The philosopher Kopair..or how was it?

[Liitha]

Weeks had passed since her new mentee had arived in the yard, he had learned the basic forms and it was time to move on.

 

Liitha waited til Kopair had joined her, then lead the way through the city into the ogier grove. "Today we will be talking of your progress, its time to talk about the content of the following classes..." Liitha setled down on a rock and motioned for Kopair to sit down as well on a log. "..your ready to learn about philosophies. There is two to chose between."

 

"There is the flame and void, which is the one I chose to learn, you will feed all your emotions and feelings, everything that can distract you into a flame to achive a void in your head that will make you able to focus totaly on the figth your in.

 

The spring i dont know too much about, its about embracing the emotions and feelings, feeding of them when figthing."

 

She took a break to let him have time to take in what she said. "When you think you know what is rigth for you I'll see about wheter I'll be able to teach you myself or have someone else teach you."

[bcxanth]

Kopair woke up and stared for a moment at the ceiling above his bed. Today he was supposed to meet Liitha for what she said was an important next step in his training. Getting up he looked around and saw his roommates Jagg and Ryusai were out already. Rummaging in his chest he pulled out his clothes and began to change, his mind going over the dream that had jolted him awake. His fahter dieing in his arms. The farm ablaze. Staring at the Erinin searching for some sign... His mind skittered away from that thought. He needed to lock those memories in the past and move on. It'd only been two months, but he knew he couldn't afford that weakness anymore. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't put it behind him.

 

Grabbing his scabbarded sword he belted it on and walked out of the barracks. It still felt odd sometimes wearing a sword, but he no longer felt awkward with it. He'd even begun to think that there was a chance he might no what he was doing with it some day. Liitha had been a good teacher so far.

 

Crossing the yard toward the gates he watched his fellow Trainees at work all around him. A couple of the women caught his eye of course. His heart still held the memory of Alyssa, but two months had brought back his eye for the ladies. And speaking of which, he smiled as he walked up to Liitha at the gates. They made small talk for a moment about the students around them and the weather that day, then Liitha motioned for him to follow and lead the way through the city to the Ogier grove.

 

"Today we will be talking of your progress," she said as they walked through the grove. "It's time to talk about the content of the following classes..." Liitha setled down on a rock and Kopair sat down on a log nearby. "..you're ready to learn about philosophies. There are two to chose between."

 

Kopair nodded in understanding. He'd heard others talking about these things, but never totally understood them. I guess that's the difference between a trainee and someone like Liitha. It's a good thing we're assigned mentors or we'd be lost. He listened as Liitha tried to explain the two philosophies to him, and he had to admit that this flame and void she described sounded intriguing.

 

"When you think you know what is right for you," she said finally, "I'll see about whether I'll be able to teach you myself or have someone else teach you."

 

Kopair thought for a moment before speaking. "This Flame and Void you speak of sounds interesting. And besides," he continued with a grin, "I'd rather continue to train with you as much as possible. Working with you has been... helpful. It's made things easier. So let's try that first. Hopefully I can learn it."

 

Kopair shifted slightly in his seat as Liitha stared at him when he finished speaking. Had he crossed a line, saying what he did there at the end? He had only meant that she'd been a good friend and teacher, but he was afraid she might take it to mean more. He'd just have to pretend there was nothing wrong and hope she didn't say anything.

[Liitha]

"This Flame and Void you speak of sounds interesting. And besides," he continued with a grin, "I'd rather continue to train with you as much as possible. Working with you has been... helpful. It's made things easier. So let's try that first. Hopefully I can learn it."

 

Liitha nodded, "very well then I'll repeat to you those same words that was once told to me." Liitha smiled "The philosophy will shape your life and give you balance in every aspect. In battle you will use it to focus and become one with your blade."

 

Liitha observed how her student took the words.

"Close your eyes and clear your mind. Picture the image of a flame and concentrate only on the image of the flame. Once you have done this begin feeding your emotions into the flame one by one. Once you have

done this you will enter a new place where the outside world does not touch you. This migth take some time and to let you have quietness to consentrate I'll be over there working on some forms, let me know when you think you achived it, I dont expect you to hold on to it this early just try and find it for brief moments"

[bcxanth]

OOC: I'm not sure how the last paragraph from my last post got moved into the middle of it. But I edited it to put them back in the right order. You might want to scan through it real quick again to see how it is now. Sorry about that. :)

 

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Kopair listened intently as Liitha nodded.

