Halt was inside the kitchen, bustling about when he suddenly heard the sound of his apprentice stepping up to the porch. He heard the door open, as he expected it to, and then heard Will close it.

Will had gone to Castle Redmont for reasons that he would not divulge to Halt, to Halt's extreme annoyance.

"Why the blazes can't you tell me what's going on?" asked the grizzled Ranger. Will said nothing in response. This whole situation angered Halt because usually he was the one withholding information, not the other way around. It simply wasn't right for an apprentice to be so secretive! It went against the Ranger and Apprentice code book (which Halt was fairly certain existed)!

"Welcome back," Halt muttered from the kitchen. He was busy preparing coffee for the two of them to drink while talking. Halt was going to receive some answers, by Gorlog's teeth, otherwise Will would be sleeping in the stables tonight, and that was that!

Will said not a word but walked straight to his room.

That's odd, thought Halt. He'll come out eventually. There's not a Ranger in all of Araluen that can withstand the smell of coffee!

To Halt's extreme satisfaction, an hour later, Will emerged from his room. Halt was shocked to see that he was still wearing his mottled cloak. Neither of them were in the habit of wearing it indoors, as they felt there was no need to. Why would they need to sneak around invisibly indoors?

"Will, by Gorlog's beard, why are you wearing that cloak inside?"

Will, still silent, merely flipped his hood down in a manner that he thought would appeal to his mentor.

Halt inspected him, checking to see if he was all right. He had been acting strange. His sandy hair was in a permanent state of tangles, as usual. His big brown eyes appeared to be normal. His freckles still shone upon his cheeks. His lips looked a little chapped, if anything. But that was to be expected after horse riding, Halt added subconsciously. All his limbs were intact, no broken bones or anything. He didn't appear to be walking with a limp or any other abnormalities. "What's wrong?"

Will simply took an appreciative sip of his coffee.

Trying to see what was wrong, Halt sat across from Will and squinted at him. He shoved a plate of food across the table, and only when Halt was not looking did Will tentatively take a bite.

This same 'eat-when-Halt's-not-looking' game went on for a few minutes, until Will flinched and cried out in pain, his eyes watering.

Halt jerked his head around and looked concernedly at his apprentice, who was clutching his mouth and biting his lip in order not to cry.

Will waved his concern away and continued eating. Suddenly, Halt snapped his head around to see what Will was hiding while Will was in mid-bite. Will coughed and spit the food out, but not before Halt snatched a glimpse of metal in his mouth that he thought at first was a fork.

"Will, have you gotten braces?"

Will answered by glaring at him.

Halt's guffaws of laughter echoed around the cabin, making it sound like many people were mocking Will. He sniffled and wiped his face on the hem of his cloak.

Halt grinned at his apprentice, feeling sympathetic for him, but still laughing, just the same. He remembered when he had braces as a young lad in Hibernia. He could still recall how awful they were, to this day. "Feels like you've been punched in the mouth, right?"

Will nodded miserably while his eyes watered from accidentally biting a piece of food too visciously.

Halt continued laughing and Will continued trying to choke down his food. He eventually gave up. It was too much effort to eat, and he decided he'd go hungry tonight. Probably for a while, he cynically remarked. He couldn't take trying to eat, or being laughed at by Halt any longer.

He stood up from his meal and flicked his hood up in one graceful move, and stormed to his room and slammed the door.

Will hated his braces.