The Cait Shelter guild hall wasn't too far away. Meredy got directions to the next town over and found herself standing in front of the building shaped oddly like a cat head before too long. Men dressed in strange clothing were gathered around it, though it seemed to be a style that was quite popular in the area. Meredy thought little of it, waiting until she saw Wendy come outside and smile over at her. "You came!"

"Of course." Meredy nodded, frowning at her. "I'm unfamiliar with this area. If you know of a location good for training, please lead the way."

The blue haired girl nodded, walking away from the guild hall. "Right. Um, we won't be going too far away. I hope that doesn't bother you too much." Meredy shook her head. "I get lost easily. I mean, I spent a lot of time wandering around before I joined the guild, but there was always someone to help me figure out what direction to go next. So, I usually try to stay close if I'm not with someone that can get me back easily."

"That is the ideal choice to make, given the circumstances. Being aware of your weaknesses and working with them is a skill everyone should possess in some form." Wendy nodded and Meredy frowned. "However, given your training, you should continue to grow your awareness of your faults. Enemies have a tendency to exploit such things, whenever possible."

"I know." Wendy frowned, staring at her feet. "It's not like I couldn't get back if I got lost. Well, as long as I was close enough to recognize the smells." She could smell her way home? That was an odd skill, similar to that dragon slayer from Gray's team. Meredy was almost tempted to form a sensory link just to see how similar it was. "But I guess I'm not really useful for much at all. I want to be better, to be useful and able to make a difference for others soon. Doesn't everyone want that?"

Looking ahead, Meredy frowned. They were moving into a wooded area surrounding town, wandering until Wendy paused at a clearing inside. There was a pond nearby, with a stream flowing into it from deeper in the forest. The running water was the only sound they heard, until Meredy glanced back over at Wendy. "I'm not certain." She'd devoted her life to trying to help a dark guild, ignoring any further consequences simply because they had saved her. "Sometimes, attempting to make a difference for others can result in poor decisions, I think."

"Well, as long as your heart's in the right place, I don't think anyone would blame you for a mistake." Wendy smiled, patting Meredy's arm. "Anyway, I think here's a good spot to get started, don't you? The air smells fresh here, so clean. I always like relaxing here when I want to be alone for a bit, or want to hang out with Charle."

Nodding, Meredy glanced over at Wendy. "What form of training were you hoping to accomplish? Meditation is the best advice I have for a generic tool to grow strength for any wizard."

"Oh. Um…well, I don't know exactly." She bit her lip, before glancing over at Meredy. "I've sorta spent most of my time trying to perfect my healing abilities. My sky magic isn't good for attacking. Plus, I don't really like violence anyway, so it doesn't matter if that doesn't work. I think I'd prefer to try and think of a way to help others some other way."

"Wizard jobs rarely avoid actual battles, Wendy. It would be most practical to advance some form of fighting ability."

The girl shook her head. "No! That just isn't me." She bit her lip, looking away. "I mean, can't I just work on a team? I can learn to assist someone else instead and heal them if they get hurt. There's no reason for me to have to go on a job alone, not when I have a guild to support me like Cait Shelter."

"Teams do not negate the danger of potential attacks." Meredy looked at Wendy, meeting her gaze. "From a tactical standpoint, if I were to be targeting a large group of wizards, I'd seek out the best way to efficiently handle the situation. One against a larger group leaves me at a disadvantage, so my first objective would be to lessen the numbers of the opposing force. Selecting the weakest member to target first is a viable strategy, in that sense, if I am confident I can find a way to bypass the stronger members of the team and reach them."

Wendy shuddered, looking away. "That's kinda scary to think about. I don't understand how you can talk like that and stay so calm, Meredy." She turned towards the sensory link mage, frowning for a moment. "Have you gotten into a lot of fights too? Is that why you're so calm about thinking these things through?"

Nodding, Meredy met Wendy's brown eyes. "I have. If you refuse to learn magic that can be used in battle, at the very least, I recommend learning some form of hand to hand combat."

"I don't think either one suits me." Wendy bit her lip. "Can we please just focus on making my magic stronger my way first? I'll think about what you said, but I just can't see myself being of any use to people in a fight like that. I'd get too scared to even consider running in to help anyone."