 

"Very well then," she said. "I'll repeat to you those same words that was once told to me."

 

Kopair nodded thoughtfully as she explained the Flame and the Void. It certainly sounded interesting. Watching Liitha as she walked away Kopair wondered about her. She was very different from any woman he'd ever known before coming to the Tower. At first he had resented the idea of a woman telling him what to do, though he'd been smart enough to keep it to himself. But he had to admit, he'd grown to admire her. He'd do his best to make her proud.

 

Closing his eyes he tried to concentrate. A flame formed in his mind's eye, burning fitfully, like a candle disturbed by a breeze. He tried to do as Liitha told him, imagining all his emotions and thoughts being burnt away by this flame, but it wasn't working too well. He could imagine the flame well enough, but it kept turning into the flames that consumed his home. His father's face intruding on it all, tears staining his soot covered cheeks as he begged Kopair to leave and save himself.

 

He tried to burn those images away, but it just made the fire larger in his mind. He saw his home in flames, the barn. The image of Alyssa being taken away by a faceless dark shape, pleading for him to help. He tried harder, thinking of the flame, but it was all becoming too much. Clutching his head as if in pain, tears streaming down his face, he slid to the ground and cried out.

 

"I can't take this anymore!" he screamed.

[Liitha]

Liitha found a spot not to far away and drew her katanas, starting to flow into the familiar forms as if dancing. Her thougths wandered to once when she had seen her father dance like that in the sunshine and how it took her with ave.

 

"I can't take this anymore!" The scream made Liitha stop midways in boars rushing down the mountain and spun around. Assesing the sittuations to no dangers she sheeted her swords replaying the scream in her head to pick up the information that has been in it as she walked over to her minty. The boy was grying and clutching his head, Liitha lay a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Kopair, something is bothering you, I dont know why and didnt want to push you on it. Instead I hoped when you where ready you would tell me as I once did my own mentor. Sometimes its hard to talk about things, maybe it will help if I tell my story first" Liitha reached into her pocket for a hankerchief and handed it to him. Then she sat down her back against the stone.

 

"I grew up with fosterparents and never knew where i came from, just that my mother had come back to her homeplace to give birth. They would tell me storries of her as well as tales of what she had told them the litle time she was back giving birth before leaving me behind." Liitha smiled half sadly as she lost herself in her own story.

 

"I grew up admirering the woman i was sure my mother must have been. And early on descided one day i would follow in her footsteps, so i started training and learning everything i could that could help me. And then when i became 15 came the day to leave, leave the parents i knew and the village i grew up in. I where given some gifts, one of them a box containing a long letter or diary you could say from my mother.

 

I would read it on my way here, and in there i found the first clues i ever had on who my father was. Though.." Liitha smiled shaking her head, "..I also learned my mother wasnt all that perfect, she didnt know my fathers name, only where she met him, nothing else. After ariving in the yard and seteling in i found out that my mother wasnt here anymore, and then in futher investigation that she had died on her return, killed by a fade. I found the place my father lived and got to meet him, though our first meeting wasnt all that plesant and landed me in danger before things got sorted out."

 

Liitha ended her story, "Now.." she tilted her head, "..you see there is many stories behind those coming here...would you care to tell me your true story?" she gave him a friendly incuraging smile

[bcxanth]

Kopair sat there, drying his face with the handkerchief Liitha had given him, trying to compose himself. He couldn't believe he was crying, let alone in front of Liitha of all people. He shook his head slightly as she finished her story and managed to get back up onto his seat on the log.

 

"I don't know what you must think of me," he started. "Sitting here, a grown man, on the ground crying like some little kid. I apologize for that. As for my whole story..." Sighing, he stared up at the sky above for a moment to compose himself, then finally lowered his gaze back to Liitha. "I guess it starts with my mother really."

