Girls don't play fair.  It's how we win.  That and cute.  Never underestimate the power of cute. ^_^

(I forgot to do this on another board, so let me just warn you before the post and say that I write long posts and tend to ramble.  If you don't follow anything I say, feel free to blame it on me, not you.  It's 5am and I'm blonde. ^_^)

I like the reqs, I don't think there are too many.  There might be too few, but I don't want to make every hate me by suggesting we need more homework. :D  I'd love to maybe see an option where you have to do a closed thread of a certain length that's not interactive, to have more option for internal dialogue ((why on earth doesn't my Firefox recognize dialogue as a word??)) and reflection on the tower as a whole.  This would probably be better as a word count req rather than post count, with possible choices being something along the lines of "Letter to home", "Personal Reflection", "Day in the Life of" or so.  ;)  I could just like this idea because for the past 9 years or so I've done a lot more writing and a lot less RP interaction, so I fully admit I may be biased.  If your character wants to spend a freeday (since there will likely be more than one during the 10 years or so they are novices) going horseback riding on the grounds, and therefor doesn't need interaction for it, it could fall into this category.

I still don't know if roomies are a requirement or not.  If they are not, or there's no one around to room with, than it could make getting that requirement done a difficult challenge.  I'd also like to see something with the exact same requirement as freeday, but held during a normal day.  Three or more total initiates roleplaying out their day together, doing things like meals, the less interesting classes (history and penmanship and that kind of thing where there doesn't need to be a PC teacher or structured class - these classes being their own thread would be difficult as you're not supposed to interact with each other much during classes, but there is some), mundane chores, so on.  A chance for the interaction between the characters to be the main focus of the thread, with everything else mostly as just context.

The longer posts than 3 paragraphs still counting as one post I'm undecided on.  Like with my arrival, if I had chosen to wait for an accepted (I originally intended to) than I would have had a chance to respond with a second post to the accepted, before getting to the MoN.    What I wrote probably wouldn't have been much different, unless the accepted that responded had decided to get very interactive.  I could have posted Selene's whole arrival, starting from her home town (which was posted on the South/Andor board) all in one thread, broken into several posts, but it wouldn't have changed the interaction any - there'd still have been none.  Breaking something into more posts doesn't make it better writing or more effort to write.  But I can understand not wanting someone to just narrate their way to Aes Sedai in a week of long posts, hence my indecision.

Short posts that allow for a lot of back-and-forth between two roleplayers aren't a bad thing, too.  I think maybe it should be worded to have a total of such-and-such many words, and a minimum of 4 posts.  So you could meet a requirement of say, 1000 words, with 5 or 6 shorter posts, but you wouldn't be sacrificing quality or fun just to add that extra 100 words or whatever of random description to make the post long enough.  I'm a big fan of freedom in writing, and having choices in how you do it.  A lot of the share posts are done like this, with shorter exchanges written by each side and posted together, when the individual exchanges themselves wouldn't count as a proper post otherwise.

A post where the character reflects on how they have changed since joining the Tower, I think, might be a really good addition.  It would have to be practically the last thing done before the Accepted testing, but this would also  add to the fleshing out of the character and would probably have to be just narrative.  You might be able to do it with two (or more) people reminiscing on how they have changed since they joined, and maybe recounting off-screen adventures they have had during their stay in the tower. 

I have absolutely no idea what this means.

Submit an option for approval to DMWTBIOS@gmail.com

None at all.  An explanation on that might be helpful.  If it's in regard to the list of choices that follows it, it probably shouldn't be bulleted with the list above it.

You are a wonderful MoN and acting DL. :)  I really appreciate you taking it onto yourself to ask about this stuff instead of just sending Jade a PM telling her it should be brought up when she feels up to it.  And I'm not saying that just to butter you up so Selene doesn't get on your bad side. :D

I'll shush now, there's probably more thoughts rambling around in there, but I can always post again later if one of them leaps out at me as important enough.  I do want to say that I am here because I enjoy writing, I enjoy Wheel of Time, and I enjoy roleplaying.  I would still quite happily go along with it if you kept things exactly as they are, or scrapped them entirely and did something nothing like any of my suggestions/opinions.  I am very easy-going for the most part, so please don't feel pressured to take any of this against your own feelings for fear you'll alienate me.  I don't drama or flip out, I promise. :)

P.S. Sorry, I warned you I was long-winded and prone to ramble.

I can blow a fan if I want to!

I am a good girl and I am not at all thinking of this out of context in any kind of naughty way.

But now you are.

*peeks in*  I'll need to take the class as well, and on the site it says you can choose your room mates, but it doesn't say that a room mate is required.  Could the room mate thread requirement just be a generic interaction thing, or do we have to have a room mate now?  If we do need one (I have no objections to that at all) Selene is available too.

Edited. ;)  And now I'm all yours.

Also, yay happies for returned warder!

I suppose I can NPC the accepted.  Alrighty, off to the MoN I go.

I need an accepted to take Selene to the MoN, in this thread for me, please.  If you don't have time to read the whole post, it's only the last like 4 lines that matter for the interaction.

Thankee, ahead of time. :)

((Continued from Part I and Part II.  Not Required reading.))

Selenessin Al'Thorin and her brother Jasine rode to the tower and instead of stopping at the front doors and going in, they went to the stables together, leading their mounts.  They hadn't spoken since the Inn, everything had pretty much been said.  Jasine spoke quietly with a young boy and then he stabled their horses side by side.  Selene looked a little confused when Jase took her tack with him and stored it in a walled-off room in the barn.  She stood there petting Rao's nose gently, soothing the horse that by now was no longer unsettled in new barns with new smells.  The gentle stroking motion was to calm her own nerves as well.  She looked up to Jasine when he returned and then asked quietly, "Why did you put your tack in the room too?"

Jasine smiled and gently set a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I'm not going back home, 'Ene.  I'm going to stay here in Tar Valon, and try to get employed by the Tower Guard.  Maybe even become a warder.  If nothing else, I know horses well enough that I'll be sure to find work tending them, nearby.  You won't be alone and you'll be able to find me if you need me."  He smiled again, as she smiled too, and then they hugged.  She held onto him tight, and he gently pat her hair, left free today.  He smooched the top of her head and he left her go, trying to scrub the tears off her cheeks where he couldn't see, but that was impossible.  He pulled his kerchief out of his pocket and offered it to her, and she wiped her eyes and as discretely as possible cleaned up her nose with a soft but effective blow.  Then she offered it back and he tucked it back away.

