A fresh start: Intro Davian (Attn: MoT)

[Blade]

Dejected, Davian left the White Tower through the massive front doors. It had only been an outside chance really, that the Aes Sedai would grant his request to restore the merchant's store. It had been his own fault and the Aes Sedai had ruled that it was up to him to fix i...or maybe it was that their power didn't extend as far as rumor had told. Whatever the case he had been hoping to be able to help the merchant out, if only for having taken care of him for so many years, but it looked like that was no longer to be. He couldn't return either because the merchant had kicked him out. Pondering on his circumstances Davian wandered...He could open his own shop...after all, he had learned the tricks of the trade well, and there were bound to be plenty of adventerous folk coming and going in Tar Valon...but it was trying to pass off shoddy material that had first gotten him into this mess...and he wasn't sure he wouldn't try to do so again, given a chance. Besides, from what he had heard, you didn't do things like that in Tar Valon otherwise THEY would...take care of you...

 

Well with nothing to tie him down, he could really become anything...though he was rather old for an apprenticeship. Being a merchant was the only thing he knew how to do, and he needed to stay away from that for now. A strange clatter attracted his attention. Wandering over to the sound, deep in thought, he stumbled upon a clearing where a large number of men and women were fighting, though they seemed to be doing so with wooden weapons. Intrigued...Davian watched for a time. This would be a useful skill, especially against the likes of people like the merchant's sons...or should he ever get in another situation like trouble over passing off shoddy work...well that would do just as well easily. Now...to figure out how to convince someone to teach him. As Davian watched...he noticed that there seemed to be a few people around teaching them, correcting mistakes. Maybe they were apprentices? to be...merchant guards or something or even warders! Now that would be something! Davian had never heard of such a thing, but perhaps it could be true. Well...many of those down there seemed very skilled, but Davian was sure he could convince someone to let him be an apprentice.

 

Wandering into the yards, Davian approached the nearest teacher. "Excuse me good sir, but it seems like you're doing a lot of teaching. If you have the room...I'd like to offer my services as your apprentice."

[Sieve]

((OOC:  Don't take offense to Perivar's rough manner.  As much as he has tried to work on his anti-social behavior I fear he has failed.  He hates training recruits and is short with those he does not know well.  It takes a long time for him to warm up to people.))

 

"Good!" Perivar shouted to the trainees "Again!" He had them working the basic forms, they were dreadful but sometimes a little encouragement went a long way.  Truthfully he hated training the recruits but it was far better than taking his ease inside the Tower.  Kabria, his Aes Sedai, was busy with some sort of Tower business so he decided to help out in the yards when he was not training himself.  He had to receive her permission first of course, the thought of that made him smile.  She could be touchy with him teaching others.  He saw the shorter man approaching out of the corner of his eye.  Unless he missed completely he figured the man was about 3 or so years younger than himself.  The smile slipped from his face as he studied the man who was addressing him.

 

"Excuse me good sir, but it seems like you're doing a lot of teaching. If you have the room...I'd like to offer my services as your apprentice."  Perivar looked around then turned to face the man as he eyed him up and down.  Perivar stood roughly six inches taller and was much wider than the man in front of him.  One of Perivar's arms was twice as big as one belonging to the other man.  What kind of man doesn't introduce himself he thought.  Had this man ever done physical labor or was he some sort of clerk?  Perivar's scowl and stony exterior was not welcoming though he did not care.  Perhaps some of Kabria's rough-tongued speech was rubbing off on him as there was an edge to his voice when he responded. 

 

"My name is Perivar Tarigan."  If the man lacked common courtesy it did not mean that Perivar could not show it to him.  He purposely gave no title though, he hated titles, for himself at least.  He was proud of being Kabria's Warder but he did not go around like an arrogant fool telling everyone what he was.  He would give titles for others if they were derserving of one.  He was one for proper protocols in public much to the dismay of others. 

 

Honestly he did not feel like saying any more than was absolutely necessary but he had to at least point the man in the right direction.  He was very anti-social except around those who were close to him.  The list of people who were close to him was extremely short.  The shorter the better he thought. 