 

"She came to the Tower when she was young. They told her that she could have learned to use the One Power, but she was too fascinated by all the legends come to life that she saw just being here that she was never able to properly concentrate on her lessons, and so after only a few months she was sent home. On her way she met my father, they fell in love, and settled down together. My little sister and I were raised on my mother's stories of the great White Tower and all the wonderful things here, and all the great works done to defeat the Shadow."

 

"I fell in love with a girl named Alyssa. She moved in with my family on our farm, and I apprenticed myself to the local ferrier. Then one night it all changed. I was riding home from the village, my mind on how I was going to be soon asking Alyssa to marry me, when I smelled smoke. I rode into the farm to find the buildings on fire, the livestock gone, my mother, sister, and Alyssa taken by bandits, and my father dieing in the yard. I held him as he begged me to leave and save myself, to not go after the bandits who had fled down the Erinin by boat. He died in my arms, and like a coward I did as he asked."

 

"Staying at the village only long enough to see my father buried I left for Tar Valon because I hoped that my mother was right, and here I could learn what I needed to learn. To defend myself, and defend others, like I wasn't able to do that night."

 

Sighing he stood up and looked down at Liitha. "Every time I try to imagine that flame, all I can see is the flames of my home on fire, my father dieing. It all comes back to me. I keep trying to forget these memories, to put them behind me, but I can't seem to do it. I'm a failure."

[Liitha]

Liitha listened quietly to the boys story. "Every time I try to imagine that flame, all I can see is the flames of my home on fire, my father dieing. It all comes back to me. I keep trying to forget these memories, to put them behind me, but I can't seem to do it. I'm a failure."

 

Liitha put a hand on his chin and bendt his head so he looked into her eyes. "Now it will take time to learn that defence, I already told you even training and aiming towards coming here left me to learn things was thougher than i could have imagined. Your only a failure if you give into your fear, its okey to be sad, or scared as long as you acknowledge this and goes on trying to figth it of. I wont tell you it will be easy and at one time I almost left the yard after an incident ..." Liitha shruged and shoved the images from her rape back in her mind.

 

"..but I didnt I pulled through with help from others. And I am here to help you." she smiled at the boy. "I've cried as well, i had times waking up with nigthmares sweating...we all have our ghosts and what i can promise you is that that ghost of your past aint the only one you will know in your time, there will be more in the future."

 

Liitha let go of the boys face, "Now Kopair I want you to go home and rest, I dont think we should continue this lesson on the curent point, instead I'll advice you to learn spring, to use the pain inside you to find strength in, I want you to return here tomorow and there will be a teacher waiting for you." Liitha rose and walked away, the grove was a quiet place and she wanted to give the boy a chanse to calm himself alone before going back.

[Wayfarer]

Giving lessons was not Aran's forte, indeed it wasn't even something he particularly enjoyed as he told himself many times. It came part in parcel with being somewhat selfish, he had things he wanted to do and those things did not involve instructing youngsters in how best to kill people. In fact, if he had to instruct someone he'd rather instruct them how to play music, dance, or better yet drink copiously and wench. But, as peace loving a man Aran was, that was not what he had come to teach on this particularly day.

 

Rather, he was standing about at this particularly time due to being corrupted. Well, not precisely, he was already corrupt, but Liitha had taken advantage of that. She'd clearly known him by reputation, but had thought he was a rather nice boy and would simply help out from courtesy. Despite the fact Aran wasn't nice, he still wouldn't have done it because time given freely was time that wasn't valued.

 

It hadn't taken long for them to come to an agreement though once Liitha had realised what he was hinting out, in particularly realising that it wasn't her but what she could get him. In this case, a rather sizeable bottle of spirits, though the pink ribbon and the dust on it spoke volumes. Not that Aran would complain, indeed it may have given it some much needed age, and all he had to do was instruct a single student on how to call upon the Spring.

 

Aran had needed to think about it for a bit himself, it had been a long time since he'd used it. He preferred to fight naturally, without composing his mind so. He'd been so accustomed to violence, in particular his childhood, that he had little need to focus his mind so when fighting came as easy as breathing for him. Yet it was still a fine tool to be able to call upon to order one's mind when needed. No doubt the lad would need such ordering, he was a trainee after all.