"Bye Jase.  Thank you for coming with you.  And thank you... for.. being my brother."  She smiled at him and blinked away the moisture from her eyes.  He stayed there, by their horses, as she turned and walked back towards the tower.  Deep breaths and a firm resolve kept her from getting all blubbery again and she managed to even smile, thinking about how close her brother would be.  She trotted up the steps to the tower doors with a bounce once more in her step and went into the cool, shaded Hall.  She stood watching the bustle and general activity until she decided that the girls with the rainbow bands at the hems of their skirts were above the girls in all white and decided to approach one of them for help.

She dipped into a curtsy that was technically right but lacked a practiced grace.  She curtsied as one who had obviously seen a cursty done properly, but never been taught or schooled how.  She came up from the curtsy and smiled brightly and warmly, saying softly, "Pardon me, Miss, but I'm to see the Mistress of Novices about joining the Tower."

The Accepted turned to the girl with a welcoming smile in place almost as if more by habit than emotion.  She nodded and briskly said "Come with me then.  What's your name?"

"Selenessin Al'Thorin, from Four Kings in Andor, Miss." Selene stepped quickly to match the woman's pace, hurrying not to be left behind as she was lead deeper into the cool depths of the tower.  She tried to pay attention to which turns went where, but before too long she decided it was hopeless and instead of paying attention to the turns, she paid attention to the Tower itself.  The smooth walls were beautiful, all white, broken in regular intervals by tapestries of amazing quality and little artifacts of great beauty set on pedestals and in alcoves set into the wall.  There was more wealth and beauty in the halls she saw before getting to the Mistress of Novice's office than Selene had seen in her whole life, altogether.  She fingered the firedrop hanging from the thin chain between her breasts lightly, wondering at this tiny gem being her greatest possession in a world of such opulence.

She was startled out of her thoughts by arriving at a door.  The woman bid her to wait here and then knocked on the door and slipped inside once beckoned from within.  Selene leaned sideways, trying to catch a glimpse of the woman who would be in charge of her until she learned whatever it is she had to know before becoming an Aes Sedai.  The Accepted returned quickly and with an encouraging smile motioned for Selene to enter.

Nervously swallowing, she took a deep breath and then stepped into the room, unnerved by the quiet thump of the door being closed behind her.

((Continuation of story from Part I))

It was just before sunset when Selene and Jasine rode up the bridges to the island of Tar Valon.  Travel-worn and weary, the guard narrowed his eyes and looked at them closely before nodding to Selene's assertion that she was sent to the tower by an Aes Sedai.  They rode on into the city of Tar Valon itself, weariness forgotten in the majesty of the city up close.

Selene had been able to see the Tower itself and its darker looming brother in Dragonmount for what felt like days now.  She'd been to White Bridge once, seven years ago, while traveling to Baerlon for a relative's wedding, and she thought having seen that great work of the Aes Sedai of old would have prepared her for some of the beauty of Tar Valon.  She was wrong, and had no idea that anything made by anything less than the Creator himself could have achieved such awe-inspiring glory.  The Tower, because it had been visible long before anything else, was amazing in a much more gentle way.  It did not suddenly burst into view like the buildings of Tar Valon, once she was over the bridge and through the gate.  Once the guard at the bridge had let them by he managed to relax enough to really behold the glory of the fabled Tar Valon.  The reddening sunlight made the white walls glow almost pink, transforming the delicately formed seashell and wave buildings into something almost ethereal, out of a storybook.  He supposed Tar Valon actually was a city of storybooks and he saw now why it was touted as the most beautiful in the land.  The shell buildings especially looked enchanting, almost as if they could be alive.  Jasine and Selene sat their horses, side by side, watching the colors shift and flicker as the sun set behind them, the shadow of Dragonmount slowly but surely moving to eclipse the riot of colors.

At the harsh call from a wide wagon jostling through to get into the city before dark.  Selene reached out to Jasine, took his hand for one quick squeeze, and then lead then forward on the general path towards the White Tower.  Originally Jasine had insisted on leading the way when they couldn't ride abreast, but that was how Selene had gotten tangled with that vendor, when she was behind him and he couldn't keep a constant eye on her.  The girl was too trusting by half, and even if she lead the way, he was able to watch her back, quite literally.  Jasine kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, riding tall and sure in the saddle and trying to bluff his way through any harm that might think of going for the diminutive blonde on the flighty black filly.

Tar Valon was entrancing.  There were people from all walks of life within the city and both Jasine and his sister did a lot of staring as they made their way towards the Tower.  Selene caught Jase staring at a particularly clingy dress hugging the curves of a Domani woman and with a jerk of her head and a loud sniff, her braid swung around and caught him full in the face.

Selene laughed, along with most of the crowd who had been close enough to see it, steadying the unsettled filly with primarily knees alone as she had both hands pressed to her mouth, reins trailing from them.  Jasine's mount Brownie just stood there, steady and apparently unamused or upset by his rider's abrupt absence.  Jase struggled to his feet, and took Brownie's reins up in a hand.  He shielded his eyes with a hand as he looked up at her, squinting against the last red light of sunset.  "It's late sis, and now I'm all dirty in addition to being travel sore and bone tired.  Have we got enough silver left to stay in an Inn tonight before going to the tower?  We could play cards, one last time, before you go."

Selene bit her lip, the giggles cured by his somber mention of what lay ahead for the two of them, the parting that must come, for who knew how long.  She had always liked Jase best, except for maybe Mum and Da, but she'd grown even closer to him on this trip and if what Mum had said about the Tower proved true, she was dearly going to miss having a friend close at hand.  Without checking the purse, she knew exactly how much was in there, she nodded her assent. "This one here looks nice, and it'll just be a short ride to the Tower in the morning."  She dismounted and led her horse beside Jasine, the two of them seeing their horses to the stable and put away properly themselves.  It wasn't that they didn't trust the Inn's stable hand, a lad named Jerlyn who watched them with narrowed eyes as they curried, brushed, and stabled the horses.  It was simply that the horses were theirs, and they had been raised to always take care of their horses, before themselves, and to see to their responsibilities quickly and without needing reminder.  Likely, Jerlyn's distrust and anger came more from the silver pennies he would not get for tending to the animals in their stead.  After a brief argument, Jase took the bags for both of them and Selene patted the dust off her dress as best she could and then gave the stable boy a single silver penny. She asked that the horses be fed lightly, but twice.  They could colic given too much feed right away after the exertion of long-distance travel.  They'd had primarily nothing but night-time grazing for most of their trip north.  Jerlyn's scowl was replaced by an insincere-looking smile, but he would probably do as asked.