With a sigh, Meredy nodded. "Very well. You claim to have practice with healing, a lost magic. Have you advanced to an acceptable level with that skill?"

Nodding, Wendy smiled. "I think I'm far enough along that I can't get much practice anymore like this. Really, I was hoping to work more on the enchantment side of my magic." Enchantments? This girl seemed to be very insistent on following through on her secondary role on a team. "See, the one who taught me magic taught me all sorts of spells like that, but I've never actually managed to use them well. She was gone before I got the chance to master much of anything."

"What sort of enchantment did you want to try?"

"Well, to start, I was going to try and practice this spell that's supposed to enhance someone's speed temporarily. It's called vernier and should be useful to others in dodging attacks and reacting as needed in a fight."

Rising to her feet, Meredy nodded. "I see." They needed some method of testing the success of this spell, then. "Does the spell strictly enhance speed?" Wendy nodded. Then it seemed as if her sensory links would be useless in testing the added benefit. Either way, she supposed there was one method to test things out, even if it was a bit less accurate. "For a base level of comparison then, let's see how quickly I can run the length of this clearing, from this tree, to the pond."

"Wait, you trust me to use the spell on you? I haven't gotten a lot of practice! I could screw up and do something completely wrong, like slow you down or—"

"That is what training is for." Meredy had taken worse hits before during training. Glancing at her wrist for a moment, Meredy pulled back her sleeve to stare down at her watch. She rarely paid attention to it, but now she needed it to time herself. With a starting point set, she took off, charging towards the other side of the clearing. When she stopped at the pond, she was breathing heavily and immediately glanced at the watch for a time. "Twenty seconds." Turning around, she repeated the process. This wouldn't be accurate unless she had an average, accumulated from multiple runs like this.

Eventually, she turned back towards Wendy, nodding. "It appears as if I can complete this distance in an average of 18.6 seconds." The averaging had given her a decimal, but that was acceptable as a number to use. "Now, cast your enchantment on me."

"I'll try." Wendy inhaled deeply for a moment, closing her eyes. She opened them, holding her hands out towards Meredy with a determined expression on her face. "Vernier!" Meredy sensed the magic power growing in the young girl, however, the glowing circle in front of her as she cast the spell seemed to shudder for a moment. Wendy gasped and a blast of wind shot back at her, blowing her off her feet and onto the ground. The spell vanished, incapable of being completed after it backfired against her. "Ouch…"

"Your enchantment is wind based." The girl rubbed her back, before blinking up and nodding at Meredy. "Let the wind carry it to me. Magic is in part about visualization. If wind is what allows your magic to flow, then imagine it working to your favor and allowing for its passage."

"Um, okay." Wendy got back up, brushing off dirt from her dress. "I don't know if it'll help. I mean, I usually feel so in sync with the wind that I don't think about it that much." Still, even Meredy had to visualize things. It didn't matter how skilled she was at recognizing emotions in others. She had to imagine the connection between people, picture a thread tying them together, before her magic would act as desired. "Vernier!"

This time, Wendy stood her ground when wind tried to blow her back and kept the circle active. There was a faint blue glow around Meredy for a moment and the sensory link mage felt a wave of coolness spreading over her skin. When the glow faded, she glanced at her watch, nodding. Making note of the time, she began to run once more, timing her sprints. After a while, it seemed as if her times were growing longer once more, so she stopped, interpreting that to mean the enchantment's gift had expired.

Glancing over at Wendy, Meredy kept her expression neutral. "13.8 second average." It was faster, as promised. However, the short duration was concerning.

"Wait, it actually worked?" Wendy's eyes were wide. "I can't believe it! I finally managed to use one of my enchantments!"

"It held for all of a single minute, Wendy."

"But that's just something I need to practice, right? I'm certain that the more I use it, the longer I'll be able to make it last." She glanced at Meredy, her eyes bright. "Can I try again?"

Shrugging, Meredy restarted herself, letting the girl amuse herself with repeated uses of the spell. Wendy was exhausting herself with practice, seeing little results considering all the effort she was putting in. However, it was accomplishing what she wanted, Meredy supposed. It was a supportive role that would let her stay out of battle, if she had need of using it even.

"I think that is enough for the day," Meredy said after a while.

Wendy's shoulders were sagging and she was breathing heavily as she stood ready to cast the spell again. "I can do it. Just once more. I need to get stronger, so Charle won't worry about me."

