Meaning of Love Attn Demus

[WhiteWolf]

Yrean was sat at what had become his usual table in the Silver Bow, enjoying his evening meal and his first tankard of Dark since he had arrived in Fairhaven. He had persuaded the owner of the Silver Bow to order a couple of barrels of his favourite brew. Yrean had spent some time talking with Ansama Checero, or An as he had now come to call her, and after a frosty start, they were developing a relationship that was almost bordering on friendship.  “I be telling you An, if a man no like a tankard of Dark, he no like life.”

 

Yrean was in a good mood and much more relaxed now than when he first had come to Fairhaven, although he still felt like he was being watched from time to time. To celebrate the arrival of the barrels of Dark, Yrean, at Cari’s urging had arranged to meet Demus in the Silver Bow. Yrean could not say he was comfortable around Demus, not because of anything Demus had done or said, to be honest Yrean did not know what to feel about the man. After some prompting Cari had admitted that Demus was very important to her, that he shared her bed on a regular basis. This was not really a shock to Yrean as he had seen how easy and comfortable she was around Demus, if anything it had been more a shock to Cari that Yrean had picked up on her and Demus so quickly.

 

With all that in mind Yrean had decided to do his best to forge at least a working relationship with Demus, and if possible a friendship. How they would work that around their relationship with Cari was still to be seen, but Yrean hoped they could at least be polite to each other, whether Cari was around or not.

 

Draining the tankard, Yrean smacked his lips in an exaggerated manner and made his way to the bar for a refill. “My you are in a good mood this night, what has brought this on Yrean?” Mistress Ansama smiled at Yrean’s obvious good mood and taking the tankard from him quickly refilled it. “I be thinking a man be making a good living here if he be knowing the right trade. You be thinking I be fitting in here?”

 

Mistress Ansama did not answer right away; she served several customers before getting back to Yrean. “What do you have in mind Yrean, there is not a lot we need in Fairhaven.”

 

“Where I be from I be running a weapons store, I have contacts in my home city who be supplying me. I be thinking something like that could be working here.” Just then a commotion arose at one of the tables and Mistress Ansama left Yrean to try and find out what was causing the problem. Returning to his seat at this table, Yrean was just beginning to wonder if something had happened to delay Demus when the door open and he walked into the Silver Bow. Yrean called out to Demus and stood as he approached the table. Yrean offered his hand to Demus and was pleased to see the man had a firm grip. Signaling to the chair opposite him, Yrean sat back down and was just about to speak when one of the serving girls brought over a tankard and placed it in front of Demus. “I be taking the liberty of ordering a tankard of Dark for you, it be something of a favorite of mine and I be hoping you be liking it?”

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

Ranger and Shop keeper

 

[TaeaDawn]

The plan had been working quite well, as far as Demus knew it.  The plan had managed to keep himself in one piece and without too much issue so far.  The plan, as all plans did once the planning was done, had now been thrown out the window.  Along with all common sense his dear departed Mother had ever taught him, Demus added to this own thoughts.  The plan had been to lay low and keep as much distance as he could while still keeping an eye on Cari's friend.  Keeping an eye on Yrean hadn't been hard since the man didn't seem to be trying to hide his comings and goings.  It was only a Ranch and a small town after all and the ins and outs of each other's lives were all too often the subject of fireside conversation.  The plan was simple and elegant...

 

and totally wrecked because of the good intentions of the people he cared for.  One dinner at the house because of Kate's insistence and now he found himself arriving at the Silver Bow because of Cari.  He took a last second to brush the dust from his clothes after the short ride from the Ranch and entered the Bow.  It was easy enough to find the other man and he was rather pleasantly surprised at the friendly greeting from the other man.  There had never been any animosity between them so far and as much as he hoped it continued that way, he didn't know enough about the man before him to say if he would be content to be just one of the men in Cari's bed. 

 

He took a seat across from Yrean and gave him a smile for the ale.  He'd learned to drink just about anything in his travels, trying to fit in as he did his work, but this at least he liked.  Not his favorite, but something very drinkable.  "Thank you." he said with a nod for the tankard.  He took a stiff drink to fortify himself then set it back on the table.  "So how are you enjoying your stay here?" Demus asked.  "It's not a big city or anything, but we do have a good time."