 

"If you want to be an apprentice I suggest you go to the stables or the smithy."  He eyed the shorter man.  "No?...Well if you want to train here in hopes of becoming a Tower Guard or Warder then you have to see the Mistress of Trainees.  That's her office right there."  Perivar pointed with his right hand then turned his attention back to the trainees.  He probably could have saved the breath he wasted on the man or perhaps he could have convinced him to be a stablehand.  The man would probably not last a week.

 

"What was that!" He barked at the trainees as he threw his hands in the air.  He could not hide his displeasure this time.  "A serving girl could work the forms better than the lot of you!"  He glared at each of them.  "Go through them again and if they are not better this time then you'll be running laps 'til the sun goes down!"  He was a little rougher than he meant to be, with the recruits that is.  He did not care what the newcomer thought of him. 

[Blade]

Light, just moments in and already he had managed to get onto somebody's bad side. What had he done? Maybe the man was offended that someone so small would have the nerve to try and become a warder? Maybe that was it, but you gotta start somewhere right? Hopefully this didn't bode ill for his future prospects here. Mistress of Trainees sounded like a better bet. After all...how tough could a woman be on the new guys? Of course...he had seen some pretty tough mistresses in Cairhienin....Well, if it came down to it he could lie his way out of it, that course hadn't failed him often before.

 

Thanking the hulking trainer out in the yard, Davian headed for the door that the man...Perivar? had pointed out. Knocking, Davian heard someone within shout "enter!" and slipped inside. The mistress, whoever she was was facing away from him so he didn't get a chance to read who she was so he decided to go with hesitancy. Always better for people to underestimate you. "Umm...mistress? A man out there directed me to see you if I wanted to become a warder so uh..here I am!"

[Eqwina]

With her back to the door Thera was slumped down in her chair, twirling one of her throwing knives around her fingers. To many she would appear bored, but for those that truly knew her would see the dangerous glint in her eyes and know that she was deep in thought. The events of the last month had unsettled Thera and drawn her back closer towards her bitter ways. It seemed that even love could not hold her temper at bay forever. Perhaps it was the fact that they were forced to spend so much time apart, or that spring was quick approaching and Jasine had not yet mentioned setting a date for there wedding. Whatever it was, between the murders and her personal life Thera was not a pleasant woman to be around.

 

With a quiet, but frustrated noise she tossed her knife at the wall, not even watching to see if it landed home. The resounding chunk as it sank into the wood was enough. Her eyes were still closed when she heard the knock at her door. Groaning Thera bellowed “Enter” without turning around in her chair. Who ever it was she intended to send them away with a flea in their ear.

 

"Umm...mistress? A man out there directed me to see you if I wanted to become a warder so uh..here I am!"

 

Spinning around so she could put a face with the hesitant voice she didn’t saw a word. With her icy stare she looked the boy up and down before motioning him to a chair. It seemed that she would not be able to just chase the child away, so it would be him the suffered her temper today. “My name is Thera Trakelyn, but Mistress of Trainee’s or simply Thera will be how you address me, if I decide to let you stay. But first you must tell me why you think you want to be a warder.”

[Blade]

Glancing towards the wall, Davian noticed a knife stuck in the wall. This mistress definitely fell under the exceptional few. From the looks of things, she could probably handle more weapons than he had years without thinking. Light, okay, don't panic...just come up with a good enough cover story and she'll let you in. You've come up with good stuff in pressure situations in the past...come on...aha! Telling sad stories usually would get people to sympathize and want to help you. It should be enough to get him in.

 

"Well...umm...ma'am. See I come from Cairhienin, and my father, he was a wealthy shopkeeper. Well...at least...he was. He was coming back from a trip to andor getting supplies. Those black veiled aiel killed my pa as he was coming back to the city and took his supplies. I came here because everyone says this place is the best for learning to fight, and well ma'am, I wanna learn to fight and pay them back, to fight for the light!

 

A stirring speech, Davian thought, now if only it would go over with the lady behind the desk.

[Eqwina]

Quirking one eyebrow she only stared at the boy, analyzing his words for any omission or lie. Rarely did someone walk into her office and share the true story of the path that had led him to her, but she always liked to know how close to the truth they held.