Shaking her head, Meredy approached. "No. You've done enough. Considering the fact that it only lasts approximately ten seconds longer from when we started, I don't think the rate of improvement is worth exhausting yourself further."

"Please. Charle keeps getting so worried, when I talk about this job. She thinks I'm going to get myself hurt and is constantly pushing herself to be ready to intervene if I get in trouble." Wendy met her gaze. "I don't want her to be hurt because I'm too weak. I need to be able to do this, to make sure the rest of the team will be able to help defend us too."

"If you want to avoid causing such problems with others, you should have focused on offensive skills, rather than supportive ones such as this."

"But I'm not a fighter!" Wendy glared at her. "I'm not like you, Meredy. I just can't picture myself charging forward when a threat comes. If I see something scary, I either freeze up and can't move, or I run. I can't even bring myself to get near a spider when I see one…"

"You're weak." Meredy shook her head, turning away from the girl. "Train like this all you want, but unless you work towards changing that fact, you will not move forward how you want to."

Meredy moved to walk away, done with humoring her for the day. Wendy was too innocent and optimistic for her liking. What did she know about protecting others? Meredy was the one who knew that best. Hadn't she grown strong so she could fight Ultear's battles? Hadn't she trained so she would never be so weak as to need rescuing like she had that day? Her hands closed into fists and she scowled into the woods. This child would be just like she was, needing to lose everything to see that her weakness was going to be her downfall.

A hand grabbed her wrist and Meredy spun around with a glare. Her mind was in the past and she reacted on instinct to the touch. "Maguilty Sodom!" White blades went flying and Meredy heard Wendy scream. The sky wizard ducked, covering her head with her hands while Meredy stared with wide eyes, taking a few steps back from the girl and what she'd just done. The younger girl was shuddering, having just had her sense of pain directly targeted with magic. Meredy knew no one could avoid the pain she inflicted. She just hadn't been prepared for Wendy's approach. "Wendy—" Meredy broke off, turning her head. Sara and Crow had been right. This was a bad idea. Who was she to think she could train anyone? She was just a former dark wizard who couldn't even learn to not see the world around her as a threat.

"Wait." Meredy stopped moving, hearing Wendy speak. Turning, Meredy glanced back to see the sky wizard breathing heavily, hunching over slightly as she stood up and seemed to be pushing to recover from Meredy's spell. "Can you honestly tell me that this is the sort of magic you think everyone should learn? Magic that causes others this kind of pain." Meredy didn't have an answer. Looking into the girl's kind brown eyes seemed to silence even her very thoughts. "This is exactly why I don't want to learn it. I can be strong and learn to get back up after being knocked down. However, I am not strong enough to live with needing to hurt others."

"There are some attacks that do not allow for that, Wendy."

"Like what? Exactly what sort of magic do you think will force me to harm others? Because as long as I am truly incapable of doing it, then it shouldn't matter, right?"

Meeting her gaze, Meredy closed her eyes. "Do you know exactly what it is my magic does, Wendy?" Meredy's eyes opened again and she saw the young girl shake her head. "Maguilty Sense. It is a lost magic, like yours. Its talent lies in manipulation of the senses and is most known for the spell known as sensory link." She stepped forward, lifting her arm. Knowing what to expect didn't make it any easier when Meredy formed the link between them with a grimace. Flashing pink bands began wrapping around their wrists again and Meredy could feel the aching in her body as a result of the lingering attack on Wendy. "You are hurting me right now, Wendy. For your inability to dodge or defend against my attacks…the pain you feel is mirrored in myself, through this link."

"What?" Wendy's eyes went wide. "Then stop it! Why would you even do such a thing? You don't have to hurt yourself. I'm not mad, really. It was my fault for startling you…"

Shaking her head, Meredy met the girl's gaze. "No." Wendy blinked at her, not responding. "I'm showing you your answer. Being incapable of defending yourself and finding yourself in pain affects others. Maybe their pain isn't as real as yours, but it does reflect in their minds and emotions. Allowing yourself to be a victim allows for those who care for you to be hurt. That, Wendy, is why your refusal is unacceptable. That is why your rational has no sense of logic at all, because pain can come in more forms than you think."

