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[lattereadsra]

I would really like to remind everyone that it’s canon (we didn’t make this up. We didn’t have to make this up Flanagan made it canon for us) that everyone just. Accepts that Will is Halt’s son. Gilan says that even though he and Halt will always be close, Halt and Will’s relationship is much closer and is father & son like. Pauline treats Will as her son. Horace sees Will as his brother and Halt as his uncle. Everyone sees Will and Halt and are like “this man. This man has adopted a child” which is so funny to me because imagine you’re in araluen and you see Greybeard halt who never smiles with his happy son who doesn’t shut up (AND they’re the same height). Flanagan does a lot wrong in the series but making Halt see Will as his son and the found family aspects are NOT one

[lattereadsra]

Duncan wished, for the fifth time that week, that his secretary hadn't had to take time off. Duncan was in the habit of picking up his intelligence report after breakfast every morning and strolling down the halls while he read it, acquainting himself with news from the kingdom and the world. It had been a nice, relaxing start to his day and a nice excuse to be alone with his thoughts.

And then his secretary had broken his finger, rendering him unable to hold a quill, and his replacement, a young man named Willard, had such chicken scratch handwriting that Duncan couldn't read a word of it without puzzling over each one, especially when it came to the names of foreign dignitaries and officials. Until he could arrange for another replacement, he had to get the young man to read them himself. Oh how he missed the quiet mornings, oh how he missed his excuse for some alone time!

'Um, there's a new Oberjarl in Skandia,' Willard said, flipping to a new page.

'Oberjarl,' Duncan said. 'Jarl. Skandians pronounce the J like a Y.'

Willard furrowed his brow. 'Why?'

'Yes, like a Y.'

'No, I mean why do they pronounce it that way?'

'Oh.' Duncan tried to think of an answer. 'Uh...'

'J makes a "juh" sound. If they wanted a Y, why didn't they just use Y?'

'Whats the name of the new Oberjarl?' Duncan said.

'Oh, Ragnak.' Willard looked up over his sheet. 'There's no wonky pronunciations there, are there?'

'No, no, you did fine,' Duncan said absently. It was a longer report today as far-flung news had finally made its way to Araluen, and his morning walk had taken him outside into the crisp fall air. It made listening to Willard, now stumbling over the names of Arridan officials and places, almost bearable, even though his pronunciation was sometimes so off that Duncan couldn't be sure what he was referring to.

He saw Crowley and Halt a short distance away and raised his hand in greeting. They both returned the gesture. It had been some years since the war now and Crowley had settled into his role as Commandant fairly well, but Halt remained his closest friend and regularly came to visit when his apprentice Gilan had returned home to train with MacNeil, as he had a month before.

Unconsciously Duncan turned to join the Rangers. Not every Ranger had good handwriting and Crowley was quite good at puzzling out hurriedly-written reports with apparent ease - maybe he could take over from Willard.

His pronunciation would be better, at least.

Willard was aware enough to break off his reading when they reached the Rangers, and Duncan smiled at them. 'Crowley, Halt, its nice to see you,' he said.

'You as well,' Crowley said, as Halt gave his customary nod of acknowledgement. Rangers as a whole showed little deference to authority, but Halt showed even less, except to Crowley. Sometimes Duncan wondered about that.

'How's Gilan doing?' he asked Halt now. 'He should be back soon, shouldn't he?'

'By this evening,' Halt said, nodding. 'He's fine, coming along quite nicely.'

'Growing like a weed, too. He's, what, a head taller than you now, Halt?' Crowley said.

Halt turned a withering glare on him and Duncan guffawed. 'Should've had your glass of milk every day growing up, Halt,' he said, slapping him good-naturedly on the back.

Willard was still standing politely off to one side. With some relief, Duncan saw they were on the last page of the report. He gestured for Willard to go ahead.

'Just some news from Hibernia now,' he said, scanning the page. 'Two of the kingdoms are skirmishing again - uh, Gad-- Gal--'

'Galwegh and Dromorth,' Halt supplied.

You're not from either of those, are you, Halt?' Duncan said.

Halt shook his head. 'Clonmel.'

'Actually, there's something about Clonmel in here, too,' Willard said, reading down farther. 'Let's see, they've agreed to trade some of their textiles for our grain...those horses we bought off them as breeding stock for the Ranger Corps are on their way...weddings of various nobles, some deaths...'

'Anyone important?' Duncan asked. It was slightly insensitive, but on an international level the only really significant deaths were those of royals.

'One - Caitlyn O'Carrick.'

'Oh, the Princess, right?' Duncan said. Willard nodded and was opening his mouth to go on, but anything he might have to say further was cut off when Crowley said, 'Halt?'

Duncan looked over. Halt was pale and had taken a step back. Crowley put his hand on his back to steady him. 'Halt, are you all right?'

Halt seemed to recover - he straightened, at least, though he wasn't looking at any of them.

Duncan turned back to Willard. 'Is that the last of the news?'

Willard nodded.

'Good. I'll have to draft a letter of condolence to Clonmel's king, and arrange for someone to translate it.'

'Don't they know Araluen there, sire?' Willard asked.

