Epilogue

A/N: Here's the final chapter! I hope you all enjoy! Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the support, it's really encouraging and motivating. :)

Alyss Mainwaring: Thank you for catching that! I made sure to fix those errors. That's sounds like a truly brilliant story idea you have there, I'd certainly love to read it. Well, I could have made Will take it, and certainly thought about it, but then I had the nasty suspicion that it would end up making this story much longer than a little short X) Thank you for your kind words and for the compliment! It really made my day to read.

TrustTheCloak: Well, it's my opinion that Gilan is a pretty epic guy and therefore pretty much deserves to look awesome XD I'm glad the fight scene came across well, I'm always a bit worried about writing those. Thank you so much for the compliment and for the review!

Lala the Screaming Fangirl: Second that! I've always loved him and his sword work too. It's more than nice to hear you like the book so far. I also love Halt and Will moments, so I couldn't help but add one. Thank you for the review! :)

Also, special thanks to Aseikh and Guest for your kind reviews!

Epilogue

Halt, Gilan, and Will had left the smugglers in the care of the garrison soldiers and had eventually made camp.

Will had been unusually silent as they left the clearing and smugglers behind him. The truth was that he couldn't seem to get the scent of warmweed from his nose, from his mind. It was bothering him even more than the slight thoughts of failure that were also plaguing him. This was because he knew that there had been no way for him to foresee the mess he had found himself in. He knew that he had done all he could, and knew that things had turned out alright in the end. Honestly, he did not regret his rather fool hearty actions, he still considered the risk worth it. Consequently, the thoughts of doubts and failure seemed almost easy to move on from, unlike the memories of warmweed.

Even as Halt set the watch and he tried to sleep, he found he still could smell the foul plant, still remember its taste, and almost remember the mindless lust for it. He shuddered and wrapped his cloak tighter around himself as he felt a sense of unreasonable dread. It had nearly happened again it was true, but it hadn't and it wouldn't. The bandits had all be captured or killed. They were finished.

Also, he could see Halt keeping watch through the night shadows and knew that nothing would get past him. He tried to shake the ugly feeling that had taken hold. He didn't have the patience or the desire to let irritating niggling psychological issues and traumas reassert themselves in his life, he told himself fiercely. He had already moved past all this before. For a while, telling himself that seemed to work.

He turned onto his side and tried to clear his mind so that he could sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes however, the unpleasant memories of the time he had spent in Skandia came flooding back and he couldn't stop them. He felt himself shivering as he opened his eyes to stare out into the night. He bit the inside of his cheek as he continued staring out, finding comfort in the pain for the simple fact that he could feel it, register it, care about it. It meant that he was still alive and that his mind was still his. He drew his arms about himself, still shivering. He realized then that he felt out of touch with himself and separated from everyone and everything around him.

It was that feeling of being alone that kept allowing for the other feelings and memories to continue plaguing him. In that moment, he found he wanted nothing more than the company of another person. He lifted his head slightly to look towards Halt and felt his nerves and emotions calm slightly, just by the sight. Halt had meant comfort, safety, and assurity for so many years. He felt much of the tension drain from him, his shivering calming slightly.

The grizzled Ranger was facing slightly away from Will, his eyes scanning the darkness—a silent sentinel. Will found himself starting to feel safe again—safe but still alone. He looked further to the right and saw Gilan sleeping peacefully on his side, his back to Will.

At the sight of his peacefully sleeping friend, Will could not help but feel again that desire for company, a presence beside him... a brother. It was admittedly more than a little on the embarrassing side, but at the moment he was feeling too miserable to even let that bother him. He just wanted to escape that ugly feeling of emptiness. He hesitated for only a moment before rising shakily to his feet, pulling his cloak tight around his shoulders.

Halt had to admit that he was concerned for Will. He'd been unnaturally quiet since they'd left the smugglers behind and made camp. He wondered now if Will's close encounter had shaken his confidence in his abilities. If that were so, it would be something that Will would need to come to terms with and deal with before it became a real problem and really started to eat at him.

However, Halt was fairly certain that that wasn't the real problem, or at least, not the main problem. He suspected that it had mostly to do with the warmweed dredging up best-forgotten memories. He watched as Will tossed and turned, shivering slightly though it was not that cold a night.

He kept an eye on his former apprentice as he kept watch. He had been on the verge of getting up and seeing if there was anything that he could do, when he saw Will get up with his cloak wrapped tight around him, bedroll tucked under one arm. He traveled the few paces over to the other side of the campfire where Halt's other former apprentice lay sleeping. Will bent then and lightly touched Gilan's shoulder with trembling fingers.

Gilan, a seasoned campaigner, woke instantly at the contact and instinctively reached towards his weapons. He looked up into Will's face questioningly, searching. Obviously, he caught sight of Will's distressed expression and realized that he had not woken him because of an impending attack but rather for a personal reason.

"What's wrong?" Gilan asked softly.

Will gestured ineffectually with his right hand as he searched for his voice. When he found it, however, he said only one word.

