Willow vont Ballard?

Will designed the forum to be structured during the day and unstructured at night.

After the morning committee meetings, there was a luncheon speaker, then a 30-minute break before the afternoon committee meetings.

Even though Will was the event's organizer, he didn't know what the newly formed Council of Sages might say.

Thus, he along with everyone anxiously awaited the Council's speech.

The first to speak was an old Sage from a southern empire. She had wrinkles and long brown hair with white hair sprinkled throughout.

The old Sage informed the crowd that the Council of Sages was a Council of Equals. There was no leader and decisions would be decided by unanimous consent.

When she took her seat, it was Sage Thaddeus' turn. Standing behind his seat, he informed the attendees the Council of Sages had no defined "war plan."

Until the Army of Darkness took action, it was impossible to make campaign plans or create regional theater strategies.

Yet, he did assure the participants that the Council of Sages had considered operational, industrial, political, and civilian concerns.

Rather than planning for war, the Council of Sages developed a set of planned reactions for various regional contingencies.

These "contingency plans" emanate from the nine geographic strategic areas where the Sages lived.

Moreover, these plans would combine into a Global Integrated War Plan to inform strategic decisions about which military forces should support which aspect of the plan(s). But again, this was predicated on where the enemy was based.

The key to their plan's usefulness was less on what to do with winning the war and more to do with creating a quick suitable force to hold out until the Allied Army arrived.

After Sage Thaddeus set down it Queen Sylvania rose to answer the audience's questions.

The audience questions raised about transportation, logistics, wartime taxes, insurance, etc.

After hearing from the Sages and having their questions answered it was clear that sovereigns, vassals, and commoners felt realized.

To hear an army of demons would soon arise, and the third Great Schism would take place, was too frightening.

Hearing that the strongest beings had a plan, made everyone feel more comfortable and secure.

After the lunch ended, it was Will's turn to lead a committee. Outside the opening address, Will only scheduled himself to lead two committees. The first was on Global Trade and the second was on Increasing the global rate of shareholders.

Maritime trade was important for every kingdom because it was very lucrative.

Working with his committee, Will developed various kingdoms and empires to develop General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The size and rapid growth of global trade were growing at staggering rates.

However, Will knew trade inevitably was bound to generate a backlash from domestic laborers.

Importantly, he also helped his committee to develop mediation for when tensions and avoid an escalation between two sovereign nation-states.

Will helped advance specific proposals to this effect, which, if adopted, would induce feudalistic kingdoms to change their economic behavior.

These feudalistic kingdoms needed to rekindle their cooperative spirits, with leaders who understand what is at stake and will seize the moment, and profit immensely from their participation in the world trading system.

Right now, kingdoms were seeing unprecedented growth rates in sea trading.

Furthermore, sea trading might transform a low-income, developing country into a global power in one generation.

The potential to become a trade powerhouse would benefit foreign consumers and stimulate capital gains for foreign investors.

***

In the evening, Will returned to his morose guest room in the lodge.

Elizabeth sat in a chair near her guestroom window. The weather was beautiful today and the mountains seemed to be singing.

She had been sitting by the window for hours hoping for a change in her mood. The beauty didn't touch the pain inside her heart.

'What was going on with Will,' she thought. 'How could he have a child?'

The longer the questions rolled around in her head the more she thought she would go mad. Something didn't seem right. All of the questions never seemed to result in any conclusions. There were too many variables.

Will didn't seem like the type to openly be with other women. He had always made her feel so secure in their marriage.

Sure, it was a common occurrence for a husband to have other wives but not Will. Even knowing something was customary does not weaken the sting.

Plus, Anne was unreasonable! Would the child become uncultured too?

Would Elizabeth be made to care for the wild child of a mercenary?

Elizabeth put her hand to her head. It was all too much to imagine, and she was very tired. As she was about to leave her seat by the window, Nisha tapped on the door.

Will opened the door and was excited to see Nisha.

"How was your trip? Will asked.

Yet before she answered, she felt Elizabeth's mood was depressed and Will felt anxious. She at once guessed the problem, after she picked up Anne's scent when she returned to town.

