Gee, I wonder if this is going to hurt... *smiles* (Attn Sylos)

[Erathian Avenger]

It didn't take very long for Sylos to get done with his surprise, and focus on dodging. The ice stuck to him, which he surmised to have been the point of the water- however, already being wet and cold, it actually had less effect even though it did stretch across more of his body as it slipped. His practice from the previous session had made him somewhat better; more importantly, howevver, he had taken the time Evelyn spent recovering from her injury practing his balance and convincing rather confused fellow recruits to throw rocks at him, which had made him much better. It allowed him to keep going for quite some time in spite of the added difficulty.

 

It was, however, an exceptionally task to manage, and as his body began to freeze up he began to consider just how unfair this whole situation really was. After all, not only had it been an accident in the first place, he had apologized. As the injustice of it all burned itself into his brain (related, perhaps, to the burning left behind as the air warmed his ice-trailed skin), he decided that he was going to have to take revenge of his own.

 

Much to the misfortune of his instructor, that revenge was close at hand. Perhaps because she wanted to see his displeasure up close, or perhaps because she hadn't really been paying attention, Evelyn was standing quite close to the balance set-up as she tossed ice at him. Desperately attempting to maintain his balance, a wicked thought ran through Sylos' head. Several minutes later, when he knew he could not possibly last much longer, he feigned tripping, and fell- directly on top of his vengeful instructor.

 

The ice had, as planned, had stuck to his body, and quickly melted caught between Evelyn's body heat and what was left of Sylos'. Less surprised and having had a cushioned fall, Sylos rolled and came to his feet, and took a few brief moments to wonder what the penalty was for an instructor of the Children skewering a recruit. That, and to consider the fact that Evelyn, being in uniform as required, was dressed entirely in white, and that his previous comments on equality were likely to get him in even more trouble.

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn was so shocked by what had happened that it took her the space of a few moments to move. Her expression was unreadable as she propped herself up, ignoring Sylos' stretched hand. She planted her feet on the ground and stood still until she was sure she found her footing. She took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly.

 

Her uniform was crumpled and now stained from the mix of the melting ice with dirt. Her back felt bruised, but she ignored the pain. She was better than this. She was better than him. He was nothing. A mediocre trainee that would jump off the wagon soon enough. Or be pushed off. Whatever came first. He wasn't worth her time or her anger.

 

She felt better though. All those years of training and hard work taught her to silence her temper on command. She was in control of herself. This was just a test that the creator put her through to prove just that. Of course, that made perfect sense! And she was doing well, Evelyn was. She was holding it together. Air in and out. In and out.

 

Evelyn spun around to face Sylos, using a finger to wipe off a strand of hair from her dirt covered forehead. All her thoughts blanked out as her fist struck Sylos' jaw.

 

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

 

 

[Erathian Avenger]

As Evelyn's fist made contact with his face, Sylos decided that perhaps his mastery of body language was not as complete as he had thought. It had seemed like his instructor, while not pleased, was not inclined towards doing anything about it. Then a wagon had flattened him to the ground, from which position he had time to consider that at least she hadn't gone for her sword.

 

He slowly stood up, the soreness in his legs from his recent practice for the balancing exercise making a nice counterpoint to the new throbbing in his face. As he stood he took a good look at his instructor who, soaked through and covered in dirt, looked a considerable mess. His first instinct on being punched was generally to return the favor. However, as he was naked and unarmed and his opponent was not so disadvantaged, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

 

Sort of. "Well, it's good to see that even in such deplorable circumstances you can keep a firm handle on your temper, sir."

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn never stopped to consider what she was doing. There wasn't even a thought process in the making. There was just anger. She moved, going through moves she practiced more times than she could count. She kept light on her feet, as she punched. Some of her thrusts found air as Sylos managed to avoid them. However, some did strike home. She could already see red marks decorating Sylos' stomach and face, no doubt soon to be purple and blue marks.

