uthor's Note: Sorry about the long delay. I actually was nearly finished with this chapter... And then my computer crashed. Badly. Like, the kind of bad that I had to wipe the hard drive for. Needless to say, I was less than happy about that. But I got back up and re-wrote it. Hopefully it is enjoyable. :)
Will felt like he was drowning. He was quite sure that his head was immersed in water. His brains were swimming around inside his skull, his eyes were trying to pop out of their sockets, and some foreign force was forbidding him to take breath through his nose, making his head throb painfully. But despite all this, he was somehow drawing breath after ragged breath. It was a strange mystery, and in other circumstances, the sensation would have held his curiosity captive. As it was, however, his mind was much too tired to care. He tried to bring his hand up to his face to rub his sore eyes, but found it was weighed down by what felt like rocks. He lifted his lips in a grimace and they cracked painfully. An involuntary groan grated against his raw throat. He sighed heavily through his bleeding lips. He was quite sure that there wasn't a single part of his whole body that didn't hurt. He would have liked to moan despairingly or perhaps punch his flat pillow, but knew that it would only cause more pain. A pity, he thought, that he couldn't even express his frustration with his situation without making that situation worse.
"Will?" A tentative voice asked.
Will's brow furrowed slightly. Now that wasodd. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that Gilan had just called his name. But it was a silly fancy, he knew. Gilan was at the gathering. And Will knew that he was definitely not at the gathering. He was painfully aware of that fact. Halt had insisted that they stay home because Will was sick. The voice must be Halt, Will reasoned. Odd, though, that Halt's voice should sound so high. And accent-less. And young-sounding. The illness is messing with my hearing. Will thought. He ventured to open his eyes. His room was painfully bright this morning, and he squeezed his eyes shut again. He heard footfalls stepping away from his bedside, and then the sound of his curtains pulling across their curtain rod. The footsteps came back towards him.
"Sorry. Try again." Halt said. He sounds so weird.
Will slowly opened his eyes again, squinting slightly. His eyes weren't completely focused yet, but he could see Halt's figure above him, and to his surprise, distinctly made out a mop of blonde hair atop his head, and two blue orbs in place of the dark eyes he knew. Before he could stop himself, he said weakly:
"Halt, what happened to your face?"
The figure laughed. "I think that sickness might be messing with your head, Will. It's Gilan."
"Gilan?" Will managed an incredulous tone, despite his quiet voice. His eyes were focusing. Halt - now Gilan - was smiling at him kindly.
"Hello, Will."
"W-What are you doing here?"
"Taking care of you, of course." Gilan spoke softly and gently, aware that Will's hearing would be sensitive. "You and Halt really need to learn to tell me when you're going to be absent from the gathering. I thought the two of you had gone and gotten yourselves killed."
"Sorry, Gilan," Will started apologetically, "I wanted to come, but Halt thought that-"
"It's alright, Will. Halt was right to keep you home. I was just worrying like a silly old maid. It's good to see you awake, though. You gave Halt and I quite a scare last night. Do you want to sit up?"
Will nodded, and expressed his gratitude when Gilan helped him up into a half-sitting position and put another pillow behind his back.
Will frowned as a thought struck him. "Where is Halt?" he asked.
"Asleep. I swore I would wake him up once you were awake... But he really needs the sleep... Just... Don't tell him, will you?"
"Don't tell me what?" Halt had come up behind Gilan, and was now standing in the doorway, arms crossed.
Despite his cracked lips, Will couldn't repress a smile.
Gilan, his back to Halt, winced, then spun around suddenly, now smiling.
"Halt! You're awake! Brilliant, I was just about to wake you up... Will's awake!"
Halt looked at his former apprentice, one eyebrow raised high over a decidedly un-amused expression. "I can see that." He looked over at his current apprentice, his expression unchanged. "Good morning, Will. How are you feeling?"
"Absolutely horrible." Will's blunt statement clashed oddly with his lingering smile. Halt took no notice.
