Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Ranger's Apprentice.

Aside from some initial moaning and groaning, Lucy did not complain that much about the tasks Halt set her. The next week passed with Lucy doing all the chores and then cooking supper. The time in between was filled with geography, history, and tracking lessons. On her second day of being Halt's apprentice, he took her to town to get her fitted the traditional ranger's cloak, some plain brown leggings, shirts, and leather boots. During her lessons, Halt had found out that Lucy was quite intelligent and studious. He'd almost say that she was more suited for Scribeschool or Courier training, were it not for her temper.

It was the middle of the afternoon and Lucy had just finished stacking some wood when Halt came out of the cottage carrying a bundle.

"Lucy!" he called, making her look towards him from her stretching. He jerked his head towards the tree-line. "Come with me." he said, heading towards the trees without about bothering to check to see if she was following.

Sure enough, he heard her light jogging come up behind him. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Halt said nothing.

"Are you finally going to start training me?" Lucy continued.

Halt only gave her a non-committal grunt in response.

Lucy mockingly mimicked his grunt and fell silent. Halt didn't have to look behind him to know she was scowling. They continued walking for about half an hour into the forest. When they stopped, Halt placed the bundle on the ground.

"You're going to be learning about the weapons you'll be using." said Halt.

He opened up the bundle to reveal a bow and two knives. Most of the bow followed one long curve like a normal longbow, but then each tip curved back in the opposite direction. The knives were in a double scabbard and set one above the other. The top knife was the shorter of the two. It had a thick, heavy grip made of a series of leather discs set one above the other. There was a brass crosspiece between the hilt and the blade and it had a matching brass pommel.

Halt picked up the bow. "This is called a recurve bow, it has less draw weight and less power than a longbow, but it serves it's purpose. Go ahead and take a look at it." he said, handing it to her.

She took it and examined it critically. "I think I'd feel better leaving the archery to Sagittarius."

"Sagittarius?"

Lucy nodded. "He's never missed anything yet."

"And just who is this, Sagittarius?" asked Halt.

Lucy's face lit up and she grabbed on of the keys attached to the small pouch at her waist. "Open, Gate of the Archer! I summon thee, Sagittarius!"

There was a flash of golden light, leaving a man standing in front of Lucy and facing Halt when the light faded. The man was wearing a ridiculous horse costume with some kind of green vest. On his back there was a full quiver of arrows, and in one hand was a finely crafted bow, he was saluting with the other hand.

"How can I help? Moshi, moshi." he asked.

"What just happened?" asked a very confused Halt.

"Didn't Crowley tell you? I'm a mage! A Celestial Mage to be specific. We can summon spirits from the celestial realm using keys. This is Sagittarius, one of my spirits." said Lucy.

"Moshi, moshi." Sagittarius added helpfully, still saluting.

"Yes, he told us you'd said you were a mage, he just didn't tell me what kind. I was just under the assumption that you could shoot fireballs out of your hands." Halt said, a little more harshly than he had intended.

"Fireballs? That usually not how fire magic works. I mean there are probably some fire mages who do shoot fireballs, but most don't. That isn't even in my area of magic. Fire magic is for ability types." Lucy said.

Halt pinched the bridge of his nose, most of what Lucy had said going over his head.

"Miss Lucy, if there is nothing needed, may I go?" asked Sagittarius.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Lucy pointed the key at him. "Gate close." she said, making the spirit disappear.

Halt held out his hand. "Give me the keys."

"What!" exclaimed Lucy, angling her key donned hip away from him, placing her hands protectively on the pouch.

"I don't need you summoning spirits willy-nilly, god knows I have enough worries without that. The next thing you know, you'll have an angry mob chasing you."

"But . . . they're my friends!"

"You'll get them back." Halt said, having no real intention to.

Ranger's operated on stealth, and if the earlier demonstration was anything to go by, Lucy, or at least her magic, was not stealthy. And for some reason, he had the feeling that the spirits could be troublesome. He could see that Lucy was still very hesitant just hand over her keys without knowing when she would see them again.

"I promise I'll keep them somewhere safe." he said.

That seemed to tip the scale. Lucy slowly removed her keys and placed them in his hand. "Just . . . don't drop them okay? Aquarius will kill me if her key is dropped again."

"I'll try not to," Halt assured, putting the keys in his pocket. "Now," he said, indicating the bow. "That bow design came from the Temujai."

"The Temujai?" asked Lucy, the idea of learning something new putting any thoughts about her keys to the back of her mind.

"Yes. They're fighting men from the east and are excellent archers." Halt elaborated.

"Have you met any?"

