Chapter Twenty Four

Apart from Ludwig and Gilbert, twelve others were situated around the table; tucking into the leek soup with gusto. Even if a few of the men made half-heartedly scathing comments about it to a sandy-haired man who simply put a stop to it with a short, biting threat. "I you've got a problem with my cooking then maybe I'd better leave you all to fend for yourselves." Emrys hadn't even needed to raise his voice before the others sheepishly went back to eating the food provided.

Frederick had said the introductions along with the meeting itself would wait until everyone had eaten. For a lot of people it had been a long day so he wanted to give them some time to just relax and unwind.

"All right. Now that we've all had our fill, I would like to introduce my son and his companion." Frederick announced, standing behind the two men, settling a hand on each of their shoulders. "Gilbert and Ludwig. Boys, welcome to Solace! You've already met Katyusha, Matthew and Carlos, now would everyone else introduce themselves?"

The dark-haired limper grinned good-naturedly and made to stand up so he could shake their hands; only for the lanky red-head to sit him back down when he shook dangerously on his bad leg. After an apology he revealed that his name was Thorfinn and he was from an island in the North called Nykore. His friend was a Renidali called Cahir. The chef simply shrugged and said his name was Emrys, letting things move on quickly.

Next were three women. A tall Southerner with hair about the length of a thumbnail and a very distinctive accent called Mafuane – she had smiled warmly and leaned over to shake hands with Gilbert and Ludwig. Esi was quiet and mysterious – her eyes alarmingly similar to Gupta's. However she seemed calm and reasonable enough. Next to her was Gaia, undoubtedly one of the most attractive women either man had ever laid eyes on. Although she had lived Vike for most of her life she revealed her family origins actually lay in Egerec.

Then was Eduard, a short-sighted blond from Asteion. While he didn't say much and he didn't let the smile falter, it never reached his eyes. In fact Eduard kept looking at the newcomers as if something was weighing heavily on his mind. Last of all was an incredibly tall man with a face that barely moved. Ludwig thought he looked familiar, as if he might have seen him around Relbin, but all he said was that his name was Berwald.

Once that was done Frederick nudged Gilbert, silently urging him to stand up and address everyone at the table. With a quick sideways glance at Ludwig, who nodded encouragingly, Gilbert rose to his feet; drawing everyone's attention to him. He took a deep breath and squared off his shoulders, putting on the confident facade he was so used to faking. "As you know, West and I just got here from Relbin. Four years ago I was a Handler, and not long after I completed my training I was turned by my charge." Sub-consciously one of Gilbert's hands settled on his tunic, just where his scars were. Noticing this Ludwig subtly moved a hand beneath the table to settle on the Sauprisian's calf, making tiny soothing motions with his thumb.

Berwald was watching Gilbert intently after the mention of Handlers. "I'm sure you will all have heard the stories so I won't go into what it was like being Chained to the Wall. With the help of Ludwig I escaped. We came here to ask you, people of Solace, for help with something no one has ever attempted before." Gilbert smirked deviously, eyes shining with anticipation. "If you're willing, I'd like your aid in freeing the others from the Wall. Alone West and I wouldn't have had a chance. With Solace's help we can free them. What do you say?"

Gilbert and Ludwig watched as everyone at the table started murmuring lowly to one another, discussing whether they should go along with Gilbert's proposition or not. Berwald cleared his throat. "I 'sked f'r th' s'me th'ng wh'n I g't h're." His Neswedish accent was thick and obvious, forcing people to listen closely to make sure they understood what he was saying. "S' ev'n if 'm th' 'nly one. 'M w'th ya. M'wife's Ch'ned ta th' w'll."

With a broad grin, Gilbert clapped a hand onto Berwald's shoulder. "Awesome, good to have you on board! What about the rest of you?" he prompted.

"Emrys and myself would be more than happy to help you out." Cahir smirked. "We've got family in Relbin we haven't seen in years. Haven't seen them since my sister got Chained." Emrys simply nodded, not looking particularly interested in the discussion.

Mafuane frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't like it. I know, if all of us pull together we could overpower the Handlers ... but I don't think this is the kind of thing we can risk. These people came to us for protection and a safe haven. We should think very carefully before we drag them out of this safety and into such a life-threatening situation. Even with an advantage on our side there will be casualties. Even fatalities. As much as I want to help you I don't think this is something we can drag our wards into something so dangerous."