"Understandably so. I'll put the kettle on. Gilan, fetch some mugs, will you?" He walked off without another word. Gilan watched him leave, and turned to Will.
"How does he do that?" he mouthed. Will wished smiling didn't hurt so much. He shrugged. Gilan shook his head in mild disbelief and followed Halt to the kitchen.
Once they were both gone, Will winced. His lips were now bleeding badly, and his throat was a bit sore from talking. He was feeling a little better than before, though, now that he was sitting upright. He could tell that it was midmorning by the light coming in through at the edges of the curtains. A sudden chill ran over him, and he pulled his blankets closer around him. He heard the kettle whistle. Soon, Gilan and Halt were walking back into the room. Halt handed him a mug of steaming liquid. Will peered over the side of the mug and saw that it was tea. He frowned in mild despair.
"Can I not have coffee?" He asked. Halt grunted disapprovingly.
"The last thing you need right now is caffeine. Tea will be better for now. It'll do more for your throat, too." Halt sipped at his own mug, which, Will's nose told him, was filled with dark coffee. He couldn't help but feel a bit envious, but he sipped at his tea anyway. He was surprised at the pleasant, sweet flavor. Gilan must have made it - Halt never put this much sugar in any kind of drink. He eyed the young ranger, who sat drinking his coffee quietly. Gilan met his gaze and winked. Will smiled gratefully and sipped at his tea some more, enjoying the way it coated his raw throat, giving him a temporary reprieve from the cough-inducing pain.
They sat in silence for a while, nursing their drinks, making occasional small talk. Eventually, Gilan rose to go out and feed the horses their morning meal, and brush down Blaze. Halt finished his coffee and went over to sit on Will's bed next to him. He lifted a hand to the boy's forehead.
"Hmm, a slight fever." He said, his face showing a rare expression of pity. "Better than last night, though. Are you cold?"
Will gave a half shrugged. "A bit." He said weakly.
Halt nodded. "Keep those blankets on. I'll take that." He reached for Will's now-empty mug. He transferred it to his left hand, and grasped Will's shoulder with his right, giving it a squeeze as he rose, a rare act of affection from the gruff ranger. Will smiled at the gesture.
He heard the door to their cabin creak open, and knew that Gilan must have come back in. It was nice to have Gilan here, Will thought. He'd missed the young ranger over the past several months, and was happy to him here to cheer things up. Not that Halt wasn't pleasant to be around - honestly, Will enjoyed his master's company very much. But Halt could not exactly be described as 'cheerful'. Gilan was simply fun to be around - and that was a considerable bright spot in his day, especially considering how horribly sick he was. Which was why he was rather alarmed when he heard Halt talking to Gilan in the other room:
"You should probably leave later today to report back to Crowley."
Will's heart sank, and he heard Gilan's footsteps still on the floorboards.
"What?" Gilan voiced the word that Will was thinking.
Halt sighed. "Always questions." He said to himself. Then louder, "I'm assuming you left in the middle of the gathering to get here. And I'm assuming you told Crowley that you were leaving, and I think that he would like to know where you are - where all of us are. I have to stay here with Will. You need to go back and explain the situation to Crowley."
"I'll send a messenger ahead." Gilan said.
"Blaze is faster. Besides, you can't just give away the location of the Ranger Corps gathering to a simple messenger."
"Halt, I...It..." Gilan opened his mouth, but could not find any words.
In the other room, Will holding his breath. He really hoped that Halt would let Gilan stay. In fact, he wasn't sure why he was insisting that the other ranger leave - he knew that Halt enjoyed Gilan's company. When he didn't hear Gilan answer, he became a bit worried.
"You'll probably do best to leave within a few hours," Halt was saying. "I'll put on breakfast so you can leave as soon as possible..."
Will had heard enough. Ignoring the fact that getting up was probably a horrible idea, he threw back the blankets and put his bare feet to the floor, and nearly ran into the doorframe on his way into the main living area.
"Can I have a say in this?" He said, stumbling into the room. Halt and Gilan both turned quickly around to look at him.