 

He wasn't attacking, though. Why wasn't he attacking? She was hurting him and he kept to defending. She fed her anger, thinking he was squirmish about hitting a woman. As if she was this fragile doll that he could break so easily. She grunted as she made a sharp move, her back starting to feel stiff from the earlier landing on the ground. Her head was throbbing, but none of it mattered.

 

He was going to learn his lesson, though. Oh, yes, he was. He thought himself all charming, did he? Well, he was going to learn that it wouldn't get him anywhere in the CotL. Aside from trouble. That, she suspected he would get plenty of. She managed to kick his flank, silencing a groan as muscles burned. There was no stopping now.

 

 

 

 

Evelyn

[Erathian Avenger]

Sylos couldn't help grinning a little as Evelyn kept battering him. He was quite sure it had been unintentional, but because he was still wet, it wasn't hurting nearly as much as he suspected it should. Then her fist caught him at the lower end of his rib cage and he doubled over into another hit to the face, and the grin vanished.

 

Sylos was not a brawler. He didn't have the raw strength for it. But he was agile, and he had gotten into too many bar fights not to know something about blocking punches. Doing his best not to hit back because he knew that so far, he hadn't technically done anything that could get him in trouble with the higher-ups, he found his resolve wavering as she just kept hitting him and hitting him. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but for some reason she seemed to be getting madder and madder the more he tried to just let her knock him around.

 

Another hit to the face later, and he just couldn't let it go. He swung back, struck Evelyn across the face in return, and froze in place as he realized just how much trouble he had just set himself up for.

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn's ears rang as she staggered back. Her vision was blurry and it took her a moment to realize what had happened. He punched her! He actually punched her back! Just below her cheek, the whole area feeling hot from the blow. Before she could even think straight, Evelyn found herself with a dagger in her hand. One that she retrieved from her right boot, no doubt, but she couldn't recall reaching for it. She threw herself on Sylos with the little strength she had left and fell atop of him,  pressing the dagger against his throat, her face intent on his.

 

She froze in her place, as the dagger left a small nick on Sylos' neck by the mere pressure of her grip. What am I doing? What in the light am I doing? Her mind suddenly got flooded with painful memories of the past. Memories of mean spirited chores, mockery and humiliation she had to undergo as a female recruit. She proved them all wrong, though. Every one of them. She got where she did using her claws and teeth. She walked over whoever she needed to, just as she was walked over so many times by others. She became what she needed to be. But at what cost?

 

Sense started to sip in as she let go of the dagger. What was it about Sylos that made her so angry, though? Recruits have irritated her plenty a time but never to the point of her getting into a fist match with one of them. Light, she could have killed him! That wasn't her. That wasn't what she joined the Children of the Light for. She was no assassin nor a thug. She was what her job required her to be. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

She stared at Sylos wide eyed and let herself stumble back on the dirt, hissing at the pain that climbed up her spine. She lowered her eyes to the ground, unsure what to do next.

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

[Erathian Avenger]

Sylos slowly returned to regular breathing as Evelyn staggered back, though he could still feel every nerve ending in his body. He had been expecting trouble when he lost control and hit back- he had not expected to find himself at the end of a knife. He prided himself on knowing when a conflict was escalating to far, and mis-judging this one so badly- in addition to almost dying- had shaken him badly.

 

Looking across at the madwoman his instructor had turned into, he was startled to find that, rather than looking like a demon from the depths of hell, but rather simply looking confused. Rubbing his neck- he would have sworn under the Light that he could still feel the point of the dagger there- he tried to figure out something to do that wasn't going to end in violence.

 

"You know... I realize that I'm probably the last person you'd care to hear this from, but as nobody else seems to be around to ask... Are you alright? Sir?" His voice was very shaky, and he added the honorific very belatedly, hoping she was too disoriented to notice.

[Nynaeve]

"You know... I realize that I'm probably the last person you'd care to hear this from, but as nobody else seems to be around to ask... Are you alright? Sir?"

