A/N: Because I seem to be incapable of actually updating the "And the Sun Comes Up", I have made the poor choice to begin a different story, from an entirely different fandom. I hope you enjoy the results of this decision.
"You've been away a long time, Halt." Crowley looked at him across the fire, "Things have changed. Will isn't a just boy anymore."
"Yes, he is." Halt scoffed, "He's still an apprentice if I remember correctly."
"You haven't seen him yet, Halt."
"When exactly does he plan on coming?" Halt asked, "I've been away for almost 2 years. Is that not good enough reason for a visit?"
"He had a few things he needed to attend to first." Crowley said. "He should get here early tomorrow. It's late: we'd better get some sleep."
The next morning, Halt woke up unnecessarily early in anticipation of seeing his apprentice again. Halt sat on the porch of the cabin for hours, waiting for Will to arrive.
"Don't be surprised if he seems distracted," Crowley joined him on the porch. "He's got a lot on his mind."
"Like what?"
"Just a lot." Crowley was still wondering how Will handled as much as he did while still never seeming to be busy. He could commonly be found at his and Halt's cottage in the woods, practicing his archery or dual knife defense. Occasionally Gilan came over and taught him a few new techniques to practice, or sometimes a different ranger came and taught. Sometimes even Crowley himself did. Crowley had jokingly gave him the title of community apprentice.
Halt stood abruptly and watched the horizon as he saw a single person on horseback come over the hill. Crowley inwardly smiled to himself as Halt shifted his weight, doing all he could to keep himself from running up before Will got there. He could tell Halt was trying to act uninterested, as if he still saw Will everyday, but he was failing terribly.
Halt was slightly confused as Will urged Tug past the house and towards the stables. Will generally greeted him first. Ten minutes later, Will walked up to the porch. Halt expected Will to run up and give him a crushing hug, as always was his greeting after the two had been separated for awhile, but he didn't. He addressed Crowley first, shaking his hand. Then a smile inched onto his face as he turned to Halt. Halt stopped for a moment, doing something Will had never seen him do before. Halt was staring at him.
Will frowned. "Is my hood on wrong?" he asked.
"Uh- no, no. It's just-" Halt cleared his throat. "You've grown. A lot." Halt looked up at Will who was now several inches taller than him.
"That's generally what happens when time passes." Will smirked.
In the time Halt had been gone, Will's face had begun to turn from that of a boy's to that of a man's. His skin had tanned in a way that only days of hard riding could tan it, and his hair was cut shorted and more ragged. It looked darker that way, but Halt could still detect highlights of the brilliant blond that it had once been.
Halt subconsciously ran a hand through Will's hair, and down the side of his face as he took in the changes that had occurred to his apprentice.
Will raised a hand to meet Halt's, gently grabbing it and removing it from his face, concern showing in his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Will asked. "You're acting... strangely."
Crowley hid a smile as Halt quickly came up with a recovery.
"I could say the same thing about you." Halt answered, "I hope your archery skills have improved since I last saw you."
Will gave a slight chuckle, "Pretty awful, weren't they?"
Again, Halt was caught off guard, this time, by Will's voice. It had deepened so much since Halt had left.
Crowley was having quite a good time watching Halt and Will. Halt, for the first time that Will had seen, was acting on impulse and emotion. Will, Crowley could tell, was unsettled by it, thinking there was something wrong with Halt. Halt had never exactly been open with his affection for his apprentice, but after being gone for so long, it wasn't as easy to conceal.
"Let's see, you're a third year now, right?" Halt asked.
Will nodded, "It's going by too fast. I could use a little more time to absorb all the information."
Crowley rolled his eyes and Halt caught it, then started staring at Crowley expectantly.
"What was that Crowley?" Halt asked, "Something you need to add?"
"He's having no issues keeping up, despite what he says." Crowley said, "He's got the second highest overall score in examinations ever on record. Second only to yours, Halt."
Halt looked his apprentice over again. "Some room for improvement then, isn't there?"
Conversation slowly shifted from a reunion to a discussion of the conditions of Halt's return.
"So the Tenjing were paid by Gormag to kidnap Halt and keep him alive and out of the way until Gormag could deal with him?" Will asked.
"That's what seems to be the case." Crowley nodded, "It does seem strange though, that Gormag would use outsiders."
"Especially with how important Halt seems to be to him. I wonder why he went outside of the ring." Will agreed.
