Gunnar's Arrival

[Zylazlo-]

After Gunnar’s hasty and adrenaline filled parting the caravan trip seemed like a torture, a crawling torture, where every stab and scratch feels like an eternity. It wasn’t that the caravan was dawdling; in fact they were setting a pretty taxing pace. But after his unforeseen change of future, he expected everything from then on out to be an adventure, filled with action and the unexpected. Up until now it was it had only been filled with dull landscape and quiet company. It was just like being home and doing errands for his father, except where back then it was a few hours this was a whole days worth. He was making steady of progress towards Tar Valon but in his mind it was just standing still.

 

About halfway into the journey, he decided to occupy his mind with what was really bothering him. It’d been nagging at him and it was probably silly to think about, but since he’d never really strayed far from Camelyn he feared getting lost in this new city. He could always ask around, but people always seemed to give erroneous information or he’d just plain misunderstand. He’d heard and read that you could see the White Tower before you could even see the city, but people tended to exaggerate, so he supposed he’d have to rely on his own sense of direction.

 

Besides that, he’d spent his time dwelling on his training. He’d heard that the training to become a Warder was harsh, not to mention arduous. He tried to make up the odds of having a benevolent, strict or nasty mentor. He gave up after a while but he still had the feeling that this was going to be no picnic.

 

After many uneventful days with only his mind to entertain himself, he felt more than heard the excitement common to the ending of a journey. He laughed to himself, it seemed to be true, he could see an indistinct tower in the distance. After that everything just seemed to fly by.

 

When he did finally arrive and part ways with the caravan, he finally felt it, the jolt of the heart, the flowing of his blood he was thrilled to be here. And here was definitely an amazing place to be. Caemlyn was tidy and clean streetwise, but Tar Valon irradiated a sense of spotlessness inside and out. And the commerce was bustling like mad. He knew Tar Valon was the center of trade for the borderlands with the rest of the world but he had no idea how booming it could be. He was almost tempted to give up the notion of becoming a Warder and instead establish himself as a successful merchant. But right then he knew it would never work, now that he had decided he wanted a life of exhilaration he knew he couldn’t go back. As he progressed towards the looming White Tower he marveled at the detail of the architecture, if he hadn’t seen Ogier buildings before he probably would have gawked for hours. He did in fact gawk for a while in the city at a few young ladies which turned out to be Aes Sedai, and he hurriedly decided to look away so as to not disrespect anyone or get a bumpy start here in Tar Valon.

 

When he did finally reach the White Tower he was amazed at it. The sheer purity of the look made him almost intake breath sharply. He would’ve been quite intimidated by it, if he wasn’t trying so hard to seem to know exactly where he was going and what he was doing.

After he glued his eyes away from the tower and started concentrating more on his surroundings, he started to worry. He didn’t actually know where to go, or what to do. He decided against going into the tower itself, he knew Aes Seadai were strict with entry so he looked around for other young men. They weren’t hard to find there were dozens of pairs sparring and exercising in the yard. He supposed these must be fellow trainees, there were however several older looking, more precise moving men. He avoided the official looking among the groups. After some inquiries he was rewarded with the information he needed, apparently he needed to go see the Mistress of Trainees.

 

After much walking around again he finally found her. “Greetings and May the Light shine upon you, I’m Gunnar Sanuin and I’d like to train under the White Tower.†She gave him an appraising look which didn’t reveal much and responded, “Gunnar Sanuin eh? Well you seem anxious to start so I’ll send you off into the direction of your mentor Andular Rojvas.†She pointed him off into the general direction where he should be and off he went. Once again he asked around, but this time to no avail. He didn’t give up though, his search went on and he didn’t let his spirit lose its fire. And then he asked this one fellow, “Excuse me, do you know where I can find Andular Rojvas?"

 

ooc: Wow... it's huge, I swear it didn't look half this long while I was typing!

[Andular]

Andular made his way out of the White Tower finished with his morning duties for Tiassale Sedai. He could feel her impatience through the bond as she waited for the courier to arrive. The two of them had traveled to a remote village where a merchant had set up shop with a collection of rare books that Tia had heard about.

 

They had purchased the man’s entire inventory and now the Aes Sedai waited eagerly for the books to be delivered.

Brushing her irritation aside Andular continued to walk toward the Warders Yard anxious to try out some new sword forms he was developing.

As he neared the hard packed earth that signaled the edge of the training yards a young man approached him.

Even in height with the Grand Master the young man had short brown hair and looked lost.

 

“Excuse me are you Andular Rojvas?†He asked nervously.

Appraising the young man for a moment before answering Andular decided he had been given a new trainee. Well the forms would have to wait.

 

“I am, what can I do for you?â€

 

The new trainee introduced himself as Gunnar and quickly told him of his arrival to the yard and being told to seek him out for training.

