A/N: To be completely honest with you guys, I never actually thought people would like this story. It came to me as what my friends call my brain farts, and I build this story just for some fun. It's really exciting to see that a lot of people are reading this and even take the time to review this! Thank you all so much, it really keeps me motivated, even though posting each day is quite the challenge.

Day 6

The day had started normally for Halt and Will. It was still dark outside because at dawn they would ride along with the hunting party to catch the boar.

After a quick check up, Halt considered Will good enough to come along. He knew he couldn't contain the boy if there wasn't anything physically really wrong with him. Still the fact that Will had reacted so badly to the cold and had been outside far too long with a wet cloak made him feel anxious.

But other than being immensely tired, Will hadn't even developed a fever. He did notice the boy trying to conceal a little cough, but it wasn't a big deal to leave him inside.

So Halt had definitely no choice to let him come along and hope it would turn out fine. Will had been excited to go on the hunt. Finally something to keep his mind from the eternal cold weather.

They saddled Tug and Abelard and rode the battleschool. From there they would ride to the barn where the boar had attacked and Will and Halt would trace the last bit to the exact location. It proved to be an easy ride. Will and Halt had found the tracks without difficulty and they soon discovered the hiding place of the beast.

When they lured the boar out, Will grabbed his bow. He wouldn't let such a beast anywhere near him ever again. His first experience was quite enough. He looked at Horace at the other side at the field and knew his friend was also reliving that exact same moment.

The angry boar came out of his hiding place, charging at the person closest to him. Before the beast could do any real damage he was taken down by the knights. Immediately the knights began to celebrate their victory and Will glanced at Halt.

"You should think those idiots had learned something from the last time."

Halt had also looked disapproving of the situation, and was glad his apprentice did have his senses. "Go check it out whether there is a second one, I'll stand guard here. It looks like you'll have some company either way."

Will looked at the place Halt was staring and saw Horace coming towards him. He too had been shocked by the lack of carefulness of the knights around him.

"Can you believe how thick they are?" he yelled to Will in confusion. Will had to laugh, how much they had learned along the way.

They walked to the hiding place and checked it out. Luckily this time there was no second boar. But finally out of Halt's reach, they had the time to talk more.

"I invited Jenny and George, they are both coming, although George wasn't too keen on going against Halt. Jenny will prepare the food and she was really excited, so I can't wait what she is going to make." Horace's face shone with excitement. Somehow it was really thrilling to finally do something behind Halt's back.

"That's great, I expect Gilan to arrive soon so everything will be set it in time. We just have to make sure Halt doesn't find out."

"And what exactly should Halt not find out?" the voice came from behind them and both boys froze. Oh boy this was not good.

Will turned around and met the dark eyes of his mentor. Again he knew it was crucial to not straight out lie. Halt was suspicious enough already. Luckily it seemed he had only heard the last sentence and Will decided to take the safest lie for now.

"Horace invited me for Christmas. Jenny is making some wonderful pastries so I though it was possible for me to sneak out. I'm sorry Halt, I know you told me not to celebrate Christmas."

Horace tried to hide his astonishment for how his friend came up with this lie so fast and smooth. Luckily for him, Halt was looking at his apprentice so he couldn't see the utter surprise on the knight's face.

"And how exactly did you think to manage sneaking behind my back? You couldn't even hide a secret for a few seconds let alone this?" Halt asked in a dark tone. Although he wasn't surprised Will still wanted to celebrate Christmas, he was definitely not in the mood for these kind of actions.

"I didn't think that through actually." Will said with his most innocent voice, trying to hide his amusement about the last comment.

"Clearly." Halt just said, still watching Will's face carefully.

Feeling the cold breeze Will tugged his cloak further around him, trying to hide the shivering. Horace saw the shivering and the pale color on his friend and knew it was a perfect opportunity to distract Halt.

"Are you alright Will, you look terrible. Maybe you should go home, it's only getting colder." Will shot a furious look at his friend for pointing Halt to the shivering, but then he realized what Horace was doing. Well if Halt's attention had to be on something he rather have it on him than on the subject Christmas.