'They do, but it looks better if these things are in their official language. Halt, can I ask you to--'

But when Duncan looked over, it was to find Halt had disappeared.

*

Gilan slowed Blaze to a walk and dismounted. He led her to the stable, took off her saddle and bridle, and thoroughly brushed her while she munched her oats. He wondered what he would see when he went into the cabin.

Crowley had met him on the road before he got to Wensley village. 'Something's wrong with Halt,' he had said. 'The Princess in Clonmel died and its affected him for some reason. He's not saying anything about it, but be prepared.'

Gilan stumbled up the front step to the cabin and opened the door. It was completely empty. The fire in the stove was long dead and no food had been prepared.

Slowly Gilan became aware of a sound outside and left the cabin, circling around to the back. Halt was firing arrows into a tree, the arrows so closely spaced the trunk bristled like a hedgehog. As Gilan watched, he loosed his last arrow and slowly went to retrieve them. Gilan hurried forward. 'Halt?'

Halt turned to look at him. He quickly masked his expression, but just for a moment Gilan saw deep anguish in his eyes.

'Welcome back,' he said, voice more gruff than normal. 'How was training?'

Gilan frowned. Halt never asked him about training. 'Crowley said something happened today.'

Halt looked away and began tugging the arrows out if the tree. His hands were shaking, Gilan noticed. He knew Halt could be supremely calm when he was shooting, and more than once had seen Halt shooting with perfect accuracy despite being deeply stressed about something, only for all that stress to come back as soon as the last arrow had been fired. He went to help him with the arrows. 'Something about the Princess in Clonmel, Crowley said. Was she popular?'

'You could say that,' Halt said after a significant pause.

'Was she going to be queen, or...?'

Halt shook his head. 'She was the youngest child.'

'Oh.'

There was a prolonged silence as they got the last of the arrows from the tree and trudged back to the cabin. From the holes in the trunk, Gilan figured Halt had been firing arrows into it for a long time.

Halt made dinner without apparently paying much attention to what he was doing, and they ended up with a rather bland and watery stew which Halt barely touched. An uncomfortable silence hung thickly in the cabin as Gilan, unsure of what to say, tried to keep himself occupied.

'She liked having her hair braided.'

Gilan looked up from where he was scrubbing the dishes. Halt was sitting in a chair near the fire, gazing into it without seeing it. 'Who did?' Gilan prompted after a moment.

'Caitlyn. She would sit for a long time having her hair braided, then undo all of it just so it could be done again. Nobody minded because she took such delight in it.'

Gilan wondered how Halt could possibly have known that. Maybe he had known Princess Caitlyn's maid at one point.

'She was sick a lot, so she couldn't do much. But there was a song she liked. One of those old folk songs that told the story of an old hero. The Sunrise Warrior. She'd sing it a lot, or have someone sing it for her when she was too weak. You'd hear her sing it while walking, or dancing...'

'Did she sing well?' Gilan asked.

Halt closed his eyes at the memory. 'Beautifully.'

Gilan watched him for a while longer, wondering if more was to come, but Halt had apparently forgotten he was there. He turned back to the dishes.

He paused after a few minutes and looked back.

Apparently without realising it, Halt had begun to sing softly. The simple melody filled the cabin, and though Gilan didn't understand the Hibernian words he found himself listening anyway.

Only once Halt finished did Gilan turn back to the dishes, pretending he hadn't noticed the tears that glistening on Halt's cheeks.

[lattereadsra]

A little Selethen treat while I prep for the Gathering :)) he's my little guy fr, I wish he was in more of the books. Someone write me a fanfic about a day in the life of the wakir fr

[lattereadsra]

I utterly adore the relationship between Horace and Halt when they start bickering about the less than ‘noble’ things that Halt does. Like the forgeries of course, the lying about skirts, and ‘knighting’ Horace. But my favourite is when Halt suggests they go fishing, and Horace is like, utterly disgusted that Halt would dare use his bow to secure a meal. (Or maybe he was actually disgusted by the idea of using perfectly good war arrows for fishing, I know I would be.) Like, he’s just so silly?! He has no qualms about Will whacking rabbits or deer, but the moment Halt wants to get them fish, he suddenly has morals about hunting?! He goes on a whole spiel about how it should be done and everything. You’d think Horace, hungry hungry, Kurokama Horace, would be so keen on the idea, after all, it’s food! Of all the things that the OakLeaf knight has accepted when working with rangers, he’s dumbfounded by fucking bow fishing?!

“I can excuse forging the King’s Seal, but I draw the line at bowfishing.” Sounding ass mofo. He’s still my favourite homosexual himbo though.

[lattereadsra]

haltposting

[lattereadsra]

today i am absolutely crying with laughter over the idea of rangers with seasonal allergies.

sniffly, sneezy, miserable rangers who get sinus headaches and avoid people as much as possible so they don’t lose their “rangers are black magicians” rumours due to a poorly stopped sneeze giving them away.

terrifying rangers who lose their voices and sound like they’re chewing gravel when they demand bandits put down their weapons.

rangers who look constantly furious because their eyes are dry and blurry so they’re glaring and squinting at everything but can still somehow hit targets with their arrows.

and then it rains, and the pollen gets mostly knocked out of the air, suddenly the rangers with allergies are all back out in force, and rumours begin to not commit crimes on rainy spring nights, least the rangers somehow invariably discover you and hunt you down with supreme vengeance.