 

Demus Nolorean 

[WhiteWolf]

Yrean’s laughter was heartfelt and honest. “I be no great lover of cities. Being born in a city be no meaning I love them. I be more at home out here than I will ever be in a city. There be no stink out here like there be in a city and there be room to breathe. It be no fun surrounded all the time by people you be no knowing.” Yrean reached for his tankard and took a healthy sip, realising that he had just said more in one sentence to Demus than all the other time he had been here. Yrean however, had made the decision to stay in Fairhaven and so he could no longer afford to treat anyone like strangers, it would do no good and was not the best way to make friends.

 

“I be thinking that this be the sort of place I could be happy in. I no be the type to want a family, but to be knowing Cari is near and that she be happy be something that be brining me pleasure. I be thinking you be of the same mind on this?”

 

Yrean did not know how to mention what he wanted to, Demus seemed a good sort, but Yrean knew about Cari’s interests when it came to bedroom activities and he assumed so did Demus. If that was true, as Yrean assumed, then Demus must also know about the scars, the new scars that covered certain areas of Cari’s body. If he did know about them, which Yrean thought he obviously did, then Yrean had begun to wonder if he knew who had done that to Cari. Yrean had told Cari that if he found out who had treated her like that he would kill them, and now he was thinking he was one step closer to finding out and for her sake he hoped that Demus was not the one. He had not expected to like anyone who shared Cari’s bed, but there was something about Demus that Yrean thought he could like, that invited friendship. Only time would tell, and this conversation was the first step along that path.

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

Ranger and Shop keeper

 

OOC Taea, this is going to be a bit of a weird rp seeing as we are not on at the same time……there are questions that only Demus can answer and I do not want to try and second guess what you would write…..oh well.

 

[TaeaDawn]

Demus listened to the other man and was surprised to hear that Yrean was thinking about staying where he was.  Not necessarily surprised that he would stay, but surprised that he was confiding in him.  It was going to be one of the oddest evenings of his life, he decided. 

 

He smiled at Yrean though.  Light, one of the other oddest events of his life had been Cari plunking down on his lap and treating him like a long lost lover when he had been in trouble.  That had turned out to be a rather good day, no matter how odd.  So he was willing to go with odd.  So long as odd didn't turn into bad, he was just fine.  "I never though to be the family type myself.  I've been on the move for a few years and didn't think i'd be settling down to any one place anytime soon, but then Cari came along.  I told you before she got me out of a jam and I stuck around to lend a hand and repay her a bit.  I never seem to get out of debt though and she and the kids seem to grow on a man." 

 

He shrugged.  "As long as they're safe, i'm a happy man.  I can understand that feeling."  And he believed it of the other man which was probably even odder than the rest.  He hated to admit it, but he thought Yrean was probably one of those good guys who always did the right thing and was honest and all that.  One of those people his father and the other White Cloaks had talked about.  he hoped he was wrong.  Hoped the man had a little darkness in him.  It would make him safer here among the others.  "And there is plenty of room in Fairhaven for more people.  Lots of space still, no one in your breathing room.  One of the things I like about the Ranch besides Cari and the good cooks." He said with a laugh.  "You go your way and people tend to go theirs.  But we all look out for one another.  I expect you've seen enough of that already."

 

Demus

((going on vacation tomorrow... but when I get back I might be able to get online earlier and we can bang this out on MSN if you want :P))

[WhiteWolf]

      Yrean listened to Demus as he spoke, al the while gauging the man’s words and wondering what it was about him that gave Yrean a comfortable feeling?

 

        It be strange to be thinking he no be a potential enemy. He no be a threat, yet he be competing with me. How be I reconciling this? Be it that I be truly no minding Cari sleeps with this man? Or be I so en-armoured of her that I be willing to put up with this?

