HI PEOPLES! i finally go the line thingies to work right. if you're reading this because you're reading my only other fanfic at the moment star: spirit's daughter, well then, here's a late-ish christmas present and the explanation of my inactive last month. i spent all last month on this and have more (I wrote 20,052 words, woulda had more but i had eye surgery and that put me totally out of commision for a week!) my mind's just so spastic that i, like so many other writers, did the unthinkable: wrote the story out of order, only writing the scenes currently in my head, often leaving large spaces and side notes that said: put in filler later. i have most of the next chapter, but my mind had jumped before i could finish it, so it is not up now, but will be soon. enjoy!

An old woman rocked in front of a fireplace with her knitting. The fire was built high and warm compared to the outside air. Several children crowded around the window, watching anxiously outside for something. The wind howled fiercely, and snow was everywhere outside, covering the trees and ground in a thick white blanket, and filling all possible space on the window, making it impossible to see anything but the glistening white and the occasional peep at the dark clouds.

"Children, the blizzard isn't going to let up any time soon. Sitting and staring out the window won't help at all." The old woman called out.

The oldest child stepped away from the window. "But Grandma, we wanna go out and play!" cried the child. The old woman smiled. "You won't be going anywhere for quite some time," she said, "by the time that snow lets up, It'll be nearly covering this whole house, and far past time for you to go to bed."

The children's faces fell as they realized they wouldn't be able to go out and play in the snow for quite some time. "But what'll we do?" asked another child. The children's grandmother put her knitting on the small table beside her and waved them over to the fireplace. "Now then, children, since we have nothing better to be doing, I'll tell you a story."

The children groaned "But Grandma, we've heard all your stories about a thousand times. They aren't exciting at all. We don't wanna listen to a boring old story like that." Said the oldest. The other two children nodded. The old woman smiled again. "No, you have heard most of my stories, but not quite all of them. There's one that I still haven't told you, one that I was saving for a day like this."

The oldest sighed and dragged his feet as he walked slowly to a place on the rug in front of the fire, but his younger siblings grinned and raced to claim a spot on their grandmother's lap .

The youngest child won the race and curled up comfortably on his grandmother's lap as she slowly began her story. "A long, long time ago, in our homeland, Araluen…..

The man looked around carefully as he made his way through the woods. He had to make sure no one was following him. He would be in big trouble if he did, because he couldn't let anyone know the location of the Silencio. The Silencio was a secret crypt of people, originally followers of lord Morgarath, trying to uproot the government of Araluen and take it under their control. 8 years ago, they'd tried to take control by way of all-out rebellion. They had been preparing for several years before that to take control, and would have won as well, but for the Rangers, the elite group cavalry spies trained to perfection and famous for the way they could blend perfectly into the background with their mottled cloaks and for the way they shoot seemingly anything dead-on with their famous longbows.

The man checked in with the sentry at the edge of camp and quickly made his way to the largest tent in the center of the camp and ducked inside. Another man stood over a desk near the back of the tent. There was a large rug on the floor and maps covered the walls of the tent. The second looked up as the first entered the tent. "Report?" he asked sharply. The first man came to attention quickly. "Everything goes as planned, sir. We should be ready very soon." The second man smiled and waved the other man away. "Good work. Come back when you have something new to report." The first man nodded and quickly left.

The second man was left standing alone in the tent and quickly turned and bent back over his desk and the map he had been studying earlier. His plans were finally coming together. They all thought that he had been squashed, killed sometime during the final battle, or hunted down in the years following. Those cursed rangers believed that he was gone as well, hah! He was very much alive. True, he had been forced into hiding after his defeat with all those he could gather, but that was fine. The Rangers had long since given up chase after him and his followers, not realizing that he was hiding under their very nose. His followers were quickly growing in number, and it wouldn't be long now until everything was ready. The rangers he loathed so much had beaten him once, but he would not allow it a second time. He had been planning very carefully, making sure that there wasn't a single loophole in his plans. His plans were too perfect, too well-constructed to fail. This time, he would win.

Ranger Will Treaty quietly entered the baron's office. "You wished to see me sir?" he inquired. The baron looked up and smiled at Will. "Ah yes, Will, wonderful to see you. Yes, I'd like to make you a proposition. You are looking for an apprentice, correct?" Will raised an eyebrow, "Sir?"

"Yes, now as you know, Choosing Day is coming up soon. And there is one child in particular that I'm thinking would be a suitable apprentice for you, and of course, won't fit in any of the other crafts available right now." The baron pulled out a file from his overcrowded desk and handed it to Will.

Will took the file and looked it over. His eyes widened. "But this one? Yes, the child has the right qualities, but these people have never been Rangers."

