He had barely noticed the captain emerge, or at least if he did, Syrah made no action to make it clear. Engrossed in his literature, it may have been slightly off-putting to some, yet did they expect much interaction from a magister? When the crowd began to trickle into the building, Syrah was amongst the last to enter, taking the bound bookmark to save his place. 

The benefit of entering late was quite simple really, it afforded him more time to read, and more so, allowed Syrah to the take the full view of the potential guild recruits. Evidently they expected a few of these set before him to die in merely attempting to join and sure enough the numbers did appear marginally smaller than earlier, not that he really was counting heads or anything but his eye in the logistics discerned it so. A strange menagerie of capable-looking individuals for certain, whatever these trials may be surely they did not expect people to sign a contract of the guild before the guild even accepts them? His eyes searched for the captain, who had disappeared from the ground floor and now seemed to speak with another figure in a rather grim-looking robe. One does not simply discuss business overlooking business, especially with a stranger in dark garb. Who was this individual who presided over them now? Having placed his or herself at a perfect vantage point to see the new possible recruits, and furthermore what business had they with the captain. Something was amiss perhaps, and there was something between them which Syrah's adoptive father would have done in the privacy of a room elsewhere. Or perhaps he was reading too much into it?

His thoughts were returned to the present issue as a lieutenant handed him a contract to be signed and filled out. To which the puzzled mage raised a quaint and curious eyebrow to stare at the officer. A contract? Another one? To be so redundant and this contract of course would never supersede the previous agreement and arrangement made prior upon his own version. To amuse himself however, Syrah did glance over the contract, his eyes scanning the document's legalese before smiling back at the lieutenant.

"It is unfortunate that I must politely refuse your request, kind sir. For I believe the Guild should have such a contract, although with much finer terms written and agreed upon, a copy of which should have been retained in guild records, triplicated into elven and dwarven as well, and filed with the appropriate governing bodies. Unless no such copy can be found within the records, at which I would request audience with your commanding officer who had requested for the guild to seek out my services to discuss the issue of a missing contract and if any appropriate changes in terms should be amended to the original I have retained for my own records?"

With eloquence and verbosity, Syrah had made the lieutenant lose face. Although perhaps the man would be angered by his words, given his rank, should he attempt to make a scene for this petty incidence the guild would be the one shamed as the son of the Merchant King of Avalad would be able to stain the guild's reputation by merely testifying that the guild had a patchwork job of keeping records and any contracts would be taken without any real faith behind them. Furthermore, it would cause some attention to be drawn and underneath the eye of the captain, was it truly a good idea to do so?

While the lieutenant struggled with the internal conflict, Syrah had already left the man flustered holding an empty contract.

[i]"Your Majesty, if I may inquire; what brings you here?"[/i] The magi had slipped into the throngs of bodies to find the elven king, although it was easy enough to spot the most regal-looking elf in the room in a crowd of mostly humans. Again, his elven was soft to offer the conversation privacy, as opposed to the loud-mouthed metal-jacket who was still being too obnoxious for Syrah's taste.