And here we are! The final chapter. I'm still deciding if I want to make a prequel to this story, telling about the one day when Aaron and Gilan met for the first time as kids. What do you think? Should I do it? Most likely I will, but I'm curious about what my readers think of the idea.
Oh yeah! I'm also sending a shout out to my long time reader jesi ki kage! I meant to do this sooner but never really got around to it til now. Thank you so much for sticking with the story and all of the encouragement along the way. Just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate it. ^^
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my story. Hopefully you don't feel like it was a waste of your life. It was really worth it for me.
Now, without any further delay, this is the last chapter. ~~~~
The day came when Aaron's Master would say his farewells. He was off, given a horse by Urosia before the cavlary man had left with his men. Aaron's Master was going to catch a boat too, heading back over the Narrows back into Gallica and heading towards Toscano to the south and from there, who knew?
That same day Halt and Will were headed back to Redmont Fief. Halt had something along the lines that now all of this nonsense was said and done, it was time to get back to the fief, and start training Will once again back home. Will, though sad to have to say his goodbyes to Aaron, had to agree with him. There was work to be done, and things couldn't stay like this forever. So, it was back to Redmont.
As for Gilan, well, it was back to his fief as well. Yep, back to good old Meric. It had seemed like an awful long time since he'd actually been home, now that he thought about it. Well,
he'd just been coming back from dealing with a few robbers when he'd stumbled on Aaron, so really it had been quite some time since he'd last been home. Well, it was back to a normal schedule for him, he thought dismally.
But the winds of change had begun to blow and there was no stopping them now.
" Come on, Rurin!" Aaron hollered, causing Gilan to glance over his shoulder, surprised to see her. Tugging lightly at the ruins, Blaze froze in place as they waited for Aaron and Rurin to join them. Moving at full pace, Aaron had to pull hard on the ruins that where on her black stallion now to bring him to a stop. Coming down off of Blaze, Gilan looked at Aaron with great confusion on his face as he walked over towards the big stallion.
" Aaron-?" he managed to ask before Aaron catapulted off of Rurin's back onto him! They toppled to the ground because she'd put so much force into this little attack, knocking the wind right out of Gilan. He coughed for a second, managing to take a breath as Aaron hurried to get off of him. Once she was sure he'd caught his breath, however, she had another surprise for Gilan.
Leaning, carefully, she pressed her lips to his. Shocked, Gilan didn't respond for a moment. However, he recovered quickly, closing his eyes, kissing her back. They parted after another moment, both able to see the others face turned all shades of red and pink. Aaron broke to a very embarrassed grin and a little low laughter as she was on all fours above Gilan. All he could do was look up at her from the ground, as lost as lost ever got about what was going on.
" I decided." she said, kind of simply, still looking terribly embarrest, giving her shoulder a mild little shrug. " There were a few things I had to pick up from Crowley first, and I had to say good bye to my Master too or I would've been here much sooner-"
" Aaron, I didn't even know what you were-"
" Of course not! I wanted it to be a surprise!" she snapped a little at him, annoyed that he wasn't expressing the same excitement that she was at this point. He was just so confused about what was going on, he couldn't find it to be excited until he understood what was going on.
" Well, I'm sure surprised." he chuckled a little, breaking to a smile. Aaron was still frowning a little bit ago. Gilan didn't sound quite convincing enough for Aaron's liking.
" Happy, surprised, or hell no, surprised?" she persisted, stubbornly of him. Looking Aaron in the eyes now, Gilan could tell that despite the childish sounding sentence, she was being very serious. Giving a sigh, he reached out his hand, sitting up and putting his arm around Aaron's quivering waist. Straining herself when she was injured again. This girl . . .
" Definitly a happy, surprised." he told her, using his free hand to brush her cheek ever so gently, her face regaining the pinkish tinge that it had lost during the conversation.
Smiling, he leaned, a little hesitant, before kissing her softly again. She responded right away, eager, almost hungry in a way. It was as though she'd been starved, and was only now able to get any satisfaction. As they parted, Gilan smiled at her, keeping his arm around her waist even as they stood up, trying to help support her unsteady form.
" What am I gonna do with you?" he wondered aloud, shaking his head and giving a sigh. Aaron sprouted a grin then, quiet out of embarrassment for a moment. Looking her over a little, Gilan began deducing what had occurred. " So, I'm to assume that you've decided to join the Rangers?" Nodding, Aaron seemed to just realize something when he mentioned the Rangers Corps.
" I forgot for a minute." she said, digging into one of the saddle bags on Rurin for something. Gilan guessed that because she was a Ranger as of now, she'd been told to use saddle and ruins from now on. It didn't look the stallion quite liked the arrangement, but he seemed to be tolerating it well enough for the moment. Coming back over, Aaron handed Gilan a piece of parchment wrapped up like a scroll and tied. Gilan quirked a brow at her as he took it from her, wondering what this all was still.
" Crowley told me to give it to you the next time I saw you." she explained to him, helpfully. " I dunno what it says, but apparently it's important enough that it couldn't wait."
Nodding slowly to her, Gilan untied the knot and opened the bit of parchment, letting his eyes scan over the page. For a moment he just kind of looked at it, then proceeded to read it a second time. Convinced after reading it two times, Gilan turned back to Aaron who was waiting, anxiously, wondering what it said.
" Apparently, since you are only partially trained, I'm to fill in any of the gaps that were left by your Master." he told her, crossing his arms as he went on. " Meaning that, for now, you've been ranked as an apprentice and will finish what training you need under my guidance."
Frowning slightly at him, Aaron thought about this.
" So, basically, you're going to be my Master of sorts?" she asked, wanting to be sure that she was getting this all right. Gilan nodded at her. " Well then, why the hell did you go through all the trouble to say all that other shit?" Placing her good arm on her hip, she returned his steady gaze with one of her own. They had a staring contest for a long moment before Aaron narrowed her eyes, admitting defeat in the contest as of now. " I'm not calling you Master." she said, finally, going over to Rurin and struggling up onto the saddle. Gilan returned to Blaze, mounting as well before leading the way for himself and his new apprentice.
" I wouldn't dream of it." he replied with a bow of his head and the wave of his arm.
Then he led the way along back to Meric fief.
" So, Teach, you got your first lesson planned out yet?" Aaron asked at some point around early afternoon. Thinking about it for a moment, Gilan came up with an idea and nodded to her in answer, a grin pulling across his face.
" My first lesson will be on how to listen to the Doctor's orders." he decided.
" Oh god . . ." Aaron muttered, already not liking the sound of what it was her lessons were going to be. However, Gilan wasn't done with her yet as his smile turned mischievous.
" The lesson after that will be about speaking properly." he added on, laughing while Aaron scowled at him from Rurin's back, lifting a fist as though to threaten him from atop the stallion. " And after that maybe a cooking lesson."
" No way! I already know that you're cooking sucks-!" and the day went on like this.
All the while, Gilan couldn't help but remember that he had found this girl on some random day,by chance on his way back home from bandit chasing.
It really was amazing, what could be found in the mud and rain.~~~~
There it is! That's the end! Send reviews and tell me what you think I should do next. Or just tell me what you liked about the story, or dislike, if you prefer that. Or just say hi. I don't mind, just send a review! Hope everyone enjoyed! It was fun! Bye for now!
HTHG