The sky magic user stared down at her wrist, focusing on the pink band. She sniffled and Meredy could feel the ghost of moisture on her own cheeks. The girl had been crying, it seemed. Whether it was from physical pain or something else, she wasn't entirely certain. "You know, you aren't very nice," Wendy said quietly. Meredy's jaw clenched, but she said nothing. "But that doesn't mean you aren't right. I'll try to learn to fight. We'll practice that next time." She sounded almost dejected about the fact.

"That is a skill I can help with." Wendy nodded, but she kept frowning, rubbing her wrist. With a sigh, Meredy dropped the spell, walking towards her. "I am not skilled, at interacting with others. I've spent my life surrounded by individuals I saw as nothing more than co-workers. There was only one that I allowed myself any freedom to get closer to, Wendy." She met the girl's gaze. "You are correct to say I am not kind, however, that is because I have learned to see the cruelty of this world. Cruelty is all I've ever known and perhaps that does make me cruel as well."

Wiping at her cheeks. Wendy blinked over at Meredy. "I don't think you're cruel either." Then what did she think? Meredy didn't understand. "Maybe you just need to learn to understand people better. I guess you really did mean well, huh?" She gave a small smile, before reaching out and startling Meredy, grabbing her hand. "We'll work on teaching you how to get your point across a bit better together, okay? That's how I'll repay you for helping me with my magic."

"You'll teach me to understand others?" It seemed ridiculous, to explain such a thing to her. Meredy's magic relied on reading others and how they saw each other.

Wendy still nodded, however, her smile widening. "Yeah! I mean, now that I understand a bit about you, it sorta makes sense. You were just trying to be a good friend, weren't you? Just like Charle, you were worried about me, so you kept pushing for me to become stronger in the only way you knew how."

As comforting as her words were meant to be, Meredy could only feel sick hearing them. "No one should have a habit of pushing people in the manner I used on you." Meredy despised people who did that, didn't she? She'd certainly hated Gray, when her logic said he'd forced Ultear to live without her mother. How was she any different?

Wendy squeezed her hand, starting to walk back towards town. "Don't worry about it. I'm feeling a lot better now anyway, so it's just fine." It likely was true, but that didn't change much of anything. Meredy was still a dark wizard and just like Sara said, she had no idea how to move forward and get past that hurdle. She was still just standing in place, waiting for a sign to tell her how to move away from what she knew and towards something that might magically make her a better person.

It was dark by the time they got back to Cait Shelter's guild hall. "You can stay the night with me, if you want. I didn't expect you to be here so late." Wendy looked over at Meredy, who shrugged.

"I'll be fine." Sara wouldn't react well to her not returning, not after the conversation they'd just had. Still, it was tempting to stay near Wendy. The girl was closer to her own age and seemed to still want to befriend her, despite now having a glimpse of the type of person she was. Meredy didn't know if that was something she should encourage or not, but for now, she was being selfish and enjoying it while it lasted.

"Are you sure? It's dark out and there's usually a lot of dark wizards in this area," Wendy said. Meredy frowned, sensing outwards to try and find the reason why. There definitely was a strong magical presence in the town itself, but the larger presence seemed to be coming from the south. Something felt off about the forest in that direction, though Meredy didn't quite know exactly what it was."I don't think I'd be comfortable just letting you walk back with that in mind."

If Meredy displayed her Grimoire Heart guild mark a bit more openly, she should be capable of dissuading any that approached her. There was enough fear of her former guild to cause that and unlike Fairy Tail, which was known to be in Magnolia, her guild would simply seem to be strangely inactive for the time being. Plotting was always a reason for a dark guild to cease activities, one which other dark guilds wouldn't question.

"My roommate will be worried if I don't return."

"Well, I'm certain it'll be alright if you explain things tomorrow." Wendy smiled, looking up at Meredy. "Please? I really don't want to hear you got hurt or worse on your way back home, not after I just started being friends with you."

Again, she seemed to know Meredy's weakness without realizing it. She glanced at the girl by her side, hesitating. They were friends and Wendy only wished to ensure her safety. Sara and Crow would understand and they did have her promise that she'd return to work after this. "Very well." Her gaze flickered towards the guild hall, while Wendy's smile widened.

"This'll be so much fun! I haven't had a sleepover with a friend since Jellal left me."

"Jellal?" Meredy turned towards her, blinking down at the girl.