 

“So you want to serve the White Tower.†Gunnar nodded.

 

“Well that remains to be seen but we will see what you are made of follow me.â€

 

Andular took Gunnar to the barracks and set him up with a place to sleep and showed him the mess hall. When they were done he escorted his charge to the armory and pushed open the heavy oak doors and led him inside.

 

The large room they walked into was filled with rack after rack of every weapon imaginable. The cold steel reflected the light of the sun that filtered through the windows.

 

“Before you can learn you need to choose a weapon. Take your time and choose wisely. Remember that a weapon will be an extension of yourself. Choose one that fits you.â€

 

OOC: My characters name is Andular Rojvas not Lee lol. If you already have a weapon just explain that in your rp and perhaps choose a secondary weapon.

[Zylazlo-]

Gunnar's trip to the armory had been quite informative, he probably wouldn’t get lost again at least. Not to mention he got a good look around the yard and the rest of trainees and a few Warders. The training and sparring seemed rough, but he was up to it.

 

When Gunnar entered the armory he stood there frozen in amazement… he’d never seen so many weapons together. It seemed like heaven to the young man who had always wanted a life filled by the thrill of battle. It seemed like an impossible decision, choosing between so many fine weapons. He didn’t want to occupy too much of Andular’s, but he felt he couldn’t choose without taking at least a day.

 

So to try to make the time pass a bit faster for his mentor he made some small talk. “Amazing, how does anyone actually choose one and not just decide to learn them all? But I’m sure an experienced Warder like you, probably does know how to use them all. Mastery in all of them I daresay…†Gunnar talked along the same lines without thinking much about it; just for the sake of talking, he’d done it dozens of times in pubs and taverns to be able to occupy himself with more important business, this time his mind was occupying itself taking in the many weapons on the aisles Gunnar was walking along.

 

He’d always seen himself wielding a good serviceable sword. But now with all these beauties in his midst, he felt like a thief in a jewel shop with no shopkeeper around. He could’ve sworn he heard a whisper as if they were calling to him, and the glinting on the metal was alluring, they were all shining softly, beckoning. He dared to pick a few up, do a few practice swings; they all felt perfect to him.

 

Gunnar noticed he had stopped talking and he didn’t really even remember what he was talking about or what Andular had said, he considered initiating the conversation again and decided against it, his mentor probably knew he was talking without any heart to it, so it’d be pointless. Besides, his mind truly was too engaged in his task at hand even to speak gibberish.

 

Then he saw it. Glowing with the light from the sun, an artist would’ve said it was beautiful, but to him it looked lethal. It was a long sword with a plain cross guard, leather grip and simple pommel. At first he had supposed it was a long sword, but he was surprised to see it was lighter than he expected. He supposed it must be a bastard sword, it was light enough for him to move it swiftly but he noticed that the blade was thick enough to do enough damage to any kind of opponent. And right then and there he decided that the bastard would have a father. But like any child in a candy store, he couldn’t take just one. After a few more rounds around the armory, he chanced upon a battle axe with a thick wooden handle and a deadly looking double headed blade. He decided that a bit heavier weapon would serve nicely.

 

After making his choice he headed straight back to Andular and tried to avoid looking at anything else. “Well I’ve made my choiceâ€, said Gunnar as he hefted his new treasures under his mentors nose. “Couldn’t choose just one as you can see, luckily enough I could keep it at just two. Still I’d keep the armory locked; I don’t know how I’ll keep away!†He chuckled a bit at the thought of coming down in the night to test them all again, but quickly discarded it from his mind, you never knew how strict they were here.

 

OOC: Feel free to twap him for his insolence! Making jokes with his mentor... shame on him. :P

[Andular]

Andular chuckled at his trainees enthusiasm as they left the armory.

“You can visit as often as you like Gunnar. We encourage trainees to try out different weapons as their skill grows.â€

 

Over the course of the next few days Andular led Gunnar through the yards and familiarized him with his new surroundings. Introducing the young man to many of the Tower Guards and Warders that they passed in training he slowly felt the young man growing more at ease.

 

A week after he had arrived Gunnar met his mentor at the outskirts of the training yard as he had been instructed. The day was bright with a few clouds dotting the blue sky. A cool breeze drifted across the yard and made the day near picture perfect.

Andular could feel Tia through the bond deep in thought, her new cache of books held her attention still.

 

“Well met Gunnar walk with me.â€

He led the young man out of the yards and down a path into the ogier gardens. Few people walked among the great trees and Andular had little trouble finding a quite clearing. A small stream flowed close by the sound of water trickling over rocks the only noise that intruded.

 

Sitting down he waited until Gunnar had taken a seat as well.

