The Unity of Opposites

[Wayfarer]

A pale full moon loomed over Tar Valon on the warm night that two men stood in a certain glade. This glade that was no more than thirty feet in diametre was one of the many that littered the Ogier Grove, one where people often met to escape the eyes of others, to share secrets and on occasion to resolve matters with a blade. While it was in some ways too obvious to be secret, those that frequented it were often too busy with their own business or unwilling to intrude on others that they avoided others rather than satisfy their curiosity. When it came to a pair of men that were in the glade for the three aforementioned reasons, it was also because disturbing such business would end badly for one who spied upon it.

 

Two men that were as different as the sun that hid from them and the moon that loomed above. One was long of limb while the other was short, one was a man of responsibility and position while the other was a fool and given to flouting authority, one was from the north while the other was from the east, one was open while the other bore secrets. Despite these differences they still shared certain similarities. Both served the Aes Sedai as protectors, both had come to an agreement and perhaps most important in regards to where they were, both were well armed.

 

The Commander of the Tower Guard, Brand Ryota, was standing with his falchion hanging from his side in hand as the blade's scabbard sat by a tree at the edge of the glade. Prudent, he had decided to wear vambraces and shinguards of leather that were reinforced with iron along. These were well also accompanied by fingerless leather gloves and a thick vest of the same material. Over this vest sat a battle harness on his back from which a dao poked over each shoulder. His face was as empty of emotion as his blade, devoid of his own feelings and only vaguely aware of the feelings of the body he inhabited. Such things had been burned to ashes by a flame that resided in the void he had formed within.

 

Different yet similar was the man known as Aran who stood a dozen feet away. Garbed in similar protective equipment, a pair of long daggers hung at his sides as well as a second pair of shorter length tucked into the sides of his boots. Rather than carrying a blade in hand, instead he bore a lance that was eight feet in length. While most used wooden hafts with a metal head placed at the top, the weapon that he bore was a single piece of metal. Made with a thinner haft and special alloy to ensure the weapon wasn't absurdly heavy, it towered over the man by nearly three feet.

 

Lowering the spear at Brand, Aran wore a small smile that was not to be found on his opponent's face. Yet while he was an adept of the Spring, he did not make use of it in order to concentrate. He disdained it in favour of simply being, existing. His opponent was an accounted Grandmaster of the Path of Misdirection, but for Aran there was no title and there was no path, he just was.

 

If one were to study Aran's fighting style when he didn't mask it, one would soon be able to identify a variety of styles that had been incorporated into his own technique. Elements of Illianer and Altaran styles had been synthesised to the point where Aran had no fixed stance nor approach. Defence was characterised more by Mayener technique that teaches a fighter to move with an opponent rather than try to resist them whereas offence was more influenced be Cairhienin boxing where everything is a weapon and to be used. The spearwork in turn was distinctly that of Tarabon yet the way in which he approached combat was as much based on his opponent's weaknesses as his own strengths in the manner of a Ghealdan master.

 

Most of these things absorbed before he came to Tar Valon, but it was at the yards that he was able to greatly refine what he knew through watching the Masters as they practiced. Not only emulating their techniques, he also tried to understand what they did, why they did it and altered it where necessary in order to best serve himself.

 

The result was a synthesis where Aran, despite having many influences in his fighting style, married them together as seamlessly as he could. All of it was governed by a simple principle, there was no principle. Everything was determined by the circumstances be it the opponent, oneself, objective, all of these things combined to determine how Aran reacted to a situation as opposed to trying to impose a single style or thought upon every situation. In the end, everything was simply movement, it was simply a matter of which movements would achieve the desired outcome.

 

In this particular case, the outcome was to fight hard yet cause little to no harm. A spar to demonstrate skill rather than kill or subdue an opponent, while the blades were sharp it would be the flats that Aran would apply to Brand if a strike got by or he would pull the blow altogether. If anything, that was an almost Saldaean thought save for the fact that the blades were out and their edges keen.

 

His lance still lowered at Brand, his right foot led rather than his left to see whether it would throw Brand at all as most fighters used the opposite stance though it was unlikely as Brand was ambidextrous as he was. His knees bent slightly, he was prepared to move wherever was required as he waited for Brand to attack. While ceding the initiative to his opponent, it gave him the chance to learn to better read Brand who would attempt to fool and misdirect him at everyturn until he saw an advantage that would encourage him to abandon the mask in favour of force. In turn, Aran would present his own mask, reveal more of his abilities yet still keep others hidden until the opportunity arose to use them.