Inside the Inn, the room was procured with little fuss at all and one of the hands took the bags from Jase.  Now that they were here, in Tar Valon, all she really wanted was a quiet meal, a glass of water, and bed.  They took seats near the stage and listened to the girl there play the dulcimer while they waited for their food.  The serving girl brought water for her and ale for Jasine and she eagerly drank to wash away the dust and dryness of travel.  Many people reacted oddly to her preferring water to wine, but she knew how important it was for horses and other animals to get plenty of clear, clean water and she saw no reason for it to be any different for people.  And besides which, wine could make you tipsy and headachey after drinking it, where as water simply always sated thirst.  Selene looked over the rim of her water glass and scowled as Jasine made eyes at the serving girl, did the boy have no manners at all?  Girls didn't like to be looked at that way! And they certainly didn't like it from someone's brother.  Selene scowl turned into a grimace as she thought of anyone kissing a boy like her Jasine.  Oh, she loved him well enough as a brother, but kissing him?

She was started out of her disgust at the idea of brothers kissing girls by the stately sweep of a well-tailored silk dress as it glided towards them.  Looking up from the fine cream colored skirt slashed with gold, she gasped at the ageless face that she had only just begun to realize must have something to do with Aes Sedai.  She had noticed several ladies in Tar Valon with a specific... look to them.  A something it was hard to pin down or describe as anything other than ageless.  The smooth wrinkle-free skin should have simply made them young, and perhaps with a good many of them it did make them look younger than their true years, but it was not the plump skin of youth, full of elasticity and resilience.  It was just simply what it was. Ageless.

The dark-haired woman, tressed trimmed into a severe bob, that came towards the siblings could have been just ten or so years older than Selene herself.  She could also have been 30 years older.  It was impossible to pin an age on her based on her face, but she held herself with the regal bearing of a woman who had been in charge, and was used to being in charge, for a very long time.  The way she looked down her nose as she tipped her chin to address them spoke of haughtiness, refinery, and a clear expectation of absolute obedience. 

At her gasp, Jase's hand slipped down from his ale to beneath the table and Selene didn't even think about the sword the boy wore on his hip there.  She was not yet accustomed, even after this journey, to thinking of her brother as some sort of warrior or guardian.  At the tightening of the woman's eyes and her words, Selene's jaw dropped open. "Child, if you try to pull that blade on me I shall have you turned upside-down and spanked with the flat of the blade before you can get it halfway out of the scabbard.  Drink your ale and let me speak with this... girl."

Selene was pulled out of her chair by a firm hand on her arm and found herself compelled to obey simply by the presence this woman exuded.  Of course she would stand up and follow, it wasn't until she heard Jasine's chair crash over backwards behind him as he stood that it even occurred to her that she had the option to not obey.  Without looking back, the Aes Sedai spoke again in cool tones of regal bearing. "I do not make idle threats, boy.  Mind your manners."  She looked back over her shoulder at her brother as he stood there, dumbfounded, his hand still resting loosely on his hilt.  She turned back to the Aes Sedai and began speaking quickly but with respect. "Pardon me, my Lady, but I do not know what it is you wish with m--" she was cut off as soundly by the single look the woman cut to her as she would have by a slap to the face.  If this was how Aes Sedai treated people, maybe she did not wish to become one after all!  No, she was coming to the Tower to be able to help people, and just because this woman was such an overbearing and, and.. downright rude old bag, didn't mean she had to become one as well.

By the time the Aes Sedai spun Selene around and roughly put her back to one of the corners of the room, Selene had regained her nerve and steeled her resolve.  From here she could see her brother once more and caught the tail end of what looked like a nasty fall as the boy tried to sit on his upturned chair leg, faltered, and then hit his chin on the table. Her attention was pulled back from him as the Aes Sedai spoke quickly, with a serenity in her demeanor that did not match quite exactly with the brusqueness of her actions. "Child, I can only assume that you either are a novice who has skipped out of the Tower to visit with that pretty little plaything of yours with that fool sword strapped to his fool side, or you have come to Tar Valon to be written into the Novice Book and wanted one last fling before you went.  I assure that the Tower will not tolerate such behavior, whichever one it is, and I want you to immediately present yourself to the Mistress of Novices to be strapped and sent to scrub pots for a good month at the very least.  This kind of behavior is entirely unbecoming of a young lady, especially one who may one day become a sister if she doesn't get her fool self with child when she is but a child herself."

The face that turned up to stare at the woman was firm and unyielding.  She took a deferential tone when she was finally allowed to speak, but she did not let the woman's words change her mind. The flush that creeped into her cheeks she tried to convince herself the woman would think to be anger rising and not the mortifying embarrassment of the thought of doing... doing.. well, that with her own brother! "Lady Aes Sedai, I assure there was nothing improper in my behavior here tonight and that... Boy! over there is my brother, who has come with me from Andor to see me safely to the Tower.  I was already told by an Aes Sedai in Four Kings that I was to go to the tower and I have wasted no time in making my haste here to see through her directions.  I would thank you kindly, Mistress, to release my arm and let me get back to my brother, as this is our last evening together.  I will report to the Tower in the morning, after I have slept and washed and made myself properly attired." She swallowed nervously, nothing short of stubbornness giving her the strength to do anything but quail and beg forgiveness from this... this... woman who treated her so high-handed and rude.  This would prove to be the last time for a very long time where Selenessin even dared to show such defiance to a woman of the shawl, but she did not yet really know them as a people.

The Aes Sedai drew back, standing very tall and arching one brow at the diminutive girl before her and sniffed. "Well I never.  You'll see that insolence strapped out of you before too long.  Where's the letter you were given from the Aes Sedai who tested you, child?  I shall check with Larindhra Sedai and see that you are true to your word and have presented yourself to her.  And don't think I will neglect to mention this little impropriety as well.  You will learn to defer yourself to any Sister, and every Sister you happen to come across before very much longer."

Selene dug in her satchel and brought out the book she had been reading on the trip and flipped it open to where the sealed letter was keeping her place.  The Sedai scanned the outside of the letter quickly, took note of the child's name, and then handed it back with the seal still intact.  She nodded curtly and then stepped aside, as if she were ordering the girl back to her seat instead of allowing her the freedom to do so.  Selene took a moment to replace the letter int he book and the book in the satchel before making her way back to the table, schooling her every quivery and jelly-filled muscle to walk calmly, serenely, and to show that Aes Sedai that she was neither cowed nor repentant.  She swallowed several times convulsively and could not help the darting of her eyes to see if the Aes Sedai was looming over her shoulder or about to strike her with lightning for showing such pride. 

When she reached her seat and allowed herself a surreptitious glance to where the Aes Sedai had been she was relieved to see the gold-slashed-cream skirts vanishing through the front door. With both hands wrapped around the glass, she drained the water in a single go and then glared at Jase as he laughed at her apparent distress. She saw him wince and felt a little stab of vindication that didn't lessen when she realized the source of his wince was not her ire, but the cut on his chin from hitting the table.  He was holding a bloodied cloth to the cut now, but he didn't seem to be too worried about it and she was too upset to show her usual amount of care.

