Siobhan shook herself, visibly gathering her wits, then turned and followed after Grae. Wolf went more slowly, still a wary eye on the city, as he didn't trust anyone left in there now.

The carts were quickly moved to the other path, the people left were loaded on board, and Grae made all the preparations necessary to open the path. Wolf was the last to join them, but as there was no room left on the carts, he had to walk on the stones with his own feet. Tran was right in front of him, also choosing to walk and let someone else ride.

With a slightly blue haze of light, the path opened, obscuring the area around them and making it a blur of colors. Wolf was just as glad that he no longer had a clear view of Goldschmidt. Seeing the ruins of the city made him almost nauseous with grief.

Tran glanced over his shoulder at Wolf, and catching the expression on his face, promised softly, "We'll come back and reclaim it, Wolf."

As if uttering a solemn vow, Wolf responded, "We will."

Seeing Channel Pass and hearing about what state Stott was now in, had filled Siobhan with grief and rage. But that didn't compare with how she felt when she saw Goldschmidt. It felt as if she had lost her center, and indeed she had, as the city had been home to her for over a decade now. The loss of her guildhall had been crippling by itself but losing both made her almost sick.

But as guildmaster, she couldn't indulge in those feelings, not yet. She had people depending on her to make rational decisions and bring them to a place of safety. So she forced it down, although it felt like she was swallowing acid, and made herself focus on the present and what needed to be done next.

Grae brought them through to Converse with admirable precision, as always, and as soon as the path closed they all clambered off the carts with record speed. It was a miracle no one had been jostled off on the way over here, it had been that cramped. As usual, she barely had her legs over the side of the cart before Wolf appeared with a hand to help her down. She took it and stole a hug as she did so. Instinct propelled her to physically reassure herself that even if the city and hall was lost, she still had every member of her guild.

Wolf seemed to realize what she needed and gave her a hug around the shoulders before letting go. She took strength from the contact and gave him a fleeting smile before turning and taking a good look at Converse.

The city looked ready to split at the seams.

Converse was a sizeable place, but certainly not in the same category as the larger cities in Robarge. It was a trading city, a place for people to stop temporarily and little more. But now it had at least three cities' worth of citizens packed into it. Everyone from Channel Pass, Stott, and Goldschmidt had run here for safety. Tents had popped up all around the outer wall of the city, no doubt because there was no longer any room to be inside. Siobhan frowned, an uneasy feeling forming as she took this in. "Wolf...it's not safe for people to be camping outside the walls like this."

"No, it's not," he agreed, a matching frown on his face. "There's too many refugees in there."

"We need to send them somewhere else," she said, making a snap decision. Turning, she tried to find Rune in the crowd, but couldn't spot him. Giving up, she called loudly, "RUNE!"

Like magic, he appeared at her elbow in the next second. "What?"

"I need you to go to Winziane with a message for Hammon." Realizing her mistake, she turned and found Markl before waving him over. "Markl! I need you too!" She waited for the scholar to join them before continuing, "We must send word back to Hammon about what has happened before he sends us fighters. He was set to do that early afternoon, and it's getting dangerously close to that time. Markl, go tell him everything that has happened and explain to him what the situation is like here in Converse. The city can't support this many refugees-ask if he can take them."

"Winziane will have the room for them," Markl promised her. "I'll arrange it with him. What about the fighters he promised you?"

Siobhan shook her head, frustrated. "I don't know the answer to that yet. I think we still need them, to defend Converse, but I need to talk to Darrens first. For now-"

"Send them," Wolf cut in firmly.

Her eyes flew to his face. Send them?

"Send them," Wolf repeated, locking his eyes with hers. "They'll hit Converse next. I think their goal is not only to loot the cities but also to take control of the Grey Bridges."

An icy chill chased its way up and down her spine as she realized in horror that he was likely right. "Send them," she told Markl hoarsely.

Markl had studied strategy as well in Saoleord, although not to the extent that Wolf and Rune had. He clearly understood what Wolf was saying and agreed with it, as he nodded grimly. "I'll tell him. Rune, take me please."

Rune paused and looked ahead for a moment, body weight shifting uneasily. Siobhan watched him, puzzled. Normally he would immediately do what Markl had asked, especially since she was also asking. "Rune? What's the hold up?"

Those clear blue eyes were clouded with concern. "Denney," he responded softly.

Denney. Siobhan's eyes widened in realization. In that crowded city, where things were already chaotic, Denney would be a handy victim. Of course. Siobhan should have thought of that already.

