Hey guys (I know these Authors Notes are nasty little habits, but I keep having things to say!)!

So, for those of you who don't know, there's this contest called Nano-Wrimo. The goal is to basically write a novel in a month, and then you get a little award and everything and you can go back through and edit it and fill out forms online and stuff and they'll actually send you a copy of your book! I'm doing it this year, and I think it would be really fun if you guys (as fellow writers) did it too!

Then maybe we could make a website to post ours and have each other read them and tell each other what we think and give people pointers.

Anyway, enjoy!


Robin sat with her knees folded under her, her cloak around her, striking flint and steel angrily and starting lots of little fires in the leaves around her but none seeming to land in their fire pit. All the while, she was muttering something along the lines of "Sexist Pig" under her breath and several worse insults at the Baron. Finally, with an angry yell, she picked up some burning leaves to her right and threw them into the fire ring, ignoring the sparks that burned her hand.

The fire caught, and she stormed to her feet, pacing back and forth. Will watched her cautiously, afraid she might start yelling. Instead, she just threw her saxe knife with all her force through a little fork in a tree and slammed it into a log some 20 meters away. Will walked slowly to get her knife for her, glancing over his shoulder cautiously. He pulled the knife from the log and handed it back to Robin, and his hand came away bloody; the hilt was crimson with Robin's blood from burns and steel.

"I am a Ranger," she told him forcefully. "My gender has nothing to do with it. I'm as much a Ranger as any other apprentice, aren't I?" At the end of her statement, she sounded almost pleading.

"Of course you are," Will told her, patting her shoulder.

"I don't want to work with that- that PIG- diplomatically. Let's just steal all his money and give it to the poor!" she said angrily, wiping something that looked suspiciously like tears from her face.

"We could, but-" Will started, then he stopped. What was actually wrong with that idea? Killing the Baron would result in another replacement, and there was no guarantee the next would be any better. Trying to imprison him wouldn't work well, either; they'd need the king to judge him, and with all the waiting that would go on there was a good chance he would escape. And, naturally, leaving him there was totally unnacceptable. For a moment, he considered asking Evanlyn to judge a trial; but by the time they got to Araluen she would probably have had her baby and she would be in no condition.

"But?" Robin prompted, her eyebrows rising rebelliously.

"It wouldn't be a lasting fix," Will said, failing to come up with another excuse.

"Alright, so what would be?" Robin said, crossing her arms.

"Erm..." Will was at a loss.

"And at least we would help out the poor while we come up with a plan," Robin pointed out, rebellion thick in her tone.

"You should really discipline your apprentice," Halt said, materializing out of the trees. "She's too fast acting. Alot like Evanlyn, actually. Now, try and turn an Evanlyn into an Alyss." Halt started laughing. "Good luck with that one!"

"Are you suggesting the Princess Royal needs to change her ways, and that it's bad to be like her?" Robin said, drawing herself up to he'm suggesting that you both act without thinking," Halt replied tartly. "For her, it's fine- she has advisers to stop rash decisions. For YOU, Miss Ranger, you only have yourself. So act like it."

For a moment, Will was dreadfully afraid Robin might throw her knife at Halt's head. But instead, she just glared furiously at him. Her saxe knife glinted angrily in her hand, and then she spun on her heel and melted into the trees.

Will sighed and slumped down to sit against a tree, Halt rolling his eyes. "Are you sure she was a wise choice of apprentice?" he asked, watching the spot in the trees where the girl had vanished.

"Possitive," Will said, stretching. "Did you see her marksmanship with that knife throw? Or vanishing into the trees? She has the skills. Now, we just need the temper. But I for one think she has an understandable temper, considering she was just insulted like that. She seems to be sortof sensitive about the whole... treating sexes differently. Probably why she hid as a boy; to avoid the judgement that goes with a girl traveling on her own."

"Exactly," came Robin's cold voice behind them. Halt spun, and saw the girl leaning on her bow hardly five meters away, smirking. "By the way, Rangers, you two would be dead if I was an enemy. Can hardly say I'm a bad choice at a Ranger when I can sneak up on the famous Halt." Her entire body was stiff with anger; she'd obviously heard the whole thing. But Will saw twinkling in her eyes, like a barely suppressed smile.

"I didn't say you were," Halt sniffed indignanly. "I was just asking if he was sure." At this, Robin laughed loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Nice cover," she said, a smirk on her face but a genuine smile in her eyes.

"So why are you in such a bad mood?" Halt demanded, turning back to sit comfortably and making Robin walk around to face him. She did, and sat on the opposite side of the fire she had gotten going.

"I'm not in a bad mood," she said indignantly, crossing her arms.

\\Yes, yes you are," Will joined in. It dawned on him that his apprentice did seem touchy; even for having her gender insulted.

"No, I am not," she said angrily, flinging her hands up. Will then saw that perhaps the blood on her knife hilt hadn't come from her hands; they weren't bleeding at all. But on her side, a flower of blood was staining her vest.

"Perhaps your side is bothering you?" Will suggested pointedly, giving a pointed glance to the spot where she'd been stabbed. She looked down, and seemed to realize for the first time she was bleeding.

"Huh, look at that. Probably broke the stitches," she said. "It had been hurting but I hadn't wanted to pay attention to it..." she mumbled, fumbling through her first aid kit and then rolling her tunic up to the bottom of her rib cage and poking the little knife wound. Her fingers came away red, and then she stitched it promptly back together without even sanitizing the needle.

"That's not smart," Will warned. "You'll get an infection."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Robin grumbled, shoving the remaining thread and needle in her pouch again.

Just as she was rolling her tunic back down, Little John, Alan, Gilan and Mauch walked back into camp with a large buck tied around a pole they carried between them. Max and Ebony milled excitedly around their ankles, enticing several complaints from Mauch as they got under his feet and nearly made him trip.

They put the deer down, and flopped on their rumps.

"So, what's the game plan?" Gilan said, rubbing his hands together over the fire.

"We're going to do some robbing," Will said, before Halt could answer. He made eyecontact with his apprentice, then continued. "And we're going to give the profit to the poor."

"Sounds fun," Little John said, pulling out a large knife and skinning up the deer. "When do we start?"

Robin's eyes sparkled as she took control of her plan. "Tomorrow at dawn."