Once upon a time there was a girl who wrote a fanfic for The Ranger's Apprentice. It was pretty good, a little sloppy with dashes of OOC moments, but overall it was solid. One day, that girl got a polite review gently saying that her character was a Mary-Sue. The girl thought "I'm going to ignore this helpful constructive critique, continue writing, take a huge break, start another story (which I will still mostly be focusing on more), and forget about that." Then, when the girl decided it was time to finally update, she reread the story to get inspired. When she got to the trial chapter, she started barfing and her computer exploded. She vowed to destroy the evil she had created, and revised the chapter so her character wasn't so overly perfect. She then went on youtube and forgot to update again. The End.

What you can get from this is that I revised a bit. Nothing major, no need to read the new revisions, and she is still a little bit of a Mary-Sue, just not as bad. I am going to keep my OOC moments, because I'm lazy, and, really, how would they react in that situation? Nothing like it has ever happened before. Anyway, expect updates to be few and far between. The only reason I'm writing now is thanks to the wonderful advice of K. Bradshaw and Memmola. I wish I could use all your ideas, but I couldn't without forsaking sense. Also, I want to explain why Ratty and the others were let in the Corps. Because not many people wanted to join, the Corps always needs new recruits, and since Ratty and a few others were willing to join and the Corps needed new people, everything just clicked (also he was fun to write about). Some of the others, well, in this vaguely Medieval time period, most people were probably sexist, because that's how the world works.

Will and Ellya combed the woods for hours. Ellya had got a grip on her emotions, and converted her panic to a dark, relentless energy. She looked more then ready to kill, she looked like she eagerly awaited doing so. Will was worried about his apprentice, but he knew it would be best not to talk to her just yet. After the light began to fade and they still hadn't found a trail, they headed back to the cabin to talk over what happened. Will was just as baffled as Ellya about how they managed to kill him. There was one thing the could hope to answer; motive.

"He could have been involved in something criminal, but Charles is... wasn't that type. He could have seen or heard something that he wasn't meant to," Will listed off the possibilities, which gradually became more wild and unlikely and he had to stop. "I think that's about it."

"You missed one." Will looked at her in surprise. She hadn't offered an idea the entire time, but had just sat there listening, arms wrapped around her legs like she was trying to curl up into a ball while sitting up.

"What?"

"You missed one. You missed the one where it's my fault."

"What? I don't thi..."

"No, you aren't thinking. It makes sense. Someone was sending a message to me. To go back to being a farmer's daughter. It seems just as likely as your more lucid ones, and is a lot more likely then a few at the end." Will didn't say anything for a bit, at a loss for what to say for once.

"Even if that were the reason, it wouldn't..."

"Be my fault? Yes, yes it would. They would be using him as a pawn to get to me." Will opened his mouth to speak. "But even then it wouldn't be my fault because I didn't want it to happen? Yes it would be. He was there because of me, and since I didn't stop it, and I was the reason it happened, then it would be my fault." Will opened his mouth to speak again. "But this is all assuming that the reason it happened was to spend a message to me, and that it might not be, so we should check out the other options too and either way you still don't think it's my fault? I do agree with you on the first part. We can question his family when we go to console them. In fact, we're doing that right now," she said as she stood up. Will still didn't have time to say anything before she walked out the door.

They had sent his body home earlier, and the sound of grieving filled the block. Ellya squirmed inside, guilt devouring her her determination to figure everything out as fast as she could. She didn't want to face his family, but she owed to him, her fault or not. She knocked on the door, being enveloped by candlelight and the arms of Charles's mother as the door opened. Her guilt grew, rearing like a horse. She didn't want to comfort his mom if she was responsible, but she pushed those feelings down. She owed it to him to catch his killer, even if it meant doing things she wasn't proud of. She and Will stayed the whole night, comforting his family, reminiscing on the good times, trying to forget the bad. At nearly two in the morning, Ellya finally pulled James, Charles older brother, aside.

"I need to catch his killer. Is there anything that you could think of that could've gotten him in trouble. Did he mention hearing something, seeing something, anything like that? Is there any reason for criminals to target him?" James shook his head wildly, and she saw in his eyes he was hiding something. "What is it James? I can tell you're hiding something from me. I need to know in order to catch his killer."

"No no no no no, the only thing that would attract criminals is..." he searched for something to blame, "you." The realization dawned on him, and in his drunken, grieving, sleep deprived state, he found something to blame that wouldn't make his brother look bad. "It was your fault wasn't it? They killed him because he was with you! How dare you come to our house, to his house, and console us when it's your fault in the first place?"

"What... What are you talking about James?" Charles's mother asked.

"It's her fault! They killed him to send her a message!" he screamed as he lunged at her. Ellya reacted on instinct, jumping out of the way, grabbing his arm, twisting it behind him, pulling him closer, and bringing her saxe knife to his throat. Charles's family gaped at her, and after she realized what she had done, she started to lower the knife and let go of James.

"I..." she started to say before Charles's mom cut him off.

"No! Don't you dare speak! You get my son killed, then come down here and pretend to be sorry about it, keeping it from us, and then when my other son figures it out you try to kill him too? I always knew there was something wrong about you, playing warrior, wanting to be a man, but I never expected... GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, BITCH!" Ellya stumbled backwards, turning and retreating as all her worst fears about his death got voice by his family. As she disappeared into the darkness, Charles mom turned to Will. "You don't trust her. She's twisted that one. And if you continue to investigate Charles, I'll turn the town on her. You know I could do it, with all the boys angry at being turned down, all the mothers scared about the delusions she put in their daughters heads, and the fact she came from a different fief, it would be child's play. Leave my Charles alone, or else."