Let's find that light Jeryl

[Liitha]

Liitha droped to the ground after her joging rounds and started streaching looking at Yaz, she liked taking him along with her when training. She raised her eyes to the sun and realised she had to get going if she was to be done in time.

 

She grabed the leading rope and lead the stallion to the stable where she rubed him down and put him into a fence. Then went to fill her waterskin before returning to the yard.

Siting down outside the Armory she waited her back against the wall, soon her new mentee should be there.

[GiDo]

As Jeryl walked out of the barracks he saw some trainees practising with their wooden swords, he had seen men with swords before coming to Tar Valon, but not actually practising with them. He had been in the city for four days now and been at the barracks since the third day, to become a trainee. Today was the day he was told to report to the training grounds and meet his mentor for the first time.

 

As he walked across the courtyard he saw a Warder in his green colour shifting cloak standing with the two boys who where practicing there wooden swords. He walked over to the warder and asked him where he could find his mentor Liitha, who he was supposed to meet in a few minutes. "Last I saw her she was going into the direction of the armory, maybe you can find here there" he told him. As he walked to the direction the Warder told him, he started wondering what kind of person his mentor was.

 

When he finally reached the armory he introduced himself to the woman that was sitting near the entrance, "Hi I'm Jeryl Sairyn and I've come to train here and maybe become a warder, it's nice to meet you".

[Liitha]

Liitha nodded, "very well first we need to get you a weapon to train with and while we walk through the armory you can tell me of any past experience you have had. Other then this if you got any questions feel free to ask them"

 

Liitha opened the door to the armory with one hand and held it up for the boy, her long hair hung down in a braid over her shoulder today. Tucking a few loose strands away behind her ear she followed her new mentee inside the armory where row upon row was filled with difrent weapons of all kinds and weigths. There where sure to be something in there for any taste, the handles of her own katanas would peek up above her shoulders.

[GiDo]

"The only experience I have with fighting is the occasional fistfights I had when I was a bit younger." Jeryl replied as his mentor opened the door to the armory. That made him think of one of the times he got in a fight. Some boy bullied his sister and he had helped her, he got a bloody nose and a couple of bruises from it but luckily it was one of the fights he won.

 

As he walked in he saw more weapons than he had ever seen in his whole live, and then some more. "I can choose any weapon I want?" He asked as he walked through the armory. When he saw her nodding he strolled up and down the racks against the walls and in the middle of the room, sometimes picking up a bow and the other time picking up a katana or some other sword.

 

Then his eyes fell on an Iron long sword on a rack he just walked by. It had a brown leather hilt with a polished iron pommel in the form of a lions head "Mother always said I reminded her of a Lion." He said to himself in a murmur. "Now all I need is a nice bow and I'll be ready I think." He said more loudly as he walked to the section with all the bows.

 

As he walked up and down the racks stacked with bows of different sizes and sorts, he picked a few up and put them down again after examining them a bit. When he found a Short ivory bow which he thought was good for riding with so he picked it up and took it with him.

 

"I'm finished I think, can I wear this sword on my back? And what do I call you? What are we going to do now?" He asked eagerly and fast leaving no room for his mentor to answer, as he walked to the doors of the armory fumbling his sword hilt.

[Liitha]

Liitha watched Jeryl walking through the rows, ready to answer any question and tilting her head with a sligth smile as she heard him talk to himself. She could remember coming here herself, though she had had her own sword, a gift from those at home that cared for her, that she knew was proud of her and girved the loss of two village daugthers in her mother and the aunt she didnt knew who was.

 

In the begining she had been at mind to see if her aunt truly was in the tower, but later on she had droped the thougth, even if her mothers things could be seen as hers her sister was just as entitled to it, and she had her doubts on how an Aes Sedai would react to someone coming knowing on their door claiming things. No Liitha had in the end accepted that the past bellonged to the past.

 

"I'm finished I think, can I wear this sword on my back? And what do I call you? What are we going to do now?" Liitha had to bite in her laugh and pass it off as a smile when he showed just how eager he was, sweet memories of eagerness bubeling through her own mind.

