Halt Has A Cat And Teaches Will Hibernian
This one’s by @rangerthursday11, @banannawrites, and gerbilfriend on ao3! Halt has a cat!!!
He found it one day, and he didn’t mean to adopt it, really, but it just kept showing up and at some point it just became his. There’s a little cat bed, made out of an old cloak, and a chipped water bowl.
Now, it could be named Pritchard, but also, consider this: the cat is named Cat, short for Caitlyn.
The cat likes to wrap itself around Halt’s neck, sit in his lap, and plop itself down on his paperwork. Halt likes to use this as an excuse- “Sorry my paperwork was late, Cat was sitting on it.” Or even: “I don’t care, Crowley, I am not moving the cat.”
The cat sleeps in his bed with him, and Crowley sees Halt let it bat his oakleaf around. Halt adamantly says that did Not happen, No Sir. The cat has a rivalry with Crowley. Cat brings Halt mice sometimes, and he’s very proud of his little hunter.
Will makes a little double-scabbard collar for it. Halt adores his cat, and anyone who makes fun of him for it can die. He gives Cat a Hibernian nickname, a term of endearment he used to use for Caitlyn.
Will’s absolutely confused by it, and Halt has to teach him the pronunciation of the word.
After that, Will asks to learn more Hibernian, and he expects to be denied, but Halt patiently teaches him. Halt’s honestly touched by the fact that Will asked.
Eventually, Will realizes that the name Halt keeps calling him is ‘son’ in Hibernian. (The first time this happens is after the boar hunt in book one- it’s an accident, and Halt tries to stop it at first, but eventually gives up.)
Will asks someone else who knows Hibernian (Pauline) to teach him the word ‘father.’
He, one day, casually calls Halt that, and Halt responds without really noticing.
Fifteen minutes later, he realizes, spitting out his beloved coffee.
When Halt and Will are feeling especially soft, that’s how they address each other. It becomes a Thing.
Sometimes, Will gets sick, and Halt will sing old Hibernian lullabies to him. Hibernian becomes a comfort language to him- when Will’s upset, Halt will talk softly to him in Hibernian.
Maybe apprentice Will gets hurt sometime. It’s not fatal, but it’s pretty bad.
He’s in the Redmont infirmary and Halt’s sitting next to him while he sleeps, just quietly talking in Hibernian, brushing the hair out of his face and smoothing the pain lines away.
Arald and Rodney see them, get just a tiny glimpse of the trust between them.
Halt and Will speak Hibernian around Redmont, with Will pointing at things and Halt teaching him how to say them. The other Craftmasters are awed, except for Pauline, who probably knows Hibernian. (She definitely knows that Halt and Will refer to each other as father and son.)
Anyways, that’s that on that! A little fliuffy one as an apology for the Jesper angst from last time.
