In truth the young woman was surprised at how the Guild was contradictory to her perception; the guild was almost inviting, friendly, full of life, cozy. Instead of causing her fear as she deemed it would, it heighten her curiosity. “The guild… it’s not terrifying as I thought it would be,” she paused, “-no, that’s not what I mean.” she paused not wanting Tanning to misunderstand her words. “You saw that I was not afraid of coming here from the beginning but that does not mean I had my speculations of the place. Yet, the guild feels so… full of life, inviting almost. I had thought it would be somewhat of an awful, obscure lair worth of horror.” Once again she took a pause and looked at him with outmost seriousness, “forgive me Tannin, I meant no disrespect. I am just glad my expectations were worlds apart from the reality.”
Soon enough they were walking again, Alissa followed closely by his side. They had reached another area, there were rooms after rooms lined against the walls. She nodded when Tannin explained that it was the housing for everyone that lived in the guild, and that she would be staying at a lower level. They made their way down through the many levels and Alissa began wondering exactly how big the guild was. On their way down they encountered a few people making their way through, but before they moved along the vowed respectfully giving their respect to Tannin, while Alissa gave them a kind smile in return.
She noticed how Tannin had return to his stoic and serious position but said nothing in the matter as she too fell silent. Tannin spoke again once they had reached the bare bottom, they were walking along a ramp when he pointed out towards the pool. He encouraged her to remember the location; it was an emergency exit leading to a tunnel, which led out into the woods. After they had passed the ramp and reached another hallway Tannin spoke again, "This is as far down as you can go. The only things that are located down here are my office and rooms."
They had reached another set of doors with another pair of guards, except these guards seemed almost on edge they look much more alert. As soon as they opened the doors and the duo entered they shut the doors again. Alissa’s eyes scanned the room noticing it had the same shape as the first one; only this room had a different sentiment to it, one where she wouldn’t have been able to explain it even if she were to try. Her eyes stopped as soon as she looked at the great collection of books that were waiting in the selves against the walls. She was most tempted to come close to the collection in trying to find if there were any books she could recognize but she stopped herself as she looked more into the room. She spotted a beautiful statue with her arms extended, unknowingly Alissa moved closer to it. She touched the beautiful statue when Tannin spoke softly, "Do you think that this will suffice? If there are any that I am missing, do not hesitate to tell me. I can have someone go for it."
“I like it” she said giving it another look at the room with a grateful smile, “Thank you, I don’t think I could possibly ask for more.” She looked at Tannin when suddenly she saw a dagger thrown at him, Alissa let out a surprised sound thinking they could be under attack when she noticed that a young daring beautiful girl had just joined them. "You're late. You were supposed to have been back weeks ago," said the young girl.
Tannin seemed familiar with the child as he spoke with certain endearment, it took a few seconds for the little girl to notice her but when she did she did not hesitate to ask who she was, yet again a different accent even from Verrengar’s. "I've only been gone a few weeks and all ready you have forgotten your manners. Is that how you greet a guest?" said Tannin almost scolding the young child, Alissa shook her head with a smile letting him know she did not mind the little girl’s behavior.
It was obvious the little girl was not happy with her arrival, but Alissa was still wondering who the young girl was. "Greetings. I am Litania of the Assassin's Guild. Just Litania. And..you are?" said the young child and Alissa’s eyes widened. She immediately looked at Tannin with a baffled expression as if she felt cheated, not being able to quite unravel that Tannin’s apprentice was none other than a young girl not older than the boy the had seen before at the stables. It took her a while to respond to the girl, “hmm pleasure to make you acquaintance Litania, my name is Alissa” Alissa said with a surprised smile. “Why are you here” asked Litania bluntly, Alissa was looking for an answer when Tannin spoke for her instead, "She is here because she needs our help. And..she'll be training with us while she is here.".
Again, Alissa’s eyes widened as if they had not done so already for the day, it appeared as if Tannin had already made his mind and had agreed to train her. A small victorious smile curved up Alissa’s lips before she heard Litania’s thoughts in the matter. It appeared as if she was strongly opposed to it and it upset her. "She's training with us? Why? She isn't one of us and shouldn't be allowed the opportunity to train with you. She's..." she said before she was interrupted by Tannin who urged her to leave.
“You must ignore Litania. She is unused to sharing my attention with anyone. I will speak with her. Would you like me to show you to your room, now?" said Tannin. Alissa was a bit unsettled that such a young child was training and in truth did not approve of it. She was about to question him more about his apprentice when she remembered they could talk about it later on, she remembered that Tannin still needed time to fully recover and in reality she was quite tired herself. “After you” she said asking for him to lead the way, she followed close by again and once they reached her room she turned to Tannin, “thank you Tannin, for keeping me safe and for everything." he eyes lingered his for longer than they should have, "You should rest now, no matter what you say I know you still haven’t and need to recover.”
She waited for Tannin to answer before she continued, "You know" she began almost talking to herself, "-It hasn't been that long since we got here but I could easily notice how much the people at the guild admire you and care for you. Because I am a princess I know what it is like to be admired and looked up to but only because of the blood that runs through me, I have done nothing to earn that respect but you..." she stopped for a moment hoping she wasn't stepping into some sort of line, "what I'm trying to say is that now I know that I must work hard to feel worthy of such admiration. I am not blind, I know the kingdom has countless faults; which is why I know that the path that I must follow will not be an easy one." she said with outmost seriousness and determination.
She waited for a few moments in silence before she spoke again, “Can I ask… what changed your mind about having me train with you?” Alissa asked standing close to him while looking into his blue eyes.