Dinner was blissfully uneventful after the rest of their evening in Tar Valon, and before retiring to their shared room Wouldn't that have gotten that woman's dander up, if she knew we were sharing a room as if we had not lived together our whole lives she asked the Mistress who ran the Inn about having a dress laundered and washed before she left, early, tomorrow morning.  The lady surprised her by saying she'd already had their clothes taken to be washed and they would be delivered promptly, first thing.  Selene thanked her and offered another silver penny to the woman.  They had used just over half of the coins in the bag, but it shouldn't take as much for Jasine to return home, needing housing and stabling for only one along the way.

Up in the room, Jasine already had the cards out and had fetched the little bag of pretty river stones they always used in place of money when they were playing cards. It was a wonderful evening, and the two of them stayed up too late talking and laughing and being friends.  It was as if they both knew the morrow would bring serious change and neither wanted to let it happen yet.  When they did finally both fall asleep, the candles burned down to their last inch and finally sputtered out in their own melted wax.  The siblings fell asleep fully dressed, and woke the next morning stiff, but refreshed.  Selene woke first, to the knocking at the door not long after dawn where a maid delivered the dress she'd asked to be cleaned and pressed by the morning.  Jasine was up before the door shut again once they had both washed he stepped out so she could get dressed. 

She stripped out of her shift and washed again, this time getting all the places that it wouldn't have been proper for her brother to see, but always managed to accumulate a surprising amount of road grime.  She slipped into a new thin cotton shift and the linen stockings she had done the embroidered trimming on herself.  Nothing unseemly, just some pretty white flowers and swirls along the top edging.  The good dress she had brought from home and not worn on the trip went on next, a relatively plain but well-cut garment with a high neck, loose sleeves, and the divided skirts she always favored.  She had just finished brushing out her hair, leaving it loose today, when Jase returned. He brought back with him to their room breakfast: hot rolls and bowls of a warm oatmeal sweetened with sliced peaches.  They ate in a comfortable silence and then packed up their things to leave.  Selene sighed softly as she gathered up the cards that had spilled to the floor from the bed when they'd fallen asleep the night before and when she stood back up with them Jase hugged her quickly and smiled, pretending not to see the unshed tears standing in her deep brown eyes.

"Let's go see about making you an Aes Sedai."

It was three days later that Jasine and Selenessin set off for Tar Valon.  The firedrop on its long chain was hidden from sight, nestled between her breasts and beneath even the thin layer of her shift.  Jasine had the sword their Da gave him strapped onto his hip.  He'd been practicing with it these past few days and had almost grown accustomed to the difference in weight and balance between the bundled lathes Da had been training him with and the feel of genuine steel.  He still had the bundled lathes wrapped in his bedroll behind his saddle, the handle poking out of the bundle where he would be able to draw the weapon if he needed to use something less lethal than the blade.  There were hugs all around and quite a few tears on both sides of the parting, and then they were off.

Selenessin wanted to gallop Rao the whole way to Tar Valon, just gather the reins and let the filly fly the whole way.  But the trip should take weeks and even an animal as feisty as Rao would have long-since died if forced (or allowed) to gallop that distance.  Jasine rode with a natural ease on the big bay gelding named Brownie, and his steadying presence helped calm both Selene and Rao.  Usually a sedate, steady, and level-headed girl most of the time, whenever Selene mounted her filly she felt a wildness, a desire to give up all restraint and move as the wind does, free of any boundaries.  Instead she rode at her brother's side, thinking about Tar Valon and letting the emotions of hopeful expectation and worried brooding war with each other freely.  Hope would prevail, it always did.

The wide road to Caemlyn was uneventful and quiet.  Their brief stay within Caemlyn was not.  They had just gotten through the gates into New Caemlyn when a vendor hailed Selene and she paused to listen to his spiel while Jasine kept watch on the crowd and general flow of people.  He didn't really expect there to be any issues with danger on the trip, especially in Caemlyn, which he still considered part of his 'home' of Andor. Selenessin simply did not expect danger at all - not from people anyway.  There was a muffled thump and when Jasine looked back to his sister, she was no longer astride her horse.  For a good moment he just stared at the empty saddle that sat on the nervous horse's back and then he realized the vendor was pulling away with his cart.  Jase leaned over and caught up Rao's bridle and when he did he saw feet sticking out of the back of the wagon from beneath a blanket.

Startled, Jase yelled to the Vendor and then spurred his horse, pulling Rao along by her reins.  Brownie, placid as he was most of the time, had been very well trained.  And being heeled in the ribs that hard that suddenly meant one thing to him: Run.  And he did.  Jasine nearly toppled off the horse, and as it was his shoulder got wrench horribly as he was pulled between the running horse he was mounted on and the standing horse he was holding the reins to.  Rao bolted at having her head jerk and it was only by the grace of the Creator himself that both horses wound up going in the same direction at about the same speed.  With one hand buried into the horse's mane, the other on Rao's reins, Jase wasn't controlling the horse at all until he could get his feet back in the stirrups and take up Brownie's reins.  The pair of animals shot past the vendor and in his brief glance at the man as he flew past there was little expression beyond blatant shock.  They were all outside the city gates and into Low Caemlyn  before Jase got the horses under control and turned around. When he did, the wagon and vendor were no where in sight.  Jase looped the reins over Rao's head so he'd have the length of them free and heeled Brownie into a trot, looking down side-streets to try to find where the wagon had gone.

Selene didn't know much of anything besides the musty smell of old blanket and the tightness constricting her arms fast to her sides.  She tried to scream but even to her ears it sounded muffled by the fabric against her face.  It had all happened so quickly!  The nice old man Maybe not so nice, I guess had said he had just the ribbon to match her eyes and so few pretty things were made to match eyes the color of melted chocolate.  She'd leaned into the wagon from Rao's back and was toppled and wrapped before she even knew what had happened.  At first she thought she must have fallen and been tangled among the man's merchandise, but even her naiveté could not sustain that hope past when the wagon jolted forward and she heard Jasine yell. 

Within her prison Selene squeezed her eyes shut tight, pressing out the tears that hadn't yet been shed but were now. 

