Will was past the point of caring. Tug was greeting someone, probably someone who was a good friend by the sounds of it, and he wasn't going to get up to meet them at the door. If they wanted to talk to him or to sit down inside they could come in themselves. The door was unlocked anyway.

Instinctively he listened as the person came up the stairs.

It was a well practiced movement, done to not alert any person in there that they were arriving but if you knew what to look for, then it was all the notice needed. Two people other than himself knew what to look for and one was unable to walk up the few stairs without tripping. There was no trip.

"It's unlocked!" Will called out.

"What if I was someone else?" Halt replied as he hung his cloak on the hook and leaned his archery equipment on the wall below.

"You didn't trip up the stairs. Tug called out a very friendly greeting earlier and you always walk up those stairs the same way. I knew it was you," Will said without boasting. Halt nodded his agreement to the assessment and looked over at the kettle.

"Coffee?"

"15 minutes ago."

"I'll place it back on to boil again then."

Will nodded. A few minutes later both men were sitting there nursing cups of coffee. Halt was relaxing comfortable where as Will was more tense, for a good reason of course. He knew Halt was going to start asking questions he didn't have the answer to.

"Are you staying here or going back to the castle?" Halt started off with. Will hesitated to answer, knowing that as soon as he did Halt's questions would get more complicated.

"I am going to stay here."

"Good. I am staying as well. I'll take the other room. Make sure you don't break anything more."

Considering this response was the complete opposite to what Will was expecting he thought he did quite well containing his fish impression. Halt didn't think along the same lines and internally smirked at the knowledge that he was still able to surprise his apprentice.

"Why are you staying?"

"Because you need someone here to help you, Will. We are all worried about you after that incident and I don't want you going out and doing something stupid."

Will sighed and got up to place his coffee in the sink.

"The flowers all need replacing," he said.

"Come on then. It'll give you something to do."

Walking outside Tug and Abelard nickered their greetings before slowly walking over. They continued whatever conversation they had been holding before being interrupted and Halt could have sworn that Tug was actually asking Abelard some hints on keeping Will happy.

And it doesn't include you! Abelard said to Halt.

"Stubborn ass horse," he replied back in a mutter. Will looked at him silently but it was a testament to how he had been recently affected that he didn't tease his former master.

The flower glade that Halt had used to supply his flowers from the whole of Will and Gilan's apprenticeship was something of a sacred place to the two apprentices. Halt refused to tell them where it was until the very end of their time. Gilan had learnt as it was their first stop on the way to the gathering that year and Will had learnt as the first place Halt had taken him after getting back from Arridia.

In the field there were a multitude of different flowers, with many of them winter flowering somehow. It had answered one question of Will's; how Halt had managed to continue getting the flowers even during the winter months.

Since taking over Redmont Will had continued always having flowers in the cabin, up to the point where one of his personal pet peeves was having the flowers dead when he got back from missions. It would always be one of the first things he changed.

A few times Halt had even accompanied Will when he went out to get the flowers, always seeming to know when they needed replacing. Those moments were often extremely funny and, dare he say it, sentimental. Halt would start sneezing most of the time when they were getting close only to stop when they actually reached the centre of the field.

One thing that they never agreed on was which flowers suited the cabin more than others. Will always loved the daisies and other similar variations whereas Halt would prefer forget-me-nots and those types. Halt would accuse Will of preferring daisies because they reminded him of Alyss and Will in turn would accuse Halt of preferring the forget-me-nots because they were the main flower around the Castle Clonmel.

This time thankfully, was no different. The small arguments nearly seemed second nature to them in that place now.

"What flowers are you going to put in there?" Halt asked as he looked over the field.

"Daisies," Will replied instinctively and started walking over to where he could see a nice patch.

"But there are a nice group of forget-me-nots over there," Halt reasoned. Will gave him a joking flat look.

"Do you have forget-me-nots all over your quarters?" he asked.

"Yes. Is there an issue with that?"

"No. Just how does Lady Pauline react to them all? Does she ever get bored of the fact that you don't ever bring home a different type?"

"No she doesn't. She loves forget-me-nots, thank you very much."

"Whipped," Will coughed.

Halt's eyes narrowed. Just as he was about to tease Will about his fascination with daisies he caught himself.

"Does it matter if she likes them? They complement the cabin wonderfully." Will raised an eyebrow at this and snorted.

"The cabin needs something bright and light to make it feel more homely. Not something blue and sad."

"Just pick your bloody flowers so we can get out of here," Halt grunted, knowledgeable in the fact that he had to lose this argument in fear of Will's reaction. Will picked out half daisies and half forget-me-nots.

Without words they both got on their horses and started riding away. The silence only being broken by Halt beginning to sneeze again.

Two older people just got on a train with bags and I know that they have swords in them! I am dying of laughter right now.

That and the fact that I am never able to catch a train that is on time. I left the house at 10AM. Got stuck at a station by 10:38. Was forced to change trains by 10:55 when mine wasn't moving. Only for the one that am now on to stop before the main station of the state and wait there in a queue of three trains because the first hadn't managed to leave the platform yet.

And now it's 11:49 and I have at least another 40 mins left to go. That's when there aren't any more delays. So me planning to be in uni by 11:45 was completely thrown out of the fucking window! And I get this every time I catch a train!

I need to start catching a bus.

Aly

(I made it by 12:26)