Welcome James Brown, looking forward to seeing you around the different forums, come see the social groups too, we have fun lightly pretending to copy said groups in the books. Or if a hard RP is what you're looking for, come join us in the Role Playing forum.

Right on I'll PM Bard.

Does anyone have a gleeman I could apprentice under? Or for that matter, is there anyone in here still?

I think you hit the nail on the head with the barely legal part. How many high schoolers and young twenty something's end up in love triangles or multiple girls/guys chasing someone. We have so many movies and tv shows about this. The one that jumps quickest to mind is the Fonz from happy days. "Heeay!"

Tannyr wiped his eyes trying to get a grip on his emotions. So much had happened since that...night, and now this! The man's words raced through his mind as he accepted the man's hand and stood, holding on to the man's arm for extra support when his legs wobbled from the lack of use and his head injury. He hoped this injury would heal soon.

Tannyr was overwhelmed with everything the man said, “new family,” “wolf-like abilities and qualities,” “not turning into a wolf.” How was he supposed to take all that in.

Tannyr had a hard time looking the man in the eyes but managed to mumble an apology. He walked over to the log and sat next to the plate of food. Something seemed to be drawing him to that food and making his mouth water like it never had before.

“I think I just need a moment”

He picked up the plate and notice the meat, it was called bacon, wasn't it? He had never had that before and the smell and look of it made his stomach groan with a deep longing. He picked it up and smelled it. He had to keep swallowing he was salivating so much.

But this had been an animal, it had suffered to get to this point, it had been killed. Could he really keep going down this path away from the leaf. Perhaps it had to do with him developing wolf-like qualities. Ever since his eyes changed the usual grains and vegetables his wagon train usually ate seemed to leave him empty. Maybe one bite would give him an answer.

He had never tasted something so good, it was so good...it hurt. He tried to savor every bite but his hunger and this amazing taste carried him away. Before he knew it, he was licking his hands and plate just to get the grease from that Light blessed food.

He looked up, embarrassed. “It seems I do need to work on control.” Tannyr said sheepishly. “I just never knew bacon was so good. Thank you for the food.”

“I have so many questions but I suppose I'll start with the simplest. My name's Tannyr, what's yours?”

Does this meeting still happen? I was just wondering if there are plans for the overall story to continue to develop?

 The breath was knocked out of Tannyr in an instant. The world turned upside down and suddenly it felt as if a heavy warm blanket of fur rested on him. He tried to cradle his aching head in his arms and found his arms were like lead. No they were pinned! He opened his eyes and saw two golden orbs staring down at him. They turned to look at the stranger and he realized a wolf was on him.

“I have done nothing to you,” the man spoke. “This is who you are, and the sooner you accept that, the easier it will be.” Who I am? I'm a Tuatha'an, not a mindless killing beast. “My friend here has no desire to hurt you, and neither do I. We both want to help you. Calm down so we can talk, and Breeze here will release you.”

A conflict rose inside Tannyr as he tried to regain his breath. He had become everything he hated, everything he was taught was wrong and been cast out for it and yet here a complete stranger sat here telling him he was accepted for what he was becoming.

The tears began to pour again. “What is happening to me?!” cried Tannyr. “Am I just turning into a mindless beast, I can't control my rage, I'm a Tuatha'an, I can't turn into a wolf, I can't!”

Raged tinged his voice, “I killed a man, let alone attacked you, maybe I do deserve to turn into a wolf! I've left the way of the leaf.”

Hi, I guess it's time to join the black tower, the voices have been telling me to do it for a while.

Tannyr was taken aback by the kind voice that responded to him,

“I'm not here to kill you, son.”

Who was this person? “Son” oh the pain that word brought, and healing. His own father had disowned him. Perhaps the bandits had left and this was a kind stranger who had come across his unconscious body. He was even offering food. Perhaps he knew where the wagons had gone and Tannyr could try to apologize to his father and the rest of the Tuatha'an.

“You have to be hungry. Please eat.”

Just wait until this man saw his eyes, he wouldn't call him “son” for long. His eyes made everyone uncomfortable. Except Elli...

Tannyr opened his mouth to speak and then he saw the eyes. The yellow eyes.

He did this to me. He's a wolf, he's a WOLF!

The words the man spoke just sounded like bees buzzing as the red crept into his vision again. Tannyr lunged forward with a swipe of his claw

“You did this to me!”

and again

“You're one of the wolves!”

and again.

“I just want to be left alone!”

The world started to swim again from his weakened state and with a desperate lunge he tried biting at the strangers throat.

Hi gramps, new fan here.

Nice!  I can necrothread and only Reyler will get mad at me.  I shall continue!

oh my, what is this meatspace?  It sounds ominous. 

I always had the problem of wanting to skip to the next POV I enjoyed the most but never skipping it entirely.  I wonder what that would have been like, only getting a sliver of a picture of the whole story through one person's eyes.  I may need to do that for my next read through.

It seems the Dude left for good.  How many of these people are still here?  They should come back and teach me in the way of spam.

Tannyr woke to the crackling of fire and the smell of food. He smiled thinking of his aunt bustling around the camp fire making breakfast, probably getting ready to wake his father. He always enjoy her bossy attitude towards his father, her younger brother. After her husband had been killed she quickly took up bossing her little brother again. He could picture what they had been like as children and loved to hear the embarrassing stories his aunt would tell of his father and her always seeming to hold his life together by the skin of her teeth. By her accounts, he wouldn't know how to dress himself if it hadn't been for her. He felt the sun on his face and the moss beneath him. He must have fallen asleep singing and playing music around the fire again.

