Just an idea I had as a one-shot. Somewhat OTT and OOC as I have a feeling Halt would have taught Will how to spot inedibleish mushrooms. Not very realistic either as I doubt that hallicinations caused by eating mushrooms actually works this way (so I'm not actually speaking from experience, just to clear that up).
Disclaimer: If you do decide to go out and pick random mushrooms as Will did I have no part in the matter. Please note that picking random mushrooms and cooking them is not very good for your health (in particular if they are ones with hallucinogec properties and/or cause death or severe pain). So just beware of the mushrooms...
Keyboard cookies to whoever spots the Hobbit reference XD
Halt sipped appreciativly at his morning coffee and leaned back in his chair eyeing the various offical documents before him with an air of something close to distaste. He had never enjoyed the paperwork, in fact, he was yet to meet a Ranger who did. He sighed and took a sip of the bitter brew, trying to summon up the enthusiasm to get started on it.
Just as he was beginning to rifle through the small stack of papers he heard the door to Will's room creak open then swing shut.
'Morning Will,' said Halt, without looking up, 'coffee's on the stove.'
He glanced up briefly at his apprentice, watching the teenager amble over to the pot of coffee with a bleary-eyed expression on his face, the grizzled Ranger arched an eyebrow as he saw the state of his apprentice's hair, he made a mental note to get the lad to cut it sometime. Yawning hugely Will poured himself a cup of coffee then mechanically began to spoon in the honey, Halt raised his eyebrow again as he saw the amount his apprentice was putting into the cup, naturally forgetting the amount he had a tendency to put in.
Halt waited for his apprentice to sit down when he did (actually, it was more of a slump) he shoved aside and letter and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. Will looked up and paid attention recognizing that his mentor was about to give out the day's instructions.
'Will,' said Halt, 'I'm going out for a few hours today, I'll be leaving come noon and I'll be back for tea.'
Will nodded and raised his coffee cup to his lips, the caffine was by now beginning to wake him.
Halt however hadn't finished speaking, with an edge to his voice he continued, 'And I will be leaving you to cook the dinner.'
Will paused, his cup a few centimetres away from his lips.
His mentor was silent for a few moments, briefly considering the wisdom of leaving Will alone to cook the dinner, it wasn't something he had done before and he remembered the first time it had happened with Gilan...
'So,' carried on Halt quickly as the memories came back of that fateful day, 'I don't want you setting fire to the kitchen or burning down the house, if you don't mind.'
Will nodded, the coffee cup still frozen, suspended in it's arc towards his mouth.
Another thought occured suddenly to Halt, 'And I don't want you negelecting your training either,' he considered briefly waiting around undercover for a little while to make sure his apprentice was going to actually train and not just lounge around the cabin with his feet up and get through the whole coffee supply.
Will nodded, his expression one of total (potential) obedience, 'Yes Halt.'
Halt still hesitated, 'Just be careful with the stove,' he stopped, realising he was sounding at little bit too protective.
'I'll be fine Halt,' said Will cheerfully.
'Right,' said Halt, brushing aside (almost) all of his doubts, 'of course you will.'
That afternoon...
Halt grabbed his cloak of the hook by the door and slung it on, throwing aside the flap covering his quiver which he wore underneath his cloak, even though it was very unlikely anything should happen on his way to Redmont Castle he knew better than to become complacant.
He turned to his apprentice who sat staring at a map of Redmont Fief with glazed eyes.
'Make sure you've memorized it by the time I get back,' said Halt trying not to smile at the expression of boredom on Will's face, 'geography is very important,' he added sensing the need to continuously drive that point home.
'Yes Halt,' came the reply, though there was a note of doubt there.
'And another thing, please leave me some coffee,' Halt sensed that he would return and there would be no more of his precious supply left if Will was left to his own devices with the brew.
'Yes Halt,' repeated Will.
Halt stood there on the threshold of the doorway for a few moments before mentally slapping himself, he was acting like a worried old mother hen. Briskly he turned, 'I will see you later then, Will.'
He heard the murmured reply as his apprentice looked up again from the map.
With an air of finality the ranger pushed the door closed and marched down the steps, whistling for Abelard, he'd saddled the horse a little earlier so all that needed to be done was to tighten the girth or the result could be a little awkward if it was left loose.
Halt shot a last, quick glance over his shoulder at the cabin.
Everything will be fine, you're just over re-acting.
Halt glanced at Abelard who was staring closely at him, 'You think?' he asked his horse with a wry smile.
Abelard snorted You are such a worry-wort.
'And with good reason,' responded Halt swinging up into his horse's saddle, 'don't you remember what happened the first time I left Gilan alone to cook the dinner?'
His horse made a strange whickering sound, pretty much the equine equivelant of a laugh, how could I forget? If Gilan hadn't burnt his hands you would have made him sleep up that fir tree.
