Another Chapter up. I'll try and make this one a little better edited then the last ones. ~~~~~~

It is absolutely amazing how much one stomach can take in a short amount of time. Gilan found this out the hard way when he gave food to his young guest. Then again, he wasn't counting on the fact that the boy was completely and utterly famished from his time traveling. Of coarse, he might have considered the thought sooner if he'd taken closer note as to just how underweight the boy was. Aaron ate at the food Gilan made like a vulture in a desert. He ate ravenously and without relent for the first few refills he asked for. This would be the first time that between two people they'd finished every small drop of soup made in his fairly large pot. Gilan didn't eat half of it either. He ate his usual amount, and Aaron took the rest greedily. " Easy, the food's not going anywhere." Gilan said, as the boy took another giant mouth full of bread with his soup. The boy chewed and swallowed more quickly then Gilan thought any human being should be able to eat.

" Except into my stomach." Aaron replied, and went right back to eating at the same inhuman pace. And finally, the boy could no longer manage any more food into his gut. A good thing too, because that had been the end of his pot of food. Gilan stared, dumbfounded. He held up the pot and turned it completely upside down. Not one drop came out of it.
" I have never seen anyone eat like that in my life." he said, shaking his head, while Aaron looked to be rather lazy after his heavy eating. Rubbing his small stomach he leaned back and sighed in satisfaction. He put his finger in his mouth, trying to free and trapped piece of food from the space between his teeth.
" You don't know how long I've gone without a decent bed and meal. Trust me, you would be like me with that food in the same situation." he replied, the most pleasant that Gilan had seen thus far from him. However, the boy still maintained a sort of seriousness that seemed still so unnatural on such a young face.

It rather baffled Gilan how someone so young could be so serious. Aaron leaned back against the wall comfortably, and right before Gilan's eyes, sitting straight upright against the wall, he fell right to sleep in seconds. The serious lines drawn on the boy's features eased away, and his breath drew in deep and rhythmically after only a few moments. Gilan shook his head, and got to his feet quietly. The boy was a curiosity to him. He really, truly, wanted to know more about him. He gathered the pot and set it aside. In his spare room he found the boy had left the rough blanket in the room. So, he gathered it up and tossed it over his guest that slept upright. He had somewhere to be right now. He'd step out for a bit while the boy was asleep and deal with some business that he needed to attend to. ~~~~~~~

Waking, Aaron found himself alone in the small house. Taking note of the blanket he found over himself, Aaron assumed Gilan had let him sleep. Sighing, he realized he'd slept upright again.

It was an old habit his master had told him he should be rid of by now. However, the habit stubbornly stayed with him no matter his efforts. Folding up the blanket, Aaron cleaned the pot too, more out of habit then anything else. Then, finding his host still missing, Aaron took to exploring. Now when Aaron takes to exploring someone, he explores everything. High, low, in small corners or in hidden spaces, Aaron would find most anything and everything anyone would want to hide away.

He went here and there around the Ranger's house, taking things out of places, then putting them away just as he found them. Actually, he found several interesting reports, and frowned at the one about the recently taken care of bandits. He put it where he found it after glancing over the report briefly. Unfortunately, he wasn't given as much time as he had been hoping for to search the entire house. Gilan returned, and Aaron only knew this because he heard the horse approaching.
Setting down the paperwork that he'd been looking at before, Aaron moved out onto the porch to greet him. Gilan grinned broadly at the sight of his young guest up and about.

" Good Morning! How are we this lovely morning?" he said very pleasantly. Aaron shifted, appearing very comfortable compared to the way he had been earlier when he'd spoken with Gilan on the porch before eating. Still, the boy's eyes were cold and somewhat rueful as he smiled at Gilan now once more.
" Afternoon." he said in reply to Gilan. " It's afternoon now, not morning." Aaron pointed up at the sky to indicate the placement of the sun. Gilan glanced up and noted that Aaron was right. It looked to be just past noon. Then Aaron pointed to the shadows of the trees. " The shadow are just starting to angle now, see? That's how I know." he informed Gilan. Checking, Gilan took note of the boy's abilities. Aaron was a good observer. That was something worth knowing.
" I stand corrected." Gilan replied, leading Blaze into the stable, and removing the saddle from the horse's back. Blaze tossed her head in thanks, then headed into the small stable. Aaron stood back and watched as Gilan set about his chores. " You any good with a bow?" he asked after a silence had stretched between the two of them for a bit.