Will didn't even need to answer the question, Halt's attention had indeed immediately shifted to his apprentice. He saw Will trembling from the cold, even though he was tucked away in his cloak. He also noticed that the already pale face had gone even more white.

"Horace is right, we should get home now. You've been out for far too long." Halt said and turned around to get the horses. Horace just gave Will a knowing look, this had been a close call. They should be even more careful from now on.

On the way back to the cabin Will felt exhausted like he had run for days. He noticed he was shivering more and more. He tried to stop it but it only made it worse. He actually just wanted to lay down right now and start a fire to warm himself but he urged himself to follow Halt.

Halt hadn't noticed the increased shivering as he was riding in front of Will. But then he heard a soft nickering behind him. Abelard was completely relaxed so there was no threat, but somehow Tug had felt the need to give a slight warning.

Halt turned around and saw Will shivering like a squirrel in the snow. "Will! Are you alright?." Will's teeth were clattering but he managed to push out a single word "cold." Halt sighed in relief, he needed to act quickly but at least Will was still conscious and not already relapsing.

Immediately took Halt his cloak from his shoulders, not minding the cold, and draped it over Will. "Come on, we're almost home." He said more to himself than to Will.

Halt tried to keep talking to Will, making sure he didn't relapse into nightmares about Skandia. But the answers he got from his apprentice were short and vague, suggesting that Will was not entirely conscious of the whole situation.

Finally they reached the cabin and he gently took Will from Tug's back. Tug started to whinny in worry but Halt put a reassuring hand on the furry neck. "Don't worry he'll be fine."

He placed Will on the couch again and immediately started a fire. Will's eyes fluttered open again and this time he recognized his surroundings. "What happened?" he asked Halt who had been too busy finding blankets to see his apprentice awake again.

"Some moron forgot to tell he was cold again."

"Oh."

Will couldn't think of anything else to say. It was stupid not to enlighten Halt about his situation but when he had noticed the chill he was already too late.

Halt seemed to have changed into a forgiving mood. "It's okay, you did quite well today given what happened two days ago."

Will started to smile, it was a rare situation when Halt gave compliments like that. "What did you say Halt, I didn't quite catch it."

"I said you did…. You awful bastard. This is exactly the reason boys like you shouldn't get any compliments." But a hint of smile could be seen on Halt's face. He dropped the blankets on his apprentice and started to make some coffee.

Will could see his mentor shift a few times, a trait, Will thought, always annoyed Halt. Will always started moving a lot when he wanted to say or ask something. Never had he witnessed Halt doing exactly the same.

After a few seconds Will couldn't contain his curiosity and asked with the deadly serious voice, which Halt always used, "Something you want to tell me?"

Halt turned around as if stung by a bee, but Will couldn't contain his laughter anymore. "Hah, I knew I wasn't the only one unable to hide their question!" he didn't mind the eyebrows raising to dangerous heights. This was one of those rare occasions where you just had to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

Halt had clearly enough of the wittiness of his apprentice and decided to give him his personal hell. "Well seeing as you are clearly quite observant today, I won't bother telling you what I had to say."

His plan worked as Will's eyes immediately turned big. Will had realized his mistake and knew he wouldn't get an answer now. "Oh please Halt, I'm sorry. Please tell me."

Halt scratched his chin like he was considering the plea. He knew he could turn this to his advantage really easily. "If you clean your room, I might tell you." Will was on his feet in no time and raced to his room.

It had been a real mess lately so he knew he had some work to do. After more than an hour, his tiny room was finally done. Only his bed was still a mess but he quickly put the covers straight. When he touched his pillow he heard the soft rustle of paper.

He checked quickly whether Halt was close to his door, then he took the note from under his pillow. It said

Hi Will,

I'm in the forest at the great oak tree with the mark. I'll wait for you, take your time otherwise Halt will definitely get suspicious.

Gilan

So he was actually here, the post made it in time and Gilan must have raced here. Will had to take a few breaths to gain control again. Halt couldn't find out about this. There was too much at stake right now.

He returned to the living area where Halt was waiting for him. "I'm finally ready Halt so please can you tell me what you wanted to say?"

Halt briefly considered giving more chores but decided to spare the boy for once. Almost two hours of cleaning after a boar hunt was good enough for now.

