A nice day for healing?

[Amadine]

Fetching a basket of food from the kitchens for her lunch Amadine made her way out to the Training Yards. Today was the first day of her penance set by Camigwen Sedai of the Yellow Ajah. But, it was a penance that Ama did not mind being subjected to.

 

Ama remembered that day from a week ago when she had gone too far and asked the Yellow Sister to teach her, when she was only supposed to be attending and running errands for Camigwen Sedai. The Yellow had told her she must serve a penance in the form of spending time at the Training Yards healing the scrapes and bruises that were plentiful for the new recruits.

 

As she left the Tower, Ama paused for a moment to bask in the warm sunlight. It always felt cool inside the Tower. The sun burned bright today, casting shadows from the trees across the path. Continuing along the path Amadine could hear the ringing of swords, the sharp clacks of bundled lathes and the dull thwacks of quarterstaffs meeting each other in training spars.

 

The Training Yards came into view as she rounded a corner in the path. She could see several pairs of trainees sparring under the watchful eyes of Warders. On the far side she could see the barracks in which the trainees and the Tower Guards lived. She looked about, trying to ascertain who was in charge here today. Spying a likely candidate Amadine continued along the path that led around the outside of the fenced yards.

 

Approaching the tall rugged looking man, Amadine told him she was here to attend to the Healing needs of the trainees and he directed her to sit on a low bench under an awning in front of what appeared to be a weapons room. She took a seat on the hard wooden bench and watched the trainees, wincing every time the weapons being wielded connected with flesh rather than the weapon the other man held.

 

She did not have to wait long before one of the trainees was injured badly enough to require her Healing, Amadine watched as the Warder supervising the young man and his sparring partner directed the Trainee towards her with a pointed finger. The trainee began trudging across the sparring yard towards her; his face was slightly twisted in a mask of pain.

 

Amadine al'Varine

Accepted

 

 

[Visar Falmaien]

The sun burned bright today, causing sweat to pour down Torvus's shirt in furrows as he clumsily defended himself with sword and buckler. He had been here for well over a year now, and his eighteenth name day had passed him by only a couple weeks ago. Yet still he felt that he had only just started. How come he seemed so far behind everyone else who had trained here for as long and as hard as he had?

 

Thoughts of his progress distracted Torvus from the matter at hand, and he flinched at his opponent's next strike coming in at ear level, bringing buckler and sword up and to the side to block with a resounding thud which echoed across the yard a bit more so that most lathes did. Only he failed to counter, and his sparring partner easily struck around the buckler to hit him hard in the thigh.

 

Wincing and grunting from an all too familiar bruising sensation, Torvus hopped on his leg a bit and reset for the next match.

 

"You're defending too much again, Torvus. If you don't present a threat with your defense then even a sloppy swordsman will hack you to pieces. Keep that flaming point on line!" Their overseer patronized him with little sympathy. Torvus listened to his advice but knew that he had already heard it dozens of times. His buckler was not a shield to hide behind. It was a mobile defense, to cover the line not to just sit there, and could be used as an offensive weapon at times.

 

His opponent flickered forward with his sword, but it was traveling almost where it had been last time, in order to provoke Torvus's defense to strike elsewhere. He didn't fall for it this time, keeping his buckler up just enough to block the strike, and lunging forward with a thrust. Yet his counter came too late and expected, and his partner dodged and hit him in the left wrist by his sword, almost making Torvus drop it.

 

"Don't just leave your arms out there to get hit! What are you thinking?" their instructor shouted at him, which just made Torvus move and more aggravated. They reset again, and this time Torvus wasted no time in launching his own brash offensive. His first cut to the head was deflected, but he closed the gap and punched forward with the buckler to try to block off the other guy's sword so he could free his own. As he charged forward, bringing his sword arm up and around for another cut, he unexpectedly collided with his partner, and in the ensuing panicked grappling, Torvus found himself quickly on the ground as his heavier opponent fell right on top of him.

 

His eyes bulged in panic as the wind was momentarily knocked out of him. It seemed like an hour (even though it was really just a few seconds) before he could find his voice again, stuck in a submission hold by his partner who was considered a fine wrestler.

 

"Gerroff me you bloody oaf!" he cursed as their instructor finally reached them to peel the other trainee away. Torvus tried to stand, and cursed as his right foot wobbled with a sharp pain lancing from his ankle. His instructor looked at it perfunctorily, and muttered,

"probably sprained..."

