Chapter one
It was a peaceful spring day at Araluen the birds were chirping and the sun was shining brightly. A fifteen year old girl and her small black horse approached the gate of castle Araluen.
"What's your name?" the guard demanded. Strange, thought the girl, most of the guards recognized her by now. It was hard not to, after all, she came here a lot and most of the guards remembered her beautiful shoulder length brown hair and her height. There were few girls as short as her in Araluen, she had to admit. He must be new, he did look young she decided before replying.
"Avalon Abigail Treaty," She replied and waited for his reaction.
"Daughter of Will and Alyss Treaty?" The guard asked in both shock and awe.
"Yes," Avalon replied impatiently "Now are you going to stand there or are you going to move so I can go in?" she was all too tired of being treated as a celebrity. After all, she thought, her parents were the famous ranger and courier not her. She didn't want to be treated as a hero until she deserved it. That is if she ever did she added. Wait never mind that, she thought, she never wanted to be treated like a hero.
"Yes, yes, of course," He apologized, and then asked "Would you like someone to tend to your horse?"
She turned, she had forgotten about the horse.
"I will take care of him myself." She replied then entered the gate and headed towards the stables.
"Good morning, Ava," Brandon, the stable hand called out.
"Good morning. " Ava replied eager to get in the castle.
"Want me to take care of Asteroid?" He offered gesturing towards the horse already knowing the answer.
"No thanks." Ava replied then led Asteroid to a stable.
After rubbing her down, feeding her and watering her Ava made her way to the castle entrance. Two Guards stood at the front of the bridge and moved out of the way as they recognized her. She walked into the castle then turned down the hall on the right.
"Hey, Ava, guess what?" The six year old princess, Sandra, cried excitedly as she pranced over to Ava, her blond pigtails bouncing off her shoulders.
"Hmm… I don't know. What?" Ava replied
"My mommy and daddy are going to be at a cer-e-mony tomorrow and it's going to be most of the day and the servants are going to be there so they were going to see if you would babysit me so you're supposed to go see her." Sandra exclaimed having trouble to pronounce ceremony.
"Ok, Sandra, see you later." Ava said. Sandra was almost a little sister to her so she was kind of excited except for the fact that her parents would probably be there too so she would have to babysit her one year old brother, Kaleb, also.
"Hello, Queen Cassandra." Ava said as she entered the queen's office.
"Hello, Ava. Would you like a cup of coffee?" Cassandra asked. Both of them were addicted to the drink sense they had both spent a decent amount of time with Rangers who were even more addicted.
"Yes please." Ava replied, mouthwatering.
"So I assume Sandra was so excited that she already told you about babysitting tomorrow?" She asked
"Yes." Ava said smiling
"Ok, well I'm guessing that you will be babysitting your brother also so you could come here with him or she could go to your house." The queen said.
"I think I will take her to my house." Ava replied.
"Ok, thank you Ava. Good luck on the choosing it's only a day from now." Cassandra said warmly
"Thanks." Ava replied as she walked out of the room. She shuddered. Was the choosing really that close? The choosing was a day that came once a year when the fifteen year olds chose what they wanted to be. Ava didn't know what she wanted to be yet. Well she did she just wasn't sure she could be that. She was saying she would be a courier, to make her mom happy, but what she wanted to be was a Ranger. She knew a girl had never been a ranger and her mom might be disappointed but she had to try or she would disappoint herself which was way worse.
"Hullo, Zoë," Said Ava, joyfully, to her golden haired friend as she walked into Zoë's room at the ward.
"Hullo, Ava," Zoë replied "So the choosing is a day from now what are you going to be?"
"Um well, don't laugh but, I want to be a ranger," Ava faltered out.
"Oh, maybe you will get to be the first girl ranger," Zoë said optimistically "Well I want to be a courier."
"Cool," Ava said "so do you want to help me babysit tomorrow during the ceremony?"
"Sure, for who?" Zoë asked
"Princess Sandra and Kaleb," Ava replied "at my house."
"OK. Do you want me to bring Sandra there?" Zoë questioned.
