the stage and went around the class rearranging pairs until she was satisfied that no one would have it too easy.
“Begin!”
The room filled with the sounds of clashing weapons and grunting students as they worked through their various blocks. T'lly and Warren showcased up front each block but adding a twist at the end to turn each block in to a strike. They worked through the entire class' repertoire before separating everyone to work on their moves alone.
Warren broke the class for their first water break while T'lly growled at a heavyset Fighter who was having difficulties copying one of the block-strike combos that T'lly was struggling to teach him. She looked up at everyone getting water and sighed, pointing the Fighter to go and get a drink.
Jay grinned as M'redith found him waiting for her outside while Aiden and Norri discussed one of the strikes they had just learned with the staff. She grinned at Jay as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Hey you,” she said as she gave him a squeeze.
She handed everyone their new badge wallets and the group all turned their new items over in their hands as they each examined them.
“These are so cool! I love the colors!” Norri said excitedly.
Aiden smiled, “They are pretty. You know, you usually only need to show your badge when someone is trying to verify your Guild membership. Having our badges attached to fiery luminescent monster hide just makes the entire process look more impressive.”
M'redith nodded with a smile, “I like them. I think it was a nice touch. The real reward was us being allowed to form a group. I mean I knew it was a possibility but now it's really happening!”
T'lly waved to the small group of students with a smile as she walked up to them. She handed them each a piece of paper and handed M'redith a writing tool already inked.
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“Read these. Sign them. Pass the writing tool to the next person. Don't even think about keeping my writing tool.” T'lly said in a brisk voice.
The group read over the single page they each had been handed.
Guild Group Contract
I, your name here, do hereby swear and attest that on this day, today's date, I do willingly and without reservation agree to the formation of, and my membership in, a static group to be known as Glimmerhide Group. I understand that doing so places upon me a number of privileges and responsibilities and I agree without exception to perform to the best of my abilities within those constraints. (4 out of 5 slots to be registered) SIGNED: your signature here
Below the paragraph on the paper each of their names were listed. The group looked at each other and quickly signed their papers, handing them back to T'lly with a thank you which she nodded in reply to. She held out her hand and waited for Norri to return her writing tool and then took out a wax stick.
She melted wax on to a page, had the correct student push their thumbprint on to the wax, and then moved on to the next student until each page had a wax thumbprint on it. She put the wax stick away and shuffled the papers about until M'redith's name was on top and then nodded and walked off without another word.
“Not big on conversations is she?” Aiden quipped quietly as she left – he didn't want her to overhear him for obvious reasons.
“Who cares? She's registering our group without us even having to ask. I wonder why?” Jay said with a puzzled expression as he looked over at M'redith.
“Don't look at me! I've no idea why she's so interested in us. She doesn't ask for anything from us other than to learn. I've no clue what motivates her.” M'redith replied with a shrug.
It was time to go back inside and the group returned to their weapon groups in the training hall. Warren was alone up front but did not seem to mind.
“Ok everyone, back in your groups. We're going to just work on what we've learned today for the rest of class so you can all relax. You only need to learn the things we taught you this morning. Easy!” he said with a calm smile.
“Ok, ready positions. You can begin your exercises now.” Warren said kindly. He rarely if ever sounded upset which made it twice as bad when he did. Warren did not sound upset that morning however and walked around the massive group of students and eagerly handed out constructive criticism and correcting the student's movements where he could.
It wasn't until second water break that T'lly returned. She again just walked right up to Jay and his group and began speaking without preamble. “Put these in your badge wallets. They're the official Guild recognition of your group. If anyone tries to break up your group you tell them no and if they continue to bug you feel free to show them your group card.”
She grinned showing her teeth, “If they still bug you after all that, show them your sword.”
She handed each of them a small card the size of a driver's license. It had their group name, all of their names listed, an embossed Guild seal, and a copy of their thumbprint next to their photo. Jay wondered where they had gotten the photos of them from as he couldn't remember anyone taking his picture at the Guild.