 

          Yrean could not believe that he was truly contemplating a friendship with the person he was sharing his one true love with. He now knew that was what Cari was, and no matter that she might not return that feeling, he did know that in part she loved him, just not in the way he loved her. Deep thoughts such as these were not something that Yrean was accustomed to, he was more at home training with his weapons or relaxing with his friends, such as they were. Introspective thought were almost alien to him and yet since he and Cari had left Tar Valon and gone to Illian introspection was something that he seemed to do a lot of. Obviously her influence on him was more profound than he had realised, whether this was for the good he was not sure, but for now he was content to enjoy the journey.

 

        “It be strange to be having people greet me in the morning who be no wanting something from me. Back in the city there be too many people who be wanting to know me for only what they be standing to gain. I no be liking people like that and be hoping I be no meeting more.”

 

        Yrean drained his tankard and then excused himself and went to the bar and ordered two more tankards before returning to the table. “I no having eaten, be you hungry to? I be knowing the food here be excellent and I be thinking a meal be a civilised thing to be doing.” Yrean could not help but smile at the look on Demus’s face at this and chalked it up to totally feeling out of his depth here. Obviously Yrean had come to terms with Demus and Cari far quicker than Demus had come to terms with Yrean and Cari. “I be no trying to trick you here, and you be no in debt to me. If I be staying I be needing friends, and it seems to me that we either be friends, or we be outside now facing off. I be thinking neither of is be wanting the second option.”

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[TaeaDawn]

It was a surprise when the man asked him if he wanted to share a meal.  Demus wasn't one to turn down food normally, nor a conversation with friends, but the man was neither friend nor enemy.  He was an unknown and that made Demus jumpy.  He was here for Cari's sake, but he wasn't entirely sure that if he stayed it would just be that.  His moment of indecision must have shown because of the man's next words.  No, Demus had no desire to take things outside and try to fight for Cari's love.  Light, he wasn't sure he even wanted it, let alone to fight someone over it.  Cari was Cari and she was his and he was hers in an odd way that he would probably never find words for.  Didn't want to anyway because it just complicated things when he'd have prefered to keep them nice and simple. 

 

In the end, his own nature won him out.  He could be dark and nasty when the need called for it, but underneath it all Demus was an easy going person who liked to help people out.  He and Yrean were still feeling each other out and he would truly rather have more friends than enemies.  The dark days would come and give them all plenty of those, he was sure, so why not take what he could find here? 

 

He nodded slowly.  "No, I don't think i'd be too interested in facing off.  I happen to like my face the way it is now." He said.  "I think I like your idea.  Nothing says were not going to stab each other under the table like a good meal between friends, right?"  He smiled then so the other man would know he was trying to be lighthearted about it all.  He hoped Yrean could appreciate the gesture.

 

Demus

[WhiteWolf]

“I no be wanting to stab anyone, I be preferring a sword thrust.”

 

Yrean kept his voice low and menacing when he spoke, then seeing the look appear on Demus’s face he burst out laughing. “I be only joking, there be no reason to be stabbing anyone here, well not now that scum Glen is no longer around.”

 

Yrean knew Demus would have heard about that incident and hoped he had understood why Yrean had been forced to defend himself with such force. “I be no liking the way he be speaking about Cari, but that be no the reason he had to die. I was always taught that to fight without purpose be inviting death, if I be fighting I be no worrying about niceties.”

 

The meal continued and the two men kept the conversation light, but Yrean had something he had to ask and so when the plates were finally cleared away, and Demus had ordered a rather fine Alterian Brandy and the two men were enjoying it’s heady flavour Yrean turned the conversation back to less savoury topics.

 

“Being around Cari for any length of time, I be noticing things, things that be no easy to explain, not by her anyway. Be you noticing the new scars she be sporting? She be telling me they be from fighting but I no believe her.”

 

Raising his glass to his lips, Yrean took a small sip of the brandy, he had been careful to not over do it this night, and now that they were approaching the crux of the evening he had no intention of losing his control. “We both be knowing Cari has unusual tastes when it comes to the bedroom, or out side of the bedroom. But I be no thinking she got those scars there.”