Not noticing Meredy's reaction, Wendy nodded with a smile. "Right. I don't really talk about him much. He was the one who found me after my mother disappeared. He traveled with me for a while, showed me all kinds of cool things." Her smile faded, turning into a frown. "But then something happened. I don't know what it was, but he started acting weird. Before I knew it, he'd just left me here. I've been at the guild hall ever since."

How long ago was this? Jellal had been involved with the tower of heaven since he was a child, likely before Wendy was even born. Still, whatever the answer was, he was far from this place now. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't worry about it. I've gotten a great new family here anyway! Cait Shelter's been really kind to me this entire time." Wendy smiled, nodding at her. "Anyway, let's head inside. I need to get Charle and tell Master that I'm back from training."

Meredy entered the guild hall with the young girl, looking around. It was a small building and as soon as she entered, she could feel that this was the center of the magic she sensed in the town. However, she didn't know the magic well enough to say what it was. Wendy was smiling and greeting the members as she walked to the back, waving at them as she went. The guild master was sitting there, chugging some kind of beverage from his seat on a cushion on the ground.

"Master, I'm back!"

"Ah, Wendy, welcome back!" Liquid poured out of his mouth as he spoke, making Meredy realize this idiot hadn't swallowed before talking. "Word just came from the other guilds about the coalition we've been planning."

"It has?" She blinked in surprise. "I thought we weren't expecting anything to happen for almost a month yet."

"Well, the word has spread a bit about what's going on and we need to act fast." Something looked distant in the guild master's eyes, before he sighed and shook his head. "If you are still insistent on helping, you'll need to get to Blue Pegasus' guild hall in two days."

"Sounds great." Wendy nodded. "I won't let you down and I'll make sure our guild is represented well." She gave her guild master a bow, but the man shook his head.

"Wendy. This isn't a mission to take lightly." The sky wizard blinked, frowning at her master. "The details I heard revealed exactly who our target was, showing the exact end-goal of this mission."

"I don't understand. Is there something particularly dangerous about them? I thought we'd be fine with so many wizards from so many guilds handling the situation."

"This is about the Oración Seis. It has come to our attention that we must stop them at all costs, but it may have been a decision made too late."

"Are they a dark guild or something? I'm certain the other wizards can handle them. There are tons of jobs that deal with dark guilds all the time—"

"Not like them." Meredy spoke, stepping into the conversation. "The Oración Seis would likely be considered the third most powerful dark guild in existence. Along with Tartaros and Grimoire Heart, they are a member of the Balam Alliance, a trio of dark guilds that oversees all others."

"You seem quite knowledgeable about illegal guilds for someone so young." Meeting the gaze of the guild master, Meredy only frowned.

"Wait, most powerful? Um, are you sure?" Wendy asked.

Nodding, Meredy turned her gaze towards Wendy. "I'd advise you to remove yourself from this task. The training you've done is not focused in a way that would allow you to—"

"No!" Wendy glared at her. "I want to help and I need to go and see if I can find another dragon slayer to help me."

Cobra wouldn't help her at all, no matter how desperate she was. Meredy scowled, looking away. "I'm not going to be able to convince you, am I?"

Wendy shook her head. "I'm the only member of my guild able to go. I won't let this alliance down because we're a small and unknown guild."

Wendy was going to get herself killed. Dark guilds didn't just toy around with people who opposed them. If it had been Grimoire Heart, she'd have been given the order to kill Wendy just for considering it, regardless of how weak she was. Technically with the alliance in place, Meredy should be going to warn Brain about the situation as well. Working together like that kept the dark guilds from warring with each other, at least until they had similar goals in mind. Even then, they'd usually try to form temporary alliances to accomplish the same goal before fighting amongst themselves.

However, Grimoire Heart wasn't here to fulfill that role. It was just Meredy and no one else. What was she even supposed to do? Fight them herself? That would almost be worse. One guild breaking the Balam Alliance could easily result in war between all three. While dealing with the Oración Seis wasn't so bad, Meredy had almost no information on Tartaros to know what to expect. All she knew was that they tended to avoid contact with any other guild, legal or otherwise.