 

Evelyn couldn't manage to find the inner strength to look up at him. She was embarrassed. "Get dressed." That's all she trusted herself to say. She wasn't sure what tone she used but Sylos obeyed her without arguing. It was possible she just looked so pathetic that he did it out of pure pity. She didn't need a mirror to know she probably looked like a rag doll. At least sending Sylos to get dressed gave her enough time to get up awkwardly without humiliating herself further.

 

She leaned against the log, letting out a sigh as Sylos finished dressing and turned to face her. Her thinking felt sluggish, but she had to figure out what to do next, forcing her brain to work quicker. What she did... was wrong. The only way to solve the situation was to go to the Master of Irons and report to him. She would be punished, of course. Perhaps even demoted. That pained her but those were the rules she vowed to obey when joining the Children. There was no escaping responsibility, after all.

 

She stood stiff, trying to sooth herself as tears threatened to overtake her. But she managed to speak, her voice hardly trembling. "After I get cleaned up I will go to the Master of Irons. To report myself. I assure you that my actions will not go unpunished. You're dismissed. I assume your training will be picked up by someone else." She fell silent after that. There was nothing more to add, really. She wanted to apologize verbally, but she couldn't. Her punishment would have to do.

 

Evelyn took a deep breath and began walking away awkwardly. Before she managed to take a third step, though, she slipped. She never hit the ground, though. Opening her eyes, she found Sylos' eyes, looking back at her. His brow was wrinkled. It usually did when he was worried. Why do I know that? She hung on to him, trying to find her footing but she realized that her grip never loosened even after she managed to steady herself.

 

Don't do it, was her last thought before she kissed him.

 

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

 

 

 

[Erathian Avenger]

Sylos had gotten his clothes on quickly, planning to leave quickly in the hopes that there would be no further trouble stemming from this- and more than a little relieved to be alive. He was confused as to why his instructor just wanted him to leave, especially after beating him within an inch of his life, but was more than willing to let it go and hang on to that particularly important inch. Then he heard her speaking, and turned about to figure out why, and how fast he was going to need to run.

 

"After I get cleaned up I will go to the Master of Irons. To report myself. I assure you that my actions will not go unpunished. You're dismissed. I assume your training will be picked up by someone else." Sylos just stared at Evelyn, completely bewildered. He'd expected anger, or at the very least annoyance, and certainly had expected to be handed off to another trainer. He had not, exactly, been expecting guilt- particularly since, from his point of view, the entire matter was his fault.

 

He was just about to explain that too her, as well, when she slipped, and his first priority became ensuring that her injuries didn't get any worse. Catching Evelyn right before she hit the ground, he helped her stand, feeling slightly alarmed that she needed help with it at all. After all, professional soldiers were supposed to be able to shrug off this sort thing, weren't they? Opening his mouth to make some witty comment to that effect, he found himself unable to when, against any kind of odds he'd ever seen calculated, she kissed him.

 

Sylos thought, very quickly, about how to react. Then, remembering how much good this sort of thinking had done him so far, he gave up on logic and kissed her back.

[Nynaeve]

At that point Evelyn was rather convinced that she was completely off her axle. She was kissing a trainee. A trainee that drove her up the wall.  A trainee she nearly killed only moments ago. It was clearly one of those days where she would have been better off staying in bed. All thoughts evaporated, though, as she sunk into Sylos' arms, strangely, feeling comfortable. The pain curled up into a ball at the back of her head and she was surprised to realize how easy it suddenly was to push it away.

 

The moment stretched for a long while before Evelyn pulled away. She felt flushed as she worked to catch her breath. Sylos was dumbstruck and she suspected she had a matching expression herself. She had to say something, though. Something. Anything. An apology? A sentence? Perhaps a syllable? She opened her mouth but then closed it without saying a word. She just turned around and walked away.