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[TaeaDawn]

Things were going rather well to Demus's mind and his tongue was about as relaxed as it was ever going to be around someone he didn't know any better, but he had to stop himself from straightening up and looking towards the door before he got himself into real trouble with Yrean.  He was pretty sure he knew what scars the man was talking about, but there was no way he was talking about what he really knew. 

 

"Scars?  Cari's got a fair few that's for sure." He said with a small smile.  He let the smile fade then and took a drink before looking seriously at Yrean.  "The work we do is good work, but sometimes Cari travels for Nathan.  It's not always safe for a woman on the road but Cari can handle herself.  She doesn't take the same precautions that other women would and it makes her more of a target to some people."

 

He hoped Yrean would take the answer, but he doubted it.  Yrean was smarter than that, and he knew Cari better than that as well.  This was suddenly getting to be a long night. 

 

Demus

[WhiteWolf]

What had been a pleasant meal, and a sociable round of drinks changed with Demus’s answer to Yrean’s simple question, not that anyone other than Demus and Yrean would notice, maybe Cari if she had been present. But she was not, and if she had it was doubtful Yrean would have brought the matter of her scars up, he knew better than to probe ion areas where Shadow lurked. He was not afraid of Shadow, but there was no point in waking something that was better left asleep. However, discussing it with Demus was not the same thing, and yet it was. Obviously there were hidden depths to this man, depths that Yrean doubted he would ever get to see, but he was seeing something now. During his training in the Yards Yrean had been taught how to read people, to try and predict what their next course of action would be and how to prempt them and stay one or two steps ahead. Yrean had been surreptitiously observing Demus and now he thought he detected subtle signs of unease and discomfort. Nothing major and certainly nothing a person without Yrean’s training could recognise, but then Yrean had been training for more years than he liked to remember, and had been around some very dangerous people for most of his life. Although he did not know it, he had been reading people ever since he had run barefoot through the streets of Illian when he was a child trying to stay one step ahead of the street toughs who prayed on small children, small children who could turn up missing without anyone the wiser.

 

Yrean had hoped that Demus would have come up with a more original answer than the one he had, but then again why should he? Obviously he was as skilled at this game as Yrean was and both men had just conducted the opening skirmishes of a battle that neither sort, nor relished, but once joined would see it through to the conclusion, whatever that conclusion could be. Yrean leaned back in his chair, casually tossing his long braided hair over his shoulder, before looking across the table at Demus. “Cari be leading a hard life, there be no denying that Demus, but I also be leading a no so dissimilar life and I be knowing how certain scars are gained. She be no getting them in a fight, she be to good for that and you be no the person I think you are if you believe that is how she got them.”

 

Sipping his drink, Yrean signalled to one of the serving girls and had them bring another round, although Demus seemed to have suddenly lost interest in his brandy. “I be no thinking you be responsible, but I be interested in who be. If you be knowing who that be I would be grateful, very grateful in knowing and I be knowing how to keep my mouth shut.” Yrean was not sure if there was a trap here, and if there was who the trap was intended to catch, but he had to see this through to the end now that he had placed his feet on this path. Whether or not Demus’s feet were also on this path had yet to be seen.

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[TaeaDawn]

For the first time in a very long time, Demus found himself in what he believed to be a complete Win-Win situation.  Which meant that he had to think pretty hard about what he was going to say to make sure none of it backfired on him.  Yrean wanted to know who had tortured Cari and Demus wasn't about to admit to it himself, no matter what the circumstances.  He took a long drink from his mug and tried to think it through:

 

Upside, Yrean kills Nathan for torturing Cari.  Cari is no longer in danger from him.

Downside, Yrean gets caught and killed instead.

Upside, Yrean is no longer at the Ranch and getting in his way with Cari.

Downside, Cari is upset about losing Yrean.

Upside, Demus gets to comfort her.

 

Downside....  the only real downside to it all for him was the chance that Yrean might get caught and tortured to tell who had slipped the name to him.  Of course, no one would think of him because he had done the torturing himself so why would he admit to knowing anything about the torture to a man that was obviously on a path to kill that man?  Cari would be hurt to lose another lover of course, but she had the kids and she had him and she wasn't likely to disappear and die of a broken heart.  There were far too many pieces within her to let one part dictate their whole existence. 

