*Disclaimer I do not own RA* My friend is co-writing this, so if they say my name they are mine. (This might not flow very well since we have totally different writing styles)

Gilan crept as silently as he could after Halt, trying to copy the rangers actions. He moved as silently one fifteen year-old could without any training whatsoever. Moving from one patch of cover to the next, he started believing that he was good at this. Well, either that, or Halt was blind as a bat, and deaf as an old person.

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Halt sighed inwardly as he heard Gilan step on a branch, for the fifth time that day. Still, he is better than most kids following a ranger. That is, the ones that do follow us, he 29 had said that his apprentice stepped on his foot three times and he had to pretend not to notice. He also took note that he could see Gilan plain as day if he so much as tilted his head sideways. The boy stuck out like a thumb at a finger rally, or a mountain by a bunch of hills.

He decided that he would do something so devious to Gilan, it would be unforgivable to most people if another person who was not a ranger had done it. He froze, and waited to see if any sound came from the boy. Hearing none, he went on with his plan, and started a fire.

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Gilan didn't see the ranger stop abruptly and almost ran straight into him. Wait, he thought curiously, he's stopped. What is he... lunch? Oh man, I'm hungry. For in his perfectly thought-through plan, he forgot to even bring a snack. Maybe if I could climb that apple tree... He began thinking. No Gilan. You're a horrible climber. You know it. You don't want to give yourself away early enough that Halt can send you home. Not even the slightest inkling of the thought that Halt might already know he was there ever crossed his mind as he slithered over to a nearby bush, conveniently behind Halt.

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Halt smiled at the reaction Gilan gave when Halt stopped for lunch. (Inwardly smiling of course. It was extremely rare to see Halt smile.) He thought he would further torture the boy by cooking what he recently learned as Gilan's favorite food. The ranger looked in his saddle pack, and found the ultimate weapons of mass consmumption. Soon, the bacon was sizzling over the small campfire he set up. Oh, and of course there was coffee brewing. What else would the ranger drink?

Halt started rummaging around his pack, and took out a loaf of bread. Slowly and deliberately, he unsheathed his saxe, and sliced the bread in half. Then, once more, he returned to his pack, and took out tomatoes and lettuce. He put some lettuce and tomatoes on the bread. Soon, the bacon would be finished, and he could combine all the ingredients to make a delicious BLTWC (Bacon, lettuce, and tomato with coffee).

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Gilan's mouth watered as he crouched down, low in the bushes. Halt must have really liked BLTWCs if he eats them even outside our house! Don't think of food. It will only make you hungrier. Don't think of food. Don't think of food. Of course, when you're telling yourself not to think about something you tend to think about it more.

Soon afterwords, a boy fell out of a bush, and onto a grumpy old ranger who was about to eat a sandwich. Immediately, the boy was thrown into a stream, and was seen drying his clothes while the triumphant ranger munched on a delightfully good sandwich.

Later that day, Gilan came home, only to find out that his father had approved him being with Halt, and let him become an apprentice to the man. So the boy and ranger left, one trodding desparately in need of a horse, and a change of clothes that was not wet.