When I woke up, I found that Marissa had had my uniform cleaned for me. For all her annoyingness, that girl can be a saint at times.

I tugged on the gray tunic and gray-green leggings and my cloak. I carefully checked for any problems with my arrows, before swinging the quiver over my shoulder and grabbing the bow and heading for the door.

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

I whirled on Missy, all thoughts of thanking her dissipating like mist in the sunlight. "MARISSA!"

She laughed aloud. "Did Will Treaty tell you that I just got accepted as an apprentice?" She asked excitedly.

"People need to stop sneaking up on me." I grumbled. Then, more to myself, "I need to get a better hang of this whole looking around thing."

"Yeah you do!"

I nudged her with my elbow. "I bet I'm a better Ranger than you."

"Only because you've been an apprentice longer!"

"And because I have inborn talent."

"You can't sit still for more than a minute!"

"Neither can you, and I had to teach you to climb trees!"

"You're both going to be late." Halt interrupted coolly. I turned to see him just inside the door.

"Will you all stop doing that?" I demanded. "I'd like some semblance of privacy, if just for a while!"

He raised an eyebrow at my outburst, a danger sign Marissa and I studiously ignored.

"We're coming, sheesh." She muttered.

I elbowed her and we burst into laughter again.

X-x-X-x-X

We rode over a crest in a hill and a large wooded area came into view. "Welcome to the Seacliff Fief Official Ranger Apprentice Training camp." Will said, sweeping a demonstrating arm towards the forest.

"Very nice. I like what you've done with the trees." A rather distinctive feminine voice said.

I turned to the speaker and raised an eyebrow. She'd joined up with the group a little ways away from Redmont. I gathered it was Elizabeth from the fact that she stuck with Will.

The girl between her and Gilan laughed. From that, I could surmise the other girl was Adrianne.

"Good Lord, Gilan, Will, can't you get your apprentices to shut up?"

"Oh, give them a break, Halt. You were just like that when you were an apprentice." Crowley nudged him with his elbow. "Seriously, girls. He was exactly like you, except, well..."

"A guy?" I suggested.

That just made the tall blonde girl on Crowley's other side burst out laughing. That would be Annabel.

"I really don't see what's so funny."

"Ah, it's a thing amongst youths, Halt. You wouldn't understand."

"Will you understand him slapping you, Will?" I asked. "Just wondering."

Now Marissa was laughing, and Annabel and Adrianne both rejoined the merriment.

I cocked an eyebrow at them, and Elizabeth caught my eye and grinned. "I'm thinking that all of this group, right up to Crowley, needs to consider rethinking their career and perhaps becoming jongluers."

"Will knows all about that sort of tomfoolery." Halt scoffed.

"Did you really just use the word tomfoolery? Sheesh, Halt, how old are you?" Elizabeth teased.

Will raised a Halt-like eyebrow at Elizabeth. "It's really not a good idea to make Rangers mad."

I couldn't resist. I really couldn't. "Really, Will? I never noticed that. I never once felt the wrath of a Ranger, and I once drugged sixteen frogs—" I started.

Missy cut me off to correct me. "Seventeen toads."

"Thank you," I said, nodding to her. "I once drugged seventeen toads, wrapped them in a wet towel, put them in a pillow case with fragrant herbs to mask the smell, and replaced a certain Ranger's pillow with it so that when he laid down, a whole bunch of muddled toads woke up and started hopping around." I high-fived Marissa with a grin.

"That was you?" Will cried. "I've been blaming Gil!"

"I told you it wasn't me." Gilan said, shrugging.

Marissa and Rosabel both started laughing, and all of the other apprentices—except the dark haired girl in the back and the boy, Henry—laughed too.

Even Halt looked amused. Well, as amused as he ever gets. Will swears he smiles when you get to know him better. I'm just not able to picture that.

I heard Will cough, and every single person covered their faces with their hands instinctively.

We'd learned from the Sickness- every cough can be a symptom of the deadly illness lurking. The Sickness had killed my mother, indirectly led to Alyss and Jenny's deaths, and caused hundreds others to die.

It was also the reason Marissa was now permanently living with me and had been for two years—her entire family had died in the very first wave of the epidemic.

