Free Ranger's Apprentice 10: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja by John Flanagan

Halt would react to the assumption that he needed Lady Pauline’s permission to join the expedition. The Halt he knew of old would have come up with some pithy reply to the effect that he was quite capable of making his own decisions, thank you very much. He was a little surprised to see Halt smile fondly at Evanlyn’s words.
    ‘Well, that’s a relief,’ Halt said, without the slightest trace of irony.
    Now it was Will’s turn to raise an eyebrow – an expression he had studiously copied from Halt over the years. Things had changed, he thought.
    Alyss cleared her throat nervously and they turned to look at her. There was a bright spot of colour in each of her cheeks.
    ‘I’d like to come too,’ she said. ‘Horace is one of my oldest friends. He helped Will rescue me from Castle Macindaw and I owe him for that. Besides, you’ll need someone who can speak Nihon-Jan.’
    The words were phrased as a suggestion. But her tone left no doubt that they were a firm statement of intent. She wasn’t asking permission. She was telling Evanlyn that she wasn’t letting her go swanning off to the other side of the world with Will. Not this time.
    ‘Yes, Lady Pauline said you’d say that, too,’ Evanlyn said dryly. She wished she could reassure the tall girl that she had no designs on Will, other than friendship. She could see that Alyss could be a valuable friend and ally to her – not just in this case but in the years to come – and she wished there was some way she could break down the barrier between them. Maybe this journey might give her the opportunity.
    Halt thought it might be best if he stepped in. ‘It sounds like a good idea to me,’ he said. ‘Alyss is a handy person to have around.’
    Alyss remained flushed. She had been prepared to argue the point and hadn’t expected Evanlyn to give in so easily. At the back of her mind, a small doubt formed. Maybe she had been judging Evanlyn too harshly. But she forgot the thought as Will asked her a question.
    ‘Do you speak Nihon-Jan? When did you learn?’
    She shrugged, feeling her pulse settle back to normal now that there was no longer any question about her accompanying the party.
    ‘I’ve been studying the language for a year or so,’ she replied. ‘Mostly using George’s translations. I’m not fluent but I can get by.’
    Will raised both eyebrows. ‘Well, you learn a new thing every day,’ he said reflectively.
    ‘In your case, that’s no exaggeration,’ Halt said, completely straight-faced.
    Will pursed his lips in annoyance. He’d have to learn not to give Halt openings like that, he thought. Then another question occurred to his grasshopper mind and he turned to Evanlyn.
    ‘How do we get there? How did you get here, by the way?’
    He heard Halt’s deep sigh and knew he’d done it again.
    ‘Do you ever,’ the older Ranger said with great deliberation, ‘manage to ask just one question at a time? Or does it always have to be multiple choice with you?’
    Will looked at him in surprise. ‘Do I do that?’ he asked. ‘Are you sure?’
    Halt said nothing. He raised his hands in a ‘See what I mean?’ gesture and appealed to the others in the room. Selethen was amused by the byplay between the two. And, since the enjoyment of this sort of obscure, trivial debate was very much part of the Arridi character, he couldn’t help himself. He had to join in.
    ‘Halt,’ he said, ‘I could be wrong, but I think you were just guilty of the same fault. I’m sure I heard you ask two questions just then.’
    ‘Thank you for pointing that out, Lord Selethen,’ Halt said with icy formality.
    Will grinned at the Wakir , who gravely inclined his head to Halt. Then Will remembered that Evanlyn hadn’t answered either of his questions.
    ‘So how did you get here?’ he reminded her.
    ‘I used the Skandian duty ship,’ she told him.
    The treaty between Araluen and Skandia had been in force for some years now and was regularly updated. One of the