Aeryn still believed she had done the right thing, speaking up when she had. Unlike Nenen, who looked about ready to sink through the floor, she stood there calm and composed again, waiting for what Jagen would have in store for her. Regardless of what it would be, she would need to have a damn good reason if she were to pass punishment down on her. As a bar of soap floated its way towards her, she raised an eyebrow at Jagen.

"Lather up that soap. Did you not learn that you are to never, ever speak that way to Aes Sedai? We're going to clean those manners right out of your mouth."

Keeping her jaws shut, she started lathering the soap, believing she was to go and clean the floor or other comparable task. Because that's what this was to her, simply another chore that needed doing for no better reason than giving the Novices something to do. If they intended to have her work until she'd apologise however, they'd be in for a long night, she was certain of that...

Aeryn

Still here, sorry for the delay

Mara hated Tear. Though the young ship captain had been born in Godan herself, she simply couldn't stand the idea of seeing a Tairen Lord. If business hadn't taken her here she doubted she'd be anywhere near the blasted country now, but the passenger they had picked up in Andor had wanted to disembark in Tear, and she had respected that in return for what he had done for her crew.

Two strong men of her crew flanked her as she stepped into an inn of the poorer districts. The less chance of her running into a so-called noble the better, and Timeon had picked the pair himself to keep her out of trouble in case she felt like going on a little hunt of her own. Not having been in the city often, she looked around, spotting an inn with the name of The Stone's Moss. Feeling the name to be somewhat appropriate to describe the city's leadership, she stepped in, habitually scanning the clientele for signs of having money on them.

They didn't, which meant none of them was likely to be in the service of a High Lord. Good, at least that would be spared to her. The bouncer eyed the blade of her cutlass warily, which was somewhat understandable given that she didn't keep it in a sheath, but had it tied to her hip by wrapping a cloth belt around it. The slanted angle ensured she would not be lacerating her own legs while walking, but the gleam of metal tended to make some people nervous.

Wimps.

She sat down at a table near the corner, the two men that had come with her sitting down in key locations. From the way Mara radiated a temper, it was unclear whether the two were there to guard her, or to protect the others from her, and judging by the look on their faces they weren't all too sure themselves.

Mara

Hey, we can't all be happy now, can we? :)

Melenis nodded as Visar looked at her, signaling the spar had come to an end. She was still holding the axe she had picked at the start of combat, despite still not being quite confident in how she held the weapon. Nevertheless, the spar gave her a good indication of where her students were standing in terms of skill.

- "Very well. Keep in mind that after being promoted to Tower Guard you will be sent out in groups to gather experience. Warders can be expected to face danger alone and survive, but you cannot. Therefore, knowing how to move and fight as a group is essential in order to improve, and become a good Warder."

She hefted the axe, the wooden blade of the weighed weapon pointed towards the group of Trainees in front of her. Though she longed to use the ashandarei on her back, she needed to take a different approach this time, as the long reach of her favored weapon would strike down any opponents before they'd be able to get into range.

- "Your next task is to work as a group again, this time facing me as your opponent. I have never held an axe before in my life, so the gap in skill shouldn't be that large. Remember to work as a team, and watch each other's backs. Begin."

She slipped into a stance, and waited for them to close in on her. The axe felt odd to her, strange, as if she needed to be someone she was not. That was the reason she chose the weapon herself, as it would teach her a number of things on opponents that held axes, knowledge she deemed important as they could potentially chop her weapon in two with an aimed strike. The more she knew about axemen, the better she would be able to anticipate them.

Melenis

Game on, boys

OOC: This can count as Evaluation, but those of you that have it as a req already can choose another weapon and go for Secondary or Tertiary weapons training. Melenis will be offering you advice during the spar, so have fun trying to hit her for stalling this thread for so long ;)

Melenis nodded, watching Veria go through the variations of the Form with varying degrees of success. From her own training back in the day, she knew her own performance the first time she tried was less than spectacular as well, but with a little training the woman would turn out to be quite the fighter. Feeling a small tingle of satisfaction, she wondered if Kynwric felt the same when he had taught her, and watched her improve under his wing. She made a mental note to ask him the next time they'd meet.

