This is my brief take on Rollond during his years growing up and his interactions (or lack thereof) with Hal. Do leave reviews! :)

He had always secretly admired Hal.

He didn't know why either. Perhaps it was because of Hal's personality. He wasn't defeated by the circumstances that he grew up in. Rollond had a vague idea that this half-Araluen, half-Skandian boy would have a whole town's people unconsciously, or maybe consciously, discriminate against him for his roots. But Hal had never showed that he would cave in to the prejudice – even the ones by Tursgurd. Lord, but he'd seen how vicious the latter could be. Growing up, behind Tursgurd's back was a joke about how his insults could send a grown man to tears – but it was a joke that few knew and was shared with whispers.

So for that, he had always admired Hal; for his resilience and his ingenuity. How many boys at their age could boast of building a ship – and a ship with such a unique sail at that?

During brotherband training, whenever he was thinking about tactics, he would find a part of his brain secretly wondering, would Hal do this too? Rollond wanted to be like him; to match up with his secret idol.

There were so many incidents where he found himself admiring Hal and his methods, but mostly just the boy himself. Like how he had successfully constructed his band's house on the first day and slept dry – Rollond hadn't been able to do that, the most he got was the basic structure before the clouds came in and soaked everything. Naturally, it had been a deeply uncomfortable night.

Then, look at the damage he had brought to Tursgurd's nose! It was an impressive feat of strength and timing. Earlier, Rollond had found himself trying to hurry his friends along to rescue Hal as discreetly as possible. They had arrived only just in time for Rollond to take in the situation, have a loss of his usual calmness and charge straight into Tursgurd, preventing him from a final blow that could've caused danger to Hal. Rollond later found himself touching Hal's face, trying to assuage a strange sense of paranoia that Hal might one day be gone from him.

There were so many other events, but one that struck Rollond the most especially was when Lynx had sunk. That Hal would willingly sacrifice a winning lead just to save the Wolves; that wasn't something you see any day. And a prime example would be Tursgurd's heartless determination to sail forward, to clinch an extra 100 points that would probably determine his team's overall rank. He had saved two of his friends from drowning, managed to patch the hole in his ship and how he had tried to defend Tursgurd from Rollond's accusation.

In Rollond's eyes, nobody deserved more admiration and respect than Hal.

When news came that the Andomal had been stolen under the eyes of the Herons, Rollond had choked on his breakfast. It couldn't be! But the truth was the truth, and Rollond instinctively knew that Hal would try something unexpected.

He hadn't been disappointed.

Only two days after the shocking news, word came that Hal and his Herons had fled. Some scorned that they couldn't face the punishment that they deserve, but in his heart, Rollond knew that Hal had gone after the Andomal.

After all, what else could you expect from the ingenious half-Skandian warrior?