He saw the scuff marks in the dirt road that lead off the cobbled main street and turned Brownie, Rao following along with the instincts of generations of being a herd animal.  He tucked his heels close to Brownie's sides and the horse responded by stretching out into an easy canter.  Rao tossed her head and whinnied and pulled past Brownie, making a race of it, but a slight twitch at the reins held in one fisted hand brought her back to his side.  Jasine heard the crack of a whip and a coarse yell to his left and turned down the next side road, taking it faster than was really safe, but the horses didn't skid this time.  Just ahead was the wagon and he could see the bundle of what was his sister in the back.  Jasine wondered for the first time what by the Light the man had wanted with his sister but shoved the thought aside for later.

They caught the wagon easily just as it passed out of low Caemlyn and into the open fields beyond.  As Jase leaped from the horse to the wagon seat beside the man, the man swung at him with a dagger.  If he hadn't bobbled and almost fallen from the wagon, the dagger would have taken him in the ribs.  As it was, his clumsiness saved him and the blade sliced deeply into his left bicep.  The man drew out his dagger and turned to leap off the other side of the wagon.  Jase pulled his blade and impaled the man from behind, wincing at the blossoms of red the bloomed across the man's shirt.  He tumbled off the wagon and lay still.  Jase dropped the sword on the wagon seat and stood unsteadily as the mule pulling the wagon slowed on his own, no longer being driven to run.

Jase pulled out his kerchief and wrapped his arm clumsily, one handed.  He stopped the mule and Brownie and Rao stopped as much out of herd instinct as anything else, standing beside the mule companionably.  As Jase climbed into the back of the wagon to free his sister the guard showed up. One stopped by the man lying prone on the road while the other two approached the wagon with swords drawn.  There the found two kids, hugging each other and crying.  Jase was doing most of the crying, which he would later deny, but he kept smoothing down the girl's mussed up hair and whispering "You're safe, you're okay."  Selene shuddered and tried not to think about the man's filthy promises of where he'd touch her.

------

They decided not to spend the night in Caemlyn.  As soon as the guards had determined no fault lay in Jasine's actions, the two were free to go.  Jase had cleaned his blade and resheathed it, and the two left without ever seeing Inner Caemlyn and the palace of the Queen they both thought of as theirs. All they did before journeying north was restock their supplies with some of the coin the Aes Sedai and their Da gave them for the trip.  They made camp that night well off to the side of the road to Tar Valon and doused their fire early into the evening, hoping not to be seen.  The evening was warm, the chill of early spring long past, and they didn't need the fire for warmth.  They did the same thing the next two nights as well, and it was this third night outside of Caemlyn that Selene was woken from her sleep by a sound that made her wild imagination envision bones being rattled together and she spent several moments convincing her that it was only a child's fantasy doing it before she finally was able to place the sound.

Jase's teeth were chattering.  Concerned, Selene crawled past the banked coals of their fire and laid her hand against her brother's brow.  She startled and pulled her hand back with a gasp, he was so hot.  She quickly grabbed her bedroll and put the whole thing over him as a blanket, sitting curled up on the hard ground beside him.  It was an hour or so before first light still, so she didn't have much to do until she could see, but in the meantime she wetted her kerchief with water and laid it on his brow.  Jase didn't stir, not even with the delirious ramblings that frequently accompanied a high fever, and she was worried.

As the horizon lightened she filled a tin cup from her satchel with water from one of their skins and set it down in the coals, letting them heat the water within. She turned down her blankets over him and carefully pulled his arm out of the sleeve of the shirt he was sleeping in and untied his bandage.  Even by low light she could see that the injury he sustained while saving her had gone red, inflamed and infected.  She hissed softly through her teeth as she probed the probed the wound carefully and finally her brother reacted, moaning quietly and his head lolling to one side.  She searched through her satchel until she found another kerchief and set it in the cup to boil and be cleaned.  She pulled the kerchief out with her fingernails and waved it a little in the air to cool it to the point where she could use it properly.

She'd helped the animals doctors with the horses' injuries before, and she'd been at her Aunt Sari's skirts whenever she wasn't with the horses, so she wasn't completely ignorant of what to do.  She cleaned the wound carefully with the cloth and heated water, but it was already starting to knit shut.  She grimaced at the smell and the sun was a good hour above the horizon by the time she decided she had done all that she could do with water alone.  She left the wound open to the air  on top of the blankets and moved off to find the herbs that she needed.  She was lucky that they were still in Andor, and so close to her general area.  The herbs that she knew grew at home were apt to be found here, too.  She just had to hope that she could find some feverbane and worrynot.  A bit of healall or soufa wouldn't be amiss either.  She worried as she searched, wishing she had insisted that Jase see a real Wisdom in Caemlyn before they left.

It took her almost three hours to find the herbs, but she did find all of them.  She came running back to Jase as soon as she finally found the feverbane.  The worrynot was the easiest to find, and she pulled up some of the root and had used a corner of her skirts to rub the dirt from the precious plant.  She made up the tincture as well as she could, hoping that her lack of knowledge wouldn't cost her brother his life, and treated him.  She made him sit up and drink tea made with willow bark and changed the cool cloth on his forehead whenever it warmed up to his elevated temperature.  She slept fitfully, curled up against his side, and it was two days later that she was woken up late in the morning by a gentle hand petting her hair that was as familiar as her mother's voice.  Jase had always pet her hair, even back when it was just a wispy cap of curls atop a toddler's head, and she came awake instantly and fully aware.

"Oh Jase, are you well?  Did it work?" Tears stood shining in her eyes as she looked up to her big brother, sitting up on his bedroll and smiling down at her.

"It worked, 'Ene.  Whatever you did, my arm doesn't ache anymore.  How long was I asleep for?"  His voice was scratchy and a little hoarse, but his breathing was even and he didn't look pained.

"We're seven days since Caemlyn now.  We've been camped here for three days.  You must be so hungry!"  She rose a little unsteadily and moved to one of the saddle bags and drew out the dry oats.  She flitted about making oatmeal, shaking in the last of their dried fruit from home and then offered a bowl to Jase.  She wouldn't let him get up and help her, but she did sit down beside him to eat her own bowl of food. 

They stayed another three days in that thicket beside the road to Tar Valon, letting Jase recover his health and spending a little bit of time snaring rabbits so they would have meat.  They exercised together, Selene finding that she could finally best her illness-weakened brother at something physical other than climbing trees, to help him recover some of his strength before grueling days spent in the saddle.  They played cards when he grew tired, gathering stones from the stream nearby to use as tokens for betting.  They finally got back under way and it was almost as if the rest had done them both good.  They made better time north from Caemlyn than they had even when they first set out.  Rao was settling down into the routine of alternating trotting, walking, and cantering that Selene had often used on long trail rides, although it didn't occur to either of the children to dismount and walk alongside their horses to rest them further, but they still drew within sight of Dragonmount, and then the White Tower itself well before the deadline the Aes Sedai had given Selene.