 

The next few hours were a lot more soothing. She was relieved to peel off her dirty uniforms, take a long bath and put on a fresh set. She cleaned her boots and brushed her hair and then proceeded to the infirmary. She was told off by the plump woman that ran it about ruining her body and what a shame it was because she was easy on the eyes. Evelyn was covered with bruises, as expected. Nothing broken, though, which was a relief. She was sent off with a few ointments, quite a few lectures about skin care and some herbs to help with the pain.

 

Soon enough, though, she ran out of tasks to do and all that was left was to make her way to the Master of Iron's study. She kept herself from thinking about what happened with Sylos. She suspected her punishment would keep her occupied enough to manage just that. She didn't want to think about it. She was afraid to.

 

When Evelyn arrived at the study, she knocked once and entered upon being invited in. She saluted and then froze as she realized that Sylos was sitting in the room. Her jaw dropped. What in the light!?!?!

 

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

 

[Erathian Avenger]

Sylos stood stock-still for some time, dumbfounded in the wake of both recent events and his instructor's silent departure. Trying to figure out what exactly had transpired, he decided that he would be better off sleeping on the matter and headed for his quarters. Upon reaching them, he stripped off his clothes once again and took some time to examine the damage his training- and subsequent battering- had done.

 

He sighed as he gazed over the bruises that were in the early stages of developments, knowing full well he was going to be very, very sore for at least a few weeks. But he wasn't about to go the infirmary for help; there wasn't any serious damage that he could tell, and he wasn't about to risk running into his instructor there. It would also be particularly unmanly, but that was only a concern because he had plenty of other reasons not to go, naturally.

 

It was only after this inspection that he realized he hadn't actually said anything about this whole disaster being his fault, and not Evelyn's. Which meant that, in all likelihood, she was still planning to report herself to the Master of Irons and get herself punished on account of actions not at all her responsibility. Or at least, not much so. Cursing his distraction, Sylos quickly found one of his clean uniforms, wincing as he pulled it on over all of his bruises, and headed for the Master of Irons' study with as much haste as he could.

 

Entering the study, he found the man he was looking for sitting behind a large desk filing paperwork. He saluted as he entered, both showing respect and catching the Master's attention. "Sir, I am here to report myself." He said, noticing from the lack of surprise in the Master of Irons' expression that this was not only common, but expected of the Children. The man gestured for him to sit down and explain himself, and he was just settling uncomfortably into a chair when his instructor walked into the room, her expression betraying her shock at finding him there first.

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn closed her mouth as soon as she noticed it was hanging open. She had to keep herself from blinking as she openly stared at Sylos. What is he doing here? I don't understand. Is he here to report me? Is he that anxious to bring me down? That thought saddened her. Maybe he was unsure if she was really going to go through with her promise to report herself and wanted to make sure. It seemed like he really did develop a resentment towards her. Not that she could blame him, but part of her hoped...

 

"Unless it's urgent, Evelyn, I'd rather finish off with this recruit first." The Master of Irons was a hard man and he didn't take to being kept waiting, but Evelyn took a long while to respond, hesitation taking over reason. "His business here is my own. He is one of my Basic Training students and the reason of his presence matches my own."

 

Evelyn took a deep breath. This was the point of no return. "We had a little mishap during one of our exercises. Things went a bit south and tempers were flaring and I stepped out of my role as instructor and acted in an unprofessional manner, which is unbecoming for a member of the Children of the Light. I take full responsibility in the matter and request a penance to rectify my error."

 

Evelyn cleared her throat and took extra care to stand upright, despite her aches. She was going to receive her punishment with her head up high.

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

 

[Erathian Avenger]

"We had a little mishap during one of our exercises. Things went a bit south and tempers were flaring and I stepped out of my role as instructor and acted in an unprofessional manner, which is unbecoming for a member of the Children of the Light. I take full responsibility in the matter and request a penance to rectify my error."

 

Sylos cursed furiously in his head, as he was now in exactly the situation he had been hoping to avoid by coming here. Now that she had claimed the responsibility herself, the best outcome likely was that they were both going to be punished. He briefly considered letting her take the blame, but it went too far against what he believed to be right, letting someone else be punished for his actions.