[lattereadsra]

Halt is crazy strong, and it’s like only seen in the second book?! Like he tosses people in moats with one hand and stuff, but most importantly- he draws a 130lb warbow?! Like it’s the only time this bow is mentioned is in The Burning Bridge, when he’s tossing what’s his face.

“But Halt’s hands, arms, shoulders, and back were condition by years of drawing the massive longbow (should be warbow), with its pull weight of sixty kilos.”

And Halt can loose several arrows in a second, an already impressive enough feat as it is, more so with a 90lb bow, but 130lbs?! Like- he’s pulling back a pre-teen 2-3 times in such a short span of time?! He can do this without any fatigue?? Exactly how fucking strong is this man that he can draw 130lbs smoother than I do 45?! What is the most Halt could draw comfortably for hours on end?! 200lbs plus?! Joe Gibbs and Mark Stretton can barely draw that more than a dozen times?! And they’re like the big people in the heavy bow world.

[lattereadsra]

as someone who studies at home a lot and who has a housemate who will start playing the guitar at random moments i would like us all to stop romanticising Will playing the mandola randomly at the cabin. alyss has things to do and us work from home girlies are tired of it.

[lattereadsra]

just ra things 🍂

[lattereadsra]

[lattereadsra]

also this

[image is a gouache painting of a red fox in portrait, lifting its nose; a stylized geometric rectangle pattern is scattered in its fur. It looks aglow against the dark teal background.]

[lattereadsra]

Can we talk about how breaking the burning bridge is for a second. Will goes off on his first-kinda-not-solo-mission and halt, who has come to love this fucking dumbass as his son, loses his mind for a little bit. He just starts throwing people into moats, and it gets so bad that Alyss has to go with him and he STILL THROWS SOMEONE IN A MOAT. And meanwhile, Will is panicking because his best friend and this random girl (who turns out to be THE CROWN PRINCESS) are RELYING ON HIM to get them out of danger. AND THEN HE HAS TO BURN DOWN A BRIDGE WHICH IS GOING TO BE USED TO TAKE OVER THE KINGDOM. And even though he’s never done any of this, even though he’s only been an apprentice for a YEAR, he does it without hesitation and SAVES THE KINGDOM. And then he gets kidnapped. And put in even more danger not only because he burned down the bridge, but because of a necklace he wears. THE GUY IS THEN SHIPPED AWAY. And Halt realizes what’s happening, he’s running so fast that he’s fucking up his steps- the one thing he was always trained to never do, and. He’s too late. No matter how many arrows he shoots, no matter how loud he calls, he never hears Will call back to him. Will can barely hear him. It’s over. Morgarath is defeated, but Will is gone, and the chance of his survival is so low that Halt is seen as crazy for committing treason for him. And Halt copes with the loss of his bright, kind, intelligent apprentice by making him a new bow. He cries about him, claiming that he was worth the tears. Will, meanwhile, only wants to go home, but because of the warmweed, he doesn’t even remember where home is. He doesn’t remember halt. He doesn’t remember the cabin in the trees. He doesn’t even care if there’s a future left for him. But Halt travels across seas, across countries, through every obstacle imaginable to get to him. And when they reunite, it’s been a year since they saw each other, and Will is just rambling and crying and hugging him and Halt cries too and god they make me sick

[lattereadsra]

Disorganized RA headcannons

During the whole Skandia arc, Cassandra would braid/play with Will’s hair. It was just something to distract them from their situation, but ever since, having his hair done has been very calming for Will.

Will and Gilan’s relationship consists mostly of them insulting each other. If they’re not insulting each other, they’re actually upset with each other.

One of the ways Will would get back at Horace while they were kids was to do the classic “Horace, there’s a spider on your head!” and Horace fell for it every time.

Maddie one way or another heard about that ‘spider’ trick and tried it on him. It still worked.

On that note, Horace was deathly afraid of insects (particularly spiders and bees) as a kid. As an adult, he’s not really scared of them, but he will still avoid them best he can.

At some point during Cassandra’s reign, Halt goes on a week long vacation out of the country. Cassandra had him legally banished during that week as a goof.

Horace is weirdly good at cutting hair. He could be a stylist if he wanted to. No one actually believes he has this ability though unless they see it for themselves.

[lattereadsra]

Low effort shit posting birthed from discord

[lattereadsra]

Headcanon that Abelard is actually majestic af and the entire corps is so damn jealous Halt got such a pretty horse like "what the hell did you sell your soul to Old Bob or something"

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THE ART STYLE HAS BEEN MADE EVIL

IT FEELS…WRONG

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FOR REAL

Find it incredibly funny that in the first two books of Ranger's Apprentice the main antagonist is a guy with a psychic link to a bunch of bear-like monsters and then several books later one of the plot points is "magic isn't real you idiot"