Selenessin thanked the Aes Sedai with a quiet voice and nodded, curtsying before she turned to leave.  She walked out of the cloth store with the sunny calico print forgotten in her arms and turned east to leave Four Kings.  Her father and older brother were still at the blacksmith's, having the plow fitted with a new blade.  She'd forgotten entirely about them too, and only walked, slowly and steadily, with her head in a fog.  She didn't see the wisdom smile and wave, and she didn't see the two girls carrying dolls run past her, narrowly missing a collision.  She stepped around a carriage lacquered shiny black, the black horse pulling it snorting at her and tossing his head.  She was clear of the Inns and Taverns and moving along the well-traveled road towards Caemlyn before she managed to give voice to the wondrous fact that the Aes Sedai had just informed her of.

"I... can channel."  Saying it out loud made it seem no more real, no less impossible.  She gasped and spun, looking to see who might have heard her speak the words that meant she would be going to the White Tower, and soon, to become Aes Sedai.  She was startled to see no one within a hundred paces, alone on the road from Four Kings.  She didn't remember leaving the town, didn't remember even leaving the shop.  She looked down at the cloth in her arms, unbound by the brown paper that would normally have kept the dust of the road off of the fabric.  She smiled ruefully, brushed some dust off, and then wrapped it in the lightweight cloak she had brought along for when the building storm clouds to the north would sweep down and drench the land.  Spring was a good time for listening to the wind*, the storms were predictable and went where they were supposed to.  She picked up her step again, moving with the long-strided purpose of someone with somewhere to go and a long way to get there.  Mistress Calor would tell her Da that she had left the shop and headed down the road, and he and Jasine would catch up with her somewhere between here and the farm. 

"I'm to go to the Tower.  I can channel, and I've been told to go to Tar Valon immediately.  I must become an Aes Sedai.  I will be able to help people."  Her voice trailed off on the last few words.  Selene had always wanted to help people, and she had thought to follow her Aunt Sari's footsteps in becoming a wisdom.  She didn't think it would be too hard to convince her Da, but her Mum might not be too thrilled about her youngest daughter going off to see the world at so young an age.  Da would understand, he'd gone off to fight the Aiel before she had been born, he understood the need to answer a call when it came.  And now was when her call came.

She heard the sounds of swift horses coming up the road behind her and moved into the soft spring grass that edged the road and turned to look.  She shaded her eyes with her hand, the bright noon sun making her squint.  Two horses were coming up the road, moving much faster than a pair of animals could be expected to sustain through until Caemlyn.  As she watched, the indistinct figures formed into people, a woman and a man.  The man was a warder, even from this distance she could see the odd cloak whipping behind him. The Aes Sedai made eye contact just before she swept by, a tense smile and a brief nod of her head, encouraging the girl to make the only choice she really had.  And then they were past her, the horses legs eating up the ground in smooth strides, barely even breathing hard.  As she watched, Selene wondered if there was some sort of bond between an Aes Sedai and her mount.  She certainly could use a hand with getting Rao to settle down beneath her.  She tightened her lips as they disappeared into a hollow as the road dipped down to follow the gentle curves of the land.  She continued walking, thinking about channeling and going off to see the world and her half-trained filly.

By the time she was halfway down the road that led away from the Caemlyn road, she had regained her usual good spirits.  She was sure that she could convince her mom that this was what must be done, and what would be done.  Determination was never something in short supply in the Al'Thorin line, and Selenessin wasn't about to be the first to tarnish that good name.  She was startled out of her thinking by a sudden smattering of fat, cold raindrops.  She ducked her head and huddled protectively around the cloaked fabric in her arms and broke into a less than graceful run.  The clouds that had been amassing to the North had rolled in and were just overtaking the bright sunshine, casting the land into a world of muted shades of grey.

She arrived home just as her Mum was going back through the front door, a basket of damp wash balanced on one hip, taken down off the line before the rain could undo the morning's sun-drying.  Selene saw her Mum look over the girl's head, searching for the wagon.  Flashing a bright smile to let the older woman know there was nothing wrong, she trotted up the stairs onto the porch, shaking her wet hair behind her.

"You'll catch your death, 'Ene.  Running around in the rain like some fool tot.  Is that my calico?"  Kairyn Al'Thorin set the basket down and held the door open for her daughter.  At Selene's nod she took the fabric inside, hanging up the cloak by the door to dry.  Selene looked back behind her and without the faintest show of her Da and brother showing, she skinned the dress down off of her and hung it up beside the cloak, her boots left on the porch below them.  She stepped inside in her stockings and shift, fetching a towel from the mostly-dried basket of laundry.

Selene handed her mom the small satchel of gold that the Aes Sedai gave her and took a deep breath.  As her mom eyed her, carefully weighing the stance Selene had taken, she sighed.  Selene spoke softly, but with conviction. "I can channel, Mum.  An Aes Sedai gave that to me, to pay my way to Tar Valon.  She said if I wasn't there within a month she'd return for me.  She tested me today, it's why I came back early."

Selene's mother was silent for a long time, holding the bag of coins and her usually fiery temper showing not at all.  Eventually she said very quietly "It's not easy being a novice.  It's even harder when you've been one for 7 years and they tell you that you'll never make the shawl.  To go home, and forget about channeling and the Source."  Selene gasped and stared. "Oh yes, girl, I know you can channel.  I've known you could for years.  I was hoping you never would."

Selene shook her head quickly, she would become Aes Sedai, the woman said so, but her mother cut her off again. "You always expect the best of everything, 'Ene.  Not everything is sunshine and rainbows.  I know you're stronger in the power than I ever could have hoped for.  But you took this woman's money and I assume you gave her your word.  And child though you may still be, the word of Al'Thorin is something worth standing by.  You'll go off to the tower, but you won't go alone.  Jasine will go too, to see you there and he'll stay in Tar Valon until you come home.  Maybe he'll find work as a Tower Guard in the meantime."

Selene was speechless and her Mum just sighed heavily, as if she had either been relieved of a great weight - or had taken on a new one.  Selene couldn't tell.  She dropped her towel and ran across the room to her Mum, wrapping her arms around the larger, warmly rounded woman and burying her face in the woman's apron, tears streaming down as she laughed.