 

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

[bcxanth]

Kopair sat on his bunk staring morosely at the wall across from him. He still felt horrible about what had happened with Liitha the day before. He knew she was right, he wasn't the only one with demons in his past, things that messed with his life. It didn't make things easier unfortunately. And now his failure had cost him the only person he'd really gotten to know here. He knew of course that she was still his mentor, and would still be around to help him learn, but he felt like his sadly lacking skills had once again cost him someone.

 

Well I'd better get going, he thought. Whoever this is that's going to be teaching me probably won't be happy if I keep them waiting very long. Standing up he belted on his sword and left the bunkhouse, heading for the Ogier grove where he'd met with Liitha the day before. He just hoped whoever it was meeting him would be able to help. He wasn't sure he could deal with having to leave his training because he couldn't grasp this one thing.

 

Entering the grove Kopair arrived at the place he'd sat with Liitha the day before and saw a man there obviously waiting for him. Stopping for a minute as if unsure of himself, he took a deep breath and stepped into the light.

 

"Hello there," said Kopair in greeting, holding out his hand to the man. "My name is Kopair Rialyn and Liitha is my mentor. She told me to meet you here this morning for training."

[Wayfarer]

The trainee was a bit older than he had expected, usually trainees were taken at a younger age. And it wasn't so common to find a bald lad. Still, it fitted the description he had been given. Not that he felt intimidated by the man as he got close, while the man was nearly an entire foot taller than him and quite broad of shoulder, Aran knew that if he wanted he could put the man on the ground within moments. And idea that was no more than a fleeting fancy until the man spoke and confirmed the nagging suspicion at the back of Aran's mind.

 

Andoran.

 

Slapping the man's hand away, Aran scowled as he gave the man a good shove back, hard enough to send the man back a couple of paces. "Don't presume to give your hand to me, mudfoot. Light help me but if Liitha had told me I was getting an Andoran I would've asked for two bottles instead of one." Speaking in a strong Cairhienin accent, it made Aran's origins rather obvious. Cairhienin and Andorans rarely got along, and to the trainee it would seem that this most certainly would be a time they did not.

 

"And now I am stuck with you, teaching an Andoran how to use the Spring. Ludicrous, everyone knows that Andorans have the emotional depth of a puddle." The lad was getting riled up now, a few racial slurs were always handy for that sort of thing. "Light, and look at that head, could confuse it with my own arse cheek."

 

That definitely got his attention, smirking at the man Aran began. "That feeling is called anger, and if you get a bit more of it we call that rage. If you think that you are here to learn to harness rage, then you are sorely mistaken. Its one of the easiest emotions to give into along with fear when you fight someone, so its mistakenly given greater emphasis for violence, some even make such rage the hallmark of their fighting."

 

"The Spring is a philosophy, a way of thinking and feeling that teaches you to take all of your emotions, and draw on it for strength. This is the other side of the coin that you found yesterday. The Flame and the Void teaches you to take your feelings, your emotions, all of that and chuck it in a little bonfire, burn it away, lock it up and put it aside, ignore it. The Spring teaches you acceptance of all parts of yourself, all feelings, even negative ones."

 

"For example" Aran, decided to sit on the ground and gestured for the trainee to do the same "Liitha tells me you had some form of personal problem with the Flame and the Void. It stumbled across something that was painful for you, which she chose not to tell me and I'm not particularly worried what it was. The thing you have to realise now is that one day, you'll have to square with whatever it is."

 

"So what I'm going to teach you isn't a way around it. In fact, the Flame and the Void was your only chance of ignoring it, and it seems you can't do that. So, your only choice then is to accept it. Strange it may sound, yet one of the main reasons we struggle so much is because we deny what we feel. We try and put it aside, not think about it, leave it in a dark corner becaues its too painful to deal with."

 

"When you accept something as part of yourself, then you dominate it, rather than it dominating you. That isn't going to happen today, maybe not even a week, but eventually it will because you'll have to. What I can do today is teach you the theory of the Spring, and that I will do. Are you ready to begin, or do you have questions?"