 

He set the mug down and took in their location.  No one that would notice anything odd, except those that knew about Cari and even they would think Yrean was unaware of the relationship.  Demus wasn't the type to flaunt such things and was good at hiding what he wanted.  If they thought the two were ignorant, let them.  He smiled at Yrean to counter the words coming from his lips.  "I know who you want, but what you ask is hard.  Her torture lays at the hands of one man and though I would have loved to have taken his life I know that I do not have the skill to do it.  If I thought I had a chance, I would have tried.  Perhaps you have the skill, perhaps not.  You will have to be the judge for yourself.  I will tell you what I can, but with your word.  No matter what happens, you don't let anyone know what i've told you.  If anything goes bad and you turn on me, you leave her with no one else to watch her back.  I would rather let the man live and have her back than let you leave her completely exposed.  Do we have an agreement?"

 

His eyes held Yrean's steadily.  Curse him for a light blasted fool, but it was true in it's own way.  Cari was far better than he, but if it hadn't been Demus that had tortured her it would have been another at Nathan's insistence and not someone that would have taken the care to see that she survived. 

 

Demus

 

 

 

 

[WhiteWolf]

“Turn on you? I be no like that Demus. I be only interested in one thing here, and that be no allowing Cari to suffer. I be spitting in the Dark One’s eye to prevent that, be you saying any different?”

 

It had taken Yrean some time to come to terms with the depths of his feelings for Cari, and there had been many a sleepless night where he had pondered disturbing thoughts and walked paths most strange. At the end of it though, he had decided that there was nothing he could do to prevent his feelings for her, He had even accepted that she could have been responsible for the murders that had plagued Tar Valon, and yet even that had not changed his feelings for her. He cared for her on levels that he doubted she would ever come to accept of understand, but that mattered not one whit, he had made a decision and he intended to see it through to it’s bitter end.

 

“I be no willing to let her suffer, she no be liking me for that and has been most forceful in expressing that opinion, but I matter not to me. I love her, no doubt you do to, but I intend to see her grow old and grey and die in her bed. I be thinking you be feeling the same. But if you be needing an oath from me here, then this be it. By the skill I be possessing, I be doing anything that be needed to protect her.” That oath was not that dissimilar to one Yrean had given to Cari previously, but he was not going to share that with Demus, some things were to intimate to share with anyone. “If you be needing the same then I be saying this to you. Do me no working, do Cari and her family no wrong and I be your friend.”

 

Yrean reached over and grabbed Demus by the wrist, pulling him closer.

 

“Be you crossing me, be you deceiving me, and there be no stopping what I be doing to you. I be a man that keeps his word, I be hoping that you be the same Demus, as I be no wanting you as an enemy.” Yrean released his hold on Demus and took a sip of his ale. There had been no emotion in his voice, just cold hard intent. In the Yards Yrean had been taught to show no emotion, to only act with purpose and to make that act the deciding one. Yrean hoped that Demus knew enough about Cari’s past life to know that, if not then he had some serious learning to do.

 

“Where be I finding this Nathan?”

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[TaeaDawn]

It was a surprise for Demus when Yrean pulled him closer.  He had no doubt the other man meant what he said, but he wasn't about to let the truth be known.  He would do whatever he could to protect Cari and the kids, but he doubted Yrean would understand what he had done was just that.  He had broken a part of her that he had never thought to touch and he still struggled with that sometimes.  He made his peace with the fact that when she was having trouble, when she needed someone, he was there for her, for her kids. 

 

"I think we're in agreement then.  The name you need, is Nathan."  He said.  When Yrean asked the next question he was ready.  "Nathan runs the ranch so you can always find him there."

 

Demus

[Matalina]

Nathan sat in his study preusing his paper work.  The old man was thinking about the future of the ranch and the future of his circle of friends.  He had been pruning Glen to take his place, but after Cari had arrived he had seen her leadership skills but the woman was highly unstable, but now Glen was dead and Nathan was at a dilema. 

 

He went for a walk, he kissed Sara before he walked out of the door into the night.  There was so much to think about.  So many things he would have to prepare for.  Liam could handle the business he knew that, but his circle of friends would they trust him?  There was so much to think about.

