When Gunter opened his eyes, he was looking up at Will fussing over a very pretty woman in her mid to late twenties holding a baby that couldn't have been more than a week old.

"Where am I?" Gunter asked. Well, he meant to ask. It came out as more of a "Wh' am?"

One side of Will's mouth quirked up in a smile as he looked in the boy's direction. "Nice to see you up. We just dropped by to see how you were doing. And to answer your question, you're in the healing wards of Castle Redmont, seeing as we didn't exactly have anywhere else to send you.

"Dear. Babbling." The woman chided gently.

"Sorry." Will offered her an ashamed grin before glancing between the two. "Oh - Gunter, this is my wife, Alyss. And my son, Leon." He added, with no small amount of pride.

"'ello." Gunter managed.

"It's nice to meet you in person, Gunter." Alyss said politely, smiling.

"How long was I unconscious?" Gunter asked.

"...roughly eight months" Will admitted.

"EIGHT MONTHS?!" Gunter yelped, managing to unstick his voice box long enough to express his incredulity.

"Eight months." Alyss confirmed.

Gunter shook his head in utter confusion. That made...no sense. Eight months unconscious? How was that even...possible?

XXX

Three weeks later, Gunter was making a speedy recovery. The muscle atrophy that had affected him for the past eight months was being quickly turned around with the help of Will's strict regimen of exercise.

Alyss had discovered that Leon slept excellently in the vicinity of his father's supply of coffee beans. Will had joked once that he was already halfway a Ranger. Alyss, still not quite recovered from the panic attack she'd had when Leon had gotten into the coffee beans, didn't speak to him for the rest of the day.

Today, she was letting him sleep in the next room while she took care of some of the paperwork for Lady Pauline when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called. Neither Tug nor Abelard had sounded any kind of warning, and Ebony was still dozing at her feet, so she felt safe doing so.

Cassandra and Horace's six-year-old daughter and heir to the throne of Araluen, Madelyn Altman waltzed in, dirt smudged on her face and her hair an absolute mess.

Alyss merely sighed. "Maddie..." she started.

"I know, I know," Maddie grumbled. "I'll wash up before I go up to the castle."

Alyss, knowing that was the best she would get, let the matter lie.

Maddie glanced around. "Where's Will?" She asked, leaving her mud-caked boots at the door.

"There's been a rash of petty thefts over the last week. Will's investigating in the village." Alyss explained, disappearing momentarily into the next room to pick up Leon.

"But I just came from there and I didn't see...oh. That would be the point, wouldn't it?" Maddie finished sheepishly.

Alyss laughed softly as she reappeared, cradling Leon in her arms. "Rather," she agreed. "Have a seat, no need to stand around!" She added, gesturing to the small couch. Maddie flopped down rather dramatically, then jumped back up with equal vigor, yelping. Alyss raised the Redmont Eyebrow.

"Something poked me," Maddie explained, sounding mildly indignant. Alyss rolled her eyes as Maddie pulled a small container out of the sofa cushion.

"Is this yours?" She asked, sounding puzzled. Alyss leaned forward to examine it before shaking her head.

"No. I've never seen anything like it before." She confessed.

"There's something in it..." Maddie said, struggling to pry the lid off for a few seconds before it finally yielded.

"It's a piece of paper," she reported, fishing it out of the small tin and reading it. As she finished the note, her face grew ashen.

"Maddie? Maddie, what is it?" Alyss asked urgently, alarmed. Wordlessly, Maddie held out the piece of paper to her. Alyss took it and scanned it. By the end, her face was the same color gray as Maddie's.

/We have put a price on Ranger Halt's life. The price is 60,000 silver royals./

Alyss looked up slowly, mind racing with a thousand questions.

"Maddie, take this note and run to the castle. Give it to your parents and nobody else. Do you understand me?"

"Is Halt going to be okay?" She whispered, sounding terrified.

"Go!" Alyss snapped.

Maddie fled, the tiny, incredibly important slip of paper clutched in her fist.