And it's done! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot to me ^^
Crowley had been pleased to know that Halt and his little group had arrived back to Araluen alive, no one died or had been left in Hibernia. And from what little he got out of the first messenger that came from Redmont, they had been looking healthy. Yes, Crowley's day couldn't be better; he was finally on the top of his paperwork, was enjoying a hot cup of lovely coffee, and of course, he had to go immediately tell the news to the King.
However, that all changed when Horace returned, carrying Halt and Will's reports on the mission with him. He had asked the young knight how the mission went, all Horace had done was to shrug and say: "We managed."
The Ranger Commandant was a bit taken aback by this rather short answer, but he could see that Horace was tired from all day's journey and would rather see the dining hall of the castle rather than being interrogated by some grumpy Ranger (though the boy was one of the few people who weren't scared of the Rangers, no matter how glum and sarcastic they were). He took the reports with him and dismissed him. Horace immediately took off to the dining hall, having heard that there would be an apple pie today.
Crowley whistled all the way to his office, carrying the reports. A lot of castle servants disliked his whistling, he knew. But he wasn't about to stop whistling just because a bunch of people (who apparently didn't know the definition of good entertainment) didn't like it.
He opened the door to his office, set the reports on the table and went to quickly light a candle so he could see. It was already becoming dark outside and he was beginning to get hungry, however, as this mission was pretty important and Horace didn't offer any relevant information, it piqued his curiosity.
He first took Halt's report. Halt had been his best friend for ages, well, technically he was Halt's first real friend, and they have known each other for as long as Halt was in Araluen. Crowley knew that Halt's reports were usually short, straight to the point, and everything was clear, even if Halt himself hated sitting down and actually doing paperwork (he was still nowhere Crowley's level of procrastination though).
His eyes flickered over the report, taking in the details.
"The Outsiders… the Genovesans… King Ferris murdered… Tennyson ran to Picta… the dead forest... " he mumbled as he read over the report. Suddenly, he blinked. "Got the Genovesan… defeated Tennyson with Malcolm's help?" Crowley had to read the text once over but he was sure that he wasn't mistaken, there was truly no other mention of Malcolm throughout Halt's entire text.
Crowley knew Malcolm. After Will and Horace successfully defended Macindaw, Crowley had reached out to the healer and eventually went to visit him himself and found his company very enjoyable. But why was he with Halt and Will?
Looking at a large map of Araluen he kept in his office, he could tell that castle Macindaw actually wasn't that far away from the place Halt mentioned in his report. A rider could arrive there in a day or two's ride. But still, Crowley didn't see any reason for the healer to be there unless someone was hurt.
The Ranger Commandant narrowed his eyes. Grunting, he took Will's report. Maybe that would help him clear everything up.
For the most part, Will's report was the same as Halt's, but there was one place where the report diverged from each other. Crowley's eyes widened as he read through the part.
"Dead forest… Halt shot!?" Hastily, the Commandant looked at Halt's report, trying to see if he didn't accidentally overlook something. His answer was a big, fat no.
Crowley tried to keep himself calm as he continued reading.
"Halt was on the verge of death for days until I got Malcolm and we were able to capture the Genovesan responsible. Malcolm made an antidote to the poison and Halt recovered steadily."
Crowley set the papers down. He needed a break. He desperately needed a break. He could hear his heart almost bursting out of his chest and he was sure that his heartbeat must be audible all the way to Redmont.
Halt… his best friend… he almost died. Out of the two of them, he had always thought that he'd be the one to die first. He was older and unlike Halt, he often took many unnecessary risks on the job, but to hear that Halt had been wounded, poisoned, and almost died, that was another thing.
Technically, Crowley knew. Rangers could die at any time, for any reason. After all, they had a dangerous job. And he had also seen a fair share of deaths, especially during the war. But, despite knowing all this, he never even considered that Halt could be the one who died first.
He couldn't even imagine what would happen with him if Halt were gone. After spending so much time together for so long, he couldn't even imagine life without Halt, or at least his letters, his sarcastic remarks but gentle soul. He couldn't imagine himself going to his funeral.
