"Come on already," Sarah whined. She was the oldest out of Will and Alyss's set of triplets. Sarah had dirty blond hair and gray stormy eyes. She had never cared for archery, all she wanted was a knife so she get up close to the enemy. She took after her uncle Horace, she was a fighter not a thinker.

"Don't, you'll get in trouble again," Connor said as he stepped between his two sisters. He had light blond hair and emerald-green eyes. He was the diplomat of the three siblings, taking after his mom.

"If you're brawns, then I'm brains," Jessie snapped at her older sister, as she drew back the bow and fired. It was a bullz eye, as usual. "I use patience and skill, something that you don't have." Jessie had light brown hair and piercing sapphire blue eyes.

"Well at least I'm not a disappointment," Sarah said as a side comment.

"Jessie please don't," Connor said trying to take Jessie's attention off Sarah.

"A disappointment?! You think I'm a disappointment?" Jessie yelled. She spun around and knocked another arrow and aimed it at her sister. "At least I have a shot at becoming a ranger. WHO would want a female knight?"

"You think, because you're daddy's little girl, you're so special. We here's a thought for you, you're not!" Sarah yelled.

Sarah quickly attacked Jessie, she knocked the bow out of her sister's hands. Sarah then tried to pin her down. Jessie was faster, and she was able to avoid her sister. Jessie then turned and was able to get behind Sarah and tackle her. The two went at it for a few minutes.

"Enough, you three," came a male voice from behind the three.

"Dad!" all three shouted in fright.

Will sighed to himself and thought, 'They act just like Alyss, Horace, and I did when we were younger.' Finally after staring at them for a few minutes, to let it sink in that he had heard everything, he said, "Come on, we're done for the day."

Quickly all three kids ran after their father. Jessie being the fastest caught up to Will first, then Sarah, and then Connor, who was a split second behind his sister.

"Dad-" Jessie started in a hesitant voice.

"No, I want you three to listen for a minute. What do you hear?" Will asked as they stopped in the forest.

Sarah immediately said wanting to be the first, "Animals and bugs."

"The wind in the trees," Jessie said, hating the fact that her sister had beaten her.

Connor paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After he heard his sisters give their responses, he continued to listen. Finally his eyes snapped open and he said, "Nature, everything working together, and nothing out of place."

Will smiled to himself, it was just like Connor to come up with something like that. "Yes, and what happens if one thing stopped working with the rest of nature?"

"Everything is thrown out of balance," Sarah mumbled knowing now the full extent of why her father was making them listen.

"You may not like it, but you three are family and you have to work together, or everything will be thrown out of balance," Will said. He waited for his lesson to sink in before they continued walking. After a few minutes, the four started off again, back towards their home. "Oh there was a reason why I went to get you three," Will said suddenly. "What was it?"

This immediately got all three's attention. "What?" Jessie pleaded.

"No it couldn't be that grandpa's back. Or Uncle Horace and Aunt Cassandra, with your cousin Peter are here," Will said with a smile on his face.

"They're here?" all three asked before sprinting away from their father and back towards home.

"You're getting so big," Alyss said as she hugged her nephew Peter. She then turned and hugged Horace and Cassandra.

"How have you been?" Cassandra asked as she hugged Alyss.

"Things have been good,"Alyss said as she walked into the kitchen and got two cups of coffee and some honey.

"Oh, you know how to treat us," Horace said as he sat down at the table and started putting honey in his coffee.

"Daddy where's Connor?" Peter asked. He was the same age as the triplets, they were all thirteen about ready to turn fourteen.

"They'll be back soon," Alyss said with a smile on her face. "So are you still wanting to be a knight?" she said as she grabbed Peter and started tickling him.

"No!" Peter said laughing trying to get away from his aunt. "No," he said as he finally got away from her. "I want to be a Ranger!"

"You do?" Halt said as he came in through the front door.

"Grandpa!" Peter said as he ran to Halt.

It was then that Sarah, Connor, and Jessie burst through the door and tackled the Halt as well. "Grandpa!" they all shouted.

