Ok, I started out in good mood when writing this, then got stuck and didn't like where it was going, and ended up getting death-obsessed and soul search-y. I'm not sure about this chapter, so please review and tell me what I should do with it. I might just delete it... Enjoy!

Ellya stood, poised to attack, her entire being thrumming with deadly power. She was a lioness, a huntress, the spirit of the wild. Will walked to the cabin, humming the same song he had hummed on the day they first met. He looked just as unsuspecting as he had on that day as well. Despite the fact she had been his apprentice for a month and a half, he still wasn't used to watching from attacks from above. He was carrying a stack of firewood, winding his way along a deer trail in the forest. Ellya jumped down in front of him, cawing like the worlds largest and most obnoxious crow, spreading her cloak like wings. Will jumped back, dropping the wood and drawing his knife, a wild look in his eye, when he saw who it was. He sheathed his blade, but the wild look didn't go away completely. "Sheathing and seething," thought Ellya, still giddy at his reaction.

"You have to stop that!"

"You have to be prepared!" she retorted. She cackled madly and turned cartwheels down the path in front of him, as he stooped to pick up the fallen branches.

"Whatever. Just go draw some water or something," Will grumbled.

Ellya had taken to life in Redmont seamlessly. She got along with Alyss and Lady Pauline, and Halt already liked her. The idea of a girl Ranger raised a few eyebrows, but when some Battle school apprentices were found beaten to a pulp after loudly proclaiming they were going to "show that girl her place," most of the questioning stopped. She wasn't fully excepted, but it was close enough. The flip side to the dislike was the hero worship from many girls and constant flirting from just as many boys. The hero worship, she could work with, using it to get them to question their place in the world and realize that they could be warriors too, the flirting, she was at a loss for what to do. Constant praise of her beauty, occasional praise of her strength or ferocity, never once praise of her sharp mind or cunning, boys fought over who would get to talk to her next. She always stopped the fights. They didn't make her favor any of them anymore, and they made her uncomfortable. As warlike as she was, she much preferred peace and harmony. Despite the amount she spilled, she thought bloodshed should be avoided until it was unreasonable not to fight, which, admittedly, was a point she thought much sooner then the average person thought. Still, the flirting and fighting over her ordeals made her uncomfortable. Because all the boys thronged around her in town, she took to the forest like a nature spirit or wild woman. She slipped through the forrest silently, because she liked to see all the animals go about their normal lives. The birds called over head and she soon heard the babbling of the stream. She swung her pail around her arm, she had brought it with her when she waited to scare Will knowing that he would send her to fetch water, and slid up to the slippery banks, stopping before she slid in. She put the bucket in the clear, running water and surveyed the beautiful scene around her, filled with quiet content. Then she heard twigs snapping and the unmistakable sound of someone trying to be quiet as they snuck around. She stood, pulling the brimming bucket from the water, muscles tensed just in case, but, as she expected, it was just a boy from town coming to bother her.

"Hey Ellya. Do you want me to carry that back for you?" he said with a slight stutter.

"No thanks, Charles. I'm good." Out of all the boys fawning over her, Charles was one of the better ones. He wasn't arrogant, respected her as much as he liked her, liked her partially because of her personality, and didn't seem to believe that fighting over her would do any good. He realized she didn't like him they way he liked her, and so he contented himself with being her friend instead. They walked back to the cabin together, talking about the latest town gossip and trivial things when a knife whizzed through the air, slamming into his throat. He spluttered on his own blood before falling over, the forest dirt becoming a dark maroon from his blood. Ellya froze, using her cloak to become invisible, looking for the one who killed her friend so coldly, determined to end them with just as little emotion. Charles might have been a lovestruck fool, but he was kind and good at heart. Ellya snuck around, going toward the way the knife had come from, but she found no one. If their was someone there, they had to as good of an unseen mover as she was, and she was slowly becoming unparalleled. Now, only Gilan and one other Ranger were better then her. Admittedly, she wasn't as good as seeing other people as she was as disappearing, but she should have been able to see anyone who wasn't Ranger good. That meant that she was going crazy, or that Charles had been killed by a Ranger or professional assassin. There was no one in the trees, and throwing knives were not long-range weapons. Her head was spinning. She had been around death, been affected by death, before, but the reason she wanted to be a Ranger was to never feel so helpless against it again. What she had told the other Rangers about wanting to help people like her father was completely true, but it was only half the story. She wanted to stop the death of innocent, and she wanted to be able to protect herself from death, and the only way to do that was to be a knight, a member of city watch, or a Ranger. But despite her best efforts, death had struck down something near to her again. Charles and her weren't best friends, but they knew they could count on each other. And yet, she couldn't stop him from departing from this world. She shook herself. She, Ellya the warrior, Ellya the fighter, Ellya the Ranger, was panicking. She realized that she couldn't do this alone, and bolted back to the cabin, grabbing Will by the shoulders and mumbling incoherently.

"What?"

"Charles! He's dead! But I couldn't find the killer! I couldn't!" she babbled. Without a word, Will followed her back into the woods.

If you want an example of my mood, how I originally ended the chapter was: She realized that she couldn't do this alone, and bolted back to the cabin, where Will lay dead. :). I kid you not, I actually put a smiley face. Now you see where I was coming from this chapter. Please, tell me if it was any good at all. I'm obviously not in the mood to judge for myself.