"Will, you shouldn't be up, you need to-" Halt started to say.
In an unusual show of boldness, Will interrupted his master. "Why does Gilan have to leave?" He asked. Halt raised an eyebrow.
"To explain to Crowley why we weren't at the gathering."
"But why does he have to go? Send a messenger." Will said reasonably.
"I thought we'd gone over this. You can't just send any old messenger to the gathering grounds."
"No, no, not to the gathering. To Castle Araluen. The gathering will be over by the time Gilan gets there. Why not just send a message on for Crowley when he returns?" He explained.
Gilan straightened, seeing the reason in this argument. He turned to Halt.
"I'll start writing a letter immediately - It'll be on its way before this evening."
"Gilan," Halt said, "I'm sure that Blaze can get you there in plenty of time."
"Blaze will be tired after riding for two days." Will put in.
"He's barely been unsaddled for half a day." Gilan added.
"You'd have to run him hard all day to even hope to get there in time-"
"And if I missed it by even a few hours, I'd have run him all for nothing. That's just cruel-"
"It's not such an urgent message that Crowley needs it before the gathering is over-"
"It really is just better if I write up a message to send to him by messenger-"
"Halt, I really don't see why you're so intent on him leaving, he just got here-"
Then, Will and Gilan both spoke in unison:
"So why do I have to leave?"
"Why does he have to leave?
Halt held up a hand. "Enough, both of you." He turned to Gilan. "Why are you so intent on staying, anyway?" He asked.
"Well... I haven't seen either of you for a whole year. It's good to see you - even if Will is sick." He said sincerely.
Halt surveyed him for a moment, and turned to Will. "And what about you?"
Will shrugged. "I haven't seen him for a year... I missed him. I was looking forward to seeing him at the gathering, and now he's here. He's fun to be around." He said. Gilan seemed genuinely touched by the compliment, and smiled at Will.
Halt sighed, ignoring the kind sentiment. He looked at both of his apprentices, former and current. They were both wearing identical faces of pleading, waiting on his word, the final word, on whether or not Gilan could stay. They looked like puppies, Halt mused. Had he known that they would be so opposed to Gilan leaving, he wouldn't have proposed the idea. Frankly, he was surprised at how long he'd been able to lead them on. He supposed he would have to give in to their argument eventually. But not without some pain on their part, first. The room was painfully silent as Halt mused to himself, Gilan and Will hanging on his every move. Halt sighed heavily, crossed his arms and rolled his eyes upward, all in dramatic effect. Will sniffled. Gilan fidgeted. Halt looked at each one of them in turn, and paused again for good measure.
"Fine." He said. The two other rangers let out the breath they'd been holding. Halt quickly rounded on Gilan. "But I want that letter off to the capitol by sundown, understand?"
"Yes, Halt." Gilan said, beaming. Will was smiling, too.
"Now help me get breakfast ready. As for you..." He turned on Will. A gruff reprimand was on his lips, but then he saw a shiver run over his feverish apprentice, and he frowned. "I thought I told you to keep those blankets on." He said in a gentler voice. "Come on. Back to bed with you. Go on." Halt shooed him back into his bedroom, and saw to it that he piled his blankets back on. He checked his fever with the back of his hand. "You're getting worse. You need sleep, Will." He said as he reached for the cloth steeping in the basin.
"Sorry, Halt." He said.
"Just don't go getting up out of bed again. You're not well enough."
"Actually, I meant about yelling at you just now." Will confessed. Halt looked at him, mildly surprised.
"Oh. Well, yes. Don't do that again, either." He said, placing the cloth across Will's forehead. "And don't think that just because Gilan is here that you're going to get up out of bed any time soon."
Will smiled. "I'm just glad to have him here."
Halt grunted. "Two apprentices under one roof. I really have gone mad." He said, before getting up to help Gilan prepare breakfast. Despite Halt's gruff manner, Will was beaming. Because he knew that in Halt-speak, that meant that he was glad Gilan was there, too.