"Gilan," he whispered almost despondently, beseechingly.

Something quiet seemed to pass between them in that silent way that brothers often have of communicating without conscious thought or effort. A small smile touched Gilan's face and he raised an eyebrow slightly, but then shrugged as if to say 'why not?'. Will nodded gratefully then, set his bedroll right next to the taller Ranger's, and laid down, placing his back nearly against Gilan's. Gilan, obviously noting Will slight shivering, merely tossed half of his own cloak over Will, reached behind himself to grip Will's forearm reassuringly once, and then fell almost immediately back to sleep. As Halt watched, Will finally seemed to calm fully, his slight shivering stopping completely, before he too fell asleep.

~x~X~x~

The next morning Halt woke to the scent of freshly brewing coffee and cooking bacon. The scent of the sizzling meat and coffee drifted mouthwateringly towards his nose. Will was bent over the cook fire, Gilan sitting across from him. Will laughed softly at something that Gilan had said as he flipped the strips of meat to ensure they would cook evenly on both sides. He looked up when he caught Halt's motion, as the bearded Ranger rose, out of the corner of his eye.

"Morning Halt," he said happily. As he spoke, he swatted Gilan's reaching hand away from the pan without even looking at him.

"Halt," Gilan greeted cheerily in his turn, seemingly totally unabashed by the fact that he'd just been caught attempting to pilfer food and thwarted.

As Halt joined the pair by the fire, he was pleased to see that the cheery light seemed to have come back into Will's eyes. The troubled look of yesterday was almost entirely gone. When Will smiled, it was genuine. He'd already begun to work through and move on from what had been plaguing him the night before. It wasn't something that was just going to go away overnight, but it was something that he could overcome. Halt knew then that Will was truly going to be alright, and that knowledge brought a surge of warmth to his chest.

When Will turned his attention back to the frying pan, Halt nodded once at Gilan in silent gratitude; the nod acknowledging what Gilan had done the night before and what he had been doing this morning: purposely distracting Will from painful thoughts or memories. Gilan simply grinned at him.

~x~X~x~

Halt headed back to the cabin, content to let Will and Gilan report on what had happened to Baron Arald. He didn't much care for formalities and protocol like this. He was more than happy to let his two former apprentices handle it.

He was looking forward to having a nice cup of coffee and putting back Will's stack of letters. He had left the cabin in such haste that he had forgotten to place them in Will's letterbox. He felt an uncomfortable dropping sensation in the pit of his stomach when he came to the sudden realization that the letters were not the only thing he had forgotten; in all the commotion of Gilan coming in the middle of the night, their well-founded worry, and impromptu trip, he had forgotten Will's dog.

He swore silently to himself as he headed inside. Ebony had been inside, sleeping in the spare room when he and Gilan had left. Sometime after she greeted Gilan, she had gotten disinterested and gone out of the room, out of sight—and, because his thoughts had been so occupied with worry for Will, out of mind as well. He wasn't used to having a dog after all.

He headed into the cabin at a hurried pace, dreading to see the state the poor dog and his cabin would be in. It was because of this expectation of seeing the worst that he was surprised to see that the cabin was as neat as it had been when he had left it. There was absolutely no sign of the dog. What he did find was a letter on the table. He picked it up.

Dear Halt,

When you didn't show up to meet me at breakfast, I went down to the cabin. You looked as if you had left in a serious hurry, so I assume it was an emergency. I took Ebony back with me because I didn't know how long you might be gone, and thought it would be better for her.

Love,

-Pauline

Halt let out a breath of relief and sent out silent thanks towards Pauline. She truly was a remarkable woman. All thoughts of having a nice quiet cup of coffee flew from his mind as he headed towards Redmont Castle and the apartment that he and Lady Pauline shared in order to thank her and check up on Ebony.

Will and Gilan were still reporting to the Baron by the time he got to his and Pauline's rooms. The graceful Courier was there to meet him, kissing him on the cheek as she embraced him.

"You were gone unexpectedly, and longer than I thought," she commented softly as they headed inside.

He nodded. "It was an unexpected problem. Thank you for watching Ebony for me."

"It must have been some emergency," she remarked. "The poor dog really needed to go outside. She practically flew out the door when I opened it. She also knocked over your table and spilled coffee everywhere. But I righted it for you." She looked slightly troubled then. That got Halt's full attention because she rarely ever got flustered. "Speaking of problems, Halt, I found something in the cabin that troubles me."

"What is it?" he asked, growing concerned.

She went to their table and brought forth a stack of letters—Will and Gilan's letters, Halt realized. As she held them towards him, he saw that they had obviously been casualties of the spilled coffee she had mentioned earlier. Most of them were completely ruined. The few that weren't fully destroyed were still damaged. The only ink not smudged by the spill was a small bit of each intro and their closing.

"Will isn't going to be happy about that," Halt said, wincing slightly.

"You knew about these letters?" she asked, her face carefully neutral aside from a slightly dangerous look in her eyes. "How could you allow such a situation to fester like that?" she demanded. "How long have they been so angry with each other? And what started all of this?"

