The night was dark and quiet as Will slipped open the door to his room and stuck his head out, peeking both ways before creeping out. Faint starlight suggested Will's surroundings. The moon had waned to nearly nothing, a bare crack of light in the sky. Will squinted in the dimness, frowned, and ducked back into his room. A quick spark and his candle lit, the sudden brightness making Will blink rapidly. He frowned down at it, then his shoulders sagged and he picked it up. He exited his room once more.

Will sent another searching glance around, covering the candle with his hand as best he could to dim the light. The candle's tiny flame cast large shadows over the plain, clean furnishings. The house was still and quiet. Will listened and could just barely make out Halt's soft breathing from the room next door. It was deep and even. Halt was asleep. Will nodded to himself and made his way over to the table in the middle of the main room. The table was where he and Halt ate their meals. Tonight, it was also where several Ranger documents lay.

With a last look around, Will set the candle down on the table and reached towards the papers. He stopped an inch before, fingers hovering just above them. Should he really do this? This felt eerily similar to Choosing Day, when Halt had tested him with the letter confirming his apprenticeship. Halt did not usually leave Ranger documents lying about. Could this be another test? If so, was Will about to fail?

But if it were a test, what for? Will could not think of a reason. Halt had never tried to test Will again during his first apprenticeship. Will couldn't think of anything he'd done recently that would warrant suspicion or concern on Halt's part, either. No, Will should stop overthinking this. Halt was only human; all humans made oversights at one point or another. For all Will knew, Halt had done this the first time and Will just hadn't noticed!

So, with a decided nod, Will reached down and took the first paper. He stiffened right after, waiting for a hand to grab his wrist. When that didn't happen, he relaxed and began to read.

The document had the Ranger Corps' oakleaf seal on it and was written in the careful handwriting of a scribe. Will skimmed through it, then began to read more in-depth. It was some sort of report sent by Commandant Crowley to every Ranger, discussing several issues. None of them were that interesting, though: Crowley mentioned some flooding throughout several fiefs, a few minor criminal issues, and touched on a proposed re-allocation of Diplomats from one specific fief to another (apparently it was controversial). Once Will was done, he set it back down and gazed at it thoughtfully. This must be some sort of quarterly report that Crowley sent out. If these were the only things that Crowley thought of national notice, Araluen really must be at peace. Will sighed. That would not be the case for much longer.

He picked up the next paper. This one bore Baron Arald's seal instead. It was an incomprehensible legal text about some conflict between two tenants who both claimed to have been granted the same land by Arald's father. Will grimaced as he hit one word after the other that he couldn't understand, and soon put it down. The next few were various reports from the Watch; they were interesting enough, but they were all about past events. As Will couldn't remember any of them having relevance in the future, he didn't put much time into reading them. Finally, with another cursory glance around the room, Will reached for the last paper.

Like the first, it was stamped with the oakleaf. Unlike the first, the handwriting was messy and scrawling, rather than neat. Will glanced down to the end and his eyebrows went up. This was Crowley's handwriting! But the previous report from Crowley had clearly been written by a scribe. Was this something so sensitive that Crowley did not even trust a palace scribe to know about it? Will swallowed. In that case, should Will be reading this? He had just wanted to learn a little more about the current situation in Araluen, but this was more than what he had anticipated.

Well, just a few lines can't hurt, Will reassured himself. He glanced at the first line-

He stopped. No. This was...Will should not be reading this. He went to set the paper back down on the table - hesitated. What if this helped him further on? He was all alone here. He was the only one who knew, the only one who could act to stop. But this isn't even about Morgarath, he told himself. It's about someone that Crowley wants dealt with. I don't remember this from my own timeline, so this has no relevance to what I'm doing here. This is not my business.

But...he curled his fingers around the page. He was curious. He couldn't deny it. He always had been, and even Skandia hadn't taken that from him. What did the report say in its entirety? What was going on?

No. This isn't right. This is confidential information and Halt has not voluntarily shared it with you. This is a breach of morals, it's a breach of trust, and it's a breach of the law.

Breathing out, Will set the paper down on the table, gently covering it with the others. He stared at it for another moment longingly, before shaking his head. "That's not right, and you know it, Will," he muttered to himself. "This is none of your business, and it'd be betraying Halt's trust."

With a decided nod, Will gathered his candle and straightened. Outside, the moon was even fainter than before, drifting down towards its setting. Will pulled a face. He had to get up in a few hours. Reading those papers had taken longer than he'd anticipated. Hopefully, Halt wouldn't notice Will's tiredness tomorrow...

Creeping back into his room, Will blew out his candle in a single breath and set it on his nightstand. He crawled back into bed and shut his eyes. Soon he was asleep once more.

Had he been awake, however, he might have seen the shadow that stood at his door for a long moment, gazing in. And perhaps he might have heard the shadow speak.

"I suppose I was right, then," it said, and it sounded relieved. "Good night, Will. Sleep well."

It went to leave, but then it paused and turned back. "As for betraying my trust...I believe you've just gained it."

With a swirl of a grey-and-green cloak, the shadow vanished.