Wolf put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'll keep her with me. Go, Rune."

Reassured, Rune clapped him on the back before turning and leading Markl back to the path.

Siobhan sent a prayer to the heavens in thanks that she had a good guild that knew how to look out for each other. Mercy knew that she couldn't seem to think of everything at once. Shaking the thought off, she turned for Converse. "Wolf, get Denney, and then we need to find Darrens."

Of course, finding Darrens was much easier said than done. There was no major guild in Converse, hence there was no major guildhall, and that was the problem. If there had been a major guild here, Siobhan would have immediately gone to the guildhall as that would be the sensible place to meet. But without it, she hadn't a clue where to go except to visit every inn and hostel along the main street with hopes that Darrens had chosen one of them as a main base of operations. When that didn't work, she fell to asking everyone she passed until, miraculously, she ran into someone that knew and led her to the right place.

Still, the search ate up valuable time, almost an hour, and Siobhan was beyond frustrated by the time she got to Darrens.

The inn proved to be a good choice, as it was one of the larger ones in the city. It also, unlike most of the inns, had a main conference room (no doubt meant for trade and business negotiations) that had nothing more than a large table and several dozen chairs inside. Darrens had promptly taken over the space as his own, and even though he couldn't have been in it for more than twenty-four hours, it looked eerily similar to his own conference room in Goldschmidt. Maps were already pinned to the walls, stacks of reports on the table, and of course his people were scattered throughout working on logistics and such.

Siobhan took a whole step inside when she spotted Ryu Jin Ho standing next to Darrens, both of them facing the map on the far wall. Tired-that was her first impression of them. Their body language screamed it with the slouched shoulders, the constant shifting from foot to foot as their muscles protested, the heavy sighs that punctuated their sentences. Had they not slept at all since coming here?

"Guildmaster Darrens," she called out in greeting. "Ryu Jin Ho-zhi."

Both men snapped around, identical looks of relief on their faces at seeing her.

Darrens immediately came around the table, a hand stretched out in welcome, which she clasped strongly. "Siobhan. I am overjoyed to see you. What did Hammon say?"

"He's sending us fighters," she reported concisely. "This afternoon. I just sent Markl and Rune back with the request that he send them here and also take our refugees. This city cannot hold them all. Markl assured me that Winziane will take them."

Putting a hand to his chest, Darrens closed his eyes for a moment. "Thank all mercy for your quick thinking. That was exactly the problem we were discussing just now."

Siobhan turned and gave a bow to Ryu Jin Ho. "My heart is well seeing you safe. Wolf lost track of you last night and we assumed you were here, but we weren't sure."

"Guildmaster Darrens would not let me stay behind, so I came with them." Ryu Jin Ho did not sound upset about this, well, only slightly upset. As a warrior himself, he likely felt he could have done some good fighting on the streets last night. But as a strategist, he clearly realized that his knowledge would be better put here rather than in a skirmish somewhere.

Siobhan spread her hands, looking between both men. "My guild is here and ready to help. What would you have us do?"

"Help me organize the refugees and get them ready for transport," Darrens requested. "Everyone out there knows you, you know your Pathmakers and how they work, so it's best you handle that. Get as many people out as you can tonight. We think we have another two, three days before the army hits us here but I want those people gone as quickly as we can manage it."

She nodded understanding. It was barely noon now, so they had a good six or seven hours of daylight left to use. Well, no, seven might be cutting it too fine. But she could shift a lot of people in six hours, especially using both Pathmakers. The people outside of the walls would be the first to transport. "Understood, I'll take care of it. After that?"

"Rest," Ryu Jin Ho ordered firmly. "Everyone right now is working through the night but when they drop from exhaustion, we need people ready to replace them. Rest. Be ready to work again tomorrow morning."

Sensible advice. She wasn't sure if her jangling nerves would let her do that, but was game to try. At least putting a hot meal into her stomach and her throbbing feet up would help. "I'll try to find an inn, then. We'll report back here in the morning." Hesitating, she lowered her voice to a more confidential tone, "Be straight with me. Can we defend Converse?"

"Yes," Ryu Jin Ho assured her, a wolfish smile of satisfaction on his face. "I now know how large they are, how they fight, and what tactics they use. Now that I know my enemy, I know how to fight them. Converse will not fall."

The absolute confidence on his face reassured her in a way that nothing else would have. The panic that had been pulsing in the back of her head faded to a hum. Well, maybe she'd be able to sleep a little after all. Returning his smile with one of her own, she gave them both a bow before turning on her heel. "Wolf, let's go."