Her gaze flickered towards Wendy, thinking about the day. Wendy said they were friends and that Meredy needed to learn how to present herself as such. Was offering to help the right move even? Or was that falling back on habits from being a dark wizard once more? She didn't know, but in a way, she found she didn't care. "Inform them that another wizard will be joining Wendy, if you can." The guild master blinked at her, as did Wendy.

"Meredy? I thought you said you didn't want to be a practicing wizard anymore." The sky wizard frowned at her.

Meeting her gaze, Meredy shrugged. "I also am not skilled at making friends. If I feel as if there is a high probability of your failure, I will increase your numbers to in turn increase your odds of survival."

"In a situation such as this, I do not think they'll object to further help. Cait Shelter thanks you, for helping Wendy in this grave situation," the guild maser said. Meredy nodded and the elderly man sighed. "I wish you luck. Get some rest, Wendy. We look forward to your return after your victory!"

The sky wizard smiled, turning to go find her cat. With the white cat in her arms, she began walking towards the exit. Meredy followed her in silence, an odd sense of dread filling her as she truly considered what she was doing. The Oración Seis would recognize her, since she had interacted with them in the past. They'd know she was breaking their agreement and they would not be kind. Wherever her former guild had actually ended up at, they'd suffer their wrath as well, all because of this decision. Was it really worth it? Did they deserve that kind of a war? She didn't know. Some of them she'd be fine without, but it wasn't as if they were all bad. They just didn't know of a better way to obtain their goals.

"Um, thank you, by the way." Wendy looked over at her. "For offering to come with me. I know you were afraid of your magic before and didn't want to use it, so I know it must've been difficult to decide to come along."

Wendy didn't even realize the entirety of the reason she was uncertain. Despite being only a year older, Meredy felt like there was such a huge gap between them in maturity. They'd seen different things and been raised differently, she supposed.

"I still think it is ridiculous that you think this stranger will be more capable of protecting you than me. You likely got reckless again with your magic during training today, didn't you?" The cat at least had a healthy distrust of her. Meredy didn't know if that would help or not.

"Meredy's my friend, not a stranger. And she helped me a lot with my magic today. I've managed to cast vernier, Charle!"

"Whatever you say." Charle sighed, shaking her head. "So, exactly what has you so eager to rush into a battle with a dark guild in the first place?"

Glancing over at the cat, Meredy frowned. "Wendy will not be able to handle them and I have too many unknown variables about who will be on this team."

"You speak as if you know what sort of foes we'll be facing. What has you so confident that this dark guild is so powerful in the first place?"

Meredy frowned, opening her mouth. Her throat felt thick for a moment and she found herself quickly providing a different answer than she originally intended. "Grimoire Heart is responsible for the destruction of my home and my family." There was a slight churning in her stomach along with a hollowness at the spoken reminder of that revelation regarding her past.

"That doesn't mean you know much about the Oración Seis though." Wendy glanced down at Charle. "Maybe they're not as bad as that guild." Then, she blinked, her eyes widening. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. It is terrible what happened, but I don't like thinking the worst of people I haven't even met yet. Maybe we can talk to them and make them see reason."

"They won't be as easy to get through to as you think." Meredy didn't know much about the personalities of the people in that guild, but she did know that much. She'd seen their expressions when they looked to Brain and Meredy recognized the same reverence she had given to Ultear very early on. "Blind devotion is difficult to reason past."

"We'll just have to see, alright?" Wendy gave Meredy a smile and patted her arm. "We're working together on this and I'm glad that I'll have someone with me that I know. Having you by my side will make me feel better about all of this." Frowning, Meredy followed Wendy into a small house, watching the girl get comfortable on her bed. "Come on! You need sleep too," Wendy said. With a shrug, Meredy joined her, curling up on her side next to the young girl.

Considering what was to come, however, Meredy did have one warning for her. "Wendy?" The girl let out a humming noise to confirm she'd heard. "When the battle arrives, do not place your enchantments on me, if you intend to use them. The strategy I have in mind for battle would only risk giving the enemy an advantage if I was given such a gift."

"You aren't going to hurt yourself, are you?"

"Not intentionally." It was a risk she always took, fighting like that. However, she just couldn't imagine another way to even attempt to counter Cobra's sense of hearing. So, Meredy said nothing more and just closed her eyes, letting sleep overtake her. She'd apologize to Crow and Sara another time, once she'd finished making sure Wendy got out of this alive and well.