When Jeremiah returned with Muh and Haralee at least seven days later, he brought with him Leland, the woman he'd identified as Anissa, his wife, and another black man that was about the same stature as Jeremiah, although probably a little younger due to the fact that his hair was greying less than Jeremiah's. They'd been leading a Jack that was short and stocky and obviously got more than enough grass to feed on despite the small area it appeared they had been living in.

Jimmy and Carl had been watching the gates the morning when they arrived and they let them in, immediately recognizing the faces of Jeremiah, Muh, and Haralee. They tied the Jack just inside the fence and he immediately made good use of the length of his ties to begin trimming the nearby grass with his teeth.

Daryl called together anyone who wished to come to headquarters. He invited Jeremiah and his people into the living area of the house that replaced their old headquarters and offered them the best seats, attempting to be as hospitable as their new life allowed. Together they waited, practically in silence, for everyone who was coming to assemble.

"You have quite the group here," Jeremiah said, looking over everyone. Daryl was surprised, himself, at the turnout. Libby and Beau had gone so far as to bring Jacob and Sam out of hiding, though Libby still tried to keep the boys inside a good deal of the time. Tyreese had brought Carol over, with the assistance of Beau, and Jeremiah had offered his seat to her, seeing that she clearly wasn't going to be able to stand a meeting of any length of time if she had to remain standing in a corner somewhere. To Daryl's surprise, even Maggie had come down and leaned against a wall with Stella to see the members of this new group. The only person that Daryl could see that wasn't there was Sadie, and he had an itchy suspicion that she might be working in the barn alone and had never had any clue that anything was taking place.

"We missin' one," Daryl said. "She might wanta be here too…" Daryl shot a look at Rick who had obviously been turning over ground in the fields. He got up, apparently realizing that Sadie was absent, and disappeared without saying anything. "She gon' make it here, though. She don't always know what's goin' on."

"Slow witted?" Jeremiah asked, matter of factly. Daryl shook his head.

"Deaf. Can't hear nothin' so she misses the bells if they ain't no one around to clue her in," Daryl responded.

Jeremiah nodded knowingly.

Michonne and Rachel had both carried in a couple of bags that they'd gotten together with clothes in them. They offered the bags to Jeremiah with a smile.

"We weren't sure on sizes," Michonne said, "but there's a lot there, so hopefully some of it will work."

"We appreciate it," Jeremiah said. "Tala is handy with a needle and thread. I'm sure that she can make nearly anything work for our purposes."

"Tala?" Daryl asked.

It was the other man's turn to speak.

"Tala is Uwa's sister," the man said.

"This is George," Jeremiah offered. "He's one of the other men in our group."

Daryl nodded at the man in greeting and George waved at the people crowded into the room. Daryl noticed Rick and Sadie slip inside and bunch in a corner. They were going to have explain most of what happened to Sadie later. Michonne wasn't close enough to her to write the whole thing down.

"Did Uwa live?" Daryl asked.

"Yes," Muh answered suddenly. "Uwa lived more than many have ever lived. Her journey was good. We have wished that the next be even half as good."

"Uwa passed on," the boy, Leland, offered.

Daryl nodded. He wasn't sure what to say. Normally he would have said that he was sorry to hear of this Uwa's death, but he had an odd feeling that Muh might take his head off if he said something like that. He just nodded in response, not really feeling anything else was appropriate.

"So Jeremiah says that you're going to be taking our Muh away from us," George said. "We're sorry to see Muh go, but she makes her own decisions. We plan to move on in the spring and Muh doesn't wish to move with us."

Daryl nodded.

"If she wants to stay with us," he said, "we've all decided that she can stay. We don't have no concrete plan for moving on yet. We're playin' it by ear."

"You will move on," Muh said, "in the spring that follows my death day."

Daryl regarded her, truly unsure of whether or not he should just give up and believe her. She'd called this Uwa's death, but then again he wasn't positive how sickly Uwa had been. He could have called the death of quite a few people in his life, so it might not have been much of a challenge.

"Of course," Michonne said, "it's not like we would deny you any rights to visit Muh or try to keep her from visiting you. Not at all. If Muh chooses to stay with our group she stays as just a much a free member as anyone else here."

George nodded.

"We hope that Muh will visit us. She's welcome with our group any time that she pleases to come, and Haralee as well. Muh had already told us that she planned to stay, alone with Haralee, when we left in the spring, so we're really glad that she's found a group to stay with," George said.

