Gilan woke up as the first rays of sunshine shone through his closed curtains, disoriented he at first couldn't figure out where he was then he remembered that he was in the guest room in Halts cabin. He had missed Will and Halt but was also doing some maintenance on the battle schools runnings. Crowley had sent him a letter on behalf of King Duncan to ask him to check up on the armies in Redmont.

He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and instantly regretted it as a wave of pain hit him, he grasped his side in agony, waiting for the pain to pass. Probably just indigestion, he shrugged and got dressed, although the pain didn't really pass except, settled into a dull throb in his right side. He could smell coffee coming from the kitchen but the thought of eating breakfast was not at all appealing and made him slightly nauseous, something was definitely wrong.

Shaking his head in denial, he had always been stubborn and Halt had reminded him of this on several occasions, he plastered on a smile to hide the pain and walked out into the kitchen to find Will busying himself with making coffee. "Halt not up yet?" he asked as she lowered herself into one of the dining room chairs. "I heard him scuffling around a couple minutes ago he should be on his way, speak of the devil," Gilan winced as another wave of pain hit her but thankfully Halt didn't seem to notice as he came out of his room, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning," he grunted and sat down on the opposite side of the table to her and began to sift through reports left on the table.

"Anything interesting?" Will mused,now tending to the breakfast he was making, "Eggs sound good?" It was more of a rhetorical question but the idea of food make Gilan go green and sent his stomach doing a rollercoaster ride.

"Actually," there must be a way to get out of this, he thought, "I should start making my way over to the Castle, I said I'd meet Sir Rodney for breakfast, I'll see you later though," he asked as she swung his cape over her shoulders and hovered in the doorway.

"Definitely," Will confirmed, he loved having his brother here and he had missed him so much, he intended not to waste a single moment.

Gilan in fact was not meeting Sir Rodney for breakfast, he had always hated mornings therefore no where in his right mind would he plan anything so early. The meeting was just a ploy to getaway from breakfast, he really couldn't stomach anything and as he rode out of view of the little cottage in the woods, he doubled over in the saddle giving in the the pain in her side. Blaze whinnied in worry almost as if to say you should have told them "Not a chance," he groaned and straightened in the saddle as the towers of Castle Redmont broke through the tree tops. Time to make himself useful, on the one hand he was incredibly early for his meeting, on the other hand, he just wanted to get this over and done with so he compromised. She rode into the castle courtyard and let one of the stable boys take care of his horse.

"Gilan!" Arnold spread his arms in welcome as he crossed the courtyard and shook his hand,

"Hello Sir, how do you do?"

"Very well, thank you. How are you, what brings you to back to Redmont?"

"Just a general checkup with the army and battle school, I am due to meet Sir Rodney soon but I thought I'd come early."

"Ah well I won't keep you, lovely having you back," Gilan waved to him as he walked off and groaned as the pain in his side increased.

"Gilan?" A soft voice from the doorway said, she ran to Gilan and embraced him in a hug but pulled away when she sensed something wrong with her friend.

"Hi Alyss," he forced a smile but tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, the pain was becoming too much and all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep.

"Gil, you know as a friend it's my job to be blunt with you, you don't look alright at all," Alyss led him to her chambers and guided him to the sofa, on which he gratefully sat down on. "Now tell me what's wrong," she sat down next to her friend and looked at him like don't you dare try lying to me I can tell what your doing "It's just a little bug that's all and thanks for this Alyss but I have a meeting to get to," he walked out to disguise the lie he had just told his friend.

Gilan stopped outside Sir Rodney's office and took a breath before he knocked on the door.

***Sir Rodney's POV***

He admitted Gilan with a smile on his face, he had missed the boy and his sunny nature, he had also been determined and had progressed to be one of the best swordsman he had ever trained even despite him being a ranger. But even he could tell something was wrong with him as he walked into his office, the smile obviously fake, he looked tired and weak and an arm wrapped around his waist, attempting to look casual. He immediately rushed to his side and felt his forehead, it felt hot and Sir Rodney slightly recoiled from his skin. "My God Gilan you're boiling!"

"Its fine all I have to do is get through this assessment and then I will rest," he wasn't as easily convinced,

"You promise?" he nodded her head, "Okay then, let's make it quick as you look like you're about to drop from exhaustion,"

***Gilan POV***

He felt a little queasy and began to feel more so as he sat in Sir Rodney's stuffy office, the pain in his side also worsened, not making things any easier. He was glad when they said their goodbyes and he was soon riding back to the cottage in the forest. Will was sitting on the veranda when Gilan came trotting up. He was clutching her side but straightened when she saw Will, uh oh. He had forgotten he promised him to hang out and he couldn't say no his brother, he nearly started crying from the intense pain and nausea, and swayed in the saddle slightly.

***Wills POV***

"Halt!" He shouted and was just in time to catch Gilan from falling from the saddle, he winced in pain. "Sorry Will," Halt came up to them and felt his forehead. Fever. Gilan curled up in Wills arms and clutched at his side. "Hurts," he said. "Just the right side?" Halt asked, Will didn't see how it was relevant but he knew from experience that Halt had an explanation for everything. Gilan nodded. "Have you felt nauseous at all?" He nodded again. Then it clicked. "Appendicitis!" Will said in recognition, turning to his mentor.

"Will go ride up to the castle and get a healer, it might have bursted already," Will passed Gilan over reluctantly as he tried to wave him off.

"I'm.." he groaned in pain, "okay maybe I'm not fine,"

"You think?" Halts said sarcastically

***Gilan POV***

Six days later

Gilan was making good progress with healing, in the end the healer had to perform surgery and cut his appendix out but that just made his recovery quicker. By the seventh morning he was sitting on the veranda of Will and Halts cabin, sipping coffee and watching the sunrise, a blanket wrapped around him from the waist down, protecting him from the chilly morning air. Halt sat down next to him and placed a mug of his own on the table in front of them, "You scared us last week you know," Gilan smiled at the hidden words in his sentence glad your okay.

"I know, god I've missed this." he rested his head against Halts shoulder and in turn he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and together, they watched the sun come up.