Halt gave a curt nod. "I suppose you could say that." He bent down again and picked up the double scabbard and unsheathed the longer one. "This is what you use when your enemy get's too close, but hopefully he won't get that close. It's balanced for throwing but it's strong enough to deflect a sword blow. It's crafted by the kingdom's finest weapon smiths, so take good care of it." He put the knife back in it's sheath and drew the shorter one. "This knife is designed for throwing, take good care of this one too."

Finished with his explanation, he gave the scabbard to Lucy, who attached it to her belt.

"Can I try out the bow?" she asked.

Halt shrugged and took a quiver full of arrows out of the bundle. "If you think it's a good idea." he said, handing it to her.

She slung the quiver over her shoulder and took one out. She nocked the arrow and placing the arrow between two of her fingers, she stood sideways as she drew. It looked like she was about to fire when she suddenly relaxed the bow. "Wait! Won't the string hit my arm?!" she exclaimed.

"It would." Halt agreed.

"And you were just going to let me fire?!"

"I was." Halt stated before he had to duck a rock that Lucy had thrown.

It was poor throw, more to vent some anger than out of any meaning of harm. But still, Halt hadn't been expecting it. "What was that about?!"

"You jerk! You were going to let me injure myself! What kind of mentor are you!?" Lucy yelled, her temper flaring.

"I was trying to teach you that you shouldn't rush into things." Halt said nonchalantly, stomping down the urge to raise his own voice.

"There are other ways to do that!" Lucy growled. She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Whatever! Just . . . get me something to protect my arm. Please?"

Halt sighed in defeat and grabbed the last item from the bundle, a leather arm-guard. Lucy took it and fastened to her arm. She gave Halt one last glare before drawing the bow again.

Before she released, Halt stated, "You're doing it wrong."

"Huh?" Lucy asked surprised.

Again, Halt sighed. "I said, you're doing it wrong. Hold the string with three fingers, not two."

Lucy relaxed the string again so she could do as Halt said.

"You're also drawing wrong. You're only using your arm muscles, you need to use your shoulder muscles too."

Lucy nodded and did as he said, using her arm and shoulder muscles to draw the bow and finding it easier to draw than before.

Halt had one last correction for her, though he waited a moment to say it. "Don't hold the bow, it'll throw off your shot. Just let it rest in your hand."

Lucy nodded and loosened her grip on the bow. Aiming carefully for a tree, she drew a deep breath to help her relax. She took another deep breath and, as she exhaled, let the string slip through her fingers. The bow thrummed and the arrow flew true until it slammed into her target with a satisfying 'thwok'.

She stared at the quivering arrow for a few moments in disbelief. Then, slowly, what could only be described as a thousand watt smile, lit up her face. "I hit it!" she exclaimed victoriously, jumping up in the air. "I can't believe I actually hit it!"

Halt allowed himself a small smile, if it could called that. It was more of a tiny, almost imperceptible upward twitch of the corners of his mouth. He let her have her little moment in victory before he shot her down to land face down in the dirt.

"Not bad for a first try. But you're going to need to be lot more accurate than that if you ever want to be a ranger. And do you know how you're going to go about getting that accurate?"

Lucy had known the shot could have been more accurate, so she wasn't that crestfallen when Halt had said so. To be honest, Halt was a little surprised at her response, and a little disappointed that he hadn't put much of a damper on her mood.

"Practice?" she said.

"Yep, lots and lots of practice." Halt stated, attempting once again to trip her.

In response, she merely shrugged. "Well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect."

'Maybe I'm starting to lose my touch.' Halt thought. "Yes, it does." he said curtly, a little miffed now that Lucy wasn't biting. 'Is it because she's optimistic? No, it worked on Gilan. Perhaps she's not afraid of a little hard work?'

He looked as Lucy and she flashed him a bright smile, irritating him further.

"Do I get to learn how to use a sword too?" she asked.

Halt looked at her as if he was questioning her sanity. "We're ranger's, we prefer to do our fighting from a distance."

"I know but just seems . . . " Lucy trailed off.

He could already see where this was going. He prodded her to finish, "Seems . . . what?"

She looked dismayed. "I don't know! It just seems, I don't know how else to say this, but it just seems . . . cowardly."

"Says the girl who hides behind magical spirits." Halt defended.

At that moment, Halt was very lucky looks couldn't kill. "I do not "hide" behind them! I fight with them. I'm not like the celestial mages that use their spirits as shields or tools.

Halt could have thrown another verbal barb, but decided against it. There was no point in starting a fight with her. Every time he threw one, it was either almost completely ineffective, or maybe just a little too effective, as was just demonstrated. "Just forget it. We should start heading back." he said, turning and walking back towards the cottage.

Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.

animelove9890, thank you for pointing out the typo, it has been fixed. I do try to proof read the chapters, but some mistakes will slip by me.