 

Lounging back on the grass as opposed to sitting, Aran was rather at ease with his surrounding. The man on the otherhand seemed rather rigid, damn Andorans. Them and their prissy ways, light how Andorans annoyed him at times. Well, the ones that lived in Andor anyway, those who had travelled were a little more tolerable.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

[bcxanth]

Kopair scoweled slightly as the man slapped his hand away, controlling his desire to reach for his blade. He wasn't stupid enough to try that no matter what this person may think. He knew his anger showed on his face as the man rained insults upon him, but he didn't care. Obviously he had some kind of problem with Andorans.

 

Taking a seat across from the man he sat straight-backed and proud, refusing to let his anger make him less of a man. He listened respectfully just the same as the man said his peace, explaining this philosophy called the Spring. It sounded like the kind of thing he needed. Obviously he couldn't just ignore the pain in his past, so perhaps in embracing it he could find the strength he needed.

 

Finally the man wound down, finishing with the expected "Are you ready to begin, or do you have questions?"

 

"Questions?" asked Kopair. "No, I have no questions. Obviously you have a problem with Andorans though. You say I have aome kind of 'personal problem.' I guess you could call it that. Coming home to find your entire home on fire. your mother, younger sister, and girlfriend taken, and your father dieing in your arms. All the work of bandits that came from boats on the Erinin. They could have been Cairhienin for all I know. Yet I don't have any loss of respect for you because of your nationality."

 

Leaning forward slightly Kopair stared at the man, looking him in the eye, letting all his anger at the insults burn in his own gaze. "So perhaps before we begin you could at least introduce yourself and show some modicum for me as someone who has come to you with an open mind to learn. And perhaps that could start with at least telling me your name. Light! I don't know what Andorans may have done to you in the past, but none of them were me, so maybe you can keep that in mind before you decide to treat me like garbage."

 

Leaning back in a more relaxed posture he waited for a response. He could tell that what he'd said hadn't exactly gone over well with the man. Kopair didn't care though. He was through with feeling helpless. Even if it meant losing the teacher he needed, he was going to finally stand up for himself.

[Wayfarer]

The tirade that the lad launched into had Aran feeling rather tired. Not only had he managed to pick up an Andoran for a lesson, he'd picked up an Andoran that was more Andoran than most Andorans, a bonafide mudfoot Andoran. Which meant he was possibly going to be the most muleheaded student he'd had yet, a title previously reserved for any student he'd had who hailed from the Borderlands. Well, maybe this lad wouldn't claim that particular title, Borderlanders were beyond frustrating with their grandiose ideas about honour and their superiority to southlanders. In fact if one replaced their honour with a broom, they could sweep while they walked.

 

By the time the lad was done, he seemed rather self satisfied. Aran had a hand to his temple, wincing as if in great pain. "Wait a moment, just give me a second." Waiting a bit longer Aran sighed as he took his hand away, shaking his head. "There we go, I think my brain has hopefully stopped bleeding now that your self indulgent cry is done with."

 

Grinning at the man, Aran decided it was time to press a few buttons. And, oddly enough, tell the truth as it were. "But, it seems like I have been stuck with the most Andoran of Andorans. That is to say, you are; self absorbed, stupid, presumptuous, and ugly."

 

"You must be self absorbed because clearly you think that your story makes you somehow different. There are plenty of people here who have gone through worse. Stupid, because you clearly couldn't pick up on the hint that not only hadn't I been told, I didn't want to know."

 

"Presumptuous to think I owe you anything, as you've done nothing to deserve my respect, why should I give it to you for nothing? And that face, ugh, its enough to make children cry." Not that the man's face was terrible, or that Aran's was indeed all that good looking, in fact he was eminintly ordinary. On the otherhand, it had been a nice way to round it all off.

 

"If you need to call me something, you can call me sir. Now that your tantrum is done with, we shall begin." Sitting up, Aran's grin was of a more easy nature as he spoke. "The Flame and the Void and the Spring are both ways of finding calm, eradicating errant distractions. As I said before, the Flame and the Void requires you to shunt everything off, to get rid of it."

 

"The Spring on the otherhand requires you to embrace all of it. Think of all your different emotions as streams of water. Some might be just a trickle, whereas others might be like a river unto themselves. Your anger for example should be rather sizeable for the moment."

