To be a Commander

Letters

Every month, Crowley would make sure to send a letter to all of his Rangers.

Sometimes, he would get a reply. He grinned as he remembered Leander's exasperated letter detailing all the stupid things his apprentice had done. Sometimes, the letters were brief and short. And sometimes he got no reply at all.

He frowned as he sorted through a stack of papers. He'd been sending letters to Halt every month, but the Hibernian hadn't bothered to respond to any of them. It worried Crowley slightly, but he ignored the feeling. Halt was busy, he reasoned to himself. 

The next Gathering, Crowley was talking with Lewin when he heard someone approaching.

Halt, he guessed. It was a familiar sound, hiss shhhh hiss shhh, hidden by the soft rustling of the leaves and the whistle of the wind.

"Halt!" he said cheerfully, turning to embrace his friend. Said friend rolled his eyes, but gladly accepted Crowley's embrace. Pulling away, Crowley held Halt at arm's length, noting the dark circles under his eyes.

"You really need to rest more." the Ranger Commandant said, eyeing Halt critically. "I regret giving you Coledale Fief."

"I'm fine, Crowley." Halt said, exasperated. "You don't have to try and take care of us all."

Crowley raised a single brow. "And if I didn't, you'd all be dead." he said. 

Halt rolled his eyes, but internally conceded Crowley's point.

"Anyhow." Crowley said, turning back to Lewin, "how's your girlfriend?"

Lewin flushed. "How did you-"

Crowley simply grinned. "You just told me." he said. Lewin sighed.

________________________________________________________________________________

The next Gathering, Crowley managed to corner Halt.

"Halt." the Commandant said, mouth downturned.

Halt raised a single brow. "Crowley." he said.

Crowley sighed. "You're not taking on Coledale, ok?"

Halt stared at Crowley. "Why?" he asked. "If this is about me being tired-"

"First off," Crowley interrupted, "yes, this is about you being tired. Because Redmont is a big fief and very important and you need all your strength for this. Second off, if I'm right, you'll be having an apprentice soon and I doubt you can handle Redmont and Coledale. And last of all, Egon can take Coledale along with Seacliff."

Halt blinked once. "Exactly why do you feel the need to give Egon Coledale?"

Crowley stared at him for a long moment. 

"Halt," he said quietly, "you haven't even responded to any one of my letters. Either some letter-thief is interested in completely useless information or you're just to busy to even look."

Halt blinked once in surprise. "You send letters?" he finally asked.

Crowley took a deep breath. "Do you even realize what day it is today?" he demanded.

Halt stared at Crowley. "No." he said.

Crowley crossed his arms and sighed. "My point exactly, Halt." he said exasperatedly. "It's your birthday."

Halt looked at Crowley in shock. "You know my birthday?"

"And Egon's, Leander's, Lewin's, Jurgen's, Berrigan's, all of the ranger's birthdays." Crowley said irritably. "You've been working so much you haven't even realized it's your birthday. Good grief! So yes, I'm giving Coledale to Egon."

With a half-fond half-exhausted sigh, Crowley walked off to his tent.

From then on, Crowley would always get a response from Halt.