Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice nor any of the characters, except a few OC's and some places later in the story.

Will looked over at Halt from across the fire. His mentor seemed even more grim than usual, which was saying something. It had been a year since his return from Skandia, his inhumane treatment as a slave nothing more than a vague memory that sometimes haunted him as nightmares, though they became less and less frequent.

Will and Halt had, for the past week, been following the trail of a thief and murderer that threatened the peace and safety of Redmont. Normally, this would be nothing more than a routine mission but this person was good at covering his tracks and his trail had no pattern so the rangers found themselves unable to predict where he would strike next.

The sun had just disappeared beneath the horizon and the stars shone brightly against the dark sky; embers from the fire contrasted against the white light with a red-orange glow of their own. The fire light cast shadows around the small clearing where Halt and Will camped that night. Abelard and Tug were off to the side, munching on late summer grass while their masters sat opposite each other, sipping at mugs of coffee.

"Halt?" Will asked quietly. It seemed wrong to break the quiet near-silence of the night with loud talking. "Is something wrong?"

Halt looked up from the map that rested across his lap to his apprentice. "Aside from you constantly asking questions and interrupting my thinking, no," he answered.

"It's just, you seem… I don't know. Upset, I guess." Or maybe upset wasn't the right word, but he couldn't think of anything else to describe the expression on Halt's face.

"I'm not upset," Halt told him before looking back down at the map of Redmont fief.

So, Will let the subject drop… for a little while anyway. As the night wore on, Will's suspicion and concern for his mentor only grew. "If something was wrong, you would tell me, wouldn't you?" he asked.

Halt took a deep breath, shifting his gaze back to his apprentice. "Yes Will," he said, trying to keep a rein on his temper.

Ten minutes later, "Halt?"

"Oh, for goodness' sake! What?!"

Will held Halt's gaze steadily. "Halt, what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong! Stop asking me that!"

"Please, Halt. Tell me," Will pleaded. "I hate seeing you like this."

"Like what?"

"So… depressed. You look like you should have a rain cloud hovering over your head."

Halt's eyes narrowed and he sent a glare at his apprentice but he couldn't hold it for long. He shifted his gaze to the fire, listening to the crackle of the burning wood. "A long time ago, I had someone I cared for very much, but they were murdered. Tonight is the anniversary of their death," he finally told Will.

"Wow. Who?" Will's eyes had widened at the revelation.

Halt's harsh gaze shot back to Will, silencing the young man.

"Sorry," Will murmured, looking down.

Halt watched his apprentice for several long moments before saying, "My daughter."

Will's head immediately snapped up. "You had a daughter?"

Halt nodded slowly.

"Did you catch who it was?"

"No."

"Do you know who it was?"

Halt nodded again. "It was my apprentice at the time."

Will felt like his stomach had turned to stone. "Your own apprentice?"

"Not just my apprentice. My soon-to-be son-in-law. At least, he would have been."

"Wait, they were engaged? Then why'd he kill her?" Will demanded, immediately regretting his harsh tone. It wasn't Halt's fault.

His mentor just shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "When I questioned him, he insisted that it was an accident, that he hadn't meant to, that he didn't know what had happened." He broke off, taking a moment to compose himself and force back the tears that started to build in his eyes. "The bastard didn't even have the guts to face justice. He disappeared. I always figured that he must have just snapped. I can't think of any other reason."

Will fell silent after that and Halt didn't speak at all. He couldn't believe that his mentor had once had a daughter, could believe it even less that she had been murdered by his own apprentice. But he had and she had been. He didn't know what to say. Somehow 'I'm sorry' didn't quite cover how he felt. He wanted to find this man, hunt him down, and make him pay for what he had done. But that had been years ago and if Halt hadn't been able to track down the man, then what chance did he have?