Coffee, Rangers apprentice by Obi the kid (Fanfiction )

Coffee by Obi the Kid

Title: Coffee

Rating: G

Author: Obi the Kid

Summary: Halt and Will run out of coffee.

Disclaimer: These characters and their world belong to John Flanagan. I in no way claim to own them. I'm only playing in the fandom for a short time and appreciate the world and characters that Mr. Flanagan has created with his book series "Ranger's Apprentice."

Coffee

"Halt, where did you put the coffee?"

"There is no coffee."

"What?!"

"We're out. I'm used to keeping my place stocked with coffee for one. With you here this last year, my supply has dwindled. If I'd known you were going to be such a coffee hog, I would not have chosen to take you as my apprentice."

Will showed his mentor a doubting face. It wasn't so difficult for him to figure out when Halt was kidding. At least now it wasn't. When he'd first been taken under Halt's training, he thought everything the man did was of a serious nature. Turned out though, Halt had his teasing side. This however, was no teasing matter. They had run out of coffee.

"Where can we get more?"

"Redmont village. A small store called Kettle...something."

"I'm going into town then."

"No, you have chores to do. This place doesn't clean itself. And with no one needing a Ranger for anything at the moment..." Halt eyed the boy carefully. Not yet sixteen and still very small for his age, he wondered about his coffee problem. He was much too small to be able to down so much of the cherished brown liquid. "The coffee can wait. There will be times when you'll have to go without it, Will. You should train your body to accept that fact. Your mind too. Rely too much on that stuff, it'll kill you."

"Rely? I can go without it. No problem. I was just...thirsty. That's all."

"Water. Tea. Too young for ale. How about a fruit juice?"

Will frowned. "I think I'll just do my chores. I'll clean the horse shelter first. It's awfully smelly out there lately. Smells like a horse or something." He moved towards the door, but was stopped before he got there.

"I think not, young man. I know that pony of yours. He's in on this. I'll turn my back and you and he will be headed off into the village. Smells like a horse. Smells like you're trying to fool your master, is what it sounds like." Halt dropped himself into his favorite chair, and kicked his legs up, crossing at the boots. "The inside of the cottage needs some tidying. You let me know when you've finished. Then we'll ride to Redmont and see about coffee." Leaning his head back, Halt closed his eyes, finding that peaceful place where his mind was quiet but his senses were alert to everything. He'd know if Will tried any other tricks to escape his chores. He did however have a little trouble pushing the coffee craving out of his mind though. It was easy to playfully chastise his apprentice for the 'addiction', but it was another thing to force his own self to not think about the dark, tasty liquid goodness.

"Halt," Will said, standing in front of him sometime later with a rug in his hand. "I've beaten everything I can beat in this place. Anymore and things will start falling apart. Can we please go into town now?"

Halt opened his eyes slowly. Craving gone for the moment, he was in no hurry to humor the young Ranger. "Patience, boy. You're starting to sound as desperate as Crowley. He's got a coffee problem too. He'll never admit it to your face, but watch him sometimes. That jittery look he gets? It's not because he's excited about whatever it is he does...it's because he's in withdraw. He's got it bad."