The tall man took the love of his life's face in his hands and gave her a direct look, which she knew meant that he had a plan. What he didn't know however, was that she had one as well, or at least a vague atmosphere of one. 

She held his serious gaze with determination flooding through her veins, more than she had ever had. 

"You should go away, okay? You could run far away from here, maybe to a nice island on the other side of the ocean, because they will hunt you down here on the mainland."  His grip tightened as his heart splintered into more and more pieces, the shards pricked into all parts of his chest. "When the war breaks out, you could come back and fight." 

Defiance clawed at her vigorously like a wild animal, and she was very sure that everything he had just said would go in one ear and pop out the other. What he wanted her to do was simply a rubbish suggestion according to her and she would not have it. But she played along for the time being. 

She glanced over to the dead body and frowned. "What are you going to tell them, Gil?" 

"I don't think they'll care about what I tell them, they will spin it in a way that's beneficial to them." He let her go slowly, shrugging his shoulders a bit. 

Her senses tingled and the hairs on her arms stood up when she looked at the corpses. The Scotii had no reason to come after her, so why had they? This wasn't just an attack on some strangers, she had seen the killing weapons on the assassin's belt. He was originally from Araluen as well, something was just not adding up. She felt as if she was walking into a room not knowing there was someone behind the door with a wooden plank, about to hit her in the head and she couldn't see them. 

She ran a hand over Gilan's cheek, with a sad smile on her lips.  "Crowley is probably wondering where I am, I should get back to him." 

"You're not staying at the castle?" he raised a brow, "and you're spending time with Crowley?" 

"Oh yeah," she grinned and called for Vacker, then continued when the shining black horse came trotting over, "you know, he told me I was his favorite Ranger, you lost pretty boy." 

She winked. Gilan had absolutely no idea what to do with that information and was left with his jaw on the floor. He knew Crowley had always favoured his apprentice over the others, he loved to father over her a bit, but he hadn't thought the commander would ever actually step up.

Crowley. Of course. Sometimes she forgot he was the corps commandant, because he was so laid-back and humorous. She had been at the church with him, when the hooded attackers came. Her heart crunched, her face along with it. 

The tall man looked with curious worry over to the girl, she seemed as if she has just been delivered a punch to the stomach. And he knew what that looked like on her, at least once every mission in the first year, someone would deliver a blow to her gut. "What's wrong?" 

She closed her eyes and cursed to herself violently. When she opened them again, she shook her head and swung swiftly onto the back of her dark mare. "A lot." 

As she galloped into the distance, Gilan watched her and considered following her, to find out more about where she was staying. But, he feared that he'd be followed, after all he'd been gone a little while already and Enox did not seem like a patient woman. He didn't really know when he'd see his former apprentice again, by this time he should've been used to it, but still he turned into the impatient young  boy who couldn't wait until his father came home from battle. He was already somewhere in the woods, trying to find them, but not that wasn't what he was going to do this time. There was something he had to take care of.

The tall knight reached inside his saddle leather bag and pulled out flint stones and gathered some kindling, then put it around the boy's corpse. A flutter of grief for this boy came over him; he was younger than Gilan, which made him feel a bit of unease. Most assassins he knew were quite a bit older, more experienced. So why had this boy been sent to kill two important Araluen figures? 

He lit the wood and watched the flames catch onto the body, the heat swarming his reddening cheeks. He knew it was the right thing to do, for a Scotii, but to him it felt wrong.

Gilan scrunched his nose, as he looked around the large city streets, bustling with people trying to get from one part to the other. There was a foul smell in the air and he looked over to his apprentice, who was eagerly watching the surroundings. Every once in a while she'd point out typical Picta-like buildings and clothes on passerby's, all in a flawless Scotii accent which had become thicker and thicker the more time they spent in the land. 

"Why does it smell like burning flesh?" He asked her, interrupting the speech she was giving about the typical breed of Scotii horses trudging in front of the farmer's wagon. 

"Oh," she ruffled Vacker's manes as her lips turned down, "that's the burning of the corpses. Scotii don't bury their dead, they don't like traces of the past to be lingering around. Apparently it radiates negative energy and attracts demons."

