Hello, my lovelies. AS I said, I re-uploaded this. Hmm, writing stories on an iPad REALLY screws up the format. But hey. A writer does what a writers gotta do. Alighty here. So First things first. The poll from my profile had quite a vote. Majority of you wanted me to keep going onto the sequel of the story. That is definitely going to happen. Some others wanted a spinoff of the story. Here it is. Now, one mystery reader told me they'd PM me and I didn't get a PM. Who are you, mystery PMer? back to the point.

Now, this is a story I thought up while I was doing flips on my trampoline. Our main character is a girl named Rosalae Summers. She's the daughter of the Ranger at Myriaston Fief which is a small fief next to Whitby fief. Out story here is the spinoff you all wanted so Where did Arra go? Gilan and Arra are married, but on a mission in Arridia, something mysterious [can't say or it ruins the story] happens to Arra so they had to keep her there so she didn't randomly die. I'm trying a different approach on this. Rosalae is an acrobat. She has been since she was ten. Now, she doesn't want to be a ranger, but the thing is, the Corps. need her to be a ranger, She has the skill and more than enough potential. With training, she could prove a very useful weapon.

WAIT! WAIT! I forgot the disclaimer.

Rosalae: 'ats right. Wolfbane doesn't own anybody.

Wolfbane: 'cept for her, Myriaston, and some other minor characters here and there.

"And a back flip."

She complied landing balanced ready for his next order.

"One back another two forward than one to the right?"

She nodded throwing her arms in a wide arc behind her, her legs coming up to her chest as she landed softly and hardly two seconds later, her hands arcing down to propel her second flip, her arms thrown in the wide arc again with another forward flip. Her leg swung up making her twist up in the air and land a few feet from where she'd started.

"And throw"

One... Two... Three... Four... Five. Five seconds it'd taken her to find the target take aim and throw the dagger into the outermost ring of the target

She glared back at him coldly.

"Hmn," he stated in what could be mistaken as disappointment.

She turned briskly on her heel stalking into the cabin. The way she walked was tainted with the grace and soundless feather steps of an acrobat. Her long black hair was pulled into a braid resting down her back.

"Hey, Where are you going?"

"Home, Gilan, I'm going home."

"Rosalae, we've hardly started. Please give this a chance, it isn't a bad thi-"

"I wasn't born to be a ranger, Gilan. I've trained for six years as an acrobat and now my father wants me to be a ranger, I can't do that."

Gil stopped where he was.

"I'm not meant to be a ranger, Gil,"

With those words hanging in the air, the girl turned to the bay stallion that'd taken her to the cabin in the woods. She tightened the saddle and slipped onto it.

The horse plodded down the middle of the forest path. The birds busily chirped above her, mice rushing past to find food. Then, there was a too loud rustle. Rosalae glanced around inconspicuously. The mice had stopped, the birds cleared away. With the heel of her boot, she nudged the saddle strap slightly off balance making the horse sway.

Anybody on the outside would not have noticed the move, but Will saw her heel purposely shove the saddle out of balance.

Rosalae knelt down beside the horse taking its foreleg pretending to pick a rock out of the horse's hoof. She drew a small dagger, not balanced for throwing, but it would hold its own in a fight. She turned quickly on a heel, the dark violet cloak fanning out behind her conceitedly.

"Show yourself. I know you're there,"

Will raised a brow some bit in confusion and a bit in respect. Her tone was not in fear as any other woman's probably would have been and she wasn't yelling profanities like a blubbering oaf. She was forcing power to join with an edge of cruelty to form what would have changed some robbers' minds about swiping her purse.

Will raised his bow aiming an arrow right above her shoulder. Releasing it, the arrow flew true to aim into an elm tree behind her. For ten seconds there was an air or calm, nothing moved, all was still, but then, a silver shape flashed toward Will. It was the knife. Cursing, Will leaned back watching as the knife pinned itself only four inches away from Will's hand.

"Very Good, Rosalae."

"I'm going home,"

"I know."

"Than why did you-"

"Dunno. But it's a good thing I did. Cause know I know you have the ability to be a ranger. Or at least in apprentice."

"I don't want to be-"

"I didn't either, but yet, here I am. Green cloak, longbow, Saxe knife, uncanny aim with said longbow, I'm pretty sure that qualifies me to be a ranger"

Rosalae didn't say anything in reply.

The pause stretched on until the silence was broken.

"I'm just a girl, Will, I'm not fit-"

"Arra's a girl. She helped me save Araluen, more times than I can count."

At the mention of Gilan's wife's name, Rosalae shuffled trying to cover up the tension that built up.

"And where is she now?" Rosalae retorted coldly, "She's somewhere in Arridia dying because she risked her life. She's not even back here because moving her could unstabilize her vitals."

"She's getting better. She's supposed to be back by New Year."

"That's not the point."

Rosalae swung onto the stallion. "I'm sorry, Will."

She rode down the path out of Whitby fief and into Myriaston fief a few more miles and back to her father's cabin. Her mother was a nurse at Myriaston Infirmary; she wouldn't be home until nightfall.

Her father was a humorous man. His tawny wheat hair still lustrous as ever, his dark brown eyes sparkling. Cracking jokes every few minutes. Except for when he was in public, then a gray cloud fell over him.

"Rose, darling, I thought Gilan was going to keep you for another two nights,"

"He wanted to, but... I can't be this ranger like you want me to be. I'm sorry."

"No, you could never disappoint me. I knew from the start you wouldn't take a liking to this lifestyle."

"It's not that," she replied not missing a beat, "Every time I throw a knife, there's this look in Gilan's eye. Surprise maybe. Like he's surprised I missed the throw. Like he expects me to get it right the first dozen times because-"

"Because I'm your father."

She nodded.

"Gilan and I had a conversation last night," he paused noticing his darling angel grimace, "No, you aren't doing anything wrong. That surprise you keep seeing. He'd had an idea."

"Sometimes, Rangers can't stop everything tragic from striking the kingdom. At times that are important, we abandon standard procedure which includes protecting the king."

"Now, Rangers are the eyes and ears of King Duncan, but sometimes the King needs special protection. I'm not saying he can't defend himself, but it'd be helpful to have someone. Someone who could be inconspicuous in the eyes of the enemy.

"What do you say?"

"I-"

Her words were cut off by her scream of agony. A dark red arrow protruded from her left arm.

Ah, its been a while since I started with a cliffhanger. Be good little readers, now and Review, Review, Review!

Cookies for all. ShadowC out.