 

He spoke to Torvus with a more stern voice.

"That was some shoddy swordwork, there, young lad. You should know better than to go straight in with your build. You go over to that Accepted there, who's here to heal your little mistake, so you be fit to go again in a short time. Take a break, and come right back. We'll keep working on those bloody bad habits of yours till they're out of your system."

 

"Yes, Gaidin." Torvus muttered, too pained to put up any argument with that. He reluctantly limped over to the Accepted who had been sitting at a bench, every step bringing a new and deeper grimace to his face. He muttered,

"It's my ankle. Probably sprained," he added unnecessarily.

 

-Torvus Arathel

Edited September 24, 2010 by Visar Falmaien

[Amadine]

Amadine watched the Trainee limping towards her grimacing in pain. He was tall, well tall compared to her own 5'3" anyway. Slim built, he had his longish hair tied back and a jagged scar ran across his right cheek. As he approached Ama stood up from the bench to make room for him to sit, as he reached her, he looked at Amadine and spoke in a slightly gruff voice, laced with pain, "It's my ankle. Probably sprained."

 

Amadine nodded, "I see, here," she said taking his arm, "sit down so i may look at it."

 

The young man pulled his arm free and took a seat on the bench. He would not look at her as he sat, so she stepped in front of him and said "My name is Amadine. My friend's call me Ama. First i am going to use the One Power to Delve you, that is to basically check your health. You may feel a shiver as i do this, is that okay with you?"

 

Amadine waited for the young man to nod glumly before she gently took his head in her hands. Amadine wove the complex weave of Spirit and laid into over the trainee's head. She felt him shiver under her hands as the weave passed through his body.

 

She could feel the twist of the scar on his face, took old to be Healed with the One Power now. Then she felt the injury in his wrist, from some sort of crushing she thought. His right leg had been fractured and some stage and never set properly. She frowned and wondered what this man had been through to cause such horrific injuries. Then the weave passed through the fresh injury to his right ankle. The tendons felt stretched and torn.

 

Amadine nodded to herself, released his head and said aloud, "Definitely a strain, you have damaged the tendons."

 

For the first time the trainee looked up at her, "Can you fix it?"

 

Amadine nodded and replied "I can, you may feel like you have been doused in cold water for a moment though."

 

Taking his silence for assent Amadine again took his head in her hands and wove the threads of spirit together and laid them across the boy's ankle. She felt the tendons knit back together and as she watched his ankle straightened out and the pained grimace disappeared from his face.

 

"There you go, good as new." she smiled, "You might need to sit here for a few minutes though, before you continue training. The Healing can be disconcerting for some."

 

She sat on the bench alongside him and waited to see if he would speak.

 

Amadine al'Varine

Accepted

[Visar Falmaien]

Torvus sat down, still unsettled at the idea of being Healed, and not at all trusting of this strangely friendly Accepted. She took his arm as if she knew him, and he pulled it away. Not his right arm! Not the arm that was still partially crippled. The brace he used to keep his grip on a buckler itched from his sweat and where the edges dug into his skin. He sat down, facing away from her, watching the others practicing, trying to figure out what he was missing which made it seem like he was lagging behind. He told himself it was the pain that made him rude to the Accepted, and not his normally amicable manners. Today just wasn't his day.

 

"My name is Amadine. My friend's call me Ama. First i am going to use the One Power to Delve you, that is to basically check your health. You may feel a shiver as i do this, is that okay with you?"

 

Torvus nodded, still staring off at the others, lost in thought. In his distracted state of mind he didn't even think to give his own name back.

 

Torvus almost jumped in his seat from the strange sensation of her using the One Power on him. She must be trying to figure out exactly what was wrong, which probably meant she knew about his old injuries.

 

"Definitely a strain, you have damaged the tendons."

 

Torvus looked at her fixedly for the first time. He needed to be able to train again; however painful the process was it was as if he was driven to go through it anyway. He wondered if she was qualified to do this sort of Healing.

 

"Can you fix it?" he asked bluntly. If she couldn't he could always limp over to the infirmary where there might be an Aes Sedai on duty.

 

"I can, you may feel like you have been doused in cold water for a moment though."

