Have you ever noticed that 'Pauline' contains every vowel except O and that there's more vowels in it than consonants? Okay, sorry, that was super random, but I just spent fifteen minutes staring at her name trying to figure out how to write this chapter. Alrighty then, this is going to be fun. Hopefully.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranger's Apprentice.

Pauline sighed heavily and put her hands on her hips. Couldn't Halt keep his desk clean for at least a little while? She was growing frustrated, though she couldn't quite fool herself that it was all only about the desk. Where was he?

"So much for a week and a half," she muttered.

She strode over to her husband's messy desk and delicately leaned on a small corner where, by some miracle, there weren't any papers. She saw a letter on the floor and bent over to pick it up. She didn't recognize the seal. Strange, she thought. She cast a quick glance at the door, then opened it. She was privy to the Ranger Corps' secrets, wasn't she?

Vous avez rompu votre promesse.

That was all it said. It certainly wasn't written in Araluen. It wasn't even signed. What in the world?

She didn't hear the door open behind her, but there was no mistaking the voice at her shoulder that said, "And here I was thinking I'd made my desk messy enough that you couldn't find anything to snoop into."

Pauline turned guiltily toward Halt. He reached forward to take the letter, but she tugged it out of his grasp.

"Do I even want to know what this is?" she said.

"Probably not," Halt replied.

Pauline gave him a flat look. "You're going to tell me anyway, though." It wasn't a question. She was his wife. She found things out. It was better for him just to suck it up and spill rather than risk her finding out a skewed version, or finding the truth in the wrong way.

"Well, you see," Halt said, "I can either tell you what the letter says right now and sit here for the next three or four hours explaining, or I can introduce you to someone that I have to introduce you to anyway and let them do the talking."

Pauline shrugged. "I don't care which. Take your pick."

Halt didn't even think about it. He just said, "Come on," and headed out the door. Pauline stuck the letter into her sleeve and followed.

Pauline heard something through the trees as they rode on Abelard with her sitting behind Halt and wrapping her arms around his torso. It sounded like music. They were heading in the direction of Will's cabin, so perhaps the young Ranger was playing his mandola for whoever she was supposed to be meeting.

As they got closer, Halt slowed, and Pauline thought she could make out the tune, though she couldn't yet place the song. They dismounted and, finally, they got within proper hearing range. She recognized the song, and she also recognized the lyrics from something that Alyss had told her. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Halt. His stony expression confirmed it.

Will was singing Graybeard Halt.

She'd never heard it before, but Alyss had recited the lyrics from memory, and once she had, Pauline had fully understood why Halt had then forced Will to spend a night in a tree for singing it. He was rather touchy about his hair, whether comments were about the gray or the haircut. He would hardly react kindly to someone calling him 'Graybeard Halt', and the phrases themselves inside the verses weren't exactly complimentary either.

Whoever Will was performing for was obviously enjoying the song. Pauline heard gales of laughter coming from the approximate area where Will was. Pauline couldn't stop a smile of her own as she heard the lyrics. (1)

Halt stepped out of the trees. "Very funny," he said dryly. "Do you pollute the minds of everyone you meet by singing that song?"

Pauline followed, and saw Halt glaring at Will, who looked shocked at his former mentor's sudden entrance. The woman sitting next to him looked much less worried. Her dark hair was streaked with strands of gray, and her eyes danced with laughter. She was holding her sides and snickering at the look on Halt's face. She looked a little familiar to Pauline, but she couldn't place where she'd seen her before.

"You've got quite the ornery apprentice, Halt," Caitlyn said. "Even Ferris wouldn't have dared to sing that!"

Halt raised an eyebrow. "He was never much of a singer anyway. Besides, what he did dare to do was much more drastic," he said, his face darkening slightly.

Her smile faltered a bit. "That's true," she muttered. She looked up. "But what's in the past is in the past, right?"

"It was, until a certain someone decided to come back and haunt me," he replied, shooting her a glance.

Caitlyn glared at him. "I'd whack you, but I don't want to get up." She noticed Pauline for the first time. Her face brightened and she jumped to her feet, walking toward her. "You must be Lady Pauline."

"I thought you just said you didn't want to get up," Halt interjected. Caitlyn shot him a look.

"Not for you, no. But while I'm up…" she whacked Halt on the head. Pauline let out an undignified snort of laughter as Halt protested. Caitlyn turned toward Pauline and held out her hand. "I'm Caitlyn."

Pauline shook her proffered hand. "So, Lady Caitlyn, I take it you know Halt?"

Caitlyn stared at her blankly for a moment, then cast a baleful glance towards Halt.

"What did I do this time?" Halt griped.

"You skipped out on your family history, from how it sounds." Caitlyn turned back toward Pauline. "Yes, unfortunately, I do know Halt. I'm his sister."

They both looked at Halt and glared.

He shifted. "Okay, how did I get two women angry at me?" Pauline and Caitlyn exchanged a glance. He has to ask?

Will came up beside his old mentor and slung a hand around his shoulders. "It's quite obvious, actually. You have just deprived them of a subject of gossip for goodness knows how long, and it has only just been revealed. That is a crime worthy of a jail sentence from a woman's perspective."

"And you would know this how?" Halt said.

Will blinked. "Um… Masculine instinct?" he said, fishing for a reply.

Halt gave him a withering glance. "Wrong answer, kid. Go home."

Will gave him a hurt look.

"Don't puppy-dog me," Halt growled. "Go back to the cabin and get that lute out of my sight."

"It's not a lute, it's a—"

Halt cut him off. "I don't care what it is, get it out of my sight."

Will gave him one last hurt puppy-dog look, then retreated reluctantly.

Halt turned back to Caitlyn and Pauline. The two women had smug looks on their faces, like they'd come to a silent agreement on something. Halt had a sudden, distinct sense of foreboding. This couldn't be good. "What?" he said warily.

"Start talking," Pauline ordered.

Halt blinked. "Excuse me?"

Caitlyn took over the narrative. "You are going to tell her everything you should have told her when you married her."

Halt looked at one, then the other. "You know, I brought Pauline here so that I wouldn't have to explain."

Caitlyn shrugged. "Tough luck."

"Like I said, start talking," Pauline added.

Halt closed his eyes briefly and sighed. It's symbolic, he thought. The only two people who I can't bargain with and have to listen to are both women and I'm related to the two of them.

He sat down heavily on a log and, as was suggested…demanded…started talking.

(1) I was going to put the lyrics to Graybeard Halt in there, but I don't own the fifth book, so I don't actually know what they are… If anyone who does could tell me what they are, that would be great. ^_^

Anna the Nut, I hope you were satisfied with Will's appearance in this chapter… You seemed very insistent that he be in it. lol, no really, thanks for the enthusiastic review.

Okay, from here on out, I've got two decisions: leave it here and call it complete or add another couple chapters. Actually, it's your choice. You want me to continue, I'll continue. Problem is, I'm fresh out of ideas. If you've got any, please review! Even if you don't, review anyway!

-Rydd Rider