*laughs* nice Jeh ;D

Welcome back Eqwina, have a good time?  :D

:o roflmao *points to Raeyn* what she said... behave kids  ;)

No worries Coren, removed for now.  :)

I am not easy, :P I'll have you know I'm very difficult...  :-X umm... not what you meant, right?  :-[ Right *goes back to the Stedding for some calming TQ*  ;)

*ears perk up*

Wolfkin?? Really Sylv? Excellent *beams*

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*chuckles* Congrats Elgee *hugs*

Updated with link to my chore thread with Nyn.

Edit: Updated post count for above thread.

Trollop soup??? roflmao nice sis

Welcome back *hugs*  :)

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Tig has the end of the bio been cut off? It stops suddenly mid sentence.

lmao and hey to you too sis  :D

Looks fine. CC'd.

That looks much better.  ;) CC'd.

Enjoy Cornwall hun *hugs*

Okies, noted. Initial post all sorted. Will talk to Nyn about my mentor thread. *sighs*

Many happy returns Erik, have a superb birthday hun  ;D

*pouncehuggles and dunks in the nearest chili vat*

Link to 3rd lesson for Intro to Saidar added and post count increased.

Kiyi had been one of the first to arrive in class that day, lucky in that her mentor had allowed her away early. She really didn't like being around the Infirmary but she tried her best not to let that show as she was coming to like Nynaeve Sedai and respect the tiring and often thankless work that she did.

Now it appeared that Larindhra Sedai was not taking the class, having relinquished the novices into the hands of an Accepted. A very strange Accepted at that in Kiyi's opinion. She exchanged a surreptitious glance with Esther who was seated as normal on her right side, then settled in to listen to what the Accepted, Mina, was saying.

At least, that was her intention. Actually doing so proved almost impossible. The woman's accent was as thick as the porridge Kiyi's mother loved to eat each morning!!

What under the Light is she saying? Kiyi wondered, somewhat distressed as she considered how she would learn anything at all if she could not understand the teacher. Muscles? Whips? Kiyi grasped the few recognisable words, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Where in the Creator's name is this female from?

Gradually though, her brain began to follow the cadences and lilt of the new accent, picking out the salient points from the rather convoluted rant Mina was having.

“Splendid. Now, you do be opening your eyes and reaching for the Source.”

Kiyi did as she was bid, relieved that Nynaeve Sedai had practised this with her since the last lesson, and waited for further instructions. She was rather suprised at being told to push the light away, to reject that wonderful feeling but she tried her best and was relieved that it slowly receded though far from pleased with the hollow emptiness that was left behind, arching an eyebrow in astonishment as Mina offered them all a cup of tea. As if that could possibly be any consolation, Kiyi thought in disgust and wondered what else this bizarre lesson would hold for them all.

She was nervous. Her hands lay in her lap, fingers tightly entwined as her eyes remained resolutely glued on the door. Where IS she?

A few minutes later a familiar figure came rushing through in great haste and a smile broke across Kiyi’s face in relief. Esther was never late which was strange enough but she also looked extremely angry! Kiyi couldn’t fail to miss the hard glare that her friend aimed at Deanne and her heart sank. What’s that spoiled madame done this time? There was no time to talk though. Just as the last arrivals hurriedly took their seats, all kinds of strange things began to happen in the class room and Kiyi’s eyes widened more with each new development. Finally, Larindhra Sedai appeared, apparently out of… well out of nothing… and the young girl was hard pressed to keep her eyes in their sockets. Would they be able to do that one day? It was a heady notion and she kept her gaze fixed intently on Larindhra, listening with care to the instructions they were all given along with the roses.

Relaxing was no easy feat but Kiyi shut out all the other distractions and concentrated solely on the soothing tones of the Sister’s voice while she built up the detailed picture in her mind. Gradually her muscles eased off and she could see a perfect rose, an exact copy in fact of the one cook had grown under the kitchen window at home. Imagining it opening was fairly simple too with her memory for details but she certainly wasn’t feeling anything war…

“OH!” she exclaimed involuntarily, shocked as she was suddenly filled by a new and wondrous feeling. It was like having her whole being flooded with light ….  and then it was gone again just as quickly, leaving her bereft. Crestfallen, Kiyi began to focus on creating the rose picture once more, determined to succeed and experience that incredible sensation for longer. A loud thud and a startled yell scattered her thoughts however and she turned to see what was going on to her right. Her jaw dropped as she spied the burning papers and realized that one of the other novices was responsible.

The Mistress of Novices quickly restored order and calm before addressing the entire class. The various faces showed that the warning had been heeded, backed up as it was by a lingering smell of smoke on the air. It made Kiyi take far more care on her next attempt but try as she might, she couldn’t duplicate her first success.

As the class came to an end, she trailed Esther out of the room berating herself about trying harder but with a glimmer of hope still remaining from her initial sense of Saidar, finally believing that she did truly have the ability to learn about this amazing power.