Redmont had been safe enough after Alyss and Jenny had gone missing- Gilan, Will, and Halt had combed the swamps looking for them and hence came across Azaor, the herb that had cured the Sickness.

My mother was the reason the pair had set out, and she died because they couldn't get Azaor and escape the swamp.

Now everyone was terrified that it would return; an especially worrying thought because the swamps near Redmont had flooded this year and killed the Azaor. The only swamplands with Azoar still growing were in the fief northwest of Seacliff, and they were apparently even more treacherous than the ones in Redmont, with deeper pits of mud and peat and water and more trees tangled with thick vines that refused to allow sunlight in.

But he didn't cough anymore, so we all breathed deeply and kept riding.

Soon enough, we reached the training area. It was a huge clearing in the middle of the woods, with a cabin that looked like Halts except stretched out much longer and with three chimneys.

"I just realized you all were never introduced. This is Adrianne, my apprentice."

Gilan gestured to the tall girl beside Elizabeth, who had red-tinted light brown hair, freckles, and dark green eyes.

"I'm Marissa."

"I'm Annabel Lee!" That was the tall blonde girl.

Elizabeth, who had short dark brown hair paired with pointy features and wide brown eyes, spoke up next. "I'm Elizabeth, better known as Bessie."

"I'm Anne." Added the dark haired girl with green eyes. "I guess you can call me Annie."

"I'm Henry."

"I'm Rosabel. It's not pronounced like the flower, and I never, ever go by Rose or Bell."

"I guess we mentors should introduce ourselves. It'll be a bit quicker. Harrison, Killean, Will, Halt, Meralon, and Crowley. I'm Gilan."

"Right. Now, let's actually try to get some training in before we chat the daylight away."

Three guesses who that was? You won't believe it. It was Halt.

I led Belladonna, my horse, to the stables and tied her there securely. "I'll bring you an apple before I go to sleep tonight, Donna." She nuzzled me with her soft brown nose and I stroked the white spot on her forehead.

"You really get along well with your horse."

I spun like a top to see Elizabeth.

"We practically grew up together. I begged and begged until I got a Ranger horse of my own. She was just a foal then."

"Why'd you name her Belladonna?"

"Her kicks are about as deadly as belladonna."

"You like herbs?" She sat on the edge of one of the stalls to listen to my response.

"Yeah, I guess. I drugged a few frogs… toads… hung flowers in the stables to help cover the smell… just simple homey stuff."

"We used to string lavender and mint from the rafters."

"Used to?" I guessed.

"Now we sell them to make a profit, because it apparently helps the symptoms of the Sickness."

I shuddered at the thought of the Sickness.

She noticed it immediately. "Who'd you lose?"

"My mother. Did you lose anyone?"

"No." She said, scanning me. "Are you related to Gilan?"

"Yeah, he's my mother's brother. How'd you tell?"

"Your hair is the exact same color, and you both have a slight dusting of freckles on your noses. And I guess your nose is like his, except more feminine."

"Observant, aren't you? You'll make a great Ranger. Friends?" I added, holding out a hand.

Elizabeth shook it. "At your own risk." She said, and I hoped she was joking. I could tell Elizabeth would be a dangerous enemy, but it was possible that she'd make an even more dangerous friend.

"You've got a thing for Will." She commented. "How long have you known him?"

I didn't bother denying anything. It'd just be a waste of breath. "Two years. I was at Halt's wedding, not that he saw me then. He had Alyss.

"Not that I didn't like Alyss, of course. She was just too calm and steady, whereas I'm spontaneous and mischievous. She was too girly, even though she never acted all air-headed. She wouldn't have beaten up the village boys for poking her horse with long sticks; she'd have spoken to them."

"Village boys?"

"I told them to leave Belladonna alone." I answered without a trace of chagrin.

"Are you girls ever going to stop chatting and come inside?" Halt snapped from the doorway. "We're waiting to take everyone on a quick tour." He added.

I was ready with a comeback by that time. "I thought we're supposed to be getting to know each other."

At the exact same time, Elizabeth answered, "Will's my mentor, not you." I turned back to Halt, expecting him to get in her face.

He just grunted and turned away. Apparently Halt was amused.