Halt was regretting what he was about to do. Out of all of the Battlemasters he had known, David had to be one of the best. He actually cared for the people and helped them out in times of need. His family were kind and often were working on improving the lives of others, rather than working on how to spend their money.
However, it was his fault for raising such a stubborn son.
Even after he was drenched, shivering from the cold river, he still continued on his plight, insisting that become a Ranger was the best thing ever for him. Halt attempted to convince him otherwise, knowing the shock it was going from a noble to the lifestyle of a Ranger, but the kid was so stubborn.
Even for his age of 12.
It didn't really matter what age they became an apprentice, after all, they all generally ended up graduating no matter what, right? Actually that was a major problem in terms of how Halt was meant to broach the question.
Gil was the eldest of the next generation, naturally meaning that he was due to inherit the fief once his father passed. He did have siblings, none of them being boys however raised an issue. As he was set to get the fief, he was already in training to be a knight, and was already proving himself to be a naturally gifted swordsman. In Halt's opinion, he should have just continued in the direction he was going on but once again, he was one stubborn kid.
Now it was just up to Halt to work out the logistics of the whole thing. Since they had revamped the Ranger corps, they had tried to avoid getting noble apprentices. Other than the fact that most of the current corps was idiots holding swords with the title, slowly it was becoming more on the ability of the person rather than their rank. This meant that more and more of those idiots holding swords were 'retiring'.
Bout bloody time they left, Halt thought.
Gilan was a different case however, a special one. He not only had some of the skills already needed to be a proper Ranger, but was stubborn, a trait that the new Rangers all seemed to possess.
Realistically, he would have to be the Ranger who would take him in, understanding what it was like to do from a high position to a Ranger. If you were dedicated there wasn't much of a difference, it was just the concept that occasionally needed wrapping your head around. Perhaps by making him do all of the chores around the cabin it would get him used to the concept of what life he had chosen, one where he was constantly serving and rarely ordering, rather than the constant ordering he would have done had he retained his position as heir.
Halt snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the door he was facing, Lord David's office to be exact.
I might as well jump off the cliff now, he thought.
Only meant to be short and sweet.
Although nothing happened I had never really thought about this prospect until I realised that I wanted to write something to do with Gil's family and the fact of how it was broken to them that he didn't give a shit about being a noble, he just wanted to be a ranger.
And then there was the thought that the rangers were all nobles for a long time as they became corrupted and my brain just melted at the prospect!
And then we don't know anything about Gil's position in his family, and that would have been a major influence on his family actually appreciating what he wanted to do. And then there's the fact that Gil's father is the only one ever mentioned, no siblings (although looking at vague context the books are written in, we can assume that he had other siblings), definitely no mention of his mother, who realistically would have been distraught over her son leaving her for five years.
If I am really wrong tell me. (I also forgot who David was for a while until I read a few fanfics he was in, so that's probably wrong as well)
Cause I probably am. Haven't read the last few books in the series for a long time and am slowly doing it now inbetween all of the Latin.
Aly