 

Grinning wider, Aran continued. "When we experience emotions in everyday, we experience different emotions at a time, or maybe a few at once, which is why we go from happy to sad and such. The secret of the Spring is to embrace all of them, and find a balance in the middle of it all. And no, you won't get it today. But the point is for you to begin trying."

 

"When you gather all of these different emotions, the way we usually visualise it is this. Your ability to feel is the main stream, from here you embrace all your emotions. As you accept them, they join into the larger stream, until all of them flow the same way, they become one. In that, you find your centre, and in the moment of accepting all of it is the spring, where everything is in harmony."

 

Settling down on his back, Aran looked up at the trainee. "Well? What are you waiting for? Start."

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

 

OOC: You won't get it in that day, maybe not a week, maybe not even a month. Take as long as you feel it would take for your char to be able to reconcile with his more painful emotions enough that he can accept them. Or, if you want, keep hitting that barrier and I can RP Aran giving Kopair advice about it.

 

Also, after this initial day, Aran won't be quite so harsh, though he'll still have little digs about Kopair being Andoran. Apart from the natural enmity between the two nations, more importantly he's doing it to kickstart Kopair's emotions. Also, he'll leave you for periods of time to do other stuff, so Kopair will be able to focus better with Aran always being there and possibly distracting him.

[bcxanth]

Kopair nodded as this man finished his explanation, understanding more than he probably thought Kopair did. This way of thinking, this Spring, seemed more natural to him than the Flame and Void.

 

"Very well then," said Kopair, pointedly not giving him any form of address at all. Not today at least. "You've told me the basics, the outline of how it's supposed to work, then tell me to begin." Pausing, he thought for a minute. "Easier said then done I think," he continued with a slight smile of amusement.

 

"Closing his eyes he tried to concentrate. Lacking any other ideas he imagined the spring back home that bubbled up from just outside the village back home and flowed past his family farm to join with the Erinin. As kids he and his friends wood make little boats out of branches and bark and see whose boat could sail the farthest before sinking.

 

In his mind he tried to imagine himself as that spring. Imagined himself in the water, the water flowing through him. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get his mind to accept those emotions and embrace them. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how close he came to feeling calm, some deep down part of him would push those streams away again.

 

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, he finally opened up his eyes and shoke his head in resignation.

 

"I thought... I thought a few times I was going to get it. I thought I'd figure out this thing. But no matter how much I tell myself that I need to accept these feelings and move past them, I just keep avoiding them. I... I'm afraid to let go I think. Some part of me is afraid to accept it, because then it will... it will be real. I want to beat this, I want to make it work. I'm just not sure how."

[Wayfarer]

Laughing, Aran got to his feet slowly, dusting off his breeches once he was up. Taking the few steps over to the trainee necessary to close the distance, Aran squatted down. "Of course you didn't get it, no one ever really does on their first few goes. You might touch on it a bit, but it takes time in order to begin to really grasp it."

 

"The reason for that is that we're naturally taught to resist certain feelings, that we should be above them. And most people naturally deal with things by putting them to one side to minimise the pain. The problem in that is that it causes a bit of a paradox. You never really deal with it, so it always haunts you, and the longer you've put it aside, the harder it usually is to then embrace them. Its simple fear, you don't want to be hurt by those feelings, or the implications of them, so you shy away."

 

"We don't need anymore lessons such as these, not until you manage this first task. You can work on this whether you're here, in your bed, or doing anything else. If you need any advice or guidance, you can always catch me in the mess hall or find me around at some point or other."

 

"But, some advice before I go." Thinking his words over carefully, Aran spoke softly. "The problem for you now is that you do avoid, and that you do hold on as you've said. The problem you don't realise is that you're trying to beat it, to make it work. You can't force it, because force isn't acceptance, its coercion."

 

"In submission, find peace. In surrender, find victory."

 

Patting the lad on the shoulder, Aran stood up and walked away. It was a riddle he'd left the lad with, but Kopair would have to figure it out himself. Once he had, and had learnt to embrace all his emotions, then Aran would be able to show him how to draw strength from them, to bind them to him yet be bound to them, to find the centre.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

 

OOC: Well, RP a few weeks having occured. Slowly letting your emotions that you've blocked off leak in, the effect it has on your character, etc. Once you've really let it hit you, then we move onto the final part of the Spring.