 

Clearing his throat to get the Master of Iron's attention, he put in his side of the story calmly. "Actually, sir, the matter was my fault. Throughout the training I acted with less than the respect an instructor deserves, and deliberately goaded the Lieutenant. My insubordination was the cause of the issues during that particular exercise."

 

He sat and waited after he finished speaking, hoping that the matter would not end too badly for either of them- or that if it did, he was the one to recieve the brunt of it. He still didn't understand why Evelyn felt it was her fault; he had been acting well beyond the bounds of his rights as a recruit, and her reaction to that was- to his mind- more than appropriate. At least, up until putting a dagger to his neck, but she hadn't actually killed him, so he was willing to let that go.

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn wrinkled her brow, feeling more confused than she did before at Sylos' presence. He was a buffoon! She already took on the responsibility of what occurred. What did he think he was going to accomplish by this!?! They were both going to end up slapped with a penance. No, she couldn't suffer that to happen.

 

She cut off the Master of Irons before he could speak. Probably not the wisest of movies, but at that point she didn't care. "Don't pay any attention to him, Ramus. I might have hit his head too hard and he's babbling. If you could excuse him we can sit down and discuss this further?"

 

Ramus opened his mouth only to be cut off again, this time by Sylos. "My apologies, sir, but the Lieutenant is the only one of the two of us recently in the infirmary for a serious head wound. I am in full possession of my faculties, and I assure you, this is my fault and not hers. There really is no need to keep Lieutenant Evelyn from her duties any longer." Sylos replied mere moments after Evelyn finished speaking, determined to shift the blame to himself.

 

"How DARE you....", this time Ramus cut Evelyn off. "ENOUGH! I don't want to hear any more of this. Get out. Both of you." Evelyn's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak. "No. I don't want to hear it. If and when you get your versions straight you may return. Now out. I don't have time to waste on you two." Red spots appeared on Evelyn's cheeks as she reluctantly walked out of the study, followed by Sylos. The door slammed behind them.

 

She made sure to walk away from Ramus' study, so he wouldn't overhear, before she spun around to face Sylos. "What under the light were you thinking!?!?!".

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

[Erathian Avenger]

"What under the light were you thinking!?!?!" Evelyn's furious voice intruded into Sylos' thinking, as he tried to determine precisely how they had ended up with neither of them being punished, when he had been so sure both of them would be. Nonetheless, he turned to face his furious instructor, and his response had more than a little of his own anger behind it.

 

"I was thinking, sir, that I was not about to let you take the blame for a situation that was not your fault! I acted rudely and insubordinately throughout the entirety of that exercise, and for you to take punishment solely on yourself for the results is not only unfair to you, it is insulting!" Sylos paused to take a breath, and immediately continued, not bothering to give Evelyn a chance to respond.

 

"While holding a knife to my throat was well beyond what you should have done the rest, from my point of view, was entirely appropriate, and there are more than a few armies where the fact that I struck back would have put you well within your rights to have actually killed me. Since you didn't- which, by the way, I do appreciate- The responsibility for the entire fiasco is mine." Finally done, he watched Evelyn, waiting to see how she would respond, and hoping that she wouldn't insist on returning to the Master of Irons.

[Nynaeve]

"While holding a knife to my throat was well beyond what you should have done the rest, from my point of view, was entirely appropriate, and there are more than a few armies where the fact that I struck back would have put you well within your rights to have actually killed me. Since you didn't- which, by the way, I do appreciate- The responsibility for the entire fiasco is mine."

 

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "No call for being a gentleman, Sylos. You struck back because I deserved to be struck back and that is that. The fact remains that you are a recruit. You're fresh off the wagon. I'm a lieutenant and as such there's a certain decorum expected of me. I am not supposed to utilize my rank to batter on members of lower rank. As for the dagger....."