But here he was, and the only proof of Halt's survival was the sheet of paper that was discarded on his table.
Crowley's eyes shone when he realized another thing. That's probably why Horace acted so reserved when he came back to Araluen. He knew .
The Ranger's hands shook as he got his coffee. He'd need a proper portion of sugar this evening. Crowley kept calm in most situations (except for paperwork). But this one, this one shook him to the core and he needed some comfort.
The Commandant left the office and went to the kitchens. Hopefully, they would have some cake left…
The next morning, Crowley made a point to find Horace as soon as he woke up. Alright, maybe not that soon, as he, like most of the Rangers, woke up at the crack of dawn, but he wanted to know the most he could before he headed to Redmont. He needed to see Halt in person.
Last night, he lied in his bed and couldn't sleep. He was up thinking about the mission. He knew it was his job as the Commandant, to give out missions to the Task Force that Will, Halt, and Horace formed, but he couldn't help himself but think that he was to blame for Halt's injury, even if that weren't the case.
In the midst of the night, he came to a decision. He needed to see Halt and talk to him. He wouldn't forgive himself if the last words the two had exchanged before Halt leaving for Hibernia would be "please be careful" and "don't worry, I'll be alright". Because Halt was definitely not fine. Furthermore, they had this argument over him being the Crown Prince of Clonmel. Crowley realized that he would forever blame himself if the two separated in bad blood and Halt then didn't come back from the mission.
He needed to see Halt. And for that, he first needed to see Horace.
Crowley found the young knight on the training field, practicing vigorously with his sword. Despite it being early morning when the air was still cold, droplets of sweat glistened on his forehead as the practice took its toll.
"Horace?" Crowley called from a respectable distance. His grey-green mottled cloak swiveled around his feet in the slight breeze.
The warrior stopped, wiping the sweat off his forehead, and came to him. Taking a proper gulp of water, he looked at the Ranger Commandant, a question in his eyes. But there was also something else. Uncertainty.
Crowley pointed at a wooden bench.
"How about we sit down?" he asked, and the two men, one with red hair that was becoming grey, and one with blonde hair, sat down.
Crowley looked into Horace's eyes.
"I need you to tell me what exactly happened with Halt during that mission," he said. It wasn't a question. He saw a glint in the knight's eyes as if this were a question that he'd been anticipating the whole time, and Horace started.
He talked about everything; how Halt and Will went into the forest to take care of the Genovesans; how they first noticed that Halt wasn't acting like himself and had to set up a camp; about his hallucinations and the Genovesan lurking around the camp; how Will took the horses and went the whole way to castle Macindaw to get Malcolm, as he was the only healer skilled enough who could save Halt; how they pretended that Halt died during the night and how Will captured the Genovesan, and how they forced him to tell which aracoina flower he used for his poison; and how Malcolm saved Halt. Crowley kept silent during all of that, listening intently so that no detail escaped him.
"That fool," he got through gritted teeth when Horace ended. Quickly, he pulled himself together, but Horace smiled at him sadly.
"You care about him a lot, don't you?" he asked, knowing full well that Crowley did care about Halt, just as Halt cared about Crowley. That was the one thing he could never mistake, even when hallucinating.
Crowley blinked, his hazel eyes unfocused.
"I do," he confirmed with a slight nod, then he stood up. "Thank you, Horace, you've been more than helpful."
The Ranger Commandant left the young knight there, going back to the castle.
Later that day, there'd been a report of the Ranger leaving on his horse, travelling in the southwest direction to Redmont.
Two days later, Crowley had finally arrived at Castle Redmont. He had a few hours of daylight, which was perfect if he wanted to visit Will and Halt. At this time of day, the two of them could be in the cabin, working on paperwork. At least he hoped so. First, he had to go to Baron Arald and tell him that he's in a fief. Maybe he'd also get invited for dinner, in which case, he'd happily accept. Chubb was an amazing cook, but if the Baron didn't invite him to join them at the dinner table, he could always go and get something at young Jenny's restaurant. He remembered her to be just as good of a cook as Chubb was.
