A/N: So first of all thanks to everyone who followed, reviewed and favorite (if you say it like that..). I'm thrilled to see that people actually like this whole brabble story of me.

Second I want to apologize if chapters aren't perfect. It's kinda hard to publish a chapter every day, but I'm trying my best guys!

Lockdown has started again in the Netherlands, no work anymore, I finished my last exam for the holiday break, my bachelor thesis is going to hell, so a lot of time to write! Sometimes things have to go dark to see the light!

Enjoy the thrilling adventure of Will's secret mission.

Day 3

Will had tried again and again to release himself from Halt. They had visited the castle the day before but Will didn't get the chance to talk to anyone without Halt. He wanted to invite more people but Halt was not making it easy.

Today Will had a different plan. He had told Halt to start the training early that day, so he would have more time for patrolling. He was finally at the point in his training where Halt would sometimes let him patrol his own piece of the fief.

Will knew today was his patrolling day at the castle, so if he started early he could sneak in and talk to Baron Arald and lady Pauline about his plan. He knew he had to inform the baron that two rangers wouldn't be at their cabin at Christmas. And he surely had to invite lady Pauline.

So Will jumped out of his bed and put his clothes on. Halt watched him with a raised brow. The past few days he had noticed that his apprentice wasn't too keen on starting early with training. The snow was still falling and Will wasn't his best when it was cold. Today however the boy seemed really eager to train in the winter chill.

"Are you sure that you want to train this early? It is still freezing outside, you know I don't mind right now if you start later in the day." He said. Will just looked up "I know Halt, but I need to learn to control the shivering. I can't just train when it suits me, bandits won't wait for me to get my hands warm." It was true what he said. He indeed wanted to train again in the cold. It bothered him that he wasn't good enough when it started to freeze.

Halt was worried about his apprentice putting to much pressure on himself. "Will, it's just two years since Skandia. This is the coldest winter in years here in Araluen so there is no shame in admitting that things are not going as easy." Normally he was very harsh on his apprentices, but there were times when he needed to use a softer hand.

They had had this talk several times before. Will felt immensely guilty of not being the best when winter started. But Halt knew this wasn't Will's fault. It had surprised him that Will was doing that great when fighting the Temujai after what happened. When they returned to Araluen it soon became clear that Will was struggling more with his trauma as a slave and addict.

The first year had been terrible for both of them. A cold breeze would trigger the cascade of nightmares and trembling. Will had tried to hide it from Halt, of course unsuccessfully. They had decided to bring the training at cold days to a minimum until Will was ready again.

After that year things started to progress real quick, Will hadn't stopped training a single day and the cold didn't affect him that much anymore. However with the heavy snowfall this year, the nightmares had returned and so had the trembling.

Will had remained silent for a long time and whispered, "I just need to keep training Halt, don't worry I just need to focus more." And with that he stepped outside ready to practice.

After an hour Halt came to look at Will. He had just shot a series of arrows to the targets. Most of them had hit the target at the right spot, others missed a few inches. "You're getting it under control I see, in a few years you might actually shoot properly." Will turned around and grinned "Well not the perfect series but I'm getting better every day." He walked around the area to pick up the arrows.

"I'll go on patrol at the castle in a few minutes." He informed Halt. Halt nodded, "Good, don't take too long. We were there yesterday so I don't think there won't be anything serious. And it looks like the snowfall is not over yet."

Will looked at the sky and saw that Halt was right. It had that weird glow in the clouds which could only mean another snow storm coming up. "yeah I'll try to get home before the snow hits the ground." He mumbled and left towards the castle.

Halt had been right about nothing happening around the castle. No bandits, no escaped prisoners just an easy day. Will had made his round in record time and normally he would sprint back to Halt showing how fast he was. But not this time. He sprinted towards the castle, making sure no one saw him.

First he decided to go to Baron Arald. If he didn't agree with the plan it would prove to become very difficult to celebrate Christmas this year. He flew up the stairs without making any noise. His training told him just to sneak in and make himself known to the Baron when he wanted. But maybe this wasn't the moment to scare him, so Will gently knocked on the door and waited for the words "enter".

He stepped inside and Baron Arald started to smile immediately when he saw Will. "Will my boy, how are you. Not something wrong with you or Halt is there?" Will smiled. He had always though the Baron to be a little bit eccentric but he had grown to care a lot for the man.

"No no, nothing wrong. Just a question actually." Will started to doubt his idea. Why would anyone let an apprentice plan something without Halt's permission. No one in all of Araluen would be right in his head to do something to surprise ranger Halt. But Arald was already keen to know what the young ranger had to say. "Well ask away." He said.

"Well, Halt told me that rangers don't actually celebrate Christmas due to the secrecy and all. But I thought maybe it would be nice to celebrate Christmas with a few people this year. I already invited Crowley and Gilan but I'll of course need your permission, my lord." He knew he sounded stupid, but he desperately wanted to celebrate Christmas.

Baron Arald watched intensely at the young boy, and just when Will was starting to apologize for bringing the question up the man burst out in laughter. "HAHAHA, well of course you have my permission. But only on one condition, you'll invite me. I can't wait to see Halt being surprised by his apprentice like this!"

Will couldn't help but laugh, this was going to be the biggest Christmas day Halt had ever seen.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't stop smiling. Just the thought of Will organizing all this under Halt's nose…. It cracks me up.

Well I hope to see you again tomorrow! Stay safe and trust your winter cloak.