" What?" Aaron asked, not expecting the sudden question. Gilan gave him a look. A look that said Gilan wasn't going to repeat himself again. " Well, I dunno. What's your definition of being good with a bow?" Now this was a new one, Gilan had to admit. He was getting answered with a question. He raised his brow, and went in to brush Blaze down a bit. Aaron followed simply because he was persistent and wanted an answer.

" What about fighting with knives?" Gilan asked on, smoothing Blaze's coat with the brush he had. Perhaps he could get a clearer answer with this question. However, his efforts were in vain.
" I suppose next you'll ask if I'm good with a sword or a battle ax? Or maybe something else within the nature of weapons? Either way, no matter what you ask, I'll say that it depends what you mean by 'good' at using them." Aaron seemed almost like a country boy, but clearly he was smart. More useful information to know, Gilan noted. " Why do you ask, anyways?"

Very smart. Good to know.

Giving a goofy sort of grin at Aaron, Gilan tossed a bow and quiver full of arrows to him, then gathered his own up.
" Just thought we could have a little fun. If you can't shot to save your life this won't be any fun though." he said, then Aaron began to get the idea. Gilan was glad to see the gruesome smile that spread across Aaron's face now. Checking over the bow and arrows briefly, Aaron tested the weapon a bit, still grinning.
" Then let's go already." Aaron insisted, and Gilan finished brushing Blaze and led the way out to a spot not too far into the trees about his home.

Looking around a moment, Gilan picked out the targets, pointing for Aaron.
" Start off easy with that branch there as close to the truck as you can get without actually hitting it, then between those branches there," he indicated the spots making a full run around so that several points were at opposite sides of the area around them. He indicated points behind the so that they would have to turn all the way in a circle to hit them. Mostly he chose these for kicks.

Aaron listened and nodded, his entire face showing a huge amount of understanding and recognition of the different points, elevations and restrictions to the shots. The boy must be good with a boy. A person who didn't know much about a bow wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of his explanation and Gilan was well aware of that fact.

" So," Aaron said, after Gilan had finished telling him the dozen or so points he wanted, " I want to hit here," he drew and shot very quickly to the first, easy shot Gilan had indicated, " and here, right?"

And one after another Aaron drew and fired to each point with great ease. Gilan noted that Aaron didn't name the points in the order he'd given them to the boy.

" Why'd you change the order?" Gilan asked, and the boy looked a bit confused at him for a moment. Then he frowned slightly, thinking a minute.
" Was I not supposed to?"
" Why did you, first?" Gilan insisted. It sort of felt like they were playing 20 questions, only they couldn't decide who's turn it was to ask or receive the questions. Aaron conceded to Gilan on this one.
" Well, " he said, his brow creased in a deep v-shape as he looked at the targets that now had arrows sticking out of them, " if these points are my enemy, he's the closest to me," he pointed to the first target, " I want him dead right away. Then he's the next closest to reaching me." now Aaron spun round to indicate the second to last point. " Target 5 over there is closer, by he's up in the tree, so I have time to waste before I get rid of him. That guy there is furthest away, so I can wait for him til way later," now he pointed out target 9," and so on from there." he explained.

Gilan hadn't thought of this. Actually,it was a rather novel thought to him. The boy had thought of something Gilan hadn't even intended to test out. This time he held back the smile from his face.

" What about when you hit target 12 and 4? Why'd you hit 12 first?" Gilan had noticed the movement and had been waiting for the opportunity to ask this question of Aaron. The frown returned to Aaron's face once more as he observed and thought back on his shots for a moment.

" I hit target 10 before that, right?" he asked, unsure of his actions from before. Gilan nodded at this. Aaron mimicked his former motions, still thinking it over. The realization hit him." It was too much of a stretch for me to swing around to hit 4 then spin around again to hit 12. Too much motion, that got rid of most of the extra motion I didn't want to deal with." he told Gilan. Gilan could see the logic in that. After all spinning like that seemed too much to deal with to have to spin all over again afterwards.

" But then 4 would've been able to land a hit on you." Gilan added to Aaron. Now Aaron frowned more.
" That's a close one though. I might have still been able to hit him even dealing with 12 first." Aaron seemed to set up his argument.