"Has anyone seen Siobhan?" Wolf looked from face to face, but everyone just shook their heads or shared glances that said, I haven't seen her, have you?

Frustrated, he left the cramped inn and went outside, going from front yard to back, repeating the question. Despite the fact that a man couldn't take half a step without running into someone, no one had seen his guildmaster.

Since legwork wasn't getting him anywhere, Wolf went back to the front porch (which was the only part of the inn that a man could take a full breath in) and stopped to think.

After Siobhan's meeting with Darrens, they'd followed the plan set and transported as many people as possible to Winziane. Hammon was only too happy to help as no one wanted innocent people caught in the next battle with the army heading their way. Grae, Rune, and three other Pathmakers from Winziane had nearly run themselves ragged taking people from Converse to Winziane. Grae and Rune only barely returned before the light had failed them, which was the closest that Wolf had ever seen Grae cut it. Another five minutes, the man might not have had strong enough sunlight to make the path operate properly, which would have left him stranded mercy-knew-where.

While they did that, Siobhan organized people to go, enlisting the help of her guild to organize everyone. Sylvie was the only one sensible enough to find them rooms in an inn, and it was her formidable trading prowess that had managed to find three vacant rooms in this chaos. It meant tripling up, with cots on the floor, but everyone was thankful to have a roof over their head for the next few nights.

With the way that Siobhan had run herself ragged over the past two days, Wolf would have assumed her to be sitting down somewhere with her feet up. Right now, she had nothing better to do than rest, as it was the strategists and the enforcers that were preparing Converse for an attack. So where in sweet mercy was she?

Unless...when the thought struck, his eyes narrowed in contemplation.

Siobhan never let people watch her cry. She had this silly notion that just because she was a guildmaster, that she should never appear weak to the guild. Wolf knew better than she that the guild looked to her for guidance, not necessarily strength. That was his department.

If he couldn't readily find her, that must be it. Determined, he started looking for out of the way corners, deserted places that would give her privacy. It wasn't an easy thing to find in this overly crowded city, but there were a few spots here and there. It took four false tries before he found her.

As he'd feared, Siobhan lay curled up in a near-fetal position against the back city wall, nearly wedged between it and a building. Her hands covered her face, but he didn't need to see to know she was crying.

Instinct propelled him forward, and he had his good hand on her shoulder, drawing her into his embrace, before he properly realized what he was doing.

Siobhan looked confused for a split second, jarred from her grief, but when she realized it was him she curled into his arms without hesitation. His good hand went up to stroke her hair, the iron one carefully placed around her waist so that it couldn't accidentally hurt her. For a long time they just knelt there on the ground, holding on to each other, as he let her cry against his shoulder.

She started to subside, her breath evening instead of coming out in hiccupping sobs. It'd be a fine time to offer some comforting words, if he could think of any. If there was something that needed killing, Wolf was the man to call. But knowing the right thing to say at the right moment, well, that was what they had Markl and Fei for. Still, he had to try.

"It could have been worse," he offered tentatively. "We could all have been in the city when it was attacked."

With a sniff, Siobhan nodded against his shoulder. "I know. And I'm thankful we weren't there when it all happened, but..." her voice broke. "The Hall, Wolf. Our Hall. Heaven knows it wasn't much, but it was home. And now, now there's nothing left of it."

He'd like to have said something like It's just a building, Siobhan, but in truth he'd gotten attached to the place too. He had a lot of fond memories of the Hall and there was a part of him that knew he could always retreat there if things became truly bad. To have it razed to the ground like that had wounded him. Tears sprang to his eyes but he blinked them back. Pressing a kiss against her forehead, he whispered soothingly, "I know. Shhh, I know. It'll be fine. We'll rebuild."

"It'll take a while," she sighed mournfully.

"Nonsense. What are you saying? We have two Pathmakers now. We'll make twice the money. We can build the Hall back before you can blink twice."

She gave a watery laugh and finally lifted her head from his shoulder. "That's only if you and Tran can behave and not rack up any fines."

"Nothing to destroy right now," he pointed out laconically. "I think even we'd be hard-pressed to find trouble at the moment."

"Point."

"And just think, we can make the Hall the way we need it to be this time." Tears were still in her eyes, but she was gaining hold of herself. He used a thumb to wipe away the wetness on her cheeks in a gentle sweep.

"You mean make Beirly's workshop twice as large, as he always wanted, and make Conli a proper clinic to work in?"

