Me: And I haven't done one of these in a long time! Helro, everyone.

Will: Did he just say 'helro'?

Halt: He did.

Me: And what's the matter with helro?

Horace: Isn't it 'hello'?

Me: And?

Gilan: Blade does not own Ranger's Apprentice, no matter how many times he went to Australia to kill John Flanagan.

Me: Liar!

Will: You did!

Me: You guys are all blind! It was a stinking water gun!

Halt: Please read and review before Blade uses a 'water' gun to track you down and kill you.

Horace: And this story is a sequel to 'Reunions' and is dedicated to a Fanficition writer who goes by the name of Ranger Sage. Blade sends his thanks for liking his story so much, Sage.

Will: Blade has a girlfriend!

Me: I do not! *gets out 'water' gun*

Will: *scream*


A Girl in Our Mist

Castle Redmont was being lazy in the afternoon when I crept into the kitchen. Master Jenny wasn't in the kitchen right now so I figure I was safe. I slipped past through the hall until I got to the locked doors of the kitchen. I could just taste those famous pies now! I reached into my pocket and took out a silver key. I placed it into the lock and gave a little twist. The lock snapped open and I sneaked in. Before me was the kitchen, the huge empty kitchen. Using my nose, I followed the delicious smell of pie cooling on the window sill. My mouth watering, I was about to take a bite when a voice stopped me.

"Sage Necromancer!" Chubb stared at the slightly built youth before her. She had messy brown hair and mischievous green eyes.

"Master Chubb!" the girl was startled. Chubb frowned.

"I thought you were looking quite suspicious. What are you doing here?" the chef had a pretty shrewd idea why. Sage hesitated.

Should I lie?

"I…couldn't resist the smell of pie, sir. I just had to get a bite." Chubb nodded.

"I thought so," he frowned. He walked over to the girl. Perspiration was on her forehead. With a flick of his wrist, Chubb's wooden ladle cracked over the girl's head.

"Nice try, Sage," Isaac teased. Sage glared at the bigger boy and unconsciously rubbed her head.

"I bet you wouldn't get past him," Sage countered. Isaac frowned. In these situations, he better stayed quiet. Sage was known to be verbal wise. Vanessa shook her head.

"You should have never done that, Sage. Choosing day is tomorrow and you just set off one of the Caftmasters!" Vanessa had short blonde hair and brown eyes. She was always jumpy and didn't like to get into trouble.

"She's right," Floyd nodded. "Even if you aren't applying to her, it could still get you into a bad position. The round boy was applying to Chubb for his choice. Sage shook her head. They always seemed to be going against her. She went out of their room, just in time to bump into a person. She fell with a thud, but the man didn't seem to budge.

"Sorry," Sage looked up, only to see a green cloak. She gasped, knowing that she had just bumped into a ranger. The ranger cocked his head to one side. He held out a hand and helped her up. Then he walked silently down the hall. Sage shook her head at the silent movement. Then she went to her sanctuary outside.

"Have you seen Sage?" a boy popped his head into the door of the room.

"She just left, Edgar," Floyd answered. The tall boy frowned.

"Where?"

"Don't know. She was pretty irritated at us," Isaac laughed. Edgar raised an eyebrow and the other boy silenced.

"Try the MotherRed. Sage likes going there a lot," Vanessa suggested. MotherRed was a tall redwood outside.

Edgar nodded, "Thanks Vanessa." He left the room.

"Hi, Sage," Edgar smiled at the girl in the tree. The girl smiled back.

"Hey, Edgar. What to go up?"

The boy shook his head, "I'm not big on heights." Sage considered this and slid from the tree. "Excited on Choosing Day tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

"I set off one of the craftmasters."

"Did you try to steal another cake from Master Chubb?" Edgar hid a smile. Sage nodded, unconsciously rubbing her sore head. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure you would be accepted in scribe school."

"Thanks, Edgar. Let's go inside."

"DO NOT PUT ME IN A BAD MOOD, TREATY!" the sound seemed to shatter the peaceful silence of the castle. Sage was shocked that the voice belonged to Baron Arald. She decided to creep up to see why he was so angry. Edgar had gone back to his room. As she got closer to the door of the Baron's study, a new voice spoke up.

"I know you're in a foul mood right now, but His Majesty needs you."

"I think I'm staying out of this," said another voice.

"Will, don't go anywhere."

"Look, Valor. Baron Arald is busy right now. Let's come tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Choosing Day, Will. I'm busy that day, too," said the Baron.

"We're getting nowhere!" yelled the one called Valor. "I'll just send His Majesty a message that you can't be there."

"Really, Valor! Why couldn't you do that before?"

"I wanted to see if I could persuade the Baron," Valor sounded amused. Footsteps got close to the door. Before Sage could move, the door swung open and someone bumped into her. Again she fell to the floor with a thud.

"Again?" she whispered. She looked up to see two cloaked rangers staring at her.

"I remember you. You're that girl I bumped into before," said the taller one.

