Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or any of its characters
The image of this reminds me so much of Crowley and Halt...Halt being the black kitten just sitting there and Crowley (whom I though was a blond for a few books) being the other kitten being all chummy
Halt looked at the wood door in front of him but made no move to open it. The war with Morgarath was becoming quite heated and he needed to do something. Only a few months ago he remembered arriving in Araluen after escaping from his evil brother Ferris. In that short time, he had met a few people but only one actually made him feel that he hadn't lost everything. Now, however, the war was putting an extravagant amount of pressure upon him. Along with that was the fact that he hadn't quite had time to get over Ferris. In short, all the pressure and lack of time to think was making things quite rough for him. He raised his hand to the door and gave three quick knocks. There was a muffled reply and he grasped the door knob. Hesitating briefly, he turned it and entered the room. Pauline sat at a desk covered with papers. Around the room were books and more papers. Almost every surface was covered with the parchment as the war was making quite a lot of work for the Diplomatic system. Pauline looked up and smiled at Halt, they'd been seeing each other for about a month now with barely any word getting out. It was quite late at night and a few torches placed on the walls cast flickering shadows around the room.
"Halt," she said and stood up. "What brings you here?" she asked as she enveloped him in a hug. The mystery that usually resided in his eyes was replaced with something. Something like pain, she thought.
"We have to talk," he said quietly. She looked worried but sat down behind her cluttered desk while Halt remained standing, making it clear he wasn't going to stay long. "I don't think this is a good idea," he said. Pauline frowned, confused. "Us," he added and understanding dawned on her face, quickly followed by confusion. "Men are being deployed tomorrow to leave for battle and I'm leaving with them," he stated before she could say anything. "It's always a possibility that I may not return."
"Halt," she started but Halt shook his head.
"That's not all. I want to focus on the Rangers. We're just getting reorganized and I can't have any distractions. Maybe some other time," Halt lied. He did want to focus on the Rangers but Pauline wasn't a distraction. The real reason was he just couldn't handle it all at once. It was like shoving back a mountain with a raging storm at his back. Eventually the storm would die down and he'd figure out a way to go around the mountain but it would take time. "Maybe when things calm down more and the Corps is in better condition."
"Maybe," she whispered. "I have work to do," she added abruptly and Halt nodded.
"I'm sorry," he said before he left the room.
Let me know what you think. Just saying, this is going to be more focused on Crowley and Halt in the next chapters and then through the story but I thought this might explain a few things that will be in the next chapter. It was better than trying to cram it all in the next chapter. :D Also, this will be before the series