I'm in too Lara.  :D

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She didn’t know how long she’d been standing there, staring at the vast reaches of the night sky, for her mind had been long distances away, lost in the tangled web of thoughts, emotions and memories that were the essence of herself. At some point though, she’d found respite. She wasn’t certain when it happened but a deep seated peacefulness had stolen over her, calming her fears, righting her sense of self and gradually knitting back together all the fractured feelings of the past weeks.

She knew that it should have happened sooner, that she should have given herself the space to heal before now but getting caught up in a new life and all that it had brought didn’t allow much leisure for soul searching. Her earlier superficial acceptance of these most recently discovered feelings had now crystallised into a more rooted knowledge. She could do nothing to change them and knew she did not wish to. To care so much for any person in life was a blessing from the Creator and not something to be wished away. It would be foolish to think that Owen had not shared his life with anyone before now, indeed it would be more than passing strange and she had come to realise that her objection lay not in that fact, but rather in the little knowledge she had gathered of the wolves. Wolves paired for life. What she was uncertain of was whether the ‘Kin were the same. She suspected they may be but there was no way to find out the truth at present. Perhaps she could ask Miryana once they had returned home. Meanwhile, she was more concerned by Owen’s state of mind than her own. Carrying all that pain and self blame around for so long could be nothing but bad.

Having reached that stage in her musings, Rhya finally came back to an awareness of her room and, more urgently, to the protests of her fingers and toes which were achingly numb from the cold night air. Stamping her feet to encourage her circulation into moving again, she reached out to close the window and then vigorously rubbed her hands and arms, blowing warm air onto them. Having decided that jumping beneath the covers would be the quickest way to warm up she was distracted by the sound of  heavy, staggering footsteps passing the door and entering the next room. She listened carefully, slightly shocked that Owen was only now heading to bed. She’d left the two men hours ago and it was well into the early hours of the morning.

Moving quietly, she rounded the foot of her bed and crossed to the connecting door, setting her ear against it. He seemed to be struggling to undress and she almost laughed at the image that presented itself to her mind’s eye.

It would appear that Niall provided plenty of refreshment at any rate, the acerbic comment slid across her thoughts laced with concern but was suddenly interrupted by a new sound. Singing?  He must be further in his cups than I thought!!

Rhya’s amusement withered rapidly, however, as the words and tone seeped through the door. Filled with pathos and haunting in the depth of emotion they displayed, her earlier concerns rushed back. How can anyone live with that much grief? It must be eating away at him! The song ended abruptly and she straightened, looking at the door indecisively, a small part of her wanting to just go to sleep and pretend to have heard nothing but a far larger part needing to make sure he wasn’t lying unconscious on the floor. The nights, even indoors, were still cold.

Cautiously, she turned the handle and peeked into the darkness on the other side. As her eyes adjusted in the small amount of light provided by one partially open window shutter, she could make out Owen’s form splayed across the end of the bed. Rhya silently gave thanks for her newly improved senses. There was no point in trying to be quiet since he was ordinarily such a light sleeper. He’d either hear her or not, she decided stepping towards the bed.

"So you managed to undress at least," she muttered to the prone figure. "Well first things first. Let’s get that window closed before you freeze."

She suited action to words, pushing the shutter till it clicked fast and then busied herself picking up all the strewn clothes, dropping them onto the chair in one corner and kicking Owen’s boots under it. At least he wouldn’t need to hunt for them come morning. Halting at the foot of the bed once more, she leaned across him, tugging at the corner of the heavy blanket and pulling it over him, glad that he’d at least dropped off on top of it instead of on the floor. She wasn’t weak but neither did she have enough strength to move his dead weight.

Satisfied that he was well enough covered to keep any chill away, Rhya’s eyes dropped to his face….. and she watched him sleep for long moments. In repose there was often an innocent quality about people but in Owen’s case, with his translucently pale skin and silver hair, it was more pronounced, almost ethereal. Almost. If one did not see the care lines around his eyes and ignored the hard determination in his jawline or was taken in by the deceptive leanness of his frame and missed the strength residing there. Deceptive, she mused. A good word for this man, in more ways than one. She stooped slightly, brushing a few stray hairs gently back from his face and wondering, as she straightened again, whether he had ever cried for Ehlana and Iris, ever mourned their loss properly. Somehow she doubted it but knew that he wasn’t going to heal until he let them go.

With a sigh she stretched, working out the knot in her back and realized that a faint light was beginning to filter into the room. Morning was far closer than she’d have liked and sleep was beckoning. Her gaze dropped a final time, her features cast with a faint bemusement. “Why this man? Of all the people it might have been, why did I have to fall in love with you?” Rhya sighed softly, a rueful smile tilting her mouth as she admitted the presumption in expecting to understand the Creator’s designs. “Sleep well cariad.” She cast the words into the ether, safe in the knowledge that they went unheard and turned back towards her own room. Bed. It is definitely time for bed.