“Thank you!” Norri said as the rest of them said variations of the same thing.
“Don't thank me just do as I told you. Do not allow anyone to break up your group. You have rights now, protect them.” T'lly glared at each of them aggressively to make her point and then nodded and walked away before anyone could say anything else.
“Does she scare anyone else?” Aiden asked.
Jay laughed, “I think she scares everyone. Even when she's nice she's scary. I think I like her.”
M'redith laughed loudly and gave Jay a playful push with one arm. “Did anyone else ask her to do that for us? Because I didn't.”
The rest of the group shook their heads.
“Ok. So she didn't do it because we asked her to but she must have had a reason.” M'redith said quietly almost to herself.
“She was adamant about us not splitting up,” Aiden said helpfully.
“Actually,” Norri said hesitantly but continued when M'redith nodded to her, “she said don't let anyone ELSE break our group up.”
M'redith nodded. “Ok, so she was maybe trying to keep us from being split up but by who? We've only done one thing together as a group so far, who would want to split us up?”
Jay shook his head, “I've no idea. Maybe it'll be more obvious as time goes on and whoever it is makes their move. I'm guessing whoever it is wasn't expecting us to form a group before graduation.”
“Still though, why bother to split us up? We just got together.” Norri said, confused.
M'redith shrugged, “We just don't know enough to figure it out right now. Let's drop it and head back to class. We can just keep it in the back of our minds until we learn more.”
The rest of the group nodded in agreement and they returned to class only pausing for a quick drink of ice cold water. Class passed quickly as the class was run through their entire set of known moves for each weapon. T'lly and Warren went from weapon group to weapon group helping improve not the student's positioning but their understanding of their positioning.
“Your center of balance is positioned too far forward when you stand like that!” T'lly said to one student in particular as she swept his front foot with hers. The student fell to the ground. “What's the point of a stance if you don't understand what it does? Think people! Where is your center of balance? How is your weight distributed between your feet? Is your position stable or easily disturbed by your opponent?”
Warren nodded, “Don't just move, THINK about how you are moving. You need to understand not just how to do each move but WHY you do each move the way we tell you to.”
The class continued for another hour, most of which was students falling to the ground or losing their balance as they focused on why they were moving the way they were. Slowly changes began to take shape as students grew to understand the underpinnings of each movement.
Not everyone understood, but some of the students grasped the basics of what T'lly and Warren had been trying to teach them by the time class came to a close.
Jay was not one of them.
He sighed in frustration as Warren dismissed the class and T'lly began to chase students out of the building.
Norri grinned at him, “It's ok Jay. You're great at other things!”
Jay nodded. He was great at other things but he really needed to be able to defend himself. Still, Norri was trying to be nice. “Thanks Norri, I appreciate the sentiment.”
She nodded and walked out with Jay and Aiden to wait for M'redith outside.
M'redith was already outside staring across the street at a slender staff standing unsupported and unaccompanied, a lone motionless sentinel on the side of an otherwise busy street.
Aiden laughed, “Him again?”
M'redith nodded as they joined her. “I wonder what the staff actually does. It has really been bugging me actually. I intend to demand answers when we see Lux again. Where do you even get a staff like that?”
“I'm too tired to care. My arms are killing me after that workout,” Aiden said crossly as he rubbed his arms. “I just want to eat and maybe take a nap.”
“Well you'll get one of your wishes at least. Let's head to lunch.” Jay said and the group agreed. Grabbing up their belongings the group headed down the street towards the dining hall, a slender staff following a block or two behind them.
“I can still see you ya know!” M'redith called back to the staff as they took a corner and the staff followed. The group continued to walk to lunch and M'redith sighed and turned her head towards Jay.
“CREEPY!” she hissed at him.
Jay laughed. Creepy staffs excluded it had been a good morning.