 

Torvus stared off again, knowing the drill enough to not care to give the warning any response. The surge of ice rushing through him as she used the One Power on him still took him by surprise, even though this was by far not the first time someone had Healed him. And he had had ample warning this time. Could one ever truly prepare for that strange, overwhelmingly chilly sensation? Still, while it was uncomfortable, his pain disappeared, well worth the trouble. One of the reasons why the Warders were supposed to be such amazing warriors is that they could train at an intensity far beyond more cautious men without the benefit of Sisters using the One Power to Heal them if the injury was serious enough. That didn't mean he was anywhere near ready to be a Warder yet, though.

 

"There you go, good as new. You might need to sit here for a few minutes though, before you continue training. The Healing can be disconcerting for some."

 

Despite not feeling at all in the mood for a conversation with feminine company, Torvus found himself relaxing on his seat, his weariness taking some of the edge off his worried mind, almost as if he had been given good liquor to drink. It had been so long since he had been able to find that. Once the Warders found out about his inclination towards over drinking, they had forbidden him to go into town to buy any, and they had been surprisingly good at catching him when he tried to have it smuggled in. Still, it was better to sit here and enjoy his short break than to contemplate on something he could not have at the moment.

 

He remembered suddenly that he was in the presence of a woman kind and skilled enough to Heal his ankle, and that he had not even thanked her or given her his name. His manners must indeed have been affected for him to be so rude! He blamed the Warders in his head. If they let him drink, he would feel better about himself more often.

 

"It's fine. I've had my fair share of injuries since coming here." He didn't mention the injury which ultimately entangled him forever with the White Tower. Or the thousands of times he worked it through his mind where somehow he had not fallen from his horse that day, or had not landed just the way he did so the other horses didn't trample him.

 

"Thank you, Amadine." he added softly, closing his eyes and enjoying the moment. It was a warm day, but it was almost comfortable here in the shade, and a little breeze had picked up. Her smile and open friendliness toward someone she did not know baffled him. Made him curious. How could someone be so trusting? Well, he needed to fix one thing, at least.

 

"My name is Torvus. Torvus Arathel of House Schaim." The words marking him as nobility, even if not a very important family, seemed to echo without luster in the warm, summer air. Was he really still of House Schaim? Or had he given that up now for...for whatever he was here for? It didn't matter, he hoped. His House had always been a part of his name, so he didn't see why he had to abandon it even if he had no title or land by it. She sat next to him, seeming to expect something more than just his name, and he found himself staggering forward without a clue what to say.

 

"How, um..." Why couldn't he think? Had she somehow used the One Power to actually make him drunk? Could they do that? "How did you come here to the Tower, Amadine? Why do you study here?"

 

--Torvus Arathel

Edited September 26, 2010 by Visar Falmaien

[Amadine]

He seemed uncomfortable to have her sitting alongside him, Amadine was not sure if it was the pain that caused his rudeness, or perhaps he was not trusting of strangers? Or maybe, the effects of the Healing. In any case Amadine had been sent here for the duration of the afternoon so she would remain. Presently the young man would be able to resume training anyway.

 

"It's fine. I've had my fair share of injuries since coming here." Amadine was slightly surprised that he had spoken, it had seemed that he would not say a word. "Thank you, Amadine."

 

She smiled, not so rude after all. "You're welcome."

 

"My name is Torvus. Torvus Arathel of House Schaim."

 

He seemed to relax a little, well enough to sit back and enjoy the warmth of the afternoon. Amadine was content to allow him to sit silently, she had never felt the need to fill gap of conversation just for the sake of talking. He glanced at her from out of the corner of his eye and seemed to struggle with himself before he spoke again,

 

"How um..." he started again "How did you come here to the Tower, Amadine? Why do you study here?"

 

"Oh let's see," she began, "It was years ago now. When i was fourteen my employer was very ill, close to death even and by chance at the Healer's shop I encountered Camigwen Sedai of the Yellow Ajah. She Healed my mistress and that sparked my interest in Healing. Some months later it was revealed that my employer was with child after twenty years of barreness and that cemented my wish to heal. I convinced my parents to allow me to come to Tar Valon to be tested, and then my brother escorted me from Caemlyn."

 

Amadine wanted to ask Torvus about his own journey to the Tower, but the boy seemed so withdrawn into himself that she dared not lest he think she was prying. So, she sat back against the wall and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the late summer sunshine.

