Gilan immediately fell to the ground and started dramatically sobbing.

"Oh—the horror!" he cried. "See, Halt, now you feel so guilty, don't you?"

Halt pretended to be thoroughly sorry. "Oh, yes, of course!" he said in a high-pitched voice. It sounded as if he had transformed into a girl. "Of course I feel guilty because I'm not friends with some stupid imaginary freak with the name of Squid!"

At this, both Will and Gilan gasped. Apparently, it was very insulting to be called a "stupid imaginary freak" in the imaginary world.

"You—wouldn't—dare!" Gilan said through clenched teeth. How could Halt be so rude when someone had just died? "You're insulting someone who did no harm whatsoever to you!"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Squid." Halt said in an "I'm not really sorry" kind of voice.

Will frowned. "Don't say his name like that!" he said defensively. "You don't hear me say, 'Why, what a horrible mentor Halt is!'" Will mimicked Halt.

Halt sat up. "What did you say?"

Will opened his mouth, but Gilan cut him off.

"Yes, yes, I know your conversation is terribly important, but right now we have a bigger problem!" Gilan said dramatically.

"Did we run out of coffee?" Halt suggested, forgetting that Will had just insulted him a minute ago.

"Did somebody else die?" said Will with a worried look on.

Gilan rolled his eyes. "No and no. We need to plan a funeral for Squid!"

"See, Gilan doesn't say his name like you do," Will whispered accusingly.

"Oh, shut up." Halt replied. "I can talk how I like."

Gilan frowned. "Didn't anybody ever teach you to be silent when someone else is talking?" he asked, poking a finger at Will. "Now, as I was saying, we must plan a funeral! I think we should invite all the Rangers, and—"

"Hold your horses, we can't invite all the Rangers to a stupid imaginary freak's funeral!" Halt protested.

Again, Gilan and Will gasped.

"Well, yes, I feel that is very necessary." Gilan replied casually. "We need lots of people there. We should also invite Alyss and Horace and Will's whole lot of friends. And we can invite the craftmasters, too. I think it's also necessary to invite King Duncan and Baron Arald and…" Gilan trailed on and on.

Halt gave Will an amused look. "How do you think King Duncan would react if he was invited to a funeral for a person who didn't exist?"

Will smiled and shrugged.

Gilan, however, was still blabbing about which people to invite to Squid's funeral. He finally stopped talking, apparently convinced that he had named all the people living in Araluen.

"That should be enough people." Gilan clapped his hands together. "And now, you two—" (Gilan poked his finger at Halt and Will.) "—should be sending out the invitations. You two can go get your horses and ride all over Araluen, telling people about Squid's funeral. Make sure every single living person knows about it."

Halt smiled. "Well, smarty-pants, I'm afraid you've forgotten something."

Gilan frowned. "Oh yeah?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you haven't told us when and where the funeral is." Halt crossed his arms over his chest. While Gilan may be smart, Halt was smarter and a quick-thinker.

Gilan paused. "Well, I guess the funeral will be four evenings from now, at precisely five o' clock."

"And the place?"

"Right here."

Halt looked flabbergasted. "Here?" he croaked. "You can't—you can't—fit that many people in here," Halt protested.

Gilan ignored him. "Now, off you go!" Gilan gave Halt and Will little pats on their backs and pushed them toward the door.

This should be very interesting... :) Reviews are greatly appreciated.