"Don't forget the lofty rafters for our two sneaks. I think they'd break out in fits if you made them sit properly in a chair all day."

Siobhan's mouth quirked into a rueful smile. "That's true, isn't it? We'll have Beirly draw up the plans for a new Hall. Although I think it'll take us a few months before we can go back and start rebuilding."

A few months sounded optimistic to him, but he wasn't about to say so. "A fine plan."

Uncurling from him, she looked about, and only then seemed to realize where she actually was. "How in mercy's name did you find me here?"

"It took some hunting," he admitted candidly. "Are you ready to go back now?"

Taking in a shaky breath, she looked toward the ground for a long moment before nodding confirmation.

That didn't look like a firm yes to him. "Siobhan, if you need another moment or two, take it."

"No, I've been gone too long. People will notice I'm missing and start to worry. And we have enough to worry about without me adding to it."

Well, maybe what she needed now was something to focus on, now that her grief had run its course a little. He'd seen this cycle before with her. Something would upset her, she'd cry about it and be upset, then she'd pick herself up and get buried in work until her frustrations had passed. It was probably a better cycle than his, where he got angry at something and then went and beat it to a pulp.

The thing that had brought him through the darkest times was dreaming of the future, imagining a better time that lay ahead. It was what let him survive those first terrible years after he was kidnapped from home and forced into a dark guild. It was also the thing that let him survive when Siobhan first bought him. He'd wanted so desperately to be a true part of the guild, that even though he felt awkward and out of place there, imagining a time when he was part of them had given him the strength to stay and change. He knew how important dreams were, and so he tried to give it to her.

"You say Beirly wants this, and Conli needs that, but what do you want in our new Hall?"

Wistfully, she responded, "I've always wanted a true bathing chamber. You know, like the ones they have in Wynngaard, with the stone tile work and the heated baths that you can soak in."

"That would be nice," he agreed, equally wistful. "Do you think Beirly can build that?"

"Is there anything in this world that Beirly can't build?"

"He claims there is, but I've yet to see proof of it."

"Right? I think he needs to build us one. Or two. I'm not sure if us women want to share with the men."

"I'm not sure if I want to share with Tran."

Siobhan poked him in the ribs for that one.

Chuckling, he got to his feet and offered her a hand, pulling her up with him. Siobhan didn't let go of him, but instead linked arms, which pleased him in a purely masculine way. The fact that she trusted him enough to let him see her at her weakest moment also stroked his ego. He probably shouldn't feel flattered by that, but he did.

As they slowly walked back to the inn, Siobhan asked, "What do you want? From the new Hall."

"A decent sized training yard," he responded instantly. That one didn't even require thought on his part.

"Now that's a practical suggestion," she approved. "Hmm, what else should we do...?"

They traded suggestions back and forth, which somehow led them to reminiscing about things that had happened in the old Hall. Sharing words of comfort and dreams, they walked at the pace of memories.

Ryu Jin Ho set Wolf and Tran as his lieutenants, sending them out to teach how to prepare to defend the walls, as they were the ones that knew what to do. Wolf found this to be particularly challenging as he did not possess the skill with either words or pen to really convey what he knew to the men. It took effort on his part, and patience on theirs, but eventually they understood what he wanted and went about making it a reality.

Converse didn't have much in the way of trees, so setting pikes along the outer walls was out, but Beirly was making caltrops with the rest of the blacksmiths to make up for it. Wolf sent people out to find every arrow and throwing spear available in the city, ordering them to be collected every few feet on top of the walls. There was also oil and torches gathered to keep the army at bay.

After the weapons and at least some of the defenses were put into place, Wolf focused on drilling the people so that they knew exactly where to go and how to respond when the army finally did reach the walls. Wolf had them start at the base of the walls and on his signal, they would race into position and lift the right weapon. They did this repeatedly for two hours until he was satisfied it was well drummed into their heads, and panic or excitement wouldn't make them forget it.

Hyun Woo arrived that morning by path. Wolf saw from the wall when Grae brought him in. Wolf assumed that between Hyun Woo and Ryu Jin Ho that they would come up with a strategy on how to defend the city. But, Hyun Woo called for him and Rune barely ten minutes after arriving, asking that they meet him in the new Blackstone headquarters. Curious what this was all about, Wolf obeyed the summons and went to the inn, meeting Rune almost at the same time in the doorway.

Rune fell in behind Wolf as they entered the main room and asked, "Do ya know why he's asked for us?"

"No idea," Wolf admitted. "I guess we'll see shortly."