She would go to Tar Valon after all.

~~~~

By the time Selenessin's Da and brother Jasine had pulled up to the house the storm had moved on again.  The world was left wet, shiny, and bright.  They unloaded the larger stuff into the barn and each brought in a box of goods for her Mum to go through and put away.  Da had brought home a necklace, a fine thing of silver and a small but beautiful firedrop pendant.  It was the finest piece of jewelry Selene had ever had and she gasped aloud and nearly dropped it when she pulled it out from between the sheaf of parchment paper and the box of nails from the blacksmith's.

"Tad, this is beautiful! By the Light, how did you manage to get this?"  Kairyn's eyes went wide and she'd completely forgotten the announcement that the boys were to hear.  They'd already told the two older girls, those not yet married off and in their new homes starting their new families.  Cairlyn and Lesael were at the same time happy for Selene and somewhat distant, as though their little sister whose hair they had pulled was already the Aes Sedai of legend and concern.  Neither girl really thought they would be punished for not being the sweetest sisters ever, but there was a wariness about them now that had never been there before.

"I heard some fine news in Four Kings, and decided to visit Jan's to pay off the balance on that fine thing I've been making payments on for nigh two years now.  It seems our Littlest Miss is off for a grand adventure, and I thought that would do for some celebration."  Tad tapped the side of his nose and nodded, smiling broadly.  He opened his arms wide and Selene leaped into them, still small enough to be picked up and bear hugged by her Da.  Jasine smiled broadly and unpacked a cake from one of the boxes, decorated in intricate frosting roses and vines.  Kairyn gasped again, eyes wide.  Selene had rarely seen her mom surprised so many times in succession in her life and she laughed, delighted.  She knew her Da would understand.

Da put the necklace around Selene's neck, gently kissing the top of her head as he closed the clasp.  Kairyn laughed softly and then kissed her husband, right there in front of the kids!  Jasine blushed and looked away, but Selenessin just smiled broadly.  When Mum announced that Jasine was to accompany her to Tar Valon Jasine looked even more excited than Selene had.  Da nodded in agreement and fetched his sword from the bottom of the chest in their bedroom, handing it to Jasine still in its scabbard and attached to the well-worn leather sword belt he'd worn in the war.  Cairlyn and Lesael each gave Selene a trinket, one of their few pieces of jewelry, to take with her to Tar Valon.  Selene had never felt so rich and fancy, or so loved.  It was a beautiful celebration and the best way the day's events could have concluded.  Better than even she had hoped for.

((OOC * Here Selene uses the term Listening to the Wind in the general term that most Wisdoms do, the reading of weather patterns and general movements and fronts, not the Talent.  She's good at reading the weather the same way farmers frequently are))

I like having the choices available.  It makes it possible for each of our warders to grow uniquely from each other, which makes contests between the trainees (and Tower Guards) more vibrant and interesting.

I've been reading this thread as it unfolded and I still really don't have any idea what the disciplines and paths are.  As such, I can't really make a decision or form much of an opinion.  I'm adaptable, though.  However it ends up being decided, I can form my character (since he is so new) to accommodate and reflect that.  Jasine doesn't have a whole lot of flavor right now, he's a boy who played swordfight with sticks in his childhood and now has a real sword, but doesn't know much about it beyond how to not stab himself.

I'd love to have a system set up where there were mentors who were masters of their individual styles of fighting and who had different mindsets and views on how to gain their mastery (like Ata mentioned some had diet restrictions, and I'm sure some had different codes of honor) but without the masters in place, it's going to be a lot of new people roleplaying by themselves as they write in the masters/mentors as NSWs and the actual role playing part of back-and-forth activity is going to suffer.  Or you're going to end up with the 3 or 4 oldbies who remember how things worked pulling a lot of double duty as they play the NSWs for the mentees who each want a different path.

The lack of players limits us in this, but I don't really know what the solution is to it.  I'd love to have someone assigned to my character to whoops his ass and teach him how to fight, but it's going to be a strain and a challenge on the oldbies to have to know all the given fighting styles (whether that be discipline, path, or both) and a lot of their time to rp it.

*swallows*  I meant more cookies. :)

mmweff mmcanff mmmakeff mmmoreff?

*snarfs all the cookies while the other two are playing swordfight*

I know I've only recently joined the div in an official capacity, but I've been lurking and reading since January and as such, have had a lot of time to think about roleplaying and to talk about it with my husband.  The husband is where this question/concept comes from.

Jay (the aforementioned husband) has been writing a story set in Tear about a rat-catcher's assistant who is taken in by a minor noble and put to work as Valet.  Because of his background, the character (Istaban) is quite good at moving stealthily and being sneaky.  He's a good-natured person, though, so when his noble asks him to assassinate someone he's not sure whether to obey his loyalty to the man or obey his conscience.  In the story, he ends up saving an Aes Sedai who is partially incapacitated in some way (this part hasn't been written yet, so he's still deciding how to make it work nicely) from a rat-headed trolloc.  He doesn't know it's a trolloc, he's never seen a trolloc before or even heard many stories about them, he just knows rat-man attacks and he freaks out and manages to kill the thing by sheer luck for the most part.  The Aes Sedai is grateful to him and decides he would be a valuable asset to the Tower and so takes him back to Tar Valon with her.  What her intentions are with him there are a little unclear, it would be a little unbelievable for her to bond him on the spot, especially considering his lack of weapons skill and that he is generally slight-framed and young.

Now, it all makes a nice little story, but the whole point of this is to have a character background that's not just the same old "Go to Tar Valon to become a hero" thing, he wanted to do something unique.  What I wanted to ask you guys about was whether there would be someone interested in/willing to either use their Aes Sedai in this story, or to play a throw-away Aes Sedai for the purpose of the story.

There are a couple of other points I'd need permission/advice with.  The trolloc being in Tear in the first place is something I know is generally frowned upon in character backstory, but it's kind of what the whole concept is hinged on.  In talking about it, the two of us said that if his Noble was a darkfriend of some moderate level of power or closeness to a forsaken, he could have been given the Trolloc for the specific purpose of killing this Aes Sedai in Tear, but advice working on the mechanics of this would be very much appreciated.  I'm still a little too new to the dynamics of DM to advise Jay on anything beyond generalities. 

The eventual goal of the story is, of course, to roleplay on DM, and he seems to prefer roleplaying among Aes Sedai.  Istaban is a very loyal person, he'd follow oaths taken to his death or to prevent another's death quite willingly.  I don't know how good a warder he would make, but a personal assistant or something along those lines would suit him very well.

Opinions/feedback/advice would be really appreciated with this, since my last advice to Jay was "Well, if nothing else you and post the story on the unstructured roleplay board" and that made him pout at me.  And he has an irresistibly adorable pout.

Yay Cookies!