"Mm, but they're moving up in the world. Might do us well to get ahead of the times." Came a voice from across the room. Will looked up sharply. "Halt. I didn't hear you come in." Halt looked at him wryly. "I thought I trained you better than that. But yes, I do think the child would do good. And so does Crowley." He added, seeing the look on Will's face.

Will looked from Halt back to Arald, then sighed. "All right. I'll accept this child as my apprentice."

Leanna was sitting in the old fig tree. Again. Why? Because she needed time to think. Most wouldn't climb into the branches of the old fig tree to begin with; at least, not the thin branches near the top, only just thick enough to hold a particularly small 15 year girl, where Leanna found herself now.

She was in her favorite spot, the one she'd discovered as a 5 year old running to hide with her tears from the boy who had punched her in the stomach after getting extremely upset because he blamed her for stealing his cookie, although she had denied it. (She actually had stolen the cookie, but she wasn't going to admit it any time soon) Running to the fig tree to avoid any further pains, she had ascended very quickly to the branches near the top, farther than the boy would dare to go. Up there, she managed to find that a large piece of bark was concealing a dark hole, just big enough to hide her books.

Ever since she had begun to be able to write, the caretakers of the children had given them two large, blank books for them to do what they wanted, although their first purpose was to have been a diary for the children. Leanna had taken to the idea very quickly, writing a lot in the books for a five-year old. But she had them hidden under her bed because she worried that someone else would find them and make fun of her for it. She always worried as well that someone would manage to find them hidden under her bed while she was away.

Now, with this convenient hole, since she was sure that no one else would dare climb that high, or find the hole, she had a perfect place to store her diaries, and the branches next to it provided a perfect place to hide herself when she needed to think, like right now.

Leanna was, first of all, a ward at Castle Redmont. Her parents had died when she was just a baby, and she had no idea who she or her family was having been found in a cradle on the side of the road by a villager with a note clutched in her tiny fist

Her name is Leanna

Her parents were great people,

But they were killed trying to protect her

And defend Araluen

She has no one else

Please take care of her.

Out of the goodness of Baron Arald's heart, and since he believed that he owed it to their parents, all orphans whose parents had served Redmont were allowed to live in the castle and were cared for by the castle staff. As unusual as it was, the note did say that her parents were good people and there was only one other little girl in the ward, so the kind Baron felt inclined to allow her to stay.

The other little girl, named Elizabeth, quickly became her best friend, and over time two other boys joined them as well: Jasper, a largish boy who loved to cook and Maximilian, an extremely tall, muscly boy who loved to pick on Leanna.

Leanna herself had never been very big, but she although she was small, she was extremely fast, and had no fear of heights. She was also a very watchful girl, and had an almost photographic memory. Very little slipped by her notice, and that helped her whenever she occasionally was up to something that she wasn't supposed to, as she could easily match her body movements to match the patterns made by the sun and moonlight.

And so here she sat in the old fig tree, silently dreading the next day. Tomorrow was Choosing Day. Since the wardmates had now all celebrated their 15th birthday, they could be accepted as apprentices by the craftmasters. The next day would be the day that would decide their futures for the rest of their lives. Most children became apprentices to their parents, or crafts that their parents had enough influence in to convince the craftmasters to accept them. But the castle wards had no parental influence, and therefore, on choosing day, they could apply to be apprentices to whichever craftmasters who had openings for apprentices.

Elizabeth, being a tall, blonde girl with a calm disposition who rarely ever showed any emotion at all, although if you knew her well enough you could usually figure out how she felt inside, was going into the diplomatic services under Lady Pauline and Lady Alyss for sure. Lady Alyss had even pulled her aside privately to tell her ahead of time. And Leanna was sure that she'd do wonderfully, since she was a quick learner and was very good at changing a person's opinion to match her own and could keep calm in even the tensest of situations.

Jasper would be going into the kitchens to learn with Master Chubb, the castle cook, and rumored to be one of the best cooks in all of Araluen. Jasper loved to cook, and was fairly good at it already, and even Chubb's famous wooden ladle, which he would crack down on nearly anyone's head if they did something wrong, wouldn't daunt the boy from applying to him to be an apprentice.

Maximilian would be applying for battleschool, where he would begin training to become a knight. The tall, muscular boy had just the right build and strength to do it, and Leanna didn't doubt him becoming a knight would be much of a problem.

And that left Leanna. She didn't fit anywhere. The only small possibility would be battleschool, but she was a girl, and they would never allow her there, as she was too small anyways. She would probably just become a farmer's wife. It rarely happened, as Baron Arald and his craftmasters went out of their way to try and fit all the wards somewhere they would be happy, but occasionally that was impossible and the unlucky ward would become a farmer.

Leanna sighed. It looked like she was going to have an incredibly dull life ahead of her.