 

She took a deep breath before speaking, forcing the words out. "I was out of order. I apologize." She stopped her gaze from going to the floor. She still felt quite a bit of shame over that. The moment stretched for a while before she spoke again. "I will request you be transferred to another trainer. I do not find myself fit for that. I'm sure you'll be notified concerning my replacement." With that Evelyn turned to leave.

 

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

[Erathian Avenger]

"I was out of order. I apologize. I will request you be transferred to another trainer. I do not find myself fit for that. I'm sure you'll be notified concerning my replacement." Sylos stared as Evelyn turned to go, having mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, she had given him a beating he was not likely to forget- ever. On the other hand, he'd gotten used to her as a trainer, and suspected that others might not take his insubordination in quite the same way. Too, there was the fact that she had kissed him, a mystery yet unsolved.

 

Unsolved mysteries infuriated Sylos, on a very deep and personal level.

 

This only left the task of convincing Evelyn that it was a good idea. And for that, he thought he might just have an idea. Grinning, he stood in front of her, barring her exit. "While I suppose that might work, it seems an awful lot like running away; and that doesn't strike me as being your style."

 

"Certainly, you could have me reassigned to another trainer, but that leaves two problems. First and foremost, I'm likely to end up infuriating every trainer in the fortress, rather than just your august self. Secondly, and probably more important from your point of view, is your unresolved guilt." Sylos' grin softened into a gentler smile, doing his best to show he was serious, and not mocking her. "You want to punish yourself for losing control and taking it out on a raw recruit? Well and good." He made a deep, flourishing bow. "Stick around, Lieutenant, and consider dealing with me your penance."

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn froze as Sylos moved in to block her. She took a step back, startled. Whether by his sudden proximity or by the fact that it actually made her nervous, she wasn't sure."While I suppose that might work, it seems an awfully lot like running away; and that doesn't strike me as being your style." Evelyn blinked. Running away? She wasn't running away! She was doing the right thing. The proper thing. Hell, she was doing him a favor. Somehow, though, that seemed to inadvertently label her as a coward. She was going to give him a piece of her mind but he continued talking before she could cut in.

 

"Certainly, you could have me reassigned to another trainer, but that leaves two problems. First and foremost, I'm likely to end up infuriating every trainer in the fortress, rather than just your august self. Secondly, and probably more important from your point of view, is your unresolved guilt. You want to punish yourself for losing control and taking it out on a raw recruit? Well and good." He made a deep, flourishing bow. "Stick around, Lieutenant, and consider dealing with me your penance."

 

Evelyn stared at him for a long moment, until she regained her outwardly calm exterior. Was he glutton for punishment? his request to keep her as his trainer made no sense. Then again, Sylos never seemed to make sense to her. Until recent events she didn't care to solve that riddle. Did she care now? No, of course she didn't. What happened with him, ALL of it, was a mistake. One event led to another and she lost her sense of self. She regained it, though. She was back to normal. She was Evelyn, 1st lieutenant of the bloody Children of the Light!!

 

"Very well. We will resume your training in a couple of days. Now move aside, recruit." She took a step forward and eyed Sylos steadily. "Or do I need to remove you?".

 

 

 

Evelyn

CotL

[Erathian Avenger]

"Very well. We will resume your training in a couple of days. Now move aside, recruit. Or do I need to remove you?" Sylos gave a genuine, cheerful smile in response, stepping aside with agility. "Of course not. I am nothing if not adroit in following my orders." Watching Evelyn leave, Sylos considered whether or not convincing her to continue training him had really been a good idea. He shrugged, finally deciding that the only way to find out was to see it through.

 

Heading back to his quarters, still mercifully absent of his roommates- he hadn't actually met them, yet, and suspected they'd been deployed in the field somewhere- he settled down onto his bed with an irritable groan at the pain it produced from contact with his numerous bruises. He considered going to the infirmary, but decided against it once again and, unable to get comfortable enough to sleep, instead sat up and began writing a letter to his father, who he still hadn't informed of his decision to join the Children.