- "Very well, that's it for this lesson. Don't worry, not many get that form right until the first week or two of training has passed. I sprained my ankle twice myself back in the day."

With a nod, she dismissed Veria, waiting until the woman was out of sight before sitting down. She was working herself hard over the past couple of years, training and training as if Tarmon Gaidon was scheduled to happen two days from now, and over the past few months she had been starting to feel the effects of it. Perhaps she really should be making that visit to the Yellows...

Melenis

Just ended class, yayz!

Rebecca stepped into a room that seemed no bigger then her own, and in the center of it sat a woman, Andoran judging by her features. Though she made no move to get up, she glared defiance at the door, only to have it change into a look of brief surprise at seeing a woman enter. Due to her height and looks it was hard to mistake her for anything other than Cairhienin, and she made no attempts to hide that from her.

- "So, they say you have a piece of information i am supposed to be interested in. I don't suppose you're willing to tell me? No? Thought not. Oh well."

And with that, she simply sat down on the floor, leaning against the stone wall as she took out one of her daggers. The sight of bared steel caused the woman to jump up from her chair, but Rebecca paid her no attention, simply proceeding to clean her fingernails with the blade. The woman sat down again, hesitantly, and watched her warily.

- "I take it you've been briefed on the rules of this little game, correct? A pity they're so open to misinterpretation these days..."

The dagger disappeared again, and this time she produced a small white comb, with which she started to comb her hair. From the corner of her eye, she watched the look on the woman's face turned to confusement, then concern as she started second-guessing the intentions of those that had given her the penance. She kept the expression on her own face blank, only wincing when she muttered something about split ends in her hair. After about half an hour, the woman hesitantly spoke up.

"..W-What do you mean?"

She looked up for a moment, giving the woman a genuine smile. The best way to fake an emotion, she knew, was to not fake it at all, but rather make yourself think you want to feel that way. If you want to be sad, think of sad things. If you want to be happy, recall good memories. Genuine emotions were the hardest to fake, as the first person to be decieved would have to be the deciever herself. After a brief pause, she spoke up.

- "Nothing, my dear. Still, you'd have to admit these people can twist words like any Aes Sedai."

More concern followed on the woman's face. Good. Unless she missed her guess, the promised day of recovery was what was keeping the woman from sharing her piece of information with her, and in order to increase her own chance at success she just had to make her doubt her motivation. It made people that more malleable, forming them to agree with her suggestions instead.

"Wait... They'd give me a day to recover! They promised!"

Rebecca took a deep breath, placing the comb on the floor in front of her as she looked up. Just a little bit more...

- "Yes, and where are we now? You'd have a day without tasks in a Fortress filled with people and Shadowspawn that torment people out of general principle. As a matter of fact, wouldn't put it past them to make you 'recover' in a cell full of male prisoners."

She watched the woman's face, keeping her own clear of any signs of hostility. The look of fear that appeared on her face told her how successful her tactic had been, as the woman's hope had now turned into a scenario she desperately wanted to avoid. Now would be the time to strike.

- "Now to be honest, there is an alternative..."

"What... What do i need to do?"

The woman swallowed nervously, trembling slightly with fear. Rebecca herself stood up, pocketing the comb again though making sure it stuck out of her pocket slightly. She walked over to the Andoran, and leaned down in front of her, placing both hands on the woman's shoulders. Though this meant they were looking into each other's eyes at close range, she was confident in her own skill, as well as the fear she had previously planted clouding the woman's own judgment.

- "Here's the deal... I get the information, and come dawn you report to my room. I'll order you to clean my room, which should take you about half an hour all things considered, and the rest of the day you can do what you want. Wash up, brush your hair, sleep on a real bed... I'll only drop by once or twice during the day anyway. I get the information, you get a day off in safety, both happy. Deal?"

The woman blinked, listening to a voice deep down that said there had to be a hidden catch somewhere, a trap she was not seeing. But any trap the woman could come up with still seemed almost insignificant next to the mental imagery her doubts played on her.

"Y-Yes, deal! Here's what they're looking for..."

