Ranger's Apprentice: The Tantalizing Tales

Last Christmas... I gave you my heart

Will smiled. Maddie had been bouncing up and down the cabin for hours on end, driving him crazy.

"Maddie, I'm sure we'll all fit. We've done it before!" he said, his voice strict but with just enough softness to keep the mood lightened. Maddie rearranged a few candles on the table and replied: "I know, I just want everything to be perfect!"

Her mentor laughed. "I can understand that, but if I may make a suggestion..." She looked at him, her green eyes big and full of excitement. "Maybe it's a good idea to finish your dish, rather than keeping to rearrange everything."

"Sure thing Will!" She ran to the kitchen, turned towards her pottage and grabbed some herbs.

"Woah, Maddie, that's the rosemary, not the mint." Will's previously amused tone sounded slightly more warning this time. Madelyn looked at him, sparkles in her eyes despite the almost fatal mistake that she had been about to make.

"Sorry, Will! I guess I mixed up the herbs - glad to know you have my back though!"

Will pulled the herbs out of her hand. "Careful, 'Lyss, you'll poison us all if you don't watch out! That's the rosemary, and I asked you to get the mint." Alyss laughed. "You saved the evening, Will Treaty!"

Will shook his head, trying to get the picture of Alyss making the same mistake as Maddie just did out of his head. He grinned. "It's alright, we wouldn't want to poison your parents the first time you cooked for them, would we?" Maddie shrugged and changed her choice of herbs.

"I guess not. Although it would make quite a headline, wouldn't it?" She gestured the outline of a possible report. "'Teenage girl, crown princess and first female Ranger, apprenticed under legend Will Treaty, poisons her parents the Royal Couple on Christmas Eve.' I don't know, I find it quite catchy. You?"

Will shook his head once again and laughed. "I'm not so sure the reports would be worth the deed. Here, have some coffee. I won't get it served during dinner, it doesn't fit the easy etiquettes we agreed on years ago."

A few hours later, a small group of people had gathered inside of the small cabin. Halt, Pauline, Horace, Cassandra, Gilan, Jenny, Maddie, and, of course, Will, had all taken a seat at the set of tables in the middle of the main room. Dishes made by various individuals had been stalled out over the tables, candles lit up the room and stars made a great painting if you cared to look through the windows. Horace, for one, did not. The big knight was way too focused on the food, this being an incredible pottage at the moment.

"This is delicious!" He said, immediately consuming another spoon of it.
"I made it!" Maddie beamed. Will shook his head laughingly and looked down at his plate. Only to be addressed by Jenny, a respectful three seconds later.

"Bream and eel pasties! Will, you didn't make those in ages! In fact, if I recall correctly, last time you made it..."
"... It was Alyss's last Christmas," Will finished the sentence. "I know. They were her favourite. I couldn't stand them for months." He looked around the table, which had fallen still when the sensitive topic had been brought up.

"What? I'm fine." He grinned, and put another bite of such a pastry in his mouth.

She laid her hand on his. "It's delicious, Will."

Another bite.

"And, how is your first Christmas as a married couple?"

He took a sip of his wine.

"Don't be silly, we hosted this dinner together so I'm helping with the dishes. No argument there!"

Sending Maddie to bed and doing the dishes in the darkness of the night.

"Let's go to bed, shall we? It's been a busy night and it's getting late."

Quietly walking towards his room, a candle in his hand.

"Christmas with you is even better than before."

Changing into his night clothes.

"Will Treaty, there's only one thing I love more than Christmas and that's you."

A key, big and heavy and simple looking. Will had stumbled across it when he had been cleaning up. It didn't look familiar the first time he had glanced at it but now, in the light of the candle, accompanied by that of the moon and the stars, the key was a more pressing memory than any of the previous ones.

"Here, I got you something."

"What is it?" Will asked as he started to unwrap the small package. Alyss smiled softly and waited until he had opened it.

"It's a key. It's a symbol of freedom, of wealth, of knowledge; of security, safety, understanding and power. I know it probably seems cliche, but I know things can be rough sometimes and I hoped this key would, in some way, help you cope if I can't." Will looked up at his wife.

"It's amazing," he said. "Really, Alyss, I love it." He laid the key on the nightstand next to his bed and opened one of the drawers.

"Now that you've mentioned it," he turned around, an equally small package in his own hands, "I got you something, too."

He waited until she had opened it and revealed a bronze heart hanging on a necklace.

"It's not just a necklace. It looks fragile, but it's actually very strong. If you open it correctly," he showed her how to do so, by pressing on one of the tiny diamonds until another came up, pulling that one and with that cutting the heart in half, "you get a tiny space which allows you to hide small things. This way you can smuggle little things past people if needed. It may come in handy." Alyss held the heart in her hands admirably.

"It's beautiful. I'll take it to Celtica next month, it fits perfectly to my dresses and I think this might be helpful. Thank you, Will."

Will sunk back into the pillows on his bed and closed his eyes. He let the darkness invade, let the silence overrule all sounds.

Where are you, Alyss? Where have you been? I gave you a heart, last Christmas. I gave you my heart, the only time I ever gave away my heart it was to you, and now you're gone and I'm alone. I don't want to be alone. I want to be with you.

Pauline said the pain would fade. They all said it would be better after some time. But now I'm here, and you're there, and we're celebrating Christmas and all I can think about is you. You loved Christmas, remember? You loved the atmosphere, the people, the food. You loved it all. And I loved you.

The sleep wouldn't come. The smell of the pastries still lingered in the corners of the cabin and the heavy key lay cold in his hand. An empty space next to him, an empty space in the drawers... and an empty space in his chest.

I still do.