AN: I want to thank my one and only reviewer from last chapter Ranger Lauren.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Rangers Apprentice. I only own the figures of my imaginations and delusions. :) And now one to the story!

Updated 12/11/12

It was still dark when Tayrn woke with a discontent sigh. Glancing out the open window in her room she estimated that it was still two or more hours till dawn. 'Why can't I just for once have a restful night's sleep' She wondered as she lay there in her bed studying the dark room around her. Deciding that she was never going to be able to go back to sleep, she reached across her bedside table to light the candle sitting there from last nights evening planning. Said evening planning was what she was so worried about and causing her to have a fitful nights sleep. She had never really supervised another human being before.

After lighting the candle she grabbed her old riding cloak and left the room to enter the main room of the cabin. Unknown to her and Jackson the lay out of their cabin is very similar to the layout of a Rangers cabin. Going over to the stove to get the fire going again, she started some coffee. Deciding that it was still to early to go out to the barn and get pack for the upcoming trip that day, she waited for the coffee to finish and walked out on to the small porch that she and Jackson like to sit on, if the weather is fair and nice.

"I wonder if the apprentices will listen to me? I hope I won't like sound too much like a bossy young girl. I mean I'm only like one maybe two years older than the oldest apprentice."She spoke out loud, talking to herself.

"I think that if they don't listen to you that their going to have hell to pay when you start training them, and they learn that it's not as easy as it looks" Jackson said from where he was standing in the door way with a 'I'm still asleep' look on his face and bed head.

"What are you doing up? You're never up this early." Asked Taryn with a surprised look on her face.

"Normally I would still be in bed snoring away, but I smelled coffee and it woke me up. Then I came out here to investigate the smell and find the front door wide open and you talking to yourself." He replied after taking a seat in the other chair on the porch.

"Oh yeah sorry about that. I'm just worried and nervous about today and how the apprentices are going to take being supervies by someone only a few years older than them." Taryn confessed to him as she waited for her coffee to cool a little bit more before taking a small sip.

"I think that you'll do just fine. Besides how hard can it be to supervise and evaluate three people how to do a little fancy riding?" Jackson counseled her.

"It really shouldn't be that hard, I mean they already know how to ride and all of their horses have had this kind of riding done on them before. I mean the horse are all taught from the get go that this kind of riding is expected." Taryn reasoned.

"Right so no worry's, ok?"

"Right no worry's."

It was almost noon and Taryn had just gotten to the cross roads, when she spotted Halt and what looked like a teenage boy coming up the road that lead to Redmount.

"It's nice to see you again Halt, and this must be Will." Taryn greeted once the two Rangers where within earshot.

"Yes this is Will, my apprentice. Will this is Taryn Gallagher; she's going to be doing the evaluations in riding this year." Halt said introducing the two and explaining to the obviously energetic and enthused teenager.

"Wow, what kind of evaluations?" Will asked with wide and eager eyes.

"Oh you know just the normal things that a ranger should be able to do with their horse, whether or not they are being taken care of properly and what not." Taryn replied with a kind smile already liking the young man beside her.

"So know that we are all here let's head out. Taryn, I'll let you know when it's time for you to be blindfolded." Halt said, as he signaled Abelard into a trot. Following Halt's lead Will and Taryn fell in slightly behind and beside Halt, Taryn having a little bit of difficulty because she was leading an extra horse behind her.

Will had noticed the extra horse finally decided to ask about him. "Why do you need two horses?"

"Oh, I'm just continuing the training of these two." Taryn replied with a grin.

"Why don't you just ride one and leave the other at home and work him when you get back." Will asked another question.

Taryn glanced over at Halt and could faintly notice a slight frown on his face. "I'm riding this one because she needs the work and the other one is still in training, if I just left one at home and worked them latter, who's to say that I won't forget to work them when I get back. By doing it this way they both get worked and it saves me some time." Taryn concluded.

"You see will horse trainers are constantly training and working their horses, much like we rangers are always working in our own skill set." Halt said affectively ending that topic of choice of the young apprentice.

That day passed relatively quickly with Will asking Taryn many questions about what she did as a trainer of ranger horses. Answering as many as she could and also asking some though not as many as Will. Taryn learned that this would be Will's first Gathering.

Finally Halt pulled his horse to stop and turned in the saddle to face Taryn saying, "This is where you have to be blindfolded. It will only be for an hour or so as we make the final trek into the forest."

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Taryn accepted the piece of material that Will had taken out of his saddle bag and handed over to her. After tying the blindfold in place she felt Halt take the lead rope the she had attached to her horse saying, "Will take the lead for the grey and I'll lead Taryn." Will responded with an "ok" and reaching over between the two horses untied the lead that trailed back to King's Storm.

AN: So the trip to the Gathering is almost done and I've finally established a timeline in correlation to the books. I know it's a short chapter but I'm really tired and I only decided to write because I couldn't go to sleep but not I'm uber tired it like 1:30 AM. I never stay up this late. Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to hear from you.