Looking Elizabeth in the eyes, the Nisha seemed to be searching for something. Elizabeth was sure Nisha could see all she felt inside…pain.

Will looked at Elizabeth too and saw her somberness. How was he going to fix this?

"Is this about Anne? But something was not right, there's a malicious lingering scent in the air, what happened?"

Will filled Nisha in on the new information: Anne came to town on escort duty, with her daughter, a toddler named Willow.

"Nisha, you were the first to smell Anne on me in Kukes. Do you think Willow could be my daughter?" Will asked her.

Nisha looked at Will and Elizabeth anguishing emotionally, suffering over the silly child. His mistake! His mind was reeling now.

"Why are you so concerned about this child?" Nisha asked him.

Of course, he was concerned about the child. The child that appeared from thin air and somehow belonged to him!

"You do not need to worry," said Nisha. The shadow leopard approached Will comfortingly.

"Willow is not your child," said Nisha laughing after her revelation.

'Willow is not my child?' Will accidentally shouted out loud.

Elizabeth quickly looked over at Will. She could tell he was telepathically speaking with Nisha. She turned her head to Nisha and stared at her pleadingly. Finally, she may get the confirmation she so admittedly needed.

But what about the love scent, what about the child's name, Will couldn't even remember that night to dispute the claim!

"I will explain it all. But I ask that you stay careful about what you share beyond yourself and your wife. She looks too sullen and has looked that way for so long that I can no longer bear it," Nisha said.

Will looked to Elizabeth and saw her looking blankly out the window. Will looked back to Nisha, "Thanks Nisha, please tell me quickly what you know."

Nisha sat and began the tale, "On the night in question, I saw Anne looking at you with a look I had never seen before. I was aware of her obsession and had tried at every turn to keep you away from her but on this night her determination proved resolute.

So, I allowed her to drug you and take you to your room in the castle. Once you were in the room with her, Anne left you to inform the guards you had gone to sleep.

She also told me to leave you alone and I was free to hunt because she would watch over that evening. But I knew better.

When she went to inform the guards, I snuck into the room and moved you to Elliot's room. Then I moved him to yours and cast the concealment and disguise magic to make him look like you.

Surely, she was going to use the door to sneak in at the opportune moment. I had to be quick. Fortunately for you and unfortunately for him, Elliot was also drugged, and I was able to exchange your bodies easily. After using my magic, his appearance looked like yours.

After he and Anne mated and she left, I switched to you back and removed my magic. You smelled like Anne's love scent because you slept in the same spot where they made love and you rolled around in the same bedding. You also smelled like Elliot's love scent, but I left that out. Ha-ha," Nisha chuckled.

"The rest of the story was as you would imagine. She was not with you, but she was with Elliot. Of course, I had to tell you that her love scent was on you to make her mercenaries believe the ruse.

I truly believed Anne was mad and I feared her obsession would go further. According to your thoughts, Anne's left now, and you are no longer concerned about her return.

Go ahead and tell Elizabeth, look how concerned she looks. You should also tell Elliot he has a daughter," Nisha finished.

Will quickly jumped to his feet and opened a spatial gate to Durres. When Elliot arrived, he filled in Elizabeth.

"What? Elliot?" Asked Elizabeth.

"It will all be clear in a moment, Nisha has assured me," shared Will.

Later when Elliot arrived, Will told them what Nisha had said.

"I have a daughter? How? Wait, those nights when we were at the Korce. But that last night we were there, I thought it was a dream. You see, from the moment I met Anne, I fell in love with her.

But she never seemed to notice me. And that night I had a beautiful dream of her. I suppose that was not a dream. I shall have a piece of Anne always. Where is Willow now?" asked Elliot.

"Tartarus. When Anne pledged her soul to Nyx, Willow was also sent to the underworld with her mother," Elizabeth said sadly. Elizabeth knew that if she didn't imprison Anne or separate mother and child none of this would not have happened, and she felt responsible.

With her faith in her husband was restored. Elizabeth vowed to fix her mistake. She wanted Willow to return to Terra. How could a toddler live in Tartarus? She wanted to unite Willow and Elliot. From now only she vowed to herself to unite father and daughter.