Jasine enjoyed laughing along with the older boy, feeling the kinks and stress of his trip and the parting with his sister melt away a little bit.  Once he caught his breath, it was an easier, lighter breath than he's drawn for some time.  He was still smiling through Arath's warning and advice, but he would take it to heart.  Light, for all he knew the woman could be a 70 year old spinster who might send him off on some horrible chore just for winking at her.  Then again...

Jase clasped hands with Arath again, smiling warmly as he spoke. "Thank you for this, friend.  I hope I'll have the chance to practice and train with you, there is much that I am sure you could teach me.  If I live through the meeting with the Mistress, that is."

He nodded to the man once more at his final words and then clasped his hands loosely behind his back, feet parted to shoulder width in the parade rest he had seen merchant guards adopt when they were standing around waiting for something further to do.  At least the goods ones, he'd seen just as many if not more simply slouch against whatever surface would hold their weight.  He tosses his head lightly, willing the dark blonde hair to stay back out of his eyes and waited for the answer to the knock patiently.

Jasine swallowed nervously as Arath described the Mistress of Trainees.  The woman sounded as bad as the Aes Sedai from the Inn; that little encounter had left Jasine feeling like a bumbling fool and he'd split his chin open in the process.  The cut made a handy little reminder that men with ill-intentions or swords weren't the only danger a lad could run into.  He ran a finger lightly over it as Arath spoke, nodding every so often as he agreed or understood a particular point.  The description of what his place would be, training to be a Tower Guard instead of a warder specifically made sense.  Jasine had never really considered what he would do if he was not allowed to train to become a Ward-- rather, to become a Tower Guard. 

The mention of free food brought a grin to Jasine's face.  They'd never gone without food at home, but being the only boy in a house of girls meant that he never got to stuff himself properly without tattles to Mum, teasing, and quite frequently, threats of being sent to tend the stables for being a pig.  Jasine was starting to like the idea of living out from under the thumb of meddlesome women.  Jasine obviously hadn't yet thought of the gleaming white Tower as being full of meddlesome women. He listened raptly, eyes focused mostly on the other boy and only looking away when he pointed to a specific landmark Jasine would do his best to remember. 

He paused, seriously thinking at the last question, wondering what he could possibly ask.  He'd like to ask the man a million questions about customs and rules and freedoms, but he figured the Mistress of Novices was the one who would answer all of those for him.  With a smile, he said "Just two.  One, want to be friends?  And Two, does the Mistress of Trainees happen to be available?  Sometimes a little charm can go a long way towards making a woman treat you a bit kinder." He winked at Arath, his smile quickly turning into a mischievous grin.

Jasine ran a hand through his dark blonde hair, pushing it back out of his eyes and thinking to himself that he might be due for a trim sometime soon.  It was too hot in the summer to have hair hanging in your eyes and getting in your way.  He pulled a leather cord out of his satchel and tied it back as well as he could, most of the hair too short to stay back.  Shaking his hair back again, he moved away from the Tower entrance, hoping to find someone who knew where he should be or anything that looked like an office of some sort.  He adjusted his belt, snugging it against his hips since he had worn it loose while riding, and for the first time realized that an unknown person armed with a sword might not be exactly welcomed.  He started to rest his hand on his hilt, it was comfortable there after long weeks of watchfulness, but then adjusted, letting it hang loose at his side, less threatening.

He stopped as he came across someone, a short man Possibly Cairheinin? doing exercises against the wall encircling the Tower grounds.  He has the coloring of an Andorman. He stopped to watch from shade of the stable, one head tipped slightly to the side as he studied, watching the smooth and practiced movement of muscles as the man worked.  Jasine wondered if this was the sort of thing he would be spending the next few weeks and months of his life doing, exercising and honing his body into a weapon.  He didn't really know what to expect of being a warder other than protecting Aes Sedai and fighting the Shadow.  As the man stood up straight and pulled a short, lightly curved blade and began practicing with it Jasine moved forward, into the sun and watching carefully.  He started to wonder why the man was using such a short blade but was distracted from the thought by marveling at the smooth flow of body from one form to the next.  The boy, and he could see now that he wasn't a whole lot older than Jasine himself, looked almost to be dancing, with an invisible enemy as his fierce partner.

As the boy finished and then addressed him Jasine cleared his throat and colored slightly, realizing he had been quite openly staring.  He stiffened, knees together, and bent from the waist and a slight but precise bow and nodded. "I am new, I've only just arrived." He stepped forward and offered his hand to Arath in greeting and then said "I'm Jasine Al'Thorin, a fellow Andorman."  He could tell from the accent and name that Talavin wasn't a Cairheinin, so he was simply shorter than average. He smiled warmly as he spoke. "Perhaps you could help me to where it is I need to go?  I think I'd like to learn to be a Warder."

*hugs*  Be safe and be well, Jade.  I wish you and the little one all the best of luck and I hope the hospital stay is short and uneventful.

Character Name: Jasine Al'Thorin

Rank: Trainee

Bondmate: None yet

WS: 1

Character Number(in this division only): 1

Now that I have my arrival posted, I should be free to start roleplaying properly with other people, which means I'm in for fun. :)

You have my yahoo.

They rode to the tower and instead of stopping at the front doors and going in, they went to the stables together, leading their mounts.  They hadn't spoken since the Inn, everything had pretty much been said.  Jasine spoke quietly with a young boy and then he stabled their horses side by side.  Selene looked a little confused when Jase took her tack with him and took them to the walled-off room that held the various saddles that served this barn's horses.  Their saddles were fine saddles, well made and long-lasting.  But they looked shabby and undeserving in this barn of high-cantled, fancy, and silver- and gold-inlaid finery.  He set the tack in place, ran a fond hand over the buttery soft leather that had served him well this trip, and silently promised to be back later in the day to clean and oil it properly.  She was looking up at Jasine when he returned and then asked quietly, "Why did you put your tack in the room too?"

Jasine smiled and gently set a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I'm not going back home, 'Ene.  I'm going to stay here in Tar Valon, and try to get employed by the Tower Guard.  Maybe even become a warder.  If nothing else, I know horses well enough that I'll be sure to find work tending them, nearby.  You won't be alone and you'll be able to find me if you need me."  He smiled again, as she smiled too, and then they hugged.  She held onto him tight, and he gently pat her hair, left free today.  He smooched the top of her head and he left her go, trying to scrub the tears off her cheeks where he couldn't see, but that was impossible.  He pulled his kerchief out of his pocket and offered it to her, so she wouldn't have to go into the Tower with a hanky that was already wetted and sniffly.  Then she offered it back and he tucked it back away.

"Bye Jase.  Thank you for coming with you.  And thank you... for.. being my brother."  She smile at him and blinked away the moisture from her eyes.  He stayed there, by their horses, as she turned and walked back towards the tower.  Now it was his turn to pet a horse that did not need soothing while he collected himself.

After a few moments he turned and strode off, to find someone who knew where he should be and who he should talk to about being able to stay.