Ranger's Apprentice Quick Stories

Let's Hope Part 1

Maddie sighed as she entered the cabin, finally able to take off her thick winter cloak and drape in on the rack to the left of the door.

Inside, Will was seated at the kitchen table, shuffling through several parchments. As Maddie opened the door, a huge gust of winter wind blew inside, slamming the door back against the wall.  The temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees, and the flames of the fire in the fireplace flickered, nearly extinguishing.

"Could you maybe close the door?" Will asked, returning his attention to the parchments in his hand. "I just made that fire and I don't particularly fancy making it a second time."

Maddie rolled her eyes and smiled at Will's good-natured tease. Nevertheless, she turned and shut the door firmly, latching it in place.  Slowly, the room began to warm up again. Maddie moved in from of the fireplace, shivering and rubbing her hands together.

"I suppose I understand why you send me to the village when it's this cold," she said over her shoulder as the fire's heat began to reach her skin. "But that doesn't mean I like it."

Will shrugged, still eyeing his papers.

"Why suffer the cold when I have an apprentice who will do it for me?" he stated plainly. Again,  Maddie rolled her eyes, still smiling.

"So how did the errands go?" Will asked after some time. Maddie sighed, moving to sit across from him at the table now that she'd warmed up.

"I got the papers to Halt at his and Pauline's apartment," she responded dully. "Checked in with Baron Arald after that last group of bandits finally had their hearings and were sentenced to a year in the fields. He says thank you again for rounding them up."

Will nodded, as if the baron could see the movement.

"And then I picked up those spools of twine you asked me to get at the village," Maddie continued dutifully. "They're in the pocket of my cloak."

As she rose and crossed the room to retrieve the twine, another thought seemed to strike her.

"Actually, I met a very interesting man in the village," she said, handing the twine to Will. He took it, glancing up curiously at Maddie's words.

"Did you?" he asked. "I suppose you struck up a conversation with him?"

Maddie hesitated. This had been a tense subject between she and Will. One of the hardest things she'd had to learn was to refrain from conversing with the villagers. With her new, free lifestyle, Maddie enjoyed getting to know people without having them worship her as the crown princess. But as Will had often reminder her, a Ranger had to maintain an aloof persona. Sometimes, when Will wasn't around to watch her, Maddie was known to irregularly slip back into her open nature around people.

Now, her silence told Will all he needed to know. He watched her disapprovingly as she slid back into her seat.

"Maddie, you know we can't get close with the common folk," he told her. "It makes them comfortable around us. And part of what makes the Ranger Corps so successful is our mysterious aura."

Maddie sighed, nodding.

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry."

Will regarded her for several seconds until he was sure she understood the importance of what he was saying. Satisfied that she did, he turned back to his parchments.

"So why was this fellow so interesting?" he asked casually. Maddie shrugged, although Will could tell even out of the corner of his eye that she was excited to share the events of her day with him.