 

The night was cool and crisp as Nathan walked along the road thinking.  For his age he was limber, he could not sneak through a window anymore and he didn't want to.  But he had people to do that for him now.  It had been a long time since he had the need to fight anyone. In his day he was quite the good assassin, but years of neglecting his skills and his body made him weak.  He used his mind much more now than before.  He preferred to have others get their hands dirty now, and Cari was one of the best at her job. And she could teach the new ones well, he knew that, her mental problems came in handy in keeping them in line. 

 

Nathan walked the road towards Fairhaven, he had a lot to think about.

 

Nathan

[WhiteWolf]

A couple of days had passed since Yrean and Demus had spoken, days, which Yrean had used to think things over. He had not been to the ranch, nor had he spoken to Cari since talking with Demus, Yrean did not want the sight of her to influence his thinking. He knew he was operating on the cusp here; he was about to initiate the killing of a person on the word of someone he hardly knew. But, he also knew that in his world people did not torture people. That was not quite true, he realised that there was a lot of that went on that went against his personnel code of ethics, but that did not include the woman he loved. Although Cari had offered nothing more than the most perfunctory of reasons for her new scars, that had not deflected Yrean, nor would it. He would not allow harm to come to her as long as if did not interfere with his personnel code of ethics. He would do most anything to help her, to protect her, and by extension her family, but he would not kill in cold blood, not unless he had no other choice.

 

It was a time of turmoil for Yrean, he had thought he had made his mind up and as soon as he knew who had perpetrated the act he would seek them out and kill them. But now he knew the name it was not so clean cut. He did not know this Nathan anymore than he knew this Demus. Was he judge and jury? Had he the right to sentence a person he did not know to death for a crime there was no proof for? If he dragged Demus in front of a noble, or even an Aes Sedai, would he stick to his story or would he change it and admit he had no proof? Words spoken in where no one could over hear could be untrue. It could be that Demus wanted Nathan out of the way. With Nathan gone what did Demus stand to gain? Yrean could not answer any of these questions; he was out of his element here with no one to guide him. Beneath all of this there was the one over riding fact, the undeniable truth.

 

A truth that stared Yrean in the face every time he saw Cari.

 

A truth that hit him every time they lay together.

 

A truth that brought home to him what had been done to her every time he heard her voice.

 

A truth that rubbed salt in the wound every time he thought of her.

 

No matter what, someone had hurt her, and hurt her badly, and all he had to go on was a name. So the matter in front of him was not whether or not this Nathan deserved to die. The matter that he had to decide on was whether or not he believed Demus? If Demus had been telling the truth then Yrean would act, and act swiftly and with a clarity that would have frightened Cari with the intensity of his will.

 

A decision was made.

 

A person would die.

 

The only thing that had to be decided was who that person was.

 

It was a pleasant evening for a walk and Yrean decided to do just that rather that ride out to the ranch. He needed company and Cari was the best company he could think of, could hope for. She meant more to him than he suspected she would ever come to understand. That was his own fault, but it was also a response to her inability to convey the depth of her feelings for Yrean. One day he hoped she would be able to and then he would be free to respond, but not now, not yet.

 

Walking in the clear, crisp air, Yrean felt as if a huge weight had been taken from his shoulders, as if he had not a care in the world. As he walked he whistled snippets from a tune he had heard recently, something that went by the title of “Gallows Pole” or at least that was what he thought the title was. It was not far to the ranch and Yrean was looking forward to informing Cari of his decision to stay, and start a business in Fairhaven. He hoped she would welcome this and from time to time help him out in the shop.

 

  Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[Matalina]

Nathan found himself along the path to fairhaven.  A drink might do him some good. Five miles wasn't too far to walk and it was a nice day.  The air was cool and clear but at a brisk pace he would stay warm.