Crowley shrugged, "Who knows?"
There was a momentary lull in conversation, only to have it broken once again by Will.
"Did you hear about the riot at Kaylsnem?"
"No, hasn't made it's way here yet. What's going on?" Crowley asked.
"Apparently it's going to be Husmial all over again, " Will answered, "Thankfully though, it seems to be at a smaller scale."
"Does it warrant our help?"
"I don't think so. They should be able to handle it." Will shook his head, "James and Harrison have their ears to the ground. I'm hoping to pick up something that way, but I'm not sure it'll be talked about so far away."
"It should be. Not top notch news maybe, but it should at least be discussed among the royals, and therefore the guard." Crowley said, "And if it's not discussed, I doubt there's anything to worry about."
"But it could be if the Danah get involved." Will pointed out.
Halt was by now hopelessly confused and hopelessly irritated. He hated not knowing what they were talking about. He was unused to being the one in the dark.
"Alright, someone tell me what's going on." Halt said.
"Right, sorry, Halt." Will pulled a map out of his pocket, then proceeded to explain who the kingdom was allies with, and who they were enemies with.
What startled Halt the most was that Skandia had become two nations, Skandia, and now Anak.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! How'd that happe?" Halt asked.
"There was a rebellion, some of the Skandians decided that Erak's views weren't in line with traditional Skandian values. They elected a new learder and promised to cause trouble if Erak didn't step down from his position as Oberjarl." Will explained.
"Give me some numbers."
"The nation was split pretty well in half. Maybe a few more on the rebel side." Will answered, "Crowley sent Gilan over there to help them come up with a compromise, and Gilan requested me as backup."
"Who tended his fief?" Halt asked.
"David went to his fief, and a final year tended to David's. Speaking of which, where is Roy?"
"Those cattle thieves came back." Crowley said,"There were only three of them so I sent him to deal with them."
"Never give up, do they?" Will sighed, "You'd think they'd have gotten the message by now."
"They're definitely persistent." Crowley shrugged, "May as well be routine by now."
Will nodded. Halt was still staring at the map.
"A lot has happened." He muttered to himself. After inspecting the map a while longer, he glanced up to Crowley and Will who were discussing the happenings in near by fiefs. Will seemed a lot more at ease around Crowley than he had previously been, implying that they had spent quite a lot of time together those past two years. Will also seemed to be more informed as to the happenings than he had been as well. More than that, he seemed to be more involved. They ate a brunch inside Crowley's cottage as Will got Halt up to date on the happenings in Redmount.
"Who's been tending my fief?" Halt asked, not having heard a name mentioned.
"Gil-" Will answered, but was cut off.
"Depends on how you want to count it, but according to the books, Gilan." Crowley said, eyeing Will.
"Who's taken Gilan's fief?" Halt asked.
"No one." Crowley said.
"So he's got two fiefs?" Halt was thoroughly confused.
"Sort of. Will has been running Redmount under Gilan's supervision." Crowley said.
"But- he's just an apprentice!" Halt exclaimed.
"And he's also the only one who knew Redmount well enough to do the job." Crowley shrugged, "It was only going to be temporary until we came up with a better option.
"Besides," Will said, "it doesn't matter now. You're back."
"Still, you were alone in that fief!" Halt said, "What would you have done if something big happened and you couldn't contact Gilan? What if it had to be taken care of right then?"
"Then I would do what had to be done." Will said, "Now, you're back in control of your fief, I'm your apprentice, and everything can go back to normal now. No big deal."
"What about Pravine?" Crowley commented.
"Alright, the new normal." Will adjusted, "Again, no big deal. Things have changed before and they'll change again. It's part of our training to adapt to the situation."
"What is Pravine?" Halt asked.
"It's Gaelic for persevere." Will said.
"I know that," Halt rolled his eyes, "what is it in this context?"
"It's hard to explain."Will said, "Pravine is a subdivision of the ranger corps. It consists of all the apprentices."
"Why would you need to do that?" Halt asked.
"They formed it so they would still have order and leadership in the even that something happened to us." Crowley explained.
"Us as in, all the rangers?"
"Yes." Will confirmed.
"Like that's going to happen." Halt said sarcastically.
Will and Crowley glanced at each other.
"It did."
A/N: Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger, but AP chem is calling my name. I should have started on it at 2:00 and it's 5:00 now. I will regret my procrastination later, but hopefully you guys won't regret reading the results!