"I think those demons are more likely to be drawn to that horrid smell, but alas." he made a gesture with his hand, being quite lost on the strange customs of the Northerners. 

*

"Crowley?!" the young woman burst into the cottage, slamming the door open, blind with panic, frantically looking around for the chirpy Ranger. 

His sister Charlotte, a red haired woman of about fourty, was sharpening her knives when the girl came in. "What's wrong?" She stood up hastily, knife ready to kill any intruders following the female Ranger. 

"Please, just, is he... I mean, is he alright, and-" the cloaked girl put a hand to her chest as it clenched painfully again. She was breathing, but air seemingly leaked out from her lungs, because she couldn't inhale properly. 

"You alright kid?" a warm hand from behind her gripped her shoulder, giving it a fatherly squeeze. 

She turned around and the tears started streaming naturally, the pressure in her heart had reached a boiling point and spilled over the edges now. Without caring that the man was her commander, she flung her arms around his middle and buried her face in his chest. She hadn't lost him yet. 

Crowley was overwhelmed by the sudden emotions he was faced with, but quickly reclaimed himself and stroked her hair as she poured her heart out. 

"I thought they had killed you, because-" she sobbed- "and... there was, Scotii... and Gilan." The Ranger couldn't quite make out complete sentences, but her cries sounded so young, so heartbroken, that he couldn't help but tear up a little himself. 

The red haired sister saw the pair and decided that her knives could be sharpened another time, so she mumbled something about gathering bay leaves and headed out the door, shuffling past them awkwardly. 

He let her run her tears for as long as she needed. Crowley had never had children himself, but he had seen Duncan with his daughter, Cassandra, who had had a phase of crying a lot. It wasn't necessary to 'cure' it, just to let it me there for a while, it always ebbed away if the king gave his child enough time. 

"What happened?" he questioned, when the sobs had become less and less and she sat down at one of the chairs at the dining table. 

A cup of steaming hot coffee was put under her nose and she gratefully took it in her hands. "God," she sniffled and dried away some of her leftover tears from her jaw, "I feel like I have only been crying these past few weeks."

"Well," Crowley sat down across from her and poured himself a mug of the steaming black liquid as well, dumping a dollop of honey into it. He frowned, realizing that his friendship with Halt had ruined his taste in coffee, then continued, "loving someone, who can't love you, is quite painful." A lugubrious shimmer crossed his normally merry green eyes. 

"Yeah, but I don't want to cry all the time," she stirred her drink, "I used to be so tenacious, I finally felt free and independent, but now I can't go a day without falling into someone's arms and crying my heart out."

Silence filled the little cottage as the commander evaluated her words and her situation. She had become an apprentice, coming from a terrible home situation. Her mentor, the one she lived with for five years and fell in love with, was moving to Picta and she would likely not see him again. "Don't be so hard on yourself kid, this is an impossible situation, the least you're allowed to do is cry. You can be strong and cry at the same time, those are your words." 

She snorted, nodding and looking at him with amusement. "How do you know about that? I said it, but I never thought it would be used against me." 

"I have my ways, I am the corps' commandant after all." 

Terror thundered through her body once again, she stood up hastily, eyes widening, throwing her chair back. "They're out to get you, the Scotii I mean, you need to leave Araluen, now."

A/N:

I'm back lovely peeps! If this chapter feels a little rushed, it is because I wrote most of it today and have an 8.30 class tomorrow, so I really need to get to bed early. 

Enjoy this meme, which I felt fits Gilan in this story, kind of haha. 

Question for the day: Why do you love your favorite book?

I can say that for me, I love the Perks of Being a Wallflower, because it was one of the books which dealt with quite complex themes that made me understand some of the bad that happens in the world. And it addressed a type of guilt and mental health, which isn't normally discussed in the YA books I like to read and it was nice to see accurate representation! If you have never read it, a definite recommendation (that's what the quotes on my profile are from haha)

Love you guys, have fun reading the chapter and let me know if there are things you want to happen in the story or that you think are going to happen.

XX. Maddie<3