 

“An interesting tale boy and perhaps parts of it are even true, but do you really think revenge is a good reason to learn to fight?” Leaning back in her chair she didn’t break eye contact. “I am not in the business, nor are the Aes Sedai, of teaching young men to be killers just so they can go out and exact revenge.” Thera had been privy to a few Aiel spears during one of her trips to the Waste, and she knew how fierce of fighters they were. It would likely be years before the boy could have any hope of facing an Aiel and winding up alive, but still she couldn’t let that be his only reason for staying.

 

“You said you want to fight for the Light? Tell me what you think that means and what you think life in the Tower will be.”

[Blade]

"Umm...fight for the light. Well...I just always figured Warders were off doing things like battling trollocs and fighting darkfriends, all those kinds of fun and exciting things. I thought that's what it meant to fight for the light. How else are you supposed to do that? As for tower life I figured it wouldn't be too much different from home. You know, train some during the day, go have fun in the city and of course learning to do amazing warder things like tracking an ant through a snowstorm and the trail is 3 days old or learning how to fight off 20 men at once, you know, that sort of thing."

 

Okay, he was overexaggerating the warders skills, but everything he had heard warders were able to do made him think that they were still able to some stuff that wasn't too far off of that. Besides, better for them to think he was a fool or immature. It was always easier to handle life when you knew that the things people would say and do to you were really being done to the fake persona you had created about yourself. He had learned that the hard way from his surrogate 'brothers'.

[Eqwina]

Her gray mood slightly lessened listening to him describe how he thought Tower life would be. He had a few strange notions that he might be sad to have disabused, but the truth was part of her job.

 

“Either you are trying to flatter your way into my Yards or you’ve lived in a fly speck village under a rock for the first years of your life.” Her words were harsh but they did carry a tinge of amusement that was working its way into her gloom. “I could hardly track an ant through a snow storm, but you are not far off on what I can teach you of tracking and woodcraft. It would take years for you to master it of course and for the rest I do not know any but an Aiel that could fight 20 men and even then there is no hope of winning, only of killing them before you too die. Unless of course there is an Aes Sedai in your pocket” She did chuckle this time picturing the boy leaping about hacking and 20 men with swords.

 

“I am afraid I also have to tell you that  free time is limited while you’re a trainee. You will start training at first light and not stop, except for meals, until dark. You will do chores and take classes as well as train with your weapons. You will be broken down and rebuilt into a new man, capable of continuing on where others would fall and of talking yourself out of situations where others would use brute force. That cannot be done in mere hours a day. Now and again I give a free day and there will be time to see Tar Valon once you are farther along in your training, but for now your days and your nights are mine.”

 

The boys face seemed a little sickly, but he still sat straight in his chair. “So, do you still want to enlist in the Warders?”

 

[Blade]

Light, training non stop til dark? Where was the fun in that! Chores as well! Light, this place was going to be boring! He didn't like the idea of 'being broken down' and rebuilt. Mainly the broken down part. That was what his surrogate brothers had been trying to do, break him down. Well it hadn't worked for them, and it wasn't going to work here. He was feeling kind of sick at the whole idea of joining, but then he realized that this lady had to be trying to get into his head and make him quit. After all, he didn't exactly fit the description of a typical swordsman. Maybe they didn't want his type here. He couldn't imagine anybody actually WANTING to spend all day every day doing chores and training, no this definitely had to be a bluff.

 

Putting on his most ingratiating smile Davian looked the Mistress in the Eye. "Of course I'm still ready to enlist, why, I'm sure I'll be great at this, how hard can it honestly be?! Sign me up."

[Eqwina]

Thera arched an eyebrow and chuckled slightly. “Is that how it’s going to be?” The innocent look that painted the boy’s face only made her laugh harder. It seemed that this young man had managed to crack her reserve.

 

“You know you don’t have to lie to me to stay? I didn’t paint a picture of happiness for you so I highly doubt you are really that excited.”

 

This one was going to be trouble, she could tell already, but his seemed like the innocent kind of harm. He didn’t say anything, so Thera pulled out the enrollment book and her writing case and dipped the pen in the ink scrawling the boys’ country and looked up at him to get his name. Finishing up his name she sanded his page and shut the book.

 

“Well, it’s done now. Do you have any questions I can answer for you?”