He planned to do that before meeting with Will and Halt, however, destiny planned for him to meet the two of them earlier than he planned to. He turned the corner leading to Baron Arald's office and found them there, in their cloaks, talking about something, probably about the situation in the fief. As Crowley rounded the corner, the two Rangers looked up, both equally surprised to see him.
"Crowley," Halt and Will greeted in unison. The red-haired Ranger bowed his head slightly.
"Hello, Halt, Will," he returned the greeting and came to join them. A normal person wouldn't notice the nervous weight-shifting, but Crowley, trained as a Ranger and skilled at reading the body language, instantly knew. He came up to them.
"It's good to see that you're alright, Halt," he said, boring his eyes into him. "I'm surprised you left that part out in your report."
The greying Ranger looked at his former apprentice and raised his eyebrow.
"I thought we'd agreed not to describe that one part," he remarked. Will looked back at him, his gaze steady. A dangerous pastime , Crowley mused, as went the saying between the Rangers.
"Halt, that's impossible, I couldn't leave it out, it wouldn't make any sense then," he replied. Of course, after having read both reports, Crowley knew that Will had a point.
The Ranger Commandant looked at the youngest Ranger.
"Thank you, Will, it did leave quite the plot hole," he said, thinking back to how confused he was. "Could I steal Halt from you for a second?" he asked, and once Will nodded that yes, of course, he could, he took Halt's arm and dragged him into the first vacant room.
Then, he lost his carefully guarded composure.
"Can you imagine how worried I was?" he started, noticing that Halt seemingly didn't care. The other Ranger shrugged.
"I knew you'd freak out," he explained. "So I left it out." He seemed unbothered by the fact that the Ranger Commandant came in person to check up on him. Crowley looked at him in disbelief.
"You almost died, Halt!" he hissed, angrier that Halt could have said goodbye to the mortal world than the fact that he left such a piece of key information out in his report.
"But I didn't," he offered simply as if he thought the conversation closed. "You do realize that we have dangerous jobs, do you?"
Crowley took a deep breath to calm himself down. He closed his eyes, knowing that Halt wouldn't go anywhere.
Finally, he spoke: "I know that we have dangerous jobs, Halt. We put our life at risk every day out there, we never know who we'll see at the next year's Gathering and who will be gone forever, but…" he fell silent, trying to gather his thoughts. Involuntary, he felt his eyes water.
"I never thought that you could get into such a situation," he admitted silently, looking away.
"You're my best friend, Halt. What would I do without you?"
The other Ranger didn't move. He didn't move forward to offer any comfort, however, he also didn't leave. It seemed as if this genuine show of emotions nailed him to the ground, and he didn't know what to do. He watched his friend uncertainly. He remembered learning about Caitlyn's death, and about Ferris' death. Halt took a breath and stepped closer to Crowley.
"You'd go on," he said. "That's what I would've wanted you to do if I died."
Crowley looked at him, hastily wiping his eyes.
"I'd want you to go on, whistle those terrible songs of yours, and smile," Halt said. It surprised Crowley. Halt had never been one to be openly emotional, but this advice… this was actually good advice. He never said that it would hurt less, losing someone close, but he was right that life would go on, and he would have to move with it and adapt.
The two Rangers looked at each other. Crowley seemed to be doing better, having seen that Halt is truly alright with his own eyes.
"You know, I'm glad you're alright," Crowley said and then lightly nudged Halt's healthy arm. "Don't ever do that to me again."
Halt raised his eyebrows.
"I can't promise you that, but if I ever die, I will come back as a ghost and haunt you," he replied grimly, but his eyes were smiling. "And… sorry about being so cold-hearted before leaving. I should've trusted you with this secret."
Crowley blinked the surprised expression away.
"I'm also sorry," he offered. "I shouldn't have pried into something that clearly wasn't my business." Though, he supposed, prying into everyone else's business was a Ranger's job. But, out of respect to his old friend, he could push that aside, and wisely kept silent about it.
Crowley opened the door.
"How would you feel about catching up together in Jenny's restaurant today?" he asked. "Like the old friends we are?"
Halt came out of the room.
"Old friends," he mimicked, walking next to his best friend. "I'd love that."