Halt grinned a little at the memory, it had taken a few months before he had regained the nerve to let Gilan loose in the kitchen again.
Besides, Will is a better cook than Gilan, I'm sure he'll be fine.
Halt sighed, 'You're right, I'm worrying about nothing.' He straightened up in the saddle a little, 'I have nothing to worry about,' he said with a more confident air. Though, as he rode further and further away from the cabin, Halt couldn't help but feel something wasn't quite right.
Will peered cautiously out of the window, he watched as his mentor rode off, mounted on Abelard, through the trees and down the path leading through the woods to Redmont Castle.
As his mentor was lost to his sight he breathed a quiet sigh of relief and turned to stare at the map on the table with some disdain. For a few moments, he stood there, weighing up what he should do.
Leave the map? Study the map?
He chewed his lip, undecided, eventually he came to a decision, he marched past the map and grabbed his cloak, quiver and bow off the hook by the door and marched out. It was a lovely day, he thought, so he may as well practice some archery, what with the Gathering coming up.
Will leaped down the steps and stood in the centre of the clearing, he could do the map reading when he had finished practicing archery, after all, that was the most important part of being a Ranger, wasn't it? There were a few misgivings still in his mind but he shrugged them off, at least he was still practicing some of his skills.
Decisivly he plucked an arrow from his quiver and placed it on the string of his Longbow, Halt had given it to him after he had grown out of his recurve bow, the Longbow wasn't anyway near as big as Halt's but it was still capable of a powerful shot.
As Will began to fire his first few shots he quickly shrugged off any remaining misgivings about procrastinating over his geography, he would do later.
He would.
Three hours later...
Will yawned, stretched out lazily in Halt's armchair, a mug of coffee in one hand and a map of Redmont Fief on his lap. The former he sipped with an air of ecstacy, he latter he eyed with an expression of extreme distaste.
He had spent the last three hourse practicing archery, stealth, knife defence, unarmed combat, tracking and tree-climbing, everything in fact apart from geography.
'I suppose I had better get on with the dinner,' he remarked to himself, seeing how the shadows were beginning to lengthen, 'I can do this while it's cooking.'
He nodded to himself, satisfied that he had a plan.
The apprentice swung to his feet and quickly brushed out the chair, hopefully his mentor wouldn't notice he had been sitting on it.
Will wandered over to the store cuboards and opened them all. Taking a step back he stood there and eyed what little food remained in them. It was the day before the two rangers were due to stock up again of food and little remained. The apprentice eyed the few ingredients with a woeful eye. There was hardly anything. Just a few small carrots, basic seasoning, some wine, bread...
And idea suddenly hit him, he knew that there was quite a large number of mushrooms around the back of the cabin, growing in the shady, damp area under the trees. Halt had taught him a little bit about foraging for mushrooms in one of their fieldcraft classes. Pleased that he had come upon an idea for a good dinner Will snatched up a wodden bowl from under the work surface and hurried out of the cabin.
Once at the wooded area behind the cabin Will looked over the assortment of mushrooms growing. He chewed his lip. Suddenly, he wondered whether this was a good idea, the large variety of the fungi growing was a little overwhelming. Quickly, he shrugged off his misgivings, he would be fine.
What are you doing?
Will turned around from his position (which was kneeling on the ground) to see Tug standing behind him, looking a little quizzical, which was an interesting expression for a horse to wear.
'Picking mushrooms,' said Will with a triumphant air as he tugged up a particulary big one.
Tug snorted doubtfully, Aren't some mushrooms poisonous?
'Well...yes, but I've been taught about that sort of thing.'
The small horse made a harrumphing sound, still not looking convinced.
Will sniffed, 'Look, I'm a Ranger, I know about this sort of thing; anyway you're a horse, you don't eat mushrooms.'
With good reason, some mushrooms are poisonous.
'Well these aren't.'
How do you know?
There was a moments silence.
'Halt taught me to identify which mushrooms are poisonous,' Will said eventually, he refrained from mentioning that it had only been a brief lesson, but he was still fairly confident that the species he was picking was edible.
Tug eyed the bowl of mushrooms with an air of some misgiving, Well, you go ahead and eat them, I'll stick with grass and apples.
'You do that,' Will suddenly frowned, 'what apples?'
Tug whickered nervously and quickly turned around and trotted off leaving Will kneeling there staring after his horse with a suspicious expression on his face.
After a few moments the teen turned back to his haul and looked at it with a pleased expression on his face, 'Right then,' he said eagerly, 'time to start cooking.'
Will pulled the lid off the pot and sniffed appreciativly at the fragrant aroma's which driffted out from the pot. He unconsciously licked his lips as he eyed up the soup which was bubbling away.
Will looked up and then promptly jumped out of his skin as he saw a large brown eye staring in through the open window.
