A/N: I know it's kind of short, but it is what it is. This is for my choir, which suffered several blows this year, but made it through and we're much closer for it. Music connects us all. If you want to see what inspired this, go to Great Blue Heron's Cabin in the Woods.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice nor the lyrics to "Cabin in the Woods". I don't make any money from this story.
"Going back to the cabin in the woods,
Going back to the creek beneath the hill.
There's a girl who used to live there when I left,
But I doubt she'll be waiting for me still.
Never thought I'd be gone so many years,
When I left always planned that I'd return,
but time slips away before we know.
That's just one more lesson that we learn…"
When the Rangers finished singing, everyone was silent, each thinking about the song. Many of them had experienced this themselves. They had had childhood sweethearts, most young boys did, but they had left them behind for one reason or another. For many, it was because they wished to protect the girl. Rangers lead dangerous lives, a wife or children could be targeted. Others had married and lost their wives. Some had lost the sweetheart to sickness. Still, others had, indeed, left and never returned, similar to the song.
Whatever their reason, few rangers actually had wives, but most had had girlfriends, loved ones, and this song struck something deep within each of them. Because of this, this song had become popular, many thought of it as their anthem. It reminded them why they fought in the ranger corp, why they laid down their lives.
Part of it was loyalty to the king and love of their land, yes, but many of the Rangers were old enough to have lost loved ones to Morgarath. Most of all, though, it brought them together. They were one corp, one that had stuck together for years, now, and while missions were never the same, what affected one ranger affected them all. This pain, as well as so many other things, was shared by them all and this song represented that so fully. That is why the song was so important to them.
People who weren't Rangers might not understand the ties that bound them so closely, but they were there. Yes, there was pain, there was heartache, there was stress, but none of the Rangers would trade that for all of Araluen. And yes, music connected them all.