 

Now all it came down to was movement, and for Brand's first move to begin the dance.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

[silhouette]

Arrogance. Brand had seen a fair share of it over the years. He had felt his fair share over the years as well. It was a good emotion at times, giving confidence in situations that would lead to despair without it. He had seen it in the faces of his opponents many times as they weighed him, and their own abilities, and thought they could win. It all gave away to the realisation that they were in a situation where they were outclassed sooner or later. Brand suspected it would be the same with his current opponent.

 

The edges of the void seemed to ripple for a moment when Brand realised that Aran would not take up the Spring. Not that he had ever seen the little man use a philosophy to strengthen his focus, but somehow he had expected that now, in this spar with a grand master, he would at least have the decency to pretend he was making an effort. Not that it mattered much. the outcome was set. All Aran really had to do was prove to Brand that Brand had been right all along. That was a conclusion they had already reached though. This was merely a formality. Closing the deal. Aran would get to prove that he was, finally establishing himself as a worthy tower guard in Brand’s eyes.

 

The Void settled over Brand once more. Even the things that had irritated him before became insignificant. Time to dance. Without warning he charged forward, Lion on the Hill swiftly became Parting the silk, not meant to injure, but meant to get the lance out of the way. It was a heavy, steel lance, which worked in his advantage as well as his disadvantage. The strike rung through the shaft of the weapon, but also through Brand’s Falchion. It would have been an unpleasant sensation, if Brand had felt anything.

 

His forward motion didn’t stop. It was a move he’d copied from Vasya, after seeing the hefty man bowl over a great number of his opponents in spars. If Brand’s shoulder had connected with Aran, this spar would have been over sooner than either would have liked. As his shoulder met thin air, Brand rushed forward still, thus avoiding the pointy end of Aran’s spear as the smaller man flailed it about. Brand turned at his leisure, just in time to see Aran get to his feet again.

 

~Brand Ryota

Commander

[Wayfarer]

It had been the expected opening movement for Brand to knock aside his spear but Aran hadn't expected the charge. He had thought Brand would try and test him first as opposed to try and end it quickly, but there was little time for such thought as he hurled himself to one side and lashed out with his spear. If Brand hadn't continued in his charge, he was certain that he would have caught the man with the flat on the arm, but it wasn't to be as Brand moved out of range. Rolling, Aran quickly got to his feet and raised the lance before him at Brand once more. This time he wouldn't give Brand the opportunity to charge as he moved into the attack.

 

Taraboner lancework was characterised with quick thrusts to constantly keep the opponent on the defensive but also incorporated slashes with the tip. In theory this worked well, in practice against Brand it was proving more difficult as Brand worked his way closer. This forced Aran to move his hands up the haft so he had better control and didn't allow the Commander to slip past the spearhead. There were a couple of close moments where Aran almost brought the flat of his spearhead across Brand's thighs but these were rewarded with his knuckles being rapped rather forcefully with the flat of the Falchion as Brand parried away an attack.

 

There was no hesitation as Aran tossed his spear at Brand's legs. While Brand didn't jump, but instead stomped the spear onto the ground by it's haft, it gave Aran time to free his long daggers and leap at his opponent. His daggers swept aside with a parry, Aran continued into Brand with his shoulder which helped put the man off balance. An advantage that Aran followed up on as he continued forward, daggers weaving a persistent offence that strove to give Brand as little room to breath as possible. He might have had superior skill, but he didn't have the space to use it and the only clear way he had to force Aran away was to use a full bodied slash that Aran's daggers would be ill suited against. On the otherhand, the moment he pulled his blade back he'd expose himself.

 

A conundrum that Brand solved by ceasing to move as he lowered his shoulder. Stumbling back a step, Aran leaped back from a slash that could have ended him and found the nature of the combat changing before his eyes. The Commander tossed aside his falchion and drew his Dao, two blades to match two. There would be more power behind the Dao, but Aran's own blades were lighter, plus he could more easily change between grips as he did so now, reversing the blades so they came out of the bottom of his fists with the flats against his bracers. There was no hesitation on either of their parts, the melee resumed with blades moving so quickly that to the untrained eye they may as well have been invisible.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

[silhouette]

Though Aran might have disagreed, the fight tipped in Brand’s balance the moment he dropped his Falchion and took the two Dao bladed from their sheaths. Despite having trained at the yards for years and years, Brand was a Kandori warrior. He was practically born with two blades in his hands, and even now, years after his last visit to Kandor, he instantly felt at home with the Dao blades in place. An eerie smile curved his lips as he lashed out at Aran. Both blades worked through different forms. Aran was fast, but Brand was stronger, and his reach was far greater than Aran’s.

