Will looked around suspiciously. He was passing through the woods nearby the cabin he had met the strange girl who wanted to be a Ranger. He had decided to take a different route that was less effective but wouldn't get him shot. He heard a slight rustle of leaves overhead, but was too well trained to look up and give away that he had heard something. It might have been a bird, but it might have been a pesky girl who was stalking him. Usually, stalking a Ranger meant instant apprenticeship if the stalker wanted to join, but Will was fairly certain no girl had ever asked to join. "Maybe I ought to ask the others at the Gathering next week to see what they think," he mused silently to himself. "They would know what to do." He saw the slightest flash of a cape in the very corner of his eye. He almost expressed his annoyance at her stalking ways, for he now knew it was Ellya, when he realized just how good she was without formal training, and decided to let her continue to follow him. This went on for a while, him monitoring her and her following. For the most part, he was impressed, but it was getting on his nerves a little, and he suspected that if they went much further, she would ask him to take her home just so she could argue her case about why she would be a great Ranger. Will finally was unable to contain his urge to shout at her.
"Stop following me!" he bellowed, seemingly at thin air. The other people on the road, who were traveling in the opposite direction, stared at the ranger and wondered if he had lost his mind. A figure appeared in the trees, startling the other travelers, who hurried away as quickly as possible.
"Make me your apprentice," Ellya shouted back, hanging upside down on her branch, her hair and cloak falling straight down.
"I'll ask about it at the Gathering next week, ok?" he asked, then wondered if it was wise to tell her when the Gathering was. He shrugged mentally. "She could never find the Gathering, so why even worry about it?" he thought.
"Works for me. Tell them early so they can see if they have to plan anything differently since you will have an apprentice next year," she said assuredly. She was confidant because she knew if she could sneak into the meeting where they decided her fate, there would be no way they could ever turn her down. It would be incredibly difficult, but she knew she could do it. "Mind giving me a ride home? It's a little far away, and I could tell you about my special bow design..." Will raised his eyes to the sky in a way that obviously meant "Why me?" and galloped away. Ellya swung from branch to branch, high in the treetops all the way to her house, already scheming on the best way to follow a Ranger to the most jealously guarded spot the secretive group had. The hardest part would be convincing her mother to let her take the horse.