[bcxanth]

Kopair watched the man leave, puzzling over the words he'd left Kopair with, but determined to succeed at this. After all, he'd never be able to protect Aes Sedei and help defend the world from evil like the kind that took his family, if he didn't make this work.

 

The first week was the hardest. He took every opportunity he could to sit and meditate on his instructions, even slacking off on his more basic training exercises until Liitha had to find him and speak sharply to him.

 

His roommates knew something was up and tried to help, but it didn't do any good. Kopair tried, but he couldn't bring himself into confiding in them. Not even when he found himself being introduced to a new roommate, a girl named Coraman. She was young, and looked like she'd had a rough life, yet still attractive in her way. Still, he didn't let himself be distracted.

 

Though his roommates may have been a loss, his mentor was not. Many nights he sought out Liitha and talked with her about what had happened that night at his family's farm. She was understanding and supportive about it all, and slowly Kopair found himself finally and truly accepting the emotions that night made him feel. After several weeks he finally found himself able to think about it all without being afraid of how it made him feel.

 

It was a slightly stormy day that found Kopair practicing his basic sword forms under a tree, listening to the rain splash into the puddles scattered around him. His mind wandered as he practiced, and to any outside observer it would have been obvious as his movements, already lacking in precision in the first place, became even more disjointed. He dwelled on all the emotions he'd been digging up lately, trying once more to form the Spring in his mind. And all of the sudden it was there.

 

He was the Spring, his emotions feeding into him, becoming one with him, bringing him strength and calm. To the previously mentioned outside observer the moment would have been just as obvious. Where before his motions were jerky and unsure, they now flowed smooth and swift. For a moment even his excitement at finally achieving his goal was accepted into the Spring, but it didn't last long as he lost the control he'd managed. Still, having done it once, he knew he'd be able to manage it again. For the first time since starting this latest aspect of his training he felt some confidence in finding real success.

 

There were still times when he felt overwhelmed by all the memories, all the emotions, and let it get to him. Nights he fell asleep with tears in his eyes, and days when he nearly broke himself or his equipment when anger overwhelmed him during training. But slowly he began to truly accept these feelings and make them part of himself. The progress that rainy day proved it.

 

Later that day during a break in his studies he sought out the man he'd met that day, the one Liitha had assigned him to learn from and had told him was named Aran. Asking around soon led Kopair to find Aran sitting on an upended barrel under an overhang, watching two new trainees with a grin as they tried to spar with each other and one ending up slipping in the mud and knocking over his opponent as well as himself.

 

"Enjoying yourself Aran?" he asked with a grin of his own. "You always do seem to enjoy watching people end up with mud on their face."

[Wayfarer]

Smiling at Kopanair's words, Aran gestured to the two trainees. "My students, despite their differences they both thought that they should have the day off because it was raining. Besides, mud doesn't do people much harm, not when they need to take themselves a little less seriously. Speaking of which, you've discovered a sense of humour. Combined with my name, I'm guessing you managed my mental exercise?"

 

Getting a nod, Aran grinned at the lad. "Good, well lets go somewhere dry to find the Spring proper. As entertaining as the farce of a spar is, I think I want a drink now." Turning to the two trainees, Aran called to them. "Keep practicing! If I find out you're slacking you'll fight me instead!"

 

The renewed vigour at which the pair of trainees fought was a testament to Aran having followed through with the threat before. Sometimes they needed motivation, and Aran had learnt himself first hand that the threat of violence that would follow through was an effective motivator. By the time he was finished reminiscing on some of the more brutal points of his own training, they were at the barracks.

 

Slipping his cloak off, he hung it up nearby and took his boots off before venturing further inside, he didn't want to track water and mud everywhere. Dropping his boots off in his room, he picked up his bottle and a couple of cups from his bedstand. proceeding from there to his company's commonroom. Large and spacious, there were a few people sitting about and relaxing as it were. Waving to them, he led Kopair to one of the tables. Trainees themselves weren't actually allowed in any of the common rooms unless supervised, so it was a bit of a treat.

 

Well, the cup Aran poured was anyway.