 

Not that he expected his father to object, or at least not to the Children specifically, but his father had lost all four of his brothers to military service and didn't want to lose any of his sons the same way. Which left the difficult task of phrasing the letter properly. Settling into it, Sylos continued working for the remainder of the day, finally falling asleep due to sheer exhaustion sometime during the night.

 

Life in the Fortress quickly returned to what he had accepted as the normal pace, and as he got back into doing menial work around the halls and yards he continued his project of mapping the place out in his head, which provided a nice distraction from his still-healing bruises. His letter to his father was finished but still unsent when he awoke one morning to find a note ordering him to report to the main yard. He sighed and headed over immediately, presuming that it meant his training was to resume once more.

[Nynaeve]

Evelyn watched from afar as she saw Sylos waiting for her. She didn't know what came of her when she sent that note. It was a mistake. Their training was done, after all. She would come across him, eventually, that was a given. But if she could help it she was going to stay away from him. It was for her own good and his. Evelyn spared Sylos another look and turned around, heading back to her room.

 

******************************************************************************

 

A long while into the day, Ezekiel was barging into rooms with no pause, ordering several recruits to meet him back in the yard. On his way out of an empty room he almost crashed into another recruit. Was it Solieus? Either way he ordered him to be there as well and left. He ignored any questions or protests. They were either going to be there or he was personally going to pick out an eloquent punishment for each and every one of them. And he was known for his macabre imagination.

 

Eventually, he made his way back to yard, pursing his lips in contemplation for a moment, eying all the recruits in front of him. Naturally, they were all there. His cloak flapped in the soft breeze as the sun started to set down, giving the sky a red/purple shade. They were all about to undergo one of the oldest customs the Children of the Light had. The first Oath. A solid tie to the Fortress and the cause.

 

Increasing the usual volume of his voice, Ezekiel spoke ceremonially. "We meet when day ends and night begins to seal your commitment to the Light. Please, repeat after me." Raising his eyes to the setting sun, Ezekiel recited. "By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth, I swear fealty to The Children of The Light. I vow to serve, respect and grant obedience to the high command. In the name of the Creator, I swear it."

 

 

 

OOC: Ok, post yourself taking the oath and what you feel when you swear it....and consider this thread done! ;D   and btw, best basic training EVAH :D I hope you had as much fun as I did.

 

OH, just a heads up, but every post posted after the 10th on DM will not be transferred to the new DM. We'll be moving hopefully by the end of the month so we'll just have to copy your post to the new board :) (don't let it discourage you from replying, though!!!)

 

*hugs*

 

 

 

Ezekiel

Questioner

[Nynaeve]

bump

[Erathian Avenger]

"By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth, I swear fealty to The Children of The Light. I vow to serve, respect and grant obedience to the high command. In the name of the Creator, I swear it." Sylos repeated the words formally, and tonelessly; he had not expected to need to do that, but something in the oath bothered him. Being a military organization, he supposed it made sense for the Children to swear obedience to the high command- nonetheless, he felt it left things open for difficulties if the high command proved less than competent- or, though he could not really wrap his mind around the idea, proved to be Darkfriends. Nonetheless, something inside him felt quieted, comforted, by the knowledge that he had taken another step on his path.

 

He left the yard, feeling something in between satisfaction at a job well done and elation at a goal brought nearer to attainment, and returned to his room. He sat down on his bunk, and pulled out some paper and a pen. He had been meaning to write to his family since arriving, but now that he was well and truly done with basic training he felt it needed doing far more. But something felt different. In the past, he had always been a writing as a son to a father or mother, a brother to a brother or sister. He had not been a succesful merchant writing home to his family about good trade deals, as his more business-minded siblings often did. He had always been just the wandering, wayward son writing home. Now, for the first time, he would have to write back as someone else's Child. As with the oath, he was unsure how he felt about the matter.