" Or gotten your head cut off." Gilan replied.
" Or shot him in the heart." Aaron answered stubbornly back at Gilan. Gilan gave a frustrated sigh. This boy was bull headed, despite that he may be unsure of himself in some way. Aaron clearly wasn't sure of himself, it seemed to almost be in the boy's nature. However, the boy didn't let this doubt in his mind stop him from sticking to whatever stand he took on a dispute.
" Look, think about it a second. In a real fight you'll want to make sure you keep your head intact, no matter if it means taking some extra movement to do it, you understand that, right?" Gilan told him.

Aaron nodded with a sigh of dismay. " I thought I could make it, though." he insisted in reply and Gilan nodded.
" It'd be close, but I'm sure target 4 would get you from behind if you didn't take care of him before target 12. If you didn't then you'd have to deal with close quarters combat. If some of these guys have axs you might well be done for if close quarters is involved." Gilan said thoughtfully to Aaron.

" Why didn't you tell me target 4 had an ax, then?" Aaron seemed right befuddled.

Gilan would've spat water on the boy if he had been drinking water at the time.

" What?"

" Well, I assumed that since you didn't tell me any of these guys had weapons that they would all be unarmed." Aaron replied, very plainly to Gilan.

Gilan might well have died of shock at this point. Not only had the targets become people, now they were actually attacking with weapons at them both.

" Are you pulling my leg?" that was a rather unwise thing to do, pulling a Ranger's leg, that is. They don't like to be made fools of and Gilan was no exception. Although, it does seem at times that he is a fool, he doesn't take kindly to being made into a fool by a younger kid.

Aaron's gaze, however, was straight and simple, without the slightest show of mockery on his face as he looked at Gilan.

" No, not at all. Do I sound like I'm making a joke?" Aaron was lost and nothing more. That satisfied Gilan, though he was right surprised.
" You do realize that these are targets, not people, right?" Gilan asked now, starting to worry that the boy may not have his head on straight. Aaron, however, seemed just as confused as Gilan with the situation they found themselves in now.

" I was told to treat targets as if each one was a person." Aaron said, very plain and simple back to him. It rather reminded Gilan of the straight forward nature of young Horace, whom he'd traveled with to Celtic some time ago. This only reminded Gilan as to what had happened with young Will. However, he didn't allow himself to dwell on this.

" Oh . . ." Gilan thought this over a bit. He wasn't the least bit surprised to hear that Aaron had been trained with a bow. It was obvious by the way the boy held his bow and shot the arrows. The motions Aaron made were practiced and smooth, moves molded from long hours of multiple days practicing.
" My Master said it would help me deal with the real thing if I made out every target as a person, rather then just a target." he explained further with a shrug of his shoulders.
" You've never killed someone before?"

" I have now," the boy answered, laughing slightly at the insinuation that Gilan thought he'd actually never shot a man with his arrows, " I've just always been taught that way. That's how I was taught before I killed someone for the first time, and it helped. It's sort of a habit now for me to think that way during training," Aaron looked a bit sheepish as he scratched the back of his head and said, " now I know why we're both so confused. Whoops."
" It's alright," Gilan said, looking around at the targets once again, " I never really considered that idea. Your Master sounds like an inventive person." Aaron almost instantly sobered up, still smiling, but in a more serious way then his previous sheepish way.

" I always thought so. Anyways, let's see who's got the best shot." and with those words the competition began.

Arrows flew at a speed so fast, any on lookers would be amazed, though there were none there to see at the time. The only two people there to see where a pair of strangers, back to back, with bows drawn back and arrows whipping past all around as each spun and turned. And both had smiles on there faces, and laughing, speaking occasionally, sometimes taunting, sometimes teasing. All was well and fun, even in the slightest of ways silly. In the end, however, Gilan was the obvious winner. Both were very accurate, but Gilan was faster to draw and release the arrows, finishing two targets ahead of Aaron, and with still more accurate shots then the younger boy.

The day went on at a lazy pace still. No matter, though, neither, at the end of the day could tell you anything about the others life. Yet, by the end of the day, Gilan and Aaron had befriended each other from a simple compatition. If one would ask either about other, the one in question would speak on and on about them, as if they'd known each other for years. Not once could they tell one the other's birth date, place, or time. However, they would speak still fondly of the other. The two spoke little, usually in comfortable silence as they tended to this or that which need be attended to.~~~~~~~~~~~~

yep. another chapter done. It'll pick up in time, be patient with me. Please read and review for me.