'Don't do that,' he said exasperated, 'you almost gave me a heart attack!'
Tug snorted, poking in his nose through the window and sniffing at the soup, You're supposed to be an all-knowing Ranger, competley aware of your surroundings.
Will glared at his horse, 'Get your face out of the house, Halt would send you back to Old Bob if he saw you doing that.'
Tug eyed Will balefully, Well Halt's not here and it would appear that both of us are taking advantage of that fact.
'I don't know what you mean,' came the prim reply.
Geography, came the fateful response.
'Get out of here,' sighed Will, swatting Tug lightly over the nose, he felt a twinge of guilt that he hadn't done his geography, Halt would be annoyed. He stood there, shifting from one foot to the other a little uncomfortably for a few moments.
Oh well, he thought with a shrug, he'd do it right after he had some soup...
Halt cantered Abelard down the small forest path winding up to his cabin. He sniffed the air, the frangrant smell of cooking driffted on the breeze, mixed with a subtle smell of woodsmoke. He sighed quietly with relief, it was only a subtle smell and not accompanied by burning which meant that the cabin was (hopefully) still standing.
As the two came in sight of the cabin Halt had to stop himself from letting out a quiet sigh of relief. His house was intact.
Told you, said Abelard, sounding a little smug, then, you owe me an apple.
Halt raised an eyebrow, 'Oh do I?' He dismounted easily and smoothly took off his horse's rein and saddle. Abelard shook himself in that funny vibrating manner then let out a brief whinny of pleasure.
'Oh come off it,' said Halt with a slight smile, 'you've hardly been in it today.'
Well, I've been in it for long enough, thank-you.
Halt rolled his eyes and turned away, quickly stashing the bridle and saddle in the corner of the stable.
'Hello Tug,' he said, seeing the stocky horse standing there, he gave Will's horse a brief pat on the neck, 'Will been doing his homework?'
Halt wasn't competly sure but he had a sense that there was some doubt emenating from Tug.
His expression darkened, 'If your Ranger has been slacking off homework, there will be trouble.'
Tug let out a long neigh, it sounded almost like he was laughing.
Halt turned and exited the stable, striding across the clearing then quickly walked up the steps to his cabin. With another appreciative sniff of the fragrant aroma's drifting from within he opened the door.
'Hello Will-' he words were adruptedly cut off as the Ranger froze in the doorway.
His aprentice was sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by a chain of daisies and singing to himself. As soon as he saw Halt, Will lept to his feet and flung his arms around his mentor's waist. '
'Halt!' he gasped, 'you're back! I missed you so much!' he giggled like a four-year old and Halt noticed that his pupils were strangely large, before he turned around and started skipping, and he was literally skipping, across the floor of the cabin to the kitchen area.
'I saved you some soup!' he exclaimed bounding over to Halt with a bowl full of the substance.
Halt slowly closed the door, 'What is the matter with you?' He cautiously took the bowl off his apprentice and eyed it suspiciously.
Will giggled, 'I'm just so happy!' he skipped around the cabin singing for a few more moments before sitting down on the floor, he grabbed a section of the daisy chain and placed it on his head, 'Don't I look pretty?' he asked Halt with a massive smile of his face.
The dumb-struck Ranger just stood there, staring at his apprentice with an expression of undisguised astonishment on his face.
Will suddenly ceased rocking and stared up Halt, 'Can I plait your beard?' he asked looking hopeful.
The words struck Halt out of his reviere. He cautiously stepped around Will and marched over to the kitchen; placing down the bowl Halt eyed the ingredients that Will had used. He could see that the vegtables had been used up, but this soup was mushroom and they didn't have any mushrooms...
Halt got a sinking feeling, he sighed deeply and turned to Will who was by now performing a duet with an invisible bird.
'Will?' he asked, 'where did you get the mushrooms?'
'They came down from the sky,' he shrieked, then collapsed backwards giggling hysterically.
Halt's eyes fell upon the bowl which Will had used to gather the mushrooms, there were a few stray ones left in there, Halt picked one up. He sighed, quickly putting two and two together.
'Will,' he said patiently, too patiently in fact, 'what did I tell you about forgaing?'
Will pushed out his bottom lip and made exagerated sighs as he tried to think of the answer, 'It's really good for your health?'
'No, I said that you shouldn't pick anything that may potentially be harmful, and this is especially true for mushrooms.'
'They've addled his brain and yellowed his teeth!' yelled Will, then burst out laughing again.
Halt stared at his apprentice, rolling on the floor hysterically, sighing the quickly poured the mushroom soup out the window and tossed the remaining mushrooms out after it.
As he brushed off his hands, Halt became aware that the room had gone quiet, Will was no longer laughing. He turned to see his apprentice staring at him, an expression of devestation on his face.