 

"Yes you may wear the sword on your back, and my name is Liitha Narshoba, but you can call me Lii if you want. As to what is next we will go sit down, i had some ligth lunch prepared in a basket outside." she lead the way outside and picked up the basket seteling herself under the tree opening it, she picked out a botle of lemonade, some bread, cheese, a few pieces of salt meat and some fruit.

 

"We will now talk about yuor expectations, I'll answer any questions you have as best can, and tell you about the yards expectations to you. and we will finish it off with me showing you how to take care of those weapons" Liitha poured herself a glass of lemonade and put some chese on a slice of bread waiting for her mentee to setle down and help hiumself as well as pondering what to ask first.

[GiDo]

As they walked to the tree all kind of questions got in his head, where to start first. "I think I will just call you Liitha then because that is your name." He said as he was pouring himself a glass of lemonade. Grabbing some cheese, bread and salted meat he thought about what to ask next and what he was expecting from the yard. "Actually I expect nothing, well I do expect to finish my training and become a warder but that's an expectation I have from myself and not from the yard."

 

His father always told him that he couldn't count on others for good things to happen and if he really wanted something he needed to do it himself, with the help of others some times. But still he needed to do it himself because; you couldn't count on others to always go in the same direction as your own. "I want to become a warder." He told himself in a murmur.

 

Fumbling his sword hilt he thought of buying a sword of his own someday, one that was specially made for him by a blacksmith. That thought made him think about money, whether he would get paid by the yard or the tower. "This sword I picked, can I keep it or do I have to give it back after my training? I was thinking of letting a sword made for myself one day, do you know a good blacksmith? One that isn't that expensive because I don't have that much money."

 

Being so occupied by his thoughts he almost forgot his lunch in front of him. As he put some cheese on his bread and took a bite he saw a warder do some exercises in front of his class, "Am I going to learn that to?" he said with his mouth full of bread and cheese. "I'm sorry for that; I think it's my eagerness." He said after he emptied his mouth.

 

It was a nice day with a clear blue sky and some white clouds on the horizon, the perfect weather to go out riding he thought. "What about my clothes? Can I still wear my own clothes? And my other belongings, can I keep them to?" His eagerness was taking hold of him again.

[Liitha]

"I think I will just call you Liitha then because that is your name."

 

Lii nodded, her nick name where mostly just used by close friends, of which she didnt have to many. Times had changed a lot and days gone past, experinces had made friendships run out into the sand for a lot of difrent reasons, and her path was mostly a lonesome one now.

 

"Actually I expect nothing, well I do expect to finish my training and become a warder but that's an expectation I have from myself and not from the yard."

 

Liitha picked up a grape while listening, chewing on the sweet fruit meat and spiting out the rocks. Her new mentee at least seemed level headed, with his feets grounded to the earth. He murmured something she couldnt hear as she picked up a few more grapes.

"This sword I picked, can I keep it or do I have to give it back after my training? I was thinking of letting a sword made for myself one day, do you know a good blacksmith? One that isn't that expensive because I don't have that much money."

 

Liitha sat down her cup of lemonade, and smiled. Before she could answer though another few questions poured out and she had to smile at his eagerness. As she looked in the direction where he was looking, the gaidin in his view was but a few years raised into his rank if she remembered corectly and newly bonded.

 

Listening to Jeryls excuse she nodded and waited a moment before starting to answer making sure she had all the questions out there.

 

"Firstly .." she nodded to the sword, "..yes you will be able to keep that for as long as you serve in the yard, and though some of it migth look plain we have one of the best blacksmiths there is, so as to answer who to go to for geting an own sword it would be our own blacksmith i would think." she paused and swallowed another grape, "Secondly as long as you train hard and stay on your aim becoming a warder there is no reason you shouldnt learn what that gaidin over there is doing and probably much more, for those who want it this i would say is probably one of the best places to learn the skill it would take to earn the herons." She knew her own time where closing on beeing tested as well, she expected within the passing of a year.