"Sage! What are you doing here?" the Baron appeared at the door. At the sight of him, Sage quickly straightened out.

"Sorry, my lord! I just heard you shouting and I got curious," she said. The two rangers exchanged a glance.

"In other words, eavesdropping?" the shorter one asked. Wordlessly, Sage nodded.

The Baron grinned, "The king just invited me to a banquet, but I can't go. Preparations for Choosing Day tomorrow." The girl was aghast. The baron was furious at the ranger just because the king invited him to a banquet? "You should go back to your room, Sage." Sage nodded and quickly ran back to her room. She realized that she bumped into Ranger Valor Treaty, brother of Will Treaty. She shivered, remembering the history lesson. Valor turned over to Roy's side for the war. Then something happened (the teacher didn't know) that made Valor come back on King Duncan's side. Sage sighed and fell on her bed, waiting for dinner.

"Sage, please don't steal any food," Vanessa said. Sage rolled her eyes.

"Why would I steal? It's for free."

"Like Master Chubb's pies?" Isaac snickered. Sage said nothing. She contented herself by glaring at the boy. Isaac, wisely, continued eating.

"Can we please just have some time to eat in peace?" Floyd said. Sage shrugged and went back to eating. The rest of the evening was quiet until dessert was passed out.

"Give it up, Sage! You won't be in Scribe School!" Isaac grinned. Sage glared at him.

"And why not?"

"I've seen your work. Not exactly neat. And I thought you sorcerers could do better!"

"I am not a sorcerer," Sage answered. Isaac knew he scored a point. Sage couldn't stand being called a sorcerer.

"Isaac, I think you should stop," Edgar said.

"She's a sorcerer. She can make me stop. Make me stop teasing you! Come on!" he taunted.

"I…am…not…a…sorcerer!" Sage gritted her teeth.

"Sorcerer! Sorcerer! Sorcerer!" Isaac kept up the name.

"Isaac, you should really-" before Edgar could say "stop", Sage shot out of her seat and jumped the boy. She knocked the bigger boy down from his seat and onto the floor.

"Take that back!" she yelled. "Take that all back!" Isaac was too surprised. Then a barn owl flew in. It perched itself on Sage's shoulder, flapping its wings. It looked at Isaac, then at Sage, then back. It made a hoot, stopping Sage from her assault. Seeing his chance, Isaac pushed the girl away and stood up. Sage glared at him, then walked away, owl still on her shoulder.

"I warned you," Edgar said.

"And I told you, she's a sorcerer. Nobody tames owls," Isaac said.

"Why did you stop me, Blizzard?" Sage asked the owl. They were outside the castle on the branches of MotherRed. A cool breeze rustled the tree, making the leaves fall. Blizzard cocked her head. She was a fine owl, face a deep white, eyes midnight black, feathers pale blue instead of brown. Sage had found the owl as a fallen chick being harassed by a kitchen staff's cat. She had rescued it and raised it.

"You were getting out of hand," she finally replied. Sage groaned and fell back on the branch. More leaves rustle from the tree.

"Blizzard, do you think I'm a black sorcerer?"

"Should I?"

"Well, I can understand you, and there were some weird things that happen in the castle when I came here."

"Like what?"

"Well…Isaac seemed to shut up once when he was teasing me…Vanessa spilled ink on her paper when I was sitting next to her…Floyd got the ingredients wrong and made bad cakes when I was helping him…and Edgar was mad that he lost his pencil."

"Maybe you said something that Isaac would shut up at, Vanessa and Floyd were being careless, and Edgar lost his only pencil."

"No, Blizzard. No one could shut Isaac up. Vanessa is too careful and Floyd double checks that he got the right ingredients. Edgar never gets angry over little things."

"That doesn't mean you're at fault," the owl left for a bit. Sage thought for a bit before Blizzard returned with a dead rat. Ever since Sage befriended Blizzard, there wasn't a single rat in Redmont's kitchen.

"Blizzard?" the owl tore off a piece of fur. Sage continued, "Can I be a ranger?"

"If you want to be," Blizzard's beak was red with blood.

"What kind of girl am I?" Sage asked.

"Let's just say that you're a special girl," Blizzard finished her dinner. Sage smiled at the owl.

"Thanks, Blizzard," she hugged the bird. "You know how to make me feel better."

"Anytime," Blizzard yarped a pellet.


Will: Where's Valor?

Me: In his room *smirks*

Halt: Are you crazy?

Me: I prefer the word, 'insane'. Has a nicer ring to it. I put the 'i' in 'insane', the 'fun' in 'funeral', and the 'laugh' in 'manslaughter'.

Horace: You're crazy!

Gilan: Or insane!

Me: Let's just all go to bed. You guys are probably tired with all the things those fanfiction writers mad eyou do (me being one of them). You have an even bigger day tomorrow...

Me: What I didn't tell them was that they can't fall asleep since there are fanfiction writers 24/7. So they are going to eventually find out in 3...2...1...

Halt: BLADE!

Me: Got to run!