To Write a Sonnet
by Lorrie the Ninja Elf
HEY PEEPS! This is my first Fanfic for the RA fandom! I was Learning how to write a sonnet after reading a whole bunch of Halt/Will father/son fics,and the sonnet below happened. and then I was PMing Seriya Silvermist, when suddenly...PLOT BUNNY! I could make this into a story! Anyways, Enjoy!
-Lorrie the Ninja Elf
"Halt, why do I have to do this?"
"Everyone should know how to write a sonnet."
"But what am I supposed to write it on?"
"Parchment, I suppose." Halt said, raising an eyebrow.
Doesn't his forehead get tired from doing that?,Will thought exasperatedly.
"I mean," the apprentice explained painstakingly, "what is the subject of this composition supposed to be?"
"Whatever you choose. Try something with trademark characteristics, preferably something you care about. They're much easier to write that way."
"Alright." Will sighed.
"I'm going to town. I promised Crowley that while he was here I'd meet him at your friend Jenny's restaurant to go over some reports with him. She makes good coffee." Halt said. He donned his cloak and headed out the door.
A few minutes later...
Will sat at his desk, pen in hand, a blank page before him.
"Hmmm."
Something I care about. Something that has trademark characteristics,Will thought. Why did Halt have to give him this assignment? Raising that eyebrow of his. Will's mentor was always so grim! Will could imagine him now, sitting in a dark corner of the restaurant, sipping honeyed-coffee and amusedly contemplating his apprentice's misery as he waited for Crowley. And suddenly, Will knew exactly what he wanted to write his sonnet on.
He grabbed the pencil and began to write.
A few hours later...
Will looked in satisfaction at his composition.
It read:
Halt
by Will
A grey and grizzle-bearded Ranger
His Apprentice I became
My mentor then to me a stranger
'Halt' is this old grumphead's name
His arrows do not ever miss,
This grim old honeyed-coffee drinker.
He's prone to violent seasickness,
But he's a planner and a thinker.
One eyebrow almost perpetually raised
(He hardly ever ever EVER smiles)
After all those years I'm quite amazed
That eyebrow hasn't popped off and flown miles
Though Daniel was my father and I'm glad,
Please, Halt, know this: You'll always be my Dad.
Will heard the sound of the cabin door opening. He looked out the window at the afternoon sunlight. Yes, it was about time Halt was back.
"Will, did you finish the sonnet?"
"Yes Halt! Just now!"
"Bring it here then!"
Will's face went white. He had not considered that he would have to show the sonnet to Halt.
"Uh, I..."
"Will, did you lie to me?"
"No! It's just-"
"Bring me the poem then! It can't be that bad!" Will gulped and walked out of the room with the rolled up parchment. Halt extended his hand, and Will handed him the parchment, then quickly busied himself getting the firewood.
So he did not see the slightly startled look on Halt's face when he saw the title.
Or the raised eyebrow as he read through it.
Or the smile when he reached the end.
Halt's train of thought went something like this:
He wrote it about me?!
Old grumphead, huh? I out to put him up a tree.
Violent seasickness? He is definitely sleeping up a tree.
My eyebrow is going to stay attached to my head, thank you very much! And those two lines have too many syllables to roll off the tongue well...
He... he thinks of me as his Dad? And it was here that Halt let the smile slip through. He hid it quickly. Will turned from the now freshly fed fire and looked anxiously at Halt, expecting a night outside, whether in the tree or on the porch. Or perhaps in the stable.
But all Halt said was:
"The 10th and 12th lines have a few too many syllables to roll off the tongue well. I want you to go to the castle library and read these books on sonnets. Come home when you've finished." Halt scribbled a list of the titles of three or four lengthy volumes on poetry and sonnets.
"Yes Halt!" Will said, taking the list and his sonnet. He set the poem on his desk, and went out, knowing he had alot of reading to do. Halt made sure he was gone, then crept into Will's room. He took a sheet of parchment, and Will's pen, and set to work, looking at Will's sonnet, and careful not to touch it. When he was done, he held a page identical in every respect to the paper written by Will, down to the ink blots and finger smudges. Halt carefully picked up Will's sonnet, and replaced it painstakingly exactly in the same place with the forgery. He checked the room to make sure he had left absolutely NO trace of his being there. There was none. He had even wiped the fingerprints from the pen, and replaced it exactly in the cup. Halt dashed to his room and pit the sonnet in a locked drawer. He ran and got a cup of coffee, then sat on his bed, reading the sonnet and sipping his beverage. And he was grinning. It was not for a few more hours that he heard hooves, then Abelard's welcoming neigh. Meaning Will and Tug were back. By the time Will entered the cabin, the sonnet was lying carefully set at the bottom of a locked secret drawer, inside of a locked normal drawer, inside of a locked desk, inside of Halt's locked room, which Will had long ago been forbidden to enter. And Halt was sitting by the fire, reading papers for Crowley, face as grim as it ever had been. But he desperately wanted to smile when his apprentice walked in the door. Instead he raised an eyebrow.
Ok! Tell me what you all thought! R&R! PLEASE!
-Lorrie the Ninja Elf