Y/N snuck her way up to the stables and crouched beneath the window from which the warm light was spilling out of. From inside, she could just barely hear Gilan rustling around, likely grooming Blaze.

Carefully, she rose up and peered into the stable. Sure enough, there was Gilan with one hand on Blaze's neck as the other swept his flank with a brush. But then, suddenly, Gilan froze where he was, sensing something or someone behind him.

The girls stomach dropped. What if he didn't remember her? What then? Would he throw the saxe knife again and this time right at her?

Gilan slowly turned his head until his eyes met the girls. Then, they softened and a smile broke on his face. "Oh, hello."

"Hi." Y/N replied, uncertain.

Gilan turned back to Blaze, trying to suppress a smile. Was she spying on him?

"Halt bore you already?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant. But, he knew all too well his voice had betrayed him. She had been spying on him and that was enough to make Gilan giddy.

"No, he—" Y/N was almost too relieved to speak. So, he did remember her. "He asked me to come check on you."

"Well, that'd be a first." Gilan laughed as he tossed the brush into a bucket and exit Blaze's stall. "Why are you hiding in the window, anyways?"

"Oh—" Y/N felt her cheeks flush and she tried to hide her face. "I didn't want to bother you."

"You're not a bother," Gilan double checked the stall doors of the horses to make sure they were locked and then he exit the stable, closing the door behind him. "It's nice having someone else around. You don't have to try and pretend you're not there, alright?"

"Ok." Y/N wrapped her arms over herself and began walking with Gilan back towards the cottage.

"Good thing you got here when you did, huh?" He held his palm up which then collect the falling snow. "Would've been a cold night."

"Yeah, definitely." She smiled at him and then sped up, hoping to get back to the cottage quicker.

Gilan had a strange sense about this girl—like not everything was what it seemed. She seemed quite confident in her ability to get by on her own and handle whatever task Crowley had given her, but there was an anxious edge to her. Regardless of that fine, uneasy sense, he couldn't help but look at her and yearn for a friend. The way she smiled, how she stomped the snow off of her boots and how she held the door to the cottage open for him. Gilan had Halt, and that should have been enough. But it dawned on him now how desperate he was for a friend of his own age.

But she wouldn't be here for long, and that saddened him quite deeply.

"Ah, Y/N, you're back." Halt spoke up, strangely cheerily, from the table in the cottage.

Gilan watched as the girls face went pale and she bundled the coat in her fists that she'd just taken off. Slowly, she turned towards him with wide eyes.

"I've made my decision." He leaned forwards on the table and clasped his hands together. "We will have you as you train with us as a messenger exclusive to the Ranger Corps."

Y/N loosened the grip on her coat and moved towards Halt.

"I do have one question though," Halt tilt his head. "What is it that made Crowley think you would make a good messenger of all things?"

Halt knew he had to throw Gilan off of the girls scent a little bit. If he didn't really highlight the whole idea that the reason she was sent here was to train as a messenger, then he knew Gilan would come at him with an endless stream of questions.

"Well," Y/N shrugged. "I'll see my job through unless death catches me first."

"Among many other skills I'm sure you'll reveal to us when the time comes." Halt smiled slightly, almost sympathetically. She clearly had not told Gilan about being Dearmad and Halt was not going to force her. Though, he worried that one day, it would lead to a painful moment or conversation between the two of them. Those things though, he had no power to control.

Halt's attention turned to Gilan. "Well, Gilan, how about you put together dinner for our new guest?"

With a slight twitch of a grimace, Gilan obliged. "And what about the bedding, Halt? Where would you like that?" He asked back, a little too confidently.

Halt sensed Gilan's slight aggravation as well as his overreaching confidence. "In your room, I suppose. You'll be alright to sleep in the stables, won't you?"

"Ah—he doesn't have to—" Y/N jumped in and Gilan was thankful for it. "I can stay in the stables."

"No, I insist you stay inside. You've travelled far." Halt raised his hand.

"Well, we can share." Y/N said shyly. She looked over to Gilan. "If that's alright with you? I can also sleep out here, I don't need—"

"No, no," Halt shook his head. "You'll be staying with us and with winter coming, you need a proper place to sleep and get proper rest."

Y/N's demeanour suddenly shift. She eyed Halt, not viciously, but certainly with a kind of annoyance. "You'll have me inside but suggest Gilan sleep out there? What's the difference?" She asked him.

Before Halt could answer she piped up again.

"If me being here is going to cause your own apprentice to be pushed out the door, then I won't be staying." Y/N set her words firm and was almost blind-sighted by the irritation that had overwhelmed her.

"Ah, there it is." Halt chuckled to himself. "I'm glad you'd be willing to leave us in order to keep Gilan out of the stables. There'll be no need for that. I just wanted to see how you'd react."

"Oh," Y/N stifled a laugh. "Sorry."

"We can share." Gilan swallowed hard, suddenly very impressed with the girl. "If you're okay with that, too."

"Yeah, of course." She smiled.

Before Gilan lost his own mind, he forced his focus back onto making dinner while Halt showed Y/N where the bedding was after she insist she set up her own bed and not leave the chore to Gilan.

It was hard for him though, to not chuckle at the sight of a girl putting Halt in his place. Not in a mean way, by any means. But in a light-hearted, joking kind of way that even had Halt suppressing a smile.

Halt was, by all means, impressed with the girls willingness to help out. He was also a little shaken by how she'd put him in his place. It was a good sign in his eyes of a humble person. And that kind of person he was willing to have under his roof.

Once the three had made dinner and Halt had interrogated the girl some more, he sent the two off to bed. Because right now, he had his own thinking to do. He had a Dearmad in his home and he was in charge of keeping her safe.

Y/N snuck beneath the sheets and felt immediate relief. Not just because it was warm and comfortable—but because she had a place to stay with people who could remember her. One of whom was someone her own age. Maybe once, finally, she'd have a friend.

"Hey, uh, Y/N?" Gilan whispered.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Thanks for standing up for me." He said. "Most people would be too scared to talk to Halt like that."

Y/N chuckled a little. "Yeah, well, what was he gonna do? Tell me to leave?" She asked.

Gilan laughed softly along with her. "He might have."

"Worth the risk." She admit.

At those words, Gilan felt the heat rising in his cheeks and he clenched his fists with an odd mix of excitement and anxiety as his chest tightened. It was as though he was a child, too excited for what might happen tomorrow to even consider sleep.

"So..." Gilan once again whispered. "Is there anything else you can tell me? About you?"

Y/N hesitated. What was the point of telling Gilan anything if in the morning he didn't even remember her? Besides, was he even someone she should tell anything to? She didn't even know if she could fully trust him yet.

"Maybe...maybe tomorrow." Y/N tried to make it sound kind. "I'm tired."

"Oh yeah, that's okay!" Gilan said it apologetically. "Have a good sleep, Y/N."

The sound of her own name coming from someone else was so incredibly foreign. "You too." She whispered back.