'Halt,' he said miserably, 'why did you pour my creation out the window?' his bottom lip trembled, 'didn't you like it?'
Halt winced, he hadn't forseen this.
Will suddenly stiffened, 'I don't like you anymore,' he said with an air of finallity, 'I'm leaving,' he spun around and marched, stiff-backed out the door.
Halt stared blankly after Will for a few moments, then, with a sigh followed him, 'Better make sure he doesn't do anything stupid,' he sighed to himself, ruefully he thought of the dinner he would never have, he had been looking forward to sitting down to that after a hard afternoon's work.
As he stepped outside he paused and looked quickly around, 'Will?' he called into the darkness, 'where are you?'
The answer came in the form of a long, drawn-out and unmistakeably human impression of a wolf howl. Halt turned around and his eyes widened, his apprentice was stood on the roof of the cabin, howling at the moon.
'Great,' he sighed, now what?
Abelard and Tug trotted up behind him, Halt turned to glanced at Abelard and raised an eyebrow, 'See, I told you something would happen.'
Abelard seemed to shrug, Well, he didn't burn down the house, I suppose that's something.
'Yes, but now he thinks he's a werewolf for goodness sake!'
Halt flinched as Will suddenly slipped on a particulary damp tile and lost his footing, he watched, helpless, as his apprentice started to slide down the roof, slowly gathering speed.
Tug let out an anxious whinny and Abelard shifted nervously from hoof to hoof.
Will however, didn't seem to be worried at all, he let out a loud laugh and giggled, 'Wheeeeeeee!' he exclaimed as he went flying off the roof and landed with a solid thump on the ground.
Halt winced and hurried over to his apprentice, suspecting that he had at least broken an ankle, instead, his apprentice leaped to his feet with a whoop, 'Did you see that!' he shrieked, 'That was awesome!'
Halt sighed, 'Wonderful,' he muttered.
'Do you think so?' gasped Will sounding a little like an over-enthusiastic teenage girl.
Halt narrowed his eyes at Will and coming to a quick decision, grabbed his apprentice by the back of his cloak and dragged him into the cabin with a grim expression on his face. Halt studiously ignored the protests his apprentice was shouting and then practically threw Will down in a nearby chair once in the cabin.
'Right,' said Halt marching over to the door and firmly bolting it shut, 'I think that's enough dangerous stunts for one day,' he glowered at Will, 'I'm not having you breaking a leg.'
Will didn't appear to be listening, he was gazing at a far-off point on the wall with a distant expression on his face, softly singing Greybeard Halt to himself.
'And stop singing that!' bellowed Halt.
The singing stopped immediately and Will gazed at Halt his bottom lip trembling, 'Don't you like it Halt?' he asked his voice quivering.
Halt tried not to groan, he was sure Gilan hadn't caused this much trouble...he quickly amended that thought, of course he had.
Later...
Halt sat on his chair which he has propped against the cabin's door, neatly preventing Will from making a break for freedom outside.
His apprentice was sat cross-legged on the floor playing with imaginary rabbits.
Halt sighed.
Hopefully it would wear off soon.
Even more later...
Will skipped around the room signing Greybeard Halt loudly. He seemed to think he was in the middle of a magical glade skipping through beds of flowers.
Halt's eyes were glassy.
Suddenly, Will tripped over his own feet and went flying through the air. He came down on the floor with a solid thump and his head slammed into the floorboards with the solid thunk.
Halt stared at his apprentice.
He wasn't moving.
Hurriedly, the Ranger got to his feet and went over to him. Halt breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Will was breathing, however he'd knocked himself unconscious and had a lovely gash on his scalp.
Halt sighed and awkwardly picked up Will, taking him to his room.
At least he wasn't singing anymore.
The next morning...
Will groaned as he slowly started to wake up, his head was pounding and he felt awful.
'Oh good, you're awake,' said a familiar voice.
Will cautiously opened his eyes, grimacing at the early morning light flooding into his bedroom. As his blurry vision started to clear he saw Halt slumped against his doorway nursing a cup of coffee and looking shattered.
'You look great,' muttered Will thickly.
Halt smiled grimly, 'Well, you don't look so good yourself.'
Will frowned a little as hazy memories of the previous night began to creep back, 'What exactly happened last night?' he asked.
Halt glared at Will, 'Let's just say that you aren't going to be left alone to cook for a while.'
He turned to leave then paused, 'Oh, and the books on the cabinet beside your bed are for homework, I expect you to have memorized it by the time this month is up.'
Will turned gingerly, his head pounding with each movement, a thick, dusty book was lying on his cabinet Will narrowed his eyes as he deciphered the archaic script on the side of the book.
Mushrooms and their Uses.
Bleugh, didn't really like this one, anyways, the next few one-shots will feature Gilan instead of Will, hope you have a nice New Year everyone!