 

Throwing it back in one go, Aran laughed when Kopair did the same and proceeded shiver and wince at the same time. Aran's spirits were rather strong, then again with his resistance to alcohol he needed something stronger. "You might want to take it a little easier there. Everyone knows Andorans can't drink." Pouring a second cup for both of them, Aran settled back in his chair, looking to Kopair beside him.

 

"Alright, now the first thing I taught you was to help you experience all your emotions, free yourself up to embrace them. You'll notice that when you did hit that feeling in the Spring, you quickly lost it. Thats because in order to hold onto it, you need a different focus, a different way of thinking about it."

 

"The next step is this. When you form the stream and your emotions join into it, I want you to take control of the waters. You wrap them around and around like string to form a yarn, creating a sphere. The sphere encapsulates all your emotions and holds them in a single spot. Though I should mention, some people find it easier to wrap each emotion individually, I personally find it easier to do it this way."

 

"This ball, once you form it separate from your mind, you slide it over it. It sounds strange I know, but its the nature of it. To form the foci of the sphere, you need to pour everything outside so you can form the sphere, then pull it back over yourself, slip it on to embrace it. You should be at the centre of the sphere, bathed in all your feeling, saturated with it."

 

"So, try it. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Smiling at Kopair, Aran took a sip of his drink. Hopefully the alcohol would help loosen the lad up a bit and make it easier for him to embrace his emotions when the spirits kicked in.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

 

 

OOC: Struggle will be to hold the sphere together as you're forming it without things drifting about in your mind. While Kop's learnt how to accept feelings within himself he struggled with, now he has to learn to bind them to him, control them as he accepts them. :D

[bcxanth]

Kopair spent a long time in that common room with Aran, working hard to try and master the concept of the Spring. He lost track of how much he drank, and woke the next morning with a headache and a taste in his mouth like he'd been chewing sweat-soaked wool all night. But through the alcohol induced haze he had a vague memory of managing success more then once. He'd just needed to get loose enough to stop worrying so much.

 

Keeping those thoughts in mind over the next few weeks Kopair slowly but surely worked at it. He could never quite find in himself that laid back trickster attitude that Aran conveyed, but he did find himself once more in touch with his own mischievous side. He even found himself getting slapped more than once for being just a bit too forward with the ladies. At least he had the sense to not try that kind of thing with his mentor. He had the feeling Liitha would do more than just slap him if he tried anything.

 

Finally though, it all came together. He still had trouble holding the Spring if he was really stressed, but he was getting better, and was already able to find it at will. Using the technique he even managed to finally win some spars around the yard against his fellow students. Finally he was beginning to feel like perhaps he'd truly make something of himself here at the Tower.

 

OOC: I'm sorry it took me so long to post. Real life just caught up with me in a big way. What with starting a new job and getting engaged it's been a bit hectic. :) Hopefully this post is good enough for what was needed. I'm a bit rushed tonight so wasn't able to put as much thought in it as I'd have liked to.

[Wayfarer]

Kopair turned out to be a fun project, at least in Aran's mind. He'd only gotten him drunk once, but over the weeks the lad seemed to be slowly improving. Not that Aran observed directly like some shadowy stalker, that required far too much effort. Besides which, other people were far better observers in many ways because they'd known him for alot longer. Liitha had definitely noticed the changes in him, and he'd heard of the lad getting a few slaps across the face. Maybe he'd taught the lad a bit more than the Spring.

 

Others picked up on it as well, he spoke to people more easily. The advantage of being the hub of gossip over a few drinks he supposed. Most people spoke quite freely when they were in their drinks with friends, after all, thats what the drinking was in part for. There was little point in drinking for the sake of it, or as a shield.

 

Lastly, the lad had seen improvement in his fighting, and that was something Aran had witnessed himself from his time spent dozing in the yard. Liitha likewise informed him of the lad's improvement, and Aran couldn't help but feel a little pleased about it all.

 

I still hate teaching though.

 

Aran made that point to himself quite clearly as he watched a pair of his students duel one another. He definitely disliked training, worst thing to do ever. Still, if you were to do something, it was always good to come out on top at the end of it.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

 

OOC: We're done on this thread as far as I'm concerned, good on ya Kopair :) And don't worry, when work comes up, it comes up, we do this as our hobby so when we have the time we do it then.