The Beginning
When Willow woke up the next morning she didn't feel like getting out of bed yet and she noticed, by the sun, that it wasn't quite time to meet the Hama. She watched the light filter through the curtains while she wondered what the Ranger could possibly want with her. A gong sounded through the halls, telling everyone that the day had started. As she came up with no answers to her questions, she sighed and slid out of bed. She walked over to her dresser to see her trade. On the dresser there sat a silvery tunic and a long grey cloak, soft leathery boots and, she found this strange, a simple silver necklace. Shrugging, she quickly dressed. In a few minutes she was moving swiftly and silently toward the western clearing. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. She whirled but saw no one, deciding it must have been her imagination; she shrugged it off and started on again.
"Funny how people seldom look up, isn't it?" A voice said above her.
She tuned again and this time looked up, it was Hama.
"First lesson, never shrug off a feeling, almost all of the time your feeling is correct." He said quietly, over his shoulder as he walked off.
"Wait," She called to him. "I have a question!"
He turned to her, eyes already saying, 'oh, that's a surprise'.
"Who am I apprenticed to? I don't recognize the craft from the clothes." Willow asked. But…"
"Me," He said simply.
Willow was shocked. "You? But I didn't even know a person could be a ranger apprentice."
"There hasn't been. It's been almost a decade since one was chosen." Hama said as they came into a clearing. A small house, more like a hut stood there. Hama strode over to it and opened the door to let them in. He gestured to a chair and she sat down. He took the seat opposite her, "Before I start training, any more questions?"
"Yes." Willow said. "What are Rangers?"
"Interesting question, I expected you to have one, Rangers are naturally inquisitive. However, I'll let you decide the answer to your question." Hama said. "Now to start, apprentices have duties, you know."
"Yes sir."
"I would like you to sweep the house, fetch water from the stream and cut firewood for tonight. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
Though Willow as upset that the first two duties were girlish and she had been afraid that he would treat her like a delicate, fragile girl. But he had assured her with the third task he had set her too; many girls would not be able to cut firewood. She found an empty barrel in front of the house and decided that it would be easier to fill up the barrel instead of running to the stream every time the bucket ran out. When she filled up the barrel, only taking fifteen trips to the stream, she took the axe from beside the small pile of big logs and began to chop the logs into halves and put them into a tidy pile. Hama came out while she was working and remarked on her idea of using the barrel for water to save less labor for later. When her duties were finished, Hama called her to have dinner, rabbit stew. As they ate the subject turned to Rangers.
"So what is it that Ranger's do exactly?" Willow asked.
Hama thought for a minute before answering. "We protect the kingdom. Many history books describe us as elite, agile, sorcerer warriors. But are no sorcerers. True we are swift climbers and silent as shadows but it is not sorcery. We can do some magic but it is for healing purposes only."
"I can do magic?" Willow asked confused.
"Yes and no." He said and as Willow still looked confused said, "It depends on what your opinion of magic is. If it is the magic of good or evil that you read about in books, no. If it is the simple art of producing healing energy, yes."
"So do we use spells and things like that? Or do we just think about it and it happens? Oh, do we use weapons like the queens guards? I remember a lot of people wanted to be a guard-"
"Whoa, slow down." Hama held up his hands to stop her talking. "Now it's getting late and I'm sure that after your duties you're pretty tired. If you remember all of your questions tomorrow, I might be able to answer them then. Now, your bedroom, second door or the left and don't mess everything up in the room."
As soon as she walked into the room her immediate thought was, home. It wasn't stylish or especially huge, which she liked, it was quite small and quaint. She looked out the window at the moon and breathed in the forest air. It was just like home.