Then the smell of a stranger made his hackles rise. Hackles...I don't have hackles. Arg, wolves get out of my head. He glanced up to see a man hunched over a fire a few feet away.  His throat tightened as that fateful night's events flooded back. He glanced around expecting to see more of the bandits. Just thinking of the bandits made him want to lunge forward at the man working over the fire.

How could things have become such a disaster. He was supposed to be preparing to marry Elli and learning how to be the Mahdi. Now he was looking at the back of the man who was probably preparing to kill him, maybe after he and his fellow bandits were able to beat him to their hearts pleasure. But this time he would not fight back, he would redeem himself and follow the way of the leaf, to let himself live his appointed time. He would not fight the wind this time.

“If you're going to kill me you should just get it over with, my head injury will probably make me go unconscious the moment you start beating me. You won't find it very enjoyable.”

Tannyr steeled himself for his death. With everything he had done he almost felt he deserved what he was about to face.  He had forsaken everything he believed and been forsaken by everyone he cared for.  What else was there besides his family, his hope for a family, and his core beliefs?

The warm sun woke Tannyr, as it filtered through the leaves overhead. He found himself in a bed of moss not far from where the wagon's camp had been. He jolted upright remembering the bandits. Instantly a sharp pain shot through his head and his vision swam and darkness overcame him once more. Everything became fire, chaos, and screaming again.

Elli screamed. Tannyr turned from helping his aunt onto the horse in time to see a dirty man grab Elli by the hair and yank her to the ground. A roar erupted from Tannyr's throat as he charged toward the bandit. His vision became red he knocked the man down to the ground.

No.

Tannyr's hands were a blur, slashing at the bandit's face, gouging eyes, filling his fingernails with the man's skin. Soon, his hands became slick with blood.

No!

Tannyr gave a howl and snapped his teeth around the gurgling bandit's throat. Warm blood flooded into his muzzle...”wait I have a mouth” he thought.

NO!

He blinked and wiped blood from his face. He looked up and snapped back from the rage that had consumed him. The wagons were on fire and his fellow Tuathan'an were running in fear as the dozen bandits ran from wagon to wagon, grabbing women as they went. Then his eyes met Elli's...

NOOOOOO!!!!

Tannyr woke weeping, not giving pause to the throbbing in his head. He looked again at the place they had camped. There stood 3 chard remains of what were once colorful wagons. Near by, underneath a large oak were 5 freshly covered graves.

As he pushed himself up to a less awkward sitting position his hand hit a pack lying next to him. He saw his lute sticking out of the top and a solid walking stick laying next to it. He touched his head as his vision swam once more and found it well bandaged. He remembered being struck on the head after he saw Elli stare at him in horror, after he had killed...He had killed!

Tannyr began weeping anew. He had killed, he had struck and torn at that bandit. He had left the way of the leaf! How could he have done such a thing? What had come over him? Did it have to do with his eyes changing? Was he becoming a wolf like he did in his dreams?

Then reality dawned on him. The wagons had left. None of the Tuatha'an were there. He was alone. He had abandoned the Way so they had abandoned him.

A rustling of paper drew his attention to the pack again and he saw a slip sticking out of a pocket. He pulled it out and read it,

“To my son,

You have made your decision and followed the darkness in your heart that came with

your yellow eyes. It grieves me to see you leave the Way and thus leave us. If it is any

consolation, Elli was able to escape to the woods because of your sacrifice. A

sacrifice that should never had been paid. You are no longer one of us, you are no longer

my son. You will now always be a stranger to us if you decide to come to our fires.

The Mahdi

He crumpled the paper in his fist and curled into a ball as he wept himself into exhaustion and sleep overtook him once more.  

I believe this thread is a testament to how skilled RJ was at crafting characters. Olwena, you embody those female characters who found Mat disgusting and those same women give almost your exact reasoning for finding him so annoying. He is the example of a type of male ego, one of his flaws just like so many other characters, mixed with his loyal heart and other redeeming other qualities.

Finnssss, you represent Mat wonderfully, as well as all the men in the Hand who admired him and would follow him to death. You also see those women in the same light as Mat. Their up thankfulness and overly proud, haughty attitudes.

Look at how different these personalities are and how polarizing they are. Many times in a poorly written book the characters scream that they were all written by the same personality. Not in this case. As mentioned above, these characters' constant source of conflict and frustration is an unwillingness to communicate, to trust a person they had every reason to trust. I would argue that, as annoying as certain characters come off, the fact that on this site we have so many "camps" for almost every character is a great examples of a very skilled writer who could create personalities with only matching themes and challenges but not copy and paste characters. And for that matter make them so relatable to the reader.

I think I need to start a thread about pride being a universal theme in the series.

I ban Reyler for copying me.

I ban Boyo fur tell'n me wut I'm think'n.

Sounds good, anything we need to plan or sort out before then?

I ban Reyler for having a problem with someone french kissing themselves.

I ban Reyler for asking me to french kiss.

I ban Reyler for asking me to french kiss.

SA-weeeet!

I ban Reyler because, yet again, you stopped posting in fiddlesticks.