 

It seemed for a while as if the match was even, until Brand saw an opening in Aran’s defences. It was small, and he would have ignored it if he had fought against someone less capable than Aran. Ribbon in the air started right after a thrust at Aran’s chest, which made him step back just a bit. He altered the way he was holding his dagger, and that was the moment Brand had been waiting for. With a quick flick of his wrist he nicked Aran’s upper arm. The shock of that left another opening in Aran’s defences, which Brand aptly used.

 

More and more openings were giving Brand a solid advantage. He could see in Aran’s face that the other man was beginning to understand that he was not going to win this battle. Not without cheating, at least, and Brand knew enough about Aran’s reputation to consider that option. Despite that he was a little surprised when Aran dropped his daggers, and grabbed one of his arms. What on earth did the man think he was going to accomplish with that?

 

~Brand Ryota

[Wayfarer]

Twisting the arm was easy as was forcing the blade out of Brand's hand while the man's back was to him. The attempt to sweep the man's legs from underneath him was forestalled by a kick to Aran's chest that sent Aran stumbling a couple of paces back. Adopting a simple stance even as Brand tossed his other Dao away, his palms were open as he confronted the Commander. There were other styles available to him but they often involved permanent damage and Aran didn't want to risk it. Even though Brand was proving quite convincingly that he was more skilled, an ill timed blow or a bad slip could result in a crippling injury. He did not want to have to explain a broken leg be it his or Brand's.

 

Whether that occured to Brand or whether he it came more naturally to him, the man adopted a similar open palm stance. The similarities were quickly cast aside as the two closed distance and put their skills to use. Brand was Kandori so it perhaps was of little surprise that he used their style, which while using open palms was also a hard style, using a great deal of force to injure an opponent and quickly subdue them. This was juxtaposed by the techniques that Aran employed that were primarily Mayener, absorbing his opponent's blows and moving with him as he diverted blows away, letting the force spend itself without finding a target.

 

As their hands moved, so did their feet. Footwork was paramount not only to mobility but also for attack and defence. Brand's legs lashed out with kicks while Aran used his feet to hook Brand's and try and disrupt his stances and movements. A part of Aran knew that this wasn't a battle he was likely to win, but a person couldn't fight with that mindset because then it became a self fulfilling prophecy. One had to always entertain the possibility of victory or they would betray themselves. As such Aran didn't falter, and when blows slipped through he didn't let them stop him, instead he used their momentum to propel him to safety or to lend power to a strike of his own. Every time he was hit it was also an opportunity to his opponent, attack and defence were simply forms of movement, a unity of opposites.

 

 

Aran

Tower Guard

[silhouette]

The dangerous thing about hand to hand combat was that it was easy to let yourself fall into a rhythm with your opponent. Attack, defend. Attack, defend. Until someone attacked and attacked, instead of defended, and you found yourself on your backside, on the losing side of things. Brand tried to keep his fighting as unpredictable as possible, attacking from different angles and with alternating force.

 

Aran was good at this sort of thing, applying a Mayener style to Brand’s Kandori way of fighting. However, fighting styles could get predictable as well. A few minutes into their hand to hand spar, Brand saw a way to finish it. Instead of following through with a strike, he feinted one, grabbing Aran’s wrist and using Aran’s forward blocking momentum against him as he twisted and pulled the arm behind the smaller man’s body. He sidestepped a kick Aran aimed for his knee, and wrapped his free arm around the other man’s neck. If this had been an actual battle, a sharp yank would have twisted Aran’s neck beyond what it could take, breaking it.

 

Brand didn’t actually take it that far. This was just a spar, after all. Instead he released Aran, giving him a little shove away from his body. “That’ll do.” He said, rolling his head from side to side to rid himself of the tension in his neck. When he looked at Aran again, he was grinning, something that was much easier to accomplish now that he had released the void. “Good spar, old boy.” He said, stepping forward and giving Aran a hearty slap on the shoulder. “Who knows, in a few years you might be able to beat me.” Something in Brand’s voice suggested it would be a cold day in hell when that happened.

 

Well, it was done with finally. He'd known beforehand what Brand was capable of due to their earlier spar but he'd seen more of the man's capabilities due to putting more pressure on the man. He doubted he had seen the full breadth of the man's talents though, even as he hadn't revealed his. Some things were too dangerous for a spar, but Aran had a newfound wariness of Brand for this. A few cuts and bruises, he could have ended up a lot worse if he Brand had wished it. Shrugging off the pain as he grinned at Brand's final words, he shrugged. "Maybe." In a rare moment, Aran decided not to push his luck, the drubbing might have had something to do with that though.

 

~Brand

 

Aran