"As for working together now," Jeremiah said, "I'm not sure that our group has much to offer. We have a few good fighters and we aren't afraid to fight if our backs are to the wall, but we don't set out to make trouble. We've tried to live as peacefully as possible."

Daryl nodded.

"I ain't gon' say we ain't had our share of fights," Daryl said, "but we'd like the idea of living in peace if it was possible. We been in a few tight spots, though, and once or twice we took the way out of goin' after them 'fore they come after us."

Jeremiah nodded.

"I think we can agree that it would be futile to judge each other for our ways of life. We all do what we have to do to survive," he said.

"That we do," Daryl said.

"You've had contact with other groups, though?" Rick asked. "Peaceful contact?"

Jeremiah and George looked at each other. George finally spoke, but looked hesitant to say what he was going to say.

"Yes and no," George said. "We've had a lot of contact with others since the beginning. Our group has taken in and lost so many members that hardly a single one of us started out with the other. Around here the contact has been more limited than in some of the other areas that we've passed through. There is a decent amount of foot traffic through our area, but the squatters don't stay long. Many of them are small groups and they're easy to get along with. They're looking to rest a day or two and get on their way, simple as that. There are others, though, that have tried to start problems."

"Like the ones that attacked us both," Rick offered.

"Like them," Jeremiah said. "There have been others too. They're mostly bandits. They're too lazy to work for anything so they just keep moving and take what they want."

"If we worked together we could be pretty good back up for one another," Rick said. "We've got fighters. Some are better than others, of course, but everyone goes in when they're needed."

"We do some trading with another pretty peaceful group a few miles from us," George said. "They're a decent sized group. They only intend to stay until spring as well. They say they're headed to Mississippi, but I don't know why that's their destination. They want to travel with us."

"If we was ta all come together," Daryl said, "we could have us quite a force. We wouldn't have ta worry 'bout fightin' with each other for nothin', but we could be right near unstoppable against any lil' rag tag bunch of bandits as you call 'em."

"What do you propose, though?" Jeremiah asked. "There's a good three miles between our group and your group. The other group is a good three miles in the opposite direction. Communication between us is pretty limited."

Daryl nodded his understanding.

"How do you normally communicate with the other group?" Daryl asked.

"About every week to fourteen days one of us passes by their camp or they come to ours," Jeremiah said. "We do whatever business might need to be done and we catch each other up on the status of other groups passing through. More or likely to settle soon, especially with the cold coming. Even the people who stay on the move try to hunker down for winter."

"Like bears," Daryl said. "We hibernate to keep our asses from freezing."

"Literally and figuratively," George said. A few people in the room chuckled.

"So we set up a similar schedule, then?" Daryl asked. "We keep in check with y'all and y'all keep in check with us an' we got a chance then to figure out if we gon' have trouble from any people around us."

Jeremiah shrugged.

"Fine with me," he said. "We have two Jacks and a Jenny at our camp. The other group has a hinny they get around on. We can move pretty quick if we need help in a hurry. Leland's our runner and they have a boy, Finn, that does the running for them. He's a brown headed boy white boy, all dusted with freckles. He hasn't grown into his elbows and knees yet. You'd know if him you saw him."

"Beau there's got him a mule. He an' Libby both can get that old thing hoppin' when they want," Daryl said. "Both a' them could run for us if we had some kinda big emergency."

"Mules are good stock," George said. "The other group has a pretty ragged chestnut mare they found, but we're trying to get our ass to cover her. Best to breed what we can off of her. We're hoping to coax her throw us a mule before we leave in the spring if we can get her to breed. They said we could have it as payment for some healing that Muh did and Muh offered to let us keep it for our travels if it's weaned on time. If it isn't, we'd gladly pass the payment to you, since you'll be keeping up with Muh and Haralee and all."

"Hopefully you'll get one to take with you," Daryl said. "I never thought that the old mule was really worth much."

Jeremiah chuckled.

"Worth more than a horse, I can tell you that. Right now about all a horse is worth is determined by if can live long enough to breed some mules or hinnies. Horses are harder to maintain, especially these days," Jeremiah said.

"Told ya we ain't need ta eat Blue," Beau said. Daryl shot him a look, but Beau didn't seem to care. He was grinning ear to ear at the confirmation that his pet was more useful alive than he might be in the pot.

"Well if they that handy then we'd gladly take your offer, presumin' that you can't take the mule with you when you head outta here," Daryl said.

Both Jeremiah and George somewhat nodded.