 

“Before we begin your training in earnest Gunnar I want you to tell me why you wish to train with the Warders. Also tell me what you think serving the White Tower means to the life of a Tower Guard or Warder.â€

 

OOC: You might want to start looking here. http://www.gaidin.org/trainee.php

You have a weapons score of 2 so you want to start thinking of what type of rp you want to do to fulfill the 2-3 requirments.

[Zylazlo-]

“Before we begin your training in earnest Gunnar I want you to tell me why you wish to train with the Warders. Also tell me what you think serving the White Tower means to the life of a Tower Guard or Warder.â€

 

Gunnar contemplated that over in his mind a bit. Why did he want to train here? He’d pondered about how great life would be traveling with an Aes Sedai, seeing the world, living life one never ending journey at a time.

 

But then there was being just a servant to a superior organized entity, a very superior entity like the White Tower, where he would just be just a weapon, a living breathing weapon. Could he really live his life bound to one cause?

 

He was suddenly pulled out of introspective examination and back into his environment by a particularly loud splash in the stream, and then he knew exactly what he should say.

 

“Why do I wish to train with the Warders? Well I’ll tell you why. It’s because it’ll give me a purpose, some direction. I know there are other paths to follow and all, but the Warders guarantees a few things, like being able to defend myself is some like this happens again.†he said, as he held up his left hand to show the missing little finger, that had been sliced off weeks ago by the grief drunken Warder, it didn’t pain him anymore, but every time he saw his missing finger his determination and anger would build up like a fortress. “Being a Warder or Tower Guard also assures me a good fight, no matter what. Defending the White Tower is no small job, and that’s why I want to train with the Warders, I want a challenge, I want to become better†finished Gunnar with some self-satisfaction. It was the first time since the fight with the Warder that he felt himself again, and it felt damn good.

 

“And to the second question… What does the White Tower mean to the life of a Warder or Tower Guard? That one is quite simple; it means everything to their lives.†Gunnar knew this for a fact; Warders lived and died to serve. It still wasn’t true in his case, but he planned to make it that way. “So can we begin with my training in earnest?†He grinned a bit at what he expected of this path he had chosen.

[Andular]

Andular listened to his student interest in the others musings on the life choice he was making. It was obvious the young man had thought long on the matter as he had journeyed to Tar Valon.

 

Lost in thought the Grand Master remembered so many years ago when he himself had made the same choice. How long ago and how much he had learned in his years of training. Gunnar might think he knew what he was getting into but his training would show him so much more.

 

Grinning when Gunnar finished and asked about beginning his training in earnest Andular put up a hand.

 

“Slow down Gunnar there will be plenty of time for training for now we need to discuss the paths and disciplines. You will need to pick what direction your training will take. Much like the weapon you selected this will mold you as you learn.â€

 

For the next hour or so Andular sat patiently explaining the disciplines and paths to Gunnar pointing out the strengths of each.

For his part Gunnar listened attentively his eyes showed the eagerness behind them as he considered what he was hearing.

 

The choosing of a discipline and path was no small task and it was one that would decide what direction Andular took his training.

 

When he had finished talking he waited for Gunnar to speak ready for any questions he would have.

 

OOC: Disciplines are listed here http://www.gaidin.org/disc.php Paths are listed here http://www.gaidin.org/path.php

[Zylazlo-]

Gunnar listened with rapt attention at the different disciplines and paths. They all sounded fascinating.

 

He had read about the paths and disciplines before, they didn’t seem much to him, and really the books and scrolls didn’t do the different styles any justice.

 

When his mentor, Andular, explained the different paths, it came to life as a true path for living and fighting. The disciplines sounded just like he imagined, something disciplined, in order, straight as an arrow.

 

He let the knowledge wash over him, taking every little bit in, so as to not make a wrong choice. This would “mold him†for the rest of his training. He wasn’t the least bit nervous about being molded; his true fear was being molded into the wrong shape.

 

After about an hour his mentor finished the elaborate explanation. Gunnar didn’t respond right away he waited. Gunnar decided to take his time, as Andular had suggested. He decided on reflecting about the disciplines first. He had always been quick enough with his body, so the speed discipline did seem like a good choice. But that would leave him with a great combat tempo but horribly weak.

 

He realized that what he really needed was a compromise; he had no problem being “A jack of all trades and a master of noneâ€. So he mentally chose what every person desires in life, some balance in his new discipline.

 

The path was pretty simple for him; he knew well enough that he wanted to become a weapon, a hard weapon, a mortal weapon. That’s why he decided on the path of blade. He would be broken and made stronger from the old pieces, better.

 

“After some careful consideration I’ve decided to go for the “Balance Disciplineâ€, mentor. And on a path, I want to live the life of a weapon on the “Path of Bladeâ€. They might not be right for me, but I’ll make them right.â€