Alyss' Return: She Lives

Chapter Eight: Alyss and Will

Will strummed the last cord from Jenny On the Mountain and Alyss smiled. Will was as good on the mandola as when she left. "You're very good." She said.

"Oh, I'm not that good." Will replied. He set his mandola onto the floor of the veranda as he spoke.

"Oh, yes you are." Alyss said. Will smiled and her heart melted. If only I could tell him that it's really me. She thought.

Will looked into her eyes and his heart melted. He shook his head. "If Halt says I'm not that good, I'm not." He said.

He felt her hand on his and looked back at her. "Did you ever stop and wonder if Ranger Halt was joking?" She asked. "Because I'm not joking when I say that you're really good at playing."

"No, I didn't wonder if Halt was joking. But I'm pretty sure he isn't." He said.

"I suggest that you two quit talking about me." Said another voice.

The two looked in the direction of the voice and found Halt, who was raising an eyebrow at them both. "You two enjoy gossip behind my back?" He asked. Alyss shook her head. "No, sir. I was telling Ranger Will that he was really good and he denied it because you make fun of his talent." She said with a smile, which Halt found eerie.

Alyss stood and Will, all too hastily, did the same. "I'd better get back to Jenny's home. She's making a savory beef stew with her finest bread with a desert worth stuffing my mouth for." She said. Her description of the meal sent both Will and Halt's mouths watering. She smiled innocently as if she didn't know that she'd done that.

"I'll walk with you there." Said Will. Alyss smiled. "I don't think that would be necessary, Ranger Will. If people see you and me together, they would think we're lovers." She said.

I actually wouldn't mind that. He thought. "But I insist. You've kept me company for the past few hours. Why not let me accompany you home?" He said.

Alyss pretending to think. She had known that he would protest her going home alone. Typical Will. She thought. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess I could use the company." She said. Will smiled brightly and she returned the smile.

Will walked eagerly down the steps and to her side. Alyss turned to the direction of where she came and began walking away, with Will at her side, talking with her and making her laugh.

Halt raised an eyebrow as Maddie came out, a smile plastered on her face. "Will's in loooove." She said, lengthening the word to give it an important air. Halt grinned at her. "You think I haven't noticed that when he insisted that he walk her home?" He asked. Maddie's smile grew wider. "Who knows? One might miss something they were looking for all along." She replied.

"Will told me before Catherine came to Redmont that he was in love. You didn't need to repeat that fact."He told her. Maddie just shrugged. "I tried. But even still, I'm surprised that he's moved on from Alyss as fast as to just meeting a girl. " She said.

Halt was grinning to her statement when he noticed something in Catherine's hair. He didn't want to make it seem important let alone known, so he told Maddie he would give Abelard a good brushing down and keep him company for a bit. She merely shrugged it off and went back inside.

Halt snaked forward, to where he was fifteen meters behind the two and saw what it was. His eyes widened and his hope rose for Will. He now knew that Catherine wasn't just some girl who happened to be at Redmont after Will told Halt of his desperate love for her. She wasn't just a beauty with the grace that no one else had. He now knew that Catherine, the gorgeous Black-haired girl who came to Redmont looking for a place to call home, wasn't Catherine at all.

She wasn't just the new beauty of Redmont. She wasn't who she said she was when she met Will in the Baron's office in Anselm. She simply wasn't Catherine Altright.

She was the one who was said to have died in the very Fief that Will had met her alternate identity in. The one who was Will's whole universe. The courageous girl who fought the snow tiger with Princess Cassandra in Nihon-Ja, the one who accompanied the Princess Regent to guide the Hasanu army to help Lord Shigeru in said country. The lovely Courier, tutored by Redmont's Lady Pauline...

Alyss Treaty.

A/N: Hey Guys! MWAHAHAHA! How'd you guys like the chapter? The cliffhanger? Anyway, if you want to know, yes I did this on purpose. Yell at me all you want, it won't change the fact that Halt found out Catherine's true Identity. I hope you all liked this chapter, despite it having a cliffhanger. But, admit it, we all love cliffhangers. Keeps you on your toes.
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-Nicole