"Yes please. I'm going to leave now; I have to be home in time for lunch." Ava explained.
"Ok, bye." Zoë said
"Bye, see you tomorrow." Ava said before walking out the door to her room. She walked out into the castle yard then entered the stable.
"Come on Asteroid, let's go." Ava whispered to the small ranger horse that she had gotten for Christmas three years ago. Naturally the horse only nodded her head as if to say 'I've been waiting '. She jumped onto her small horse and headed home.
Soon she reached the wooden cabin; a ranger cabin. Most people assumed that ranger cabins wouldn't have flowers and such but, as far as Ava was concerned, this cabin, her parents friend's (Gilan's) cabin, and even Halt's (yes the grim ranger's) had flowers.
"Hey, Ava, we forgot to tell you, there is a meeting today so we are leaving after lunch and you have to take care of Kaleb." Ava's mom, Alyss, said. She really felt sorry for Ava.
"Ok," Ava replied "and I have to babysit Sandra tomorrow I'm going to bring her here." She was all too used to being left alone at home. Her parents always had missions or meetings to go to so when she was younger she practically lived at the castle.
"Ok." Alyss said as Ava's dad, Will, entered the room.
"Lunch is ready, Hi Ava." Will said
"Ok, Hi." She replied then they walked into the kitchen. Lunch was stew and coffee today, Ava noticed.
After eating her parents packed while Ava walked into Kaleb's room.
"Hi, kale." she said as she entered the room.
"Hi." He said, it was one of the few words he could say. Ava picked him up out of his bed and then set him down on the ground so he could walk for a little bit. He had just learned how to walk the other day and he was pretty good at it already. Just then she heard a knock on the door, so she picked up Kale and went to get the door. She looked through the peep hole and saw a tall brown haired boy, Jay, she opened the door and let him in.
"Hi, Jay," Ava said.
"Hi, my dad's out taking care of his the horses." Jay said but Ava knew better. Gilan was undoubtedly trying to sneak up on her.
Ava spun around "Hi, Gil," Ava said smiling as she saw there was a shadow form of Gilan there then watched as the shadow turned in to a person.
"How did you know I was there?" He exclaimed smiling.
"Jay kept the door open for an unusual long, the horses are right there and people always sneak up behind somebody not in front."
"I've got to work on that," Gilan said shaking his head and smiling "Are your parents' home?" Gil asked.
"Yes you have to work on a lot of things," Will's voice said dryly and Gilan spun around to see Will had snuck up on him "So what brings you here, Gil?"
"Well today I have to go to the meeting, tomorrow I have to go to the ceremony, and the next day I have to go to the choosing and they all are here. So I was wondering if we could stay here for now?" Gilan said.
"Sure," Alyss said as she entered the room "Where's Jenny?" Jenny was Gilan's wife and a close friend of Will's and Alyss's.
"She is at the castle with the other cooks planning meals, she is going to be staying there." Gilan replied.
"Oh, well we better get going." Alyss said. Gilan put down his bag, Jay took care of his horse, Ash, Ava took care of Kale, And Will and Alyss finished packing. But soon everyone was done and Gil, Will, and Alyss left, leaving Jay and Ava behind in an awkward silence.
"So," Jay finally said "What are you going to choose at the choosing?" she hesitated, Jay noticed, not sure what to say, he guessed. This was strange to him; they had known each other for ever and were almost as close as brother and sister why would she not want to tell him such a small thing like this? Ava was thinking the same thing so in the end she resolved to tell him.
"Um, well don't tell anyone but, I want to be a ranger." She said shyly. Now it was Jay's turn to hesitate, he didn't know what to say.
"Oh cool that's what I'm choosing to be too." Jay finally said.
"Yeah at least you will definitely get to be one." Ava said.
"Hey, I might not," Jay said but he knew he was wrong "and you could always be the first girl ranger." It was possible after all, he thought. He at least had to get her hopes up a little not too much; because if he did they might come crashing down and it would be worse to get a no. The rest of the day was spent avoiding that topic and doing chores.