 

Amadine al'Varine

Accepted

[Visar Falmaien]

"It was years ago now. When i was fourteen my employer was very ill, close to death even and by chance at the Healer's shop I encountered Camigwen Sedai of the Yellow Ajah. She Healed my mistress and that sparked my interest in Healing. Some months later it was revealed that my employer was with child after twenty years of barreness and that cemented my wish to heal. I convinced my parents to allow me to come to Tar Valon to be tested, and then my brother escorted me from Caemlyn."

 

Torvus nodded, taking in her story and processing it. So she was here because someone dear to her, however dear a mere employer could be to a servant, was Healed by the power of the Aes Sedai. Why did she care about her employer in the first place? No doubt it was another noblewoman who thought a little too highly of herself. Or perhaps not, judging from Amadine's obvious respect for such a momentous healing.

 

His own reasons, he knew but did not want to admit, seemed far more selfish and self serving. True, he did have a debt to Kabria Sedai for making him partially whole again. But why he had come to the Tower... He had always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, ever the mighty warrior, the cunning war leader. The Aes Sedai's Healing had finally made that possible, and yet Torvus did not truly desire a life of humble servitude by being a servant for the Tower. He saw honor and prestige for himself, perhaps as one of the Tower's captains, and perhaps even money in the venture. After all, The Tower was one of the wealthiest organizations in the world, surely possessing more resources and being more generous in payment than your average royal house.

 

But more than money or honor, the White Tower possessed the Library, and other sources of knowledge. Torvus had always possessed a keen desire for knowing everything that could possibly be known by a man. His hunger for knowledge, combined with some sense of feeling in debt to the Aes Sedai, were what really convinced him to make the journey here. Almost as if he could somehow contribute to the Aes Sedai's learning himself. It did not occur to him that the thought of matching wits with an Aes Sedai was foolhardy arrogance. No, it was a challenge that all scholars should aspire to even if they could never match the amount of information Aes Sedai could learn in their elongated lifespans.

 

"I came to the White Tower originally just to visit the library." he said half-serious to Amadine, wondering how she would react to that. "And somehow I've joined the trainees in the process." How did that happen? He asked himself, not entirely sure he remembered clearly. Oh yes... a wager. And drinking. The strangest things could happen to you while under the influence, and Adella's wager that he become Warder trained never truly made sense to him. But after all, they were both drunk so he could hardly blame her. And he would become warder trained, he would show her! There was nothing he could not do if he put his mind to it, even with his handicap.

 

Standing and stretching slightly, Torvus gave Amadine a knowing grin, feeling some of his youthful energy returning to him.

"I should probably return for more bruises and fun. I might have to come here more than once a day if I keep this up." Giving her a wink, Torvus turned back to his daily beating, not truly looking forward to it. He hesitated joining the sparring for a few moments.

 

--Torvus Arathel

Edited September 26, 2010 by Visar Falmaien

[Amadine]

Torvus appeared... confused by her answer. Ama wondered what it was about her inspiration to join the White Tower that confused him. Amadine wondered if he was so standoffish with all strangers he met, perhaps he had little trust left within him? It was almost as if he thought she was odd, for speaking to him. She wondered what it was in this boy's past that had hurt him so much that he could no longer trust in the kindness of strangers, it was like he expected her to want something in return.

 

"I came to the White Tower originally just to visit the library." Amadine nodded, lots of nobleborn travellers came to visit the library, Light knew she had had to escort enough of them to meet Katriana Sedai, the Brown Sister who was currently the Head Librarian. She saw from the corner of her eye a slight twist to the half-smile Torvus wore, was he mocking her somehow? "And somehow I've joined the trainees in the process."

 

Torvus stood and stretched in the afternoon light, "I should probably return for more bruises and fun. I might have to come here more than once a day if i keep this up."

 

As he turned to go he winked at her. Amadine's forehead furrowed in a frown as she watched his retreating back. He appeared confused by her and untrusting, he mocked her and then he winked at her? Giving a slight shake of her head Amadine wondered to herself that she even cared what this boy thought.

 

She remained there on the bench watching the sparring, it was like they were dancing almost, except when the lathes connected with flesh she thought with a grimace as she heard a solid thwack from one of the sparring pairs. Amadine wondered what the rest of the afternoon could bring, surely there was only an hour or so of light left in the day, but she had been told to remain until the dinner bell rang and so remain she would.

 

Amadine al'Varine

Accepted