Halt's confusion suddenly melted away into understanding. Of course, if one only read the beginnings and closings of the letters it would indeed look as if Will and Gilan were more than angry with each other. He knew that Pauline thought of his two former apprentices like surrogate sons. So, thinking that they were so angry that they couldn't even speak civilly with each other, upset her. Pauline was still fixing him with that dangerous look, waiting for an answer.

"That isn't exactly what you think," he began to explain? "They aren't really angry with each other. In fact, when I left them both to speak to the Baron they were-" he got no further.

"They are both here?" she asked, interrupting him. Before he could answer, however, she was already heading to the door. "We need to see if we can't work this out. This isn't alright and I am ashamed of you for not trying to address this. Is it honestly that hard for you men to sit down and talk things out civilly?" she asked rhetorically as she headed out into the hallway.

"Actually, they're not-" Halt started to say but she had already gone. He followed after her and they both arrived at the intersection in the hallway in time to see Gilan heading easily down the hallway perpendicular to their position. He was no doubt on his way to visit Pauline. Suddenly, a shadow emerged from the open doorway of a vacated room right behind Gilan. It launched itself at the tall young Ranger from behind.

Gilan, without even looking, merely sidestepped his attacker. Will, since the shadow was none other than he, stumbled off balance when he did not meet with the resistance he expected and tumbled to the ground.

"Nice try Will," Gilan said laughing, turning to face the younger Ranger. His laughter died however in a soft grunt of surprise as Will scythed his legs out from under him so that he landed in a heap next to him.

Pauline was already moving towards them. Probably, Halt realized, it was because to a casual eye it might look like a fight, rather than the harmless horseplay that Halt knew it to be. Though it wasn't an often occurrence, his two apprentices did occasionally engage in the tomfoolery many Rangers engaged in—in attempts to try and catch each other off guard.

Pauline's pace slowed slightly as the two Rangers laughed. Gilan rose gracefully to his feet and offered Will a hand up, which he took. They didn't look at all like they were angry with each other. She looked from them to the letters in her hand and then to Halt who was standing calmly beside her—the look on his face all too plainly saying 'I told you so,'—and realized that she had gotten worked up for nothing.

"Young men and their stupid ways of showing friendship," she muttered under her breath. "I'll never understand how they seem to think an insult equates to the same thing as a compliment."

~x~X~x~

The next week when Halt entered the small cabin in the woods and saw Will bent over a sheet of paper, quill in hand and concentrating fiercely, he felt no accompanying feeling of misgivings or unease.

"Writing to Gilan again?" Halt asked mildly.

Will looked up from his work with a foolish grin on his face.

"Yes, I just finished actually," he said with a chuckle. "Since all our other letters were destroyed, we thought we might as well take the opportunity to start again." He handed Halt the rough draft he had completed. "What do you think?" he asked as Halt scanned the letter in question.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Halt said, then reached for the quill and set the paper down to add another line in the intro. "But I think it would be better if you added this here."

He passed it to Will whose smile grew even wider as he read it, as he tried to stifle a laugh. "It's a nice touch, but isn't it a bit unfair—two against one."

"Gilan doesn't have to know that. And besides, it serves him right for all the times he tried to prank me as an apprentice."

"As I recall, you said about the same thing when we left Gilan to fill out my reports for me before the Moondarker incident. Don't you think you've already paid him back enough?" Will asked teasingly.

"Not by far," Halt said, his tone utterly serious. "And besides, the last time was payback for all the times he tried to ambush me on the way to the Gathering, this is something else altogether."

The End

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoyed this little short and that it all seemed believable and in-character. Let me know if you think something needs improving or have any questions.

Also, if any of you are interested, I have some aspirations to make a little mini-series of shorts like this—a collection of four little 3-4 chapter books total. I have tentative outlines for the three others, and put their summaries below. Let me know if you're interested and what you think! If anyone is interested, I'll try to start writing the rest as soon as I get myself some decent free time (curse mid-terms and school projects!) Thanks again!

Messenger Hawks: Will decides to try and train a hawk from the mountains of Rain and Night to carry messages for the Ranger Corps. Unfortunately, training it successfully turns out to be much harder than expected. In hindsight though, that turned out to be a rather good thing. (And Horace finds himself in pretty serious trouble) *Will, Horace, and Evanlyn/Cassandra*

Songs: In which Will uses his skill with the mandola to annoy his friends (especially Halt) charm the ladies, and help rescue a captured Scotti diplomat (And Gilan has a rather bad day) *Will, Alice, Horace, Gilan*

Hides: Will finds himself climbing a tree after playing Greybeard Halt one too many times and discovers something interesting. And that something might just end up holding the key to helping him devise a plan to save his mentor when he finds trouble. (Halt's turn to have a not so pleasant time of it—got to spread the problems around, after all X) *Will, Halt, Crowley, Gilan*

I wish you all an epic rest of the month!

~Kazi

~ATGTJ~