 

His thoughts turned from business to the banter at the inn and he nearly ran into another fellow walking towards the ranch.  Few walked to the Ranch unless they had business.  It took Nathan a few seconds to recognize the man as one of Cari's friends.  Cari's friends were usually no problem, but Nathan sensed something about this one that set him on edge.  He was clearly a light fool as he had not been informed of him being his "friend".  How Cari got tangled with light fools he wasn't sure she was not the nicest of people from her past and now she seemed to be getting worse.  He shook himself off the thoughts of Cari and looked past the other man.  Town was still a ways a way.

 

Nathan looked at the man and smiled.  "Pardon me," and continued down the road to town.

 

Nathan

[WhiteWolf]

Pardon you? I be thinking of doing no such thing.

 

Yrean’s hand moved with a swiftness that only came with years of practice, years and years and years of boring mind-numbing practice that had no other purpose than to prepare the mind and the body for moments such as this. Moments such as these though occurred very infrequently in Yrean’s life, if at all. But this night was one and it was a testament to his teachers that Yrean performed superbly, even if he had to say so himself.

 

Wiping the gore from his blade, Yrean sheathed his blade and then dragged the body deep into the undergrowth. Once he was happy with the positioning of the body, hidden by a mass of fallen leaves and forest debris. Yrean then carefully made his way back to the road, checking as best he could that he left no obvious signs that would indicate where the body was. Once satisfied he checked out the road and did his best to obliterate the bloodstains, that was the problem with decapitation, the blood tended to go everywhere and anyone who knew anything about the assassination business knew that gushings of blood was to be avoided at the best of times. Even with all this to contend with it did not take Yrean long to clean the mess up as best he could and with one last glance around the area he continued on his way, resuming his whistling of the song he had heard the other night.

 

The walk had been invigorating and Yrean arrived at the ranch just in time for a late supper, surprisingly Demus was not in attendance so Yrean felt much more at ease with only Cari in attendance. “I be thinking Cari, that I be no going back to Tar Valon. Now the shop be destroyed I be in no mind to be starting again there. I be asking around Fairhaven and there be a vacant shop I be thinking of buying. I be living above it and we be still able to see each other without me being in your way here. How be that sounding to you?” If it was not for the fact Yearn would have had to explain his outburst he would have laughed out loud at the normality of this conversation after the events earlier.

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper

 

[Matalina]

Cari wasn't sure this was a good thing or not.  Having her two men so close to one another on a daily basis.  What would happen if one spent the night and the other dropped by.  Cari wasn't sure what to say or do at that point.  *Oh let him stay* Two could be fun... Meeghan whimpered about the implications of the others, but there was a weird sense of comfort that Yearn would be near eminating from her.

 

Cari hugged Yearn and kissed him softly.  "Its your life, I will live with it as long aa you are happy, no matter where you decide to live."

 

It was a vague happiness but it would be good to have him near even if it caused her so called love life issues.  He was part of the weird triangle she'd created.  Of the five men in her life, this was the first time two of them had shared the same locale.  It would be strange for her to get use to but she would, she did feel greatly for Yearn.

 

Cari took his hand and led him to the table and set him a cup of tea.  "How much work do you have to do on the shop to convert it to what you need?  I'm sure the barrel shop wasn't going to cater to your weapons shop."  It brought a sad note to Cari's voice talking about Ashet's shop and living space as if he'd never lived there.  It pained her still to lose a friend and such a wonderful little girl to the fog that nearly distroyed the family here.

 

Cari

[WhiteWolf]

Cari’s ready acceptance of his decision to stay pleased Yrean and he felt himself relaxing, he had not realised just how tense he had been regarding his decision to stay and whether or not Cari would accept his decision.

 

“I be agreeing with you, there be a certain amount of work that the shop be needing before I be opening for trade. Do you be offering your services as a carpenter Cari?”

 

Yrean knew she would help him if she had the time, bit he could not pass on the chance to tease her. Assassin, par excellence she might be, but Yrean did not think those skills readily crossed over to carpentry, or plumbing. Mind you he had been wrong before and no doubt would be wrong again. One thing he had learnt about Cari was that she was perfectly capable of surprising him, no matter how much he tried to avoid giving her the opportunity to do so.

 

Yrean Stavrosi

 

I be grey. I stand between the Light and the Shadow

 

Ranger and Shopkeeper