Carlos scoffed and rolled his eyes. "No one said everyone was going. We'll take only the volunteers; leave one of you mother hens here to look after the ones who can't or won't." Everyone's eyes suddenly snapped towards Thorfin whose hand had slammed into the table, his grey-blue eyes narrowed towards Carlos.

"That better not have been directed at me. You won't be leaving me behind because of an old riding accident! I can still fight just as well as any of you!" He had risen to his feet again, only to be forcibly dragged down by Cahir.

The green-eyed red-head scowled at Thorfin. "Calm down! We'll argue about those details later. For now work out whether we're going ahead with this or not."

Ludwig glanced over at Katyusha to see her biting her lip and wringing her hands together. She kept glancing at Thorfin as Cahir slowly succeeded in calming him down. "I would normally agree with Mafuane ... but my brother and sister are there. I know there is nothing I can do for my little Vanya ... but I need to go. In case I can still save Natalia..."

"Fine. I'll stay and 'mother-hen' everyone else that stays behind." Mafuane conceded. "I hope you know I don't approve of you going with your leg in the condition that it is, Thorfin. The same goes for your back, Katyusha. But it's not my place to stop you. Do as you like - I won't be needed for the rest of this meeting. Fill me in if anything comes up I might need to know." The Southerner nodded curtly to everyone and left the room without another word.

As soon as she was gone discussions continued with renewed vigor. Surprisingly a lot of the people in the room had their reasons for wanting to help Ludwig and Gilbert. The two men listened intently, Gilbert having sat back down with a relieved sigh that he wasn't the centre of attention anymore. Eduard's two cousins had headed to Relbin months before and he hadn't heard from them since; Matthew's brother had recently become a Handler and he wanted to make one last attempt to change his mind. Apparently Abilio had family in the area that he hadn't seen in years as well, so he would probably want to join in this campaign as well.

While neither Esi or Gaia seemed to have any connections to Relbin or the werewolves they were determined to come as well. According to Gaia they refused to sit back and allow such things to continue.

"All right, let me get this straight." Gilbert drew the attention back to himself. "When Berwald tried this last time you all did nothing. What's suddenly changed?" Ludwig nodded in agreement.

"It just doesn't make any sense." the taller man began. "Of course we're more than grateful for your help - but surely we haven't been able to sway you all so drastically in so little time." It was at this point Frederick, who had fallen quiet in order to allow everyone to keep up the discussions on their own, stood up again with a small smile.

"When Berwald came to us for help it was just after an epidemic. We didn't have anywhere near the man-power that would have been needed in order to help. And the people we did have were too weak to move, let alone march all the way to Relbin and challenge fully armed; dangerous individuals. By the time we got our numbers back up, it was only in the last few months. We had no idea if Berwald's partner would even still be alive."

"As things are now, it could still turn into a massacre." Cahir mused, a grin playing across his features. "Difference is that now on what side the massacre will be is more debatable!" he chuckled, moving to clap Gilbert and Ludwig on the shoulder. "Now, we can handle things from here, lads. You two just take the next couple of days to relax while we sort out who's coming; get us all armed and ready. Go ahead, Frederick and take them back to yours. Kat and I'll make sure things go smoothly here. Be sure and let Abilio know what's going on!"

A/N: Too much talking and I didn't enjoy writing this chapter! I know there hasn't been much in the way of Gilbert and Ludwig and how they're progressing with things in the last couple of chapters, but now that this one is out of the way things will get back on track with this. As it stands, this chapter was necessary to move the plot along so it had to be done.

So we have now seen all the actual characters in Solace - everyone else is essentially nameless cannon fodder. There are some OCs and some I've just given names to, as well as some more anagrams. The characters in Solace are as follows: Old Fritz, Katyusha Braginski (Ukraine), Matthew Williams (Canada), Carlos Machado (Cuba), Abilio Syun (Macau), Eduard Von Bock (Estonia), Berwald Oxenstierna (Sweden), Esi (Ancient Egypt), Gaia (Ancient Greece), Cahir Burke (Northern Ireland), Emrys Kerwyn (Wales), Mafuane (South Africa) and Thorfin Rendall (Orkney).

For anyone who doesn't remember, Alfred is a Handler back in Relbin and Arthur co-owns the Hare and Rose with Francis so they can't be members of Solace.

On another note I finally posted up the full smut from a few chapters back - it's called A Night at the Inn.

Right the author's note is way too long so I'll finish up by thanking you all for reading and asking you to let me know what you thought! Until next time lovelies!