Author's Note: I'm sooo sorry I haven't updated quickly! Hopefully, my rendition of Cabin in the Trees at the end will make up for that?... As always, I own nothing Ranger's Apprentice has already used. But I do suppose some of the lyrics are mine, but only the ones you don't already know. Enjoy!
After Maddie and Will finished their repast, they followed Ben to their quarters. The room was clean, Maddie noticed appreciatively, and the bed was freshly made. A vase of fresh wildflowers adorned the table between the two beds, and the flowers gave off a faint, sweet smell.
Will left her in the room while he dealt with the horses. Maddie had protested, wishing to deal with Bumper herself, but Will told her that it could arouse suspicion if the townspeople saw her with a bow and a ranger horse. Better if they continued thinking that Will was the dad they were labeling him as.
Maddie grinned inwardly as she reclined on her bed. It was quite fun to pretend to be Will's daughter. It was not her first time to do so, but each time was slightly different. The last time she'd posed as his daughter, there had been quite a lot more evident danger. This time, either there was no danger, or—and this was probably the case—the dangers were merely lurking out of sight to the casual observer.
Her thoughts turned to the task at hand. Will's briefing had explained that there were strange goings-on in Aldan Fief, and that in addition to a bandit ring, there was a new religious group in Wennibet Village. Often enough the two went hand-in-hand, so Will and Maddie had come to quiet things down. The only thing that Ranger Bert had been able to ascertain of Wennibet was that the villagers talked about some 'awakening' and 'conversion' and often talked about 'The Way'. As Will had some level of experience with cults, he was the first pick. Halt would have come as well, but as he was retired, and the situation did not seem dire, he stayed in Redmont with Pauline. One riot, one Ranger. And we have two already. No point in making a big show of ourselves for naught.
Will entered the room, and Maddie saw that he carried their belongings. She stood to relieve him of her bags and rolls.
"Did Bumper give you any trouble?" Maddie asked, knowing her headstrong horse to dance around when asked to hold still when there was no danger about.
"Actually, no," Will said, "although he did seem perturbed that you left him so long out there and then didn't come to stable him."
"Why do you have your mandola?" Maddie asked, eyeing the instrument with interest.
Will gave her a look that said, You ought to have this one figured already. "The girl said they accompany their songs with whatever instruments available, did she not?"
"Oh." Maddie shrugged. She knew Will was quite good on his mandola, having heard him strum and pick out intricate melodies after dinner on quiet nights. "Do you think I could learn to play?"
"Well, you could…" Will let the sentence trail off, making it obvious that he wasn't sure that it was a good idea. "It'd take time from your training, though."
"Maybe I could learn to play a flute or recorder. Aren't they easier?"
"They're also louder. How about you just whittle your bow into a flute?"
Maddie saw the tiny smile on her mentor's lips and grinned, rolling her eyes. "I see."
Maddie quickly put her things in order, with her bow and quiver on the wall side of her bed. Anyone who might chance to look into their room would not be able to see her weapons, and those who got closer would be well within striking distance. She shook out her clothes and refolded them, leaving her iconic ranger garb on the bottom of the stack. Other more normal dresses lay on top, while she chose a pretty green dress, almost identical to the blue one she now wore, to hang up for the next day. Having finished with her belongings, she looked across the room to where Will had thrown all of his stuff in a heap on his bed and sat beside it tuning his mandola.
Maddie walked to him and fixed his mess. Will looked on in mock confusion as she unfolded, shook out, and refolded his shirts, stopping every twenty seconds or so to turn one right-side-out again.
Having finished tuning, Will started softly playing Cabin in the Trees. Maddie quietly finished putting his clothes away, knowing Will was remembering Alyss. Although Maddie had known and loved Alyss, she had not been hit nearly as hard as her parents, and even Horace had not descended into grief so deep as Will had. That's just why I don't need to get tied to another person in marriage; it'll only bring more pain into one of our lives when the other dies.
"…There's a girl used to live there when I left…" Will switched to singing for a moment and then went back to humming. Although the song was a ranger song, Will seemed to always think more of his passed wife than of past gatherings when he sang it.
"Will?" Maddie asked tentatively, only continuing when her mentor looked up. "Have you ever thought that it wasn't worth it? That it would have been better to live as a farmer instead of a Ranger?"
Will paused in his playing and set the mandola down. He was quiet for so long that Maddie started wondering if he was going to answer at all. Finally, he exhaled, and with the let-out of breath came one word. "Yes."
After a few seconds of that word hanging in the air between them, Will continued. "Sometimes I wonder, if I had stayed out of the Corps, would Alyss have…" He stared at his hands and continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "But of course… If I hadn't been a Ranger, we probably would not have married. I would not have known her so well…" His voice broke. "I might not have even known about it…"
"Wouldn't we all be dead?" Maddie asked gently. "Halt would be dead, Morgarath would not have been defeated, my parents would never have met…"
"Yeah. That's what keeps me going when I think about it…" Will lowered his voice, but his words became more and more intense as he continued. "But how absurd is it, that I of all people should be the one who makes it possible? I'm not perfect, Maddie. The gods have to have made a mistake to put me in charge of keeping this kingdom and so many others from chaos. I couldn't even save my own wife!"
Maddie had no words. What could she say that would do anything to dissuade this thinking? "We… should get going," she eventually said, glancing out the window and seeing the sun sinking lower in the sky.
Will nodded and stood, putting his mandola into its case and donning his cloak. "Let's go."
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When I left my home, I left a girl behind,
Told her I'd come back before the summer's turn.
But I didn't know then I'd be gone so long.
That's just one more lesson that we learn.
Going back to the cabin in the trees,
Going back to the creek beneath the hill.
There's a girl who used to live there when I left,
But I doubt she'll be waiting for me still.
Never thought I'd be gone so many years.
When I left, I always planned that I'd return,
But time slips away before we know:
That's just one more lesson that we learn.
Going back to the cabin in the trees,
Going back to the creek beneath the hill.
There's a girl who used to live there when I left,
But I doubt she'll be waiting for me still.
But now it's been nigh on fifteen years.
And although for that girl I'll always yearn,
I'm sure she gave up on me a long time ago;
That's just one more lesson that we learn.
Going back to the cabin in the trees,
Going back to the creek beneath the hill.
There's a girl who used to live there when I left,
But I doubt she'll be waiting for me still.