"I decided that you can have Christmas day free to spend it with your friends." He watched as the news dropped on Will. He might have suspected a little more enthusiasm from the boy. Maybe he wasn't so fond on Christmas after all.

But Will had for the first time difficulty processing the information coming into his head. He was allowed to have a free day, which barely occurred, but also on Christmas day. Under normal circumstances he would be thrilled, but now his head was just spinning with everything that was going on.

Will suddenly realized that he hadn't given Halt an answer and his mentor was watching him with great curiosity. The moment to fake great enthusiasm was over so he turned to another leaf.

"That's amazing Halt, thank you. But what about you, what are you going to do on Christmas day?" It was a perfect decoy. He would genuinely be worried to leave Halt alone on such a special day, but now he could also find out where Halt would be when they were preparing the last things for Christmas.

Halt didn't see the triumphant look in the big brown eyes. So he just explained "I'll be here in the cabin and on patrol for most of the day. As I said, a ranger can't celebrate Christmas."

Will nodded, he would just let Halt think that he would be alone that day. No way he was going to ruin the surprise coming. Then he remembered the note under his pillow, and knew this was the perfect opportunity to leave the cabin today.

"Well I should probably tell Horace and Alyss right now, so we can plan everything." He said sounding like an innocent child. Halt fell for it, although his gut told him something was clearly not alright.

"Fine but this time you return home immediately, no other tours. Don't think I didn't notice that cough of yours, I don't want you getting sick right now. Is that understood?"

Will didn't have to think twice. He knew his relapse a few days ago had affected him more than he wished. "Understood, I'll be back in no time."

He left the cabin and decided to take a small detour. Halt was probably watching from the window to see if he really went to the castle so he made sure walked the first bit towards the castle. After he was out of sight for Halt he turned to the left and walked to the tree Gilan had mentioned.

He stopped at the tree to look around, hoping to see Gilan. He knew Gilan was master at hiding so he had to do his best to find him. After a few glares he saw a branch slightly moving in a tree nearby. As Will looked up in the tree he saw the green cloak of Gilan.

"Found you, up there in the tree!"

Gilan jumped out of the tree. "Will, I thought it would take ages for you to finally notice me." And he hugged the boy. The two had become like brothers over the years and Will was genuinely glad to see Gilan.

"How are thing going here? Halt didn't find out right?" Gilan asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Will grinned, he was actually quite proud of concealing everything from Halt. "It's all working out great. I've invited everyone, so the worst part is over I guess. Halt is getting suspicious he almost overheard me and Horace talk this morning, but we managed to fool him. How on earth did you get here so fast? Is Crowley coming too?"

"I guess we had the same idea this year, I was ready to leave to visit the two of you when I got the message. I rode as fast as I could, because with Halt you'll need every help you can get. Crowley is coming too, but he had to finish some paperwork."

After Will told everything about what happened and what he still had to do, Gilan looked up at him. "Do you already have a Christmas tree?"

Will shook his head, "No I don't know where to find them actually. I didn't have time to ask Baron Arald or Lady Pauline."

"Oh but I know where to get the best tree. Maybe we can go together tomorrow. I'll be waiting here again, just come when you're ready. No need to make Halt even more suspicious." Gilan knew far too well if you rushed things with Halt, there would be consequences.

Will was excited to get their Christmas tree and agreed. He knew it wouldn't be easy to get away from Halt again, especially since this morning. But for this he would do anything.

"Okay let's do it. But I have to go back now, I promised Halt I wouldn't be gone too long. He isn't really happy with me leaving the house the past few days."

As he watched the young boy walk away Gilan felt the greatest sympathy for the kid. He knew of course what Will had been through in Skandia, and even a blind man could see the effect it still had on him. Hiding something from Halt was a 24hour job and he didn't know whether Will was physically up to it. Luckily for Will he wasn't alone anymore on taking the exhausting job. Everyone would do their best to make it the perfect Christmas day.

Yep I've done it again. How the hell do I come up with these long chapters for just a Christmas story haha. Well anyway I hope you liked it, tomorrow we have some more Gilan and Will time!

Love you all, and see you tomorrow.