"We could maybe bring a representative or two from each group together," Rick said, "someone with everyone's interests in mind. Then we could all negotiate with or work with or whatever any new groups we come across. If we show them we're a united front, they may be less likely to try to attack anyone for fear of retaliation from all the groups."

"A council," Muh said. Everyone looked at her, most of them had forgotten the old woman was there and certainly hadn't imagined she'd be listening to everything. "You want a council. And it is a good idea. You will choose the man to speak for your clan. Together they will decide what is best for everyone. There will be others who will come, but when they see that the council speaks for many people, they will understand that it is better to do no harm because their actions will only bring the harm back upon them. A council will be good."

"I could get behind a council of sorts," George said. "We could discuss it with the other group. Leland I could go out tomorrow and talk to them."

Daryl shrugged.

"Sounds good to me," he said. "Can't hurt to have backup. Push comes to shove and everyone gets too rowdy out there, we got some room left in here, but we ain't got the kind of provisions we need, not if we gon' stay as long as Muh here says we is."

"We're well stocked," Jeremiah said. "We've got a lot of food. We used two fields from a nearby farm to put up more food than we'll be able to eat. The other group had a good harvest too. We've been trading various canned goods for some time."

"And we've cured meat," George said. "Game's no good right now, but we've got enough to feed our group and then some through the winter."

Daryl looked at Rick and Rick shrugged at him. He only wished that he could know what Rick was thinking or what anyone in the room was thinking. They were all quiet, though, mostly there to see what would take place. A negotiation such as this was a first for their community.

"If ya weren't against it, then, might be better just to try an' build a big group. We might have to bunch up more than we is, dependin' on how many people come in, but it ain't nothin' we ain't done before," Daryl said.

He glanced nervously around the room searching for anyone who might protest his single handed decision to invite one group, and possibly two, to share their space.

"We thank you for the invitation," Jeremiah said, glancing at George, "but for the time we'll decline. I can't speak for the other group since we haven't had the chance to even tell them about you. Our group is settled and we're comfortable. Other than the loss of our cow, which may very well end up being a greater loss than we thought, we should be fine."

"Well," Daryl said, "offer stands if ya should change your mind."

Jeremiah nodded.

"We don't know what the future holds for us, we may change it later on, but for now I think it's best if we work together to form the council we've planned," Jeremiah said. "Then, if push comes to shove, we can see about building a more solid union among our groups."

"What happened to the cow?" Michonne asked.

"Group that attacked us got them too," Daryl said.

"Yeah, you told me about that," Michonne replied.

"They had 'em a cow and them people killed it," Daryl said.

"We didn't really have any great affection for the cow," Jeremiah said with a chuckle. "It's only that Agaliha gave birth a few days ago and we're afraid that she's not going to produce enough milk to feed the little thing what it needs."

Michonne chuckled.

"We can help you there too," she said. "We've got a cow, but she isn't quite up to producing much yet. She was a little too starved at first, but we're working on her. We've got some formula stockpiled, though, and if the baby needs milk than bring the woman here. I won't offer her out, but Sadie makes enough milk and then some for her baby and I pump and throw out plenty myself. The last thing that makes any sense around here is a baby going hungry."

"We'll have to find something to give you," Jeremiah said. "I don't feel right taking all these generous offers when we really don't have anything to offer that it doesn't seem like you already have enough of. We'll see what happens with the baby, and we'll let you know. In the meantime, is there anything that you can think of that we might be able to give you?"

"We've taken Muh from you," Tyreese said suddenly. "She's already helped a number from our group. For now, don't worry about it. We'll consider ourselves even."

Daryl nodded at him, agreeing. There wasn't anything that the group was exactly aching for at the moment. They could use numbers were things to end up in some kind of battle, but you couldn't ask people to hand over their group members to you and you couldn't obligate others to live with you. For now they thankfully had the food, water, and clothing that they needed. There was no need to be greedy. The time may very well come when they weren't so well provisioned, and then they might ask for help, but as long as they didn't need it, they weren't going to take it, and as long as they had it to give, they weren't going to deny anyone else what they might need.

The conversation continued on for a bit, much in the same grain. They tossed back and forth ideas about how they might breach contact with some of the other smaller groups that were in the area, either temporarily or long term. They discussed things that would be useful for the winter and what each of their groups had done to prepare. Then the talk turned lighter as they discussed their people and a few stories were shared about how everyone had come to know one another and how they had ended up here after everything had happened.