 

"Now for eagerness, we all can understand that, most has been at one time, just dont let it control you, you have much to learn and it will take time. If you see in your room there should be a box at the end of your bed, in there you can put your stuff and there should also be a couple trainee uniforms, you are expected to wash them yourself and keep them clean so that you are always representable." She smiled, of course that would mean some deal of washing the trainings always rendered the trainees full of dirt, dust and mud.

[GiDo]

"Firstly... yes you will be able to keep that for as long as you serve in the yard, and though some of it might look plain we have one of the best blacksmiths there is, so as to answer who to go to for getting an own sword it would be our own blacksmith I would think.

Secondly... as long as you train hard and stay on your aim becoming a warder there is no reason you shouldn't learn what that gaidin over there is doing and probably much more, for those who want it this I would say is probably one of the best places to learn the skill it would take to earn the herons.

Now for eagerness, we all can understand that, most has been at one time, just don't let it control you, you have much to learn and it will take time. If you see in your room there should be a box at the end of your bed, in there you can put your stuff and there should also be a couple trainee uniforms, you are expected to wash them yourself and keep them clean so that you are always representable."

 

Jeryl fumbled his sword hilt and examined the blade as Liitha answered his questions. "I'll try to keep my mind focussed and not become overly eager." He said as he picked up his bow from his side and examined it. It was a nice short ivory bow with little carvings on the sides of birds, which he didn't recognize. "I don't even know how to wash. My mother always did that, and after she died one of the maids who worked at the inn did it, sometimes my sister helped to." With a sad face he wondered whether his father was alright. "He's all alone now you know, my father is. And I haven't seen him in over a year. But enough of that, there's nothing I can do about it now can I? Can you teach me how to take care of these weapons?"

 

Hearing the people in the training yard practise with there wooden swords and talking, made him want to join them and skip the whole "taking care of his weapons" part. But that wasn't a smart thing to do. Even he knew that taking good care of your equipment is more important than actually knowing how to use them, and he wanted especially to take good care of the sword he picked out in the armoury. Picking the sword up again he said "I think I want to start with learning about taking care of my sword. But first I think I would like to finish my lunch."

 

While he chewed on a piece of salted meat he started thinking about how everything would go from here on, how long his training would take and who he was going to be bonded by. He had never actually seen an Aes Sedai before coming to Tar Valon. And his first encounter with an Aes Sedai was still a bit of a blur to him. It was when he entered the city and he still couldn't believe how great the city looked. He had heard tales of it but actually seeing it was a whole different thing. While he walked in the streets he accidentally bumped into a woman in a green silk dress, because he was staring at the buildings more then actually paying attention to the road. That was all he could remember, and the only reason he knew she was Aes Sedai was because he couldn't get an age to her face. The first time he looked he thought she was 25 and the second time she looked 20 years older. That still seemed strange to him. "How can a woman look 25 at the first glance and 45 at the second?" He thought. Hurriedly he tried to think of something else but at the moment nothing else could come up in his mind. "I'll get used to it I guess."

 

After eating a few grapes and another slice of bread with cheese and emptying a cup of lemonade, he stood up and said "I think I'm ready for my training now." while he dusted of some crumbs of his clothes.

[Liitha]

"I think I'm ready for my training now."

 

Liitha nodded and dug into her pocket for two wetstones tossing one over to Jeryl. Drawing one of her katanas over her back swift and gracefully she lay her own wetstone againt the blade to demonstrate. "This how you will keep that sword of yours always sharp, you should only need press a finger against it to draw blood, a unsharp blade wont slice as nicely as a sharp one." After making sure he had the technic down she moved on into the basket geting hold of a botle of oil and a cloth. "Use these to keep your weapons clean as well keep the wood in the bow from drying, and always unstring your bow when not in use. Make sure to keep the string dry." She smiled.

 

"In the weeks to come we will get you into a training scedule to make sure to get you properly fit. For today thoug I'll let you have a look around the place, but I'll see you at dawn in the yard tomorow, welcome to your new life."