WOW! I haven't published in a long time! I blame midterms for not having time to write...and maybe a few good books. I will soon be publishing a chapter in which Gilan appears. He may be kinda OOC.

Disclaimer: You know the drill-I don't own RA

CHAPTER 6

A door bangs open. My eyes snap open, I look around momentarily confused, I was not in my small room in the cabin. Then I remember that I had fallen asleep at the Ward. Fabian must have moved me into an extra cot in the girls' room after I fell asleep.

"Where is she?" I hear a familiar voice coming from the main room, yelling in a frantic tone.

"Dammit." I whisper to myself.

It is still dark out. The other girls have started to grumble and look around wearily. I quickly pull the covers down, and head for the door leading to the main room. I open the door as silently as possible.

I peer around the edge of the door. My father is walking toward the door of the boys' room. I hope he thinks it's the girls' room, and isn't just assuming I'd be in the boys' room.

"Dad." I say making my presence known.

Dad swings around, looking furious and scared, his face quickly melting into a relieved smile. He quickly glides across the room to gather me into a bear hug. He may be small, but when he squeezed me I thought my ribs would break.

"Don't scare me like that again." He says, releasing me from his bear hug and holding me out at arms length. "Come on. Let's get you home so your mother will stop worrying." Dad tugs at my arm, trying to lead me to the door.

I resist. "Dad." I start, "All my life all I've ever wanted to be is a Ranger. It's what I've devoted my life to. If I go home with you and you have your way I will never be able to do that."

"Now is not the time or place for this." Dad says, his voice stern.

"Isabel, who is this?" Fabian's voice comes from behind my dad.

OK, well this is a funny story. I've known Fabian for nearly six years, but I never told him who my family was. I didn't want to scare him off because I was a Ranger. I didn't tell my parents either.

I met Fabian when I snuck into Castle Redmont the first time. I had just learned some unseen movement techniques. I wasn't very good and it's a miracle I even got into the Castle without being arrested. Maybe the guards saw me and knew who I was. At that age I already had a reputation for mischief.

I had just climbed the wall (a lot less gracefully than I would today) and into the branches of a tall fig tree. As I climbed to the lower branches, I miscalculated and moved all my weight to a branch that broke under the strain. I found myself tumbling the remaining distance to the ground. Luckily, since I was never the best climber, I knew how to fall, so I was mostly unscathed. When I stood up and looked around, I saw a boy sitting at the base of the tree, book in his lap, looking at me like 'OMG! That girl just fell out of the sky.'

And here we are six years later...

"Fabian. Dad. Dad. Fabian."

"Your dad's a Ranger!"

"Yup."

"The Ranger of Redmont Fief? Will Treaty?"

"Yup."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Yu-I mean, I didn't want you to freak out and treat me like some black witch like everyone else does when they find out."

"Izzie..." he says, his expression is pained. Then it becomes hard. "You should go. It was good to meet you, Ranger Treaty."

"Fabian...don't." I reply, but he just looks at me eyes full of pain from my betrayal and retreats back into his room.

When the door is closed, I follow my dad out of the wards' room and out of Castle Redmont.

When we are both seated upon horses and headed back to the cabin in the woods, a thought occurs to me.

"How did you know I would be with the wards?" I ask grudgingly.

Ignoring my tone, he replies, "You aren't nearly as sneaky as you think you are...Then again most kids aren't. I've known since you guys met. I figured since, you spend so much time there, time you claim to be training during, I thought I might find you there. And, give me some credit, I am a Ranger, and you left quite the path blundering through the woods like a three-legged horse. You're lucky it was dark or I would have been only minutes behind you." He concludes with a chuckle.

"Oh, and I think you will make a great Ranger." He whispers so quickly it is nearly unintelligible.

"Your gonna let me be a Ranger?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes, your mother and I talked-"

"OH! THANK YOU! Thank You!" I nearly bounce off of the horse in my excitement.

"Your not bad with a bow, but you knife throwing is wretched." Akeline comments, as my third practice knife in a row hits the target handle first.

Frustrated, I respond, "That's because I don't like throwing knives. I like knife knife fighting."

"Knife fighting isn't really one of the required Ranger skills. How did you come to learn it? I know your father didn't teach you. He's nearly as lousy with knives as you." Akeline remarks.

"Hey! I'm quite good at knife fighting! Though my best skill is hand-to-hand."

"So I've heard. Gets you into a fair amount of trouble. Maybe you should practice with someone more experienced than apprentices." She spits the word out like filth. "You should see how well you stand up to someone with actual experience."

I wonder if she's insulting me just to get a rise out of me or to get me angry. Maybe she thinks I would do best acting on pure instinct, or just wants to get a feel for my gut reactions. Is this part of the evaluation? No matter.

"You wanna go now. I'm sure I could beat you with my hands tied." I retort.

"A beating could do you some good. While you are my apprentice, maybe I will be able to teach you correct grammar and how to respect your elders."

I'm exhausted and sore after my 'evaluation'. Akeline had said she wanted to judge where I'm really at and if I'm really as advanced as is rumored. She also wanted to locate my weak points, so she would know what to focus on.

We, that is, Akeline and I, are now sitting in the living room of the cabin drinking coffee with nearly an equal amount of honey in it (A tradition among all of Halt's apprentices, Halt's apprentices' apprentices, and so on.)

"Training with me will be slightly different from training with other Rangers. We will be out in the field more and most of your training will happen around temporary campfires after a long day of travel. Therefore, most of your training will be from experience. I assume that this will be all right with you since at least...a year and a half of your training has been covered." Akeline says.

"A year and a half! A year and a half! I've been in training my whole life and you think it accounts for A YEAR AND A HALF!"

"At least." she adds. I can't tell if that was a joke because her face did not give way to any signs of humor.

I cool down a bit.

She continues, "If you are quite done with your outburst, I wish to fill you in on our itinerary. We will be meeting up with the rest of the task force in roughly two weeks. In that time we will be training intensively and getting you attuned to your horse since-"

"My horse! I get a horse! I can't wait to meet him!" I interrupt.

"Do not interrupt me...ever." She says, her voice has a dangerous edge to it. "As I was saying. You and your horse's bond will be very important. In the task group we will spend the majority of our time traveling." She pauses. I refrain from interrupting, making sure she's done speaking.

I wait.

Nothing.

I open my mouth to speak.

Still nothing.

"Uummm...Excuse me, but when do I get to meet my horse? What's his name?"

Akeline has an amused glint in her eyes. "I think you have already met him...his name is Shadow."

Hope you enjoyed. Love your feedback. Happy New Year!