The other group, in Daryl's opinion, had come to be much like his own group. They weren't a family in the beginning, but they had picked up people here and they had picked up people there along the way. Some of their group had travelled from as far away as Virginia and others had joined fairly recently. They'd also lost their share of group members to everything from pneumonia to Walkers.

The other group was prepared, for the most part, to winter where they were. They had high hopes of moving on and going west. Daryl wasn't sure that there was really anything out west that they were going after, and neither were they, but for them it had become a goal. It was something to keep them going. Daryl understood their need for a set destination. It was only now that his own group had begun to once again discuss the possibility of considering, at least, a decided upon route for any further travelling that they did.

Eventually, though, it became time to say goodbye to their new friends. George and Jeremiah loaded the bags of clothing, along with a decent amount of dry formula, onto the back of the greedy ass that had eaten his fill of the grass that he could reach.

They all bid farewell to Muh and Haralee, and said goodbye to the group members that hovered near the gates to see them off, and then they left with Leland leading the ass.

Daryl stood near the gates, Michonne leaning against him somewhat, and watched until they'd disappeared from sight. When he'd turned, he realized they were the only two remaining. Everyone else had disappeared back to their tasks. The only people that he could see were Libby, Beau, and Carl, and the three of them were walking down the street carrying buckets.

"Goin' ta get water," Beau said to Daryl as he walked up to the gates and waited for Daryl to let them pass. Carl was apparently chosen to keep Walkers off of them because he only had one bucket and he stabbed the single Walker that was nearby. Daryl didn't imagine the run would cause much trouble today. Walkers weren't exactly stirring. The fences he could see from where he stood were almost entirely clear.

He and Michonne watched the three of them scurrying off toward the creek. He chuckled.

"What?" Michonne asked him.

"I was just thinkin', 'Chonne, that I don't even know what the hell to expect no more," Daryl said.

"What do you mean?" Michonne asked. She tugged at his arm and he started to follow her back toward their house. He knew that he needed to work on something. There was more than enough stuff to keep them all occupied, but he wasn't sure yet what he would dedicate his day to doing.

"I don't know, 'Chonne. The world sure is changin', ain't it? I mean we buildin' some kinda council with other groups we ain't even met ta keep our group safe from people we don't even know exists," Daryl said.

Michonne made a humming noise in her throat and Daryl turned to look at her. She tilted her head a little, obviously thinking.

"The world is changing, Daryl, but nothing that's happening is nothing that hasn't happened before. It all just keeps coming around. It would be so much nicer, though, to think that we could have some kind of order set in place. You know? Something where we all worked together and tried to live peacefully instead of worry about Governors coming through, or rapists, or even just murderers and thieves. It might be a long shot, but negotiating for peace sounds a lot better than all that," Michonne said.

"It does sound better, if it'll work," Daryl said.

"And I'm realistic enough to know that it might not," Michonne said. "But it isn't going to hurt us to give it a try."

"I'd like it if we could make it peaceful, 'Chonne," Daryl said. "I'd really like ta know that our kids ain't gotta grow up thinkin' that they gon' get killed in their sleep."

"We'll do the best we can then," Michonne said. "We've got a few years to get things in place for them, don't you think?"

Daryl smiled at her and rubbed his finger under her chin. She brought her lips to his and he pulled in closer, letting their tongues play together for a moment.

Daryl sighed when the kiss broke apart.

"I reckon I need to get down there to the field," he said. "Rick's tryin' ta get the whole thing turned over so it'll be fertilized when we're ready to plant in the spring.

Michonne smiled at him.

"All this talk about the future's kind of exciting," she said. "Why don't you let Rick handle the fields for just a bit longer?"

Daryl smiled then, seeing the mischief in Michonne's eyes.

"Yeah?" He asked. "You reckon he's gon' be alright down there alone?" He teased.

Michonne smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him again.

"I reckon he'll be just fine," she said, putting on a fake accent to tease him. "I think I need you to come with me for a little bit. There's other work to be done."

"What kinda work?" Daryl teased, letting Michonne pull him by the hand.

"Important work, Daryl, very important work. It won't take long…you'll be back before people start wondering where we went," Michonne said.

"Well if it ain't gonna take long enough ta get people talkin' then how damn important can it be, 'Chonne?" Daryl asked.

"Oh, it's important," Michonne said. "And it's important that we do it right now…while we're busy thinking about the future and our children…and while Hope is with her uncle Mark."

Daryl chuckled.

"Right behind ya," he said, following Michonne up the steps to their house.