All Halt could say was "Oof. You four are all getting so big."

As Will was walking up to his house he met Pauline walking up to the porch. "Hey," Will said getting Pauline's attention.

"Oh, Will, I didn't see you there," she said as she switched directions and walked over to Will.

"How was your trip?" Will asked as he hugged Pauline.

"It was good," Pauline said as she turned back to the house.

"Grandma!" Jessie said as she ran down the porch step and ran to her grandma. "I missed you!"

Pauline knelt down and hugged Jessie. "I missed you too, my little shadow," Pauline said. "Where's my knight and negotiator?"

Immediately Jessie's enthusiasm went down. "They're with Grandpa," Jessie said.

"Come on little Shadow," Will said.

"Only Grandma can call me that," she said.

As they walked into the house, they were all greeted with smiles and went off and played, while Pauline and Will sat around the table. They all talked for a few hours when Gilan and Jenny showed up with their two and three year old sons.

After that Jenny and Alyss went and started making dinner while the others caught up. They laughed and talked for another hour before dinner was served. During dinner they all sat around and talked about old times while their children listened. They laughed and had a great time.

"I need to put these two down," Jenny said.

"Here, you can put them on our bed to sleep until you guys are ready to leave," Alyss said as she took three year old Michael from Gilan.

"Ok time for bed," Will said.

"But," Connor started.

"No you guys need your sleep," Will said.

"Can Peter stay the night then?" Connor asked.

Will looked at Horace and Cassandra. "It's ok with me," he said.

"Please!" Peter begged.

"I suppose, if you promise to be good," Cassandra said.

"Yes!" both boys shouted as they took off towards Connor's room.

"Good night," Sarah and Jessie said as they headed towards their room.

"So what's new?" Will asked to no one in particular as he stirred his coffee.

"Well Peter wants to be a Ranger now," Cassandra said.

"Really," Will said surprised. "He doesn't want to be a knight anymore?"

"Nope," Horace said. "But hey what about Sarah, is she still wanting to become a knight?"

"Yes," Will chuckled.

"And is Connor still wanting to be a diplomat?" Pauline asked.

"Yes," Alyss said.

"What about Jessie?" Halt asked.

"She still wants to be a Ranger," Will said reluctantly.

"What's wrong?" Horace asked.

"They're starting to fight, and I caught Jessie and Sarah arguing about who was better," Will said.

"I'm guessing that this wasn't the first time?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes, it the fifth time this week," Alyss said. "We're at our wits end."

"Well we were talking on our way here," Cassandra started.

"If it's ok I want to train Sarah when she turns fourteen," Horace said.

"What?" Will asked.

"I want to train Sarah," he said again.

"But don't you have a ton of other applicants trying to get a chance to train with you?" Will asked.

"Yes, but the way I see it I get to pick and choose who I want to train. So I'm choosing Sarah, it's about time we had our first female trained warrior," Horace said.

Both Alyss and Will were shocked.

"Thank you," Alyss said. She wasn't thrilled that Sarah was going to be trained as a warrior, but she knew how important following your dreams are.

"Well while we're on the subjects of getting apprentices and training them," Will said. He turned to Gilan, "I know that the Corp. won't let me train Jessie, I was wondering if you would train her?"

Gilan thought for a moment, and then said, "Yes, I will. I've been meaning to take on an apprentice."

"What about Peter?" Cassandra asked. "Will you train him?"

"Horace, Cassandra may I speak with you outside?" Will said as he got up and walked out the door.

"What?" Horace asked as he followed his friend.

"I wanted to make sure Peter wouldn't hear my decision," Will said.

"And what is that?" Cassandra asked.

"Do you really want me to train him, I mean he is the crown prince?" Will asked he wanted to be absolutely sure.

This time Cassandra hesitated, she then looked at Horace and then said, "Yes."

"Ok, I'll train him. I want to give him a test tomorrow," Will said.

"You want to test him like what Halt did to you and Gilan?" Horace asked.

"Yes, I know that he has been practicing, but I want to know the full extent of his skills," Will said.