Listening to the information, Rebecca nodded, stepping away from the woman again. Reaching down in her pocket, she produced the comb she had been using only a handful of minutes before, and softly placed it in the woman's hand, smirking at the slightly confused look on her face.

- "To honor the promise, my dear. Keep it safe for me, and you may hold on to it until the morning."

She turned around, calmly walking out of the cell and closing the door behind her. All this time, she had not channeled once, and she still managed to extract the information she needed to know. In addition, she had gained a valuable ally. Servants heard everything, and if she played her cards right the Andoran would be the first of the network of eyes and ears she was planning on setting up.

'...Just like dogs. Show them affection when they expect punishment, and they'll love you 'till the day they die.'

The Dreadlady couldn't resist a soft chuckle as she made her way through the corridor, back to where M'bela was waiting. It would take time, but these Dreadlords had made the mistake of placing her at the heart of their organisation, where the new members were training to strengthen their numbers. If she planted her seeds here, she might even end up running the show rather than some fool hermit locked in a mountain!

Rebecca

Who needs the Dark One, anyway?

The tea was drank in silence, Arienna still firmly in the shell she had thrown up against the two women. The tea was hot, and indeed quite pleasant with a hint of what was ironically called Sage added in -- she'd need to remember that when she got back home again! Taking a deep breath, she placed the now empty cup on the table again, glancing at Aislyn and Rhya who were doing their best to make her feel at home despite her growing desire to just leave this place and go home.

The problem was, she didn't see this as her home. Half her thoughts were about the path she had traveled, guesstimating how far away from home she was and how much time it would take her to return. Lord Maric would probably miss his evening tea -- Neriam was a kind girl, but it took a while for her to get used to changes in her schedule. The memory of home brought a small smile to her face, but it quickly faded away as she pulled her knees up protectively, starting to feel more than a little homesick. Would Lord Maric send someone to look for me?

Arienna

Feeling homesick.

Rebecca walked behind the Myrddraal, trying very much to emulate an aura of confidence as she went along. Regardless of how she was feeling under the still lingering effects of simply being looked at by one of these things, she still found herself frowning as they entered the jail areas, looking at the Trollocs kept there. Another piece of the stories ended up being true as well, and she couldn't help but wonder how much what she hadn't heard was equally true as well.

Even though she berated herself for being distracted looking at the 'exhibits', she couldn't help but wonder just how useful they would be. She ran her eyes over the Trolloc's body, intrigued by the amount of muscle on it, equally rivaling an average human soldier. She wondered what kind of intelligence these beasts would have, as it was they would make at least semi-decent guards based on their physical strength alone...

Rebecca

Inspecting the Trollocs

-----

"A bit anti-climatic, with you being the first on display, Myrddraal. Perhaps a Darkhound is next? The pits are nearby you know... just outside the Fortress walls."

Calaun raised an eyebrow at the comment, though the nonchalant tone told her that Arcon had started to adapt. Semi-turning, she watched the others from the corner of her eyes, noting to her satisfaction that they too were starting to get used to her being this close to them, curiousity and the usual Dreadlord infighting starting to rise to the surface again.

- "And... Arcon, it did not occur to you that i might have done so deliberately? By being the first 'on display', as you put it, i've managed to get your attention as well as lower the shock of whatever else you will be shown here. It made the class all the more effective without the memory of a Myrddraal gaze drowning out whatever else you will learn in this class. Now, if all of you would look this way...?"

She snapped her fingers, and felt a chill along her spine as the globes of light died down save one: The one near the darkfriend Arcon had recognised. He looked up now, alarmed at being the only illuminated cell and knowing his remaining time in the Fortress to be short indeed.

- "The Trollocs you have seen are little more than shock troops. They are strong, and they are many, and the common tactic is to run them to the enemy until they are overrun. There are twelve clans of them, each with their own general specialisms, though that should not concern you as long as they get the job done. Next up are Draghkar. Try to resist the effects of its song."

A grate opened, and out stepped what appeared to be a cross between a bat and a man, wings included. The face was a hideously deformed version of a human one, almost entirely that of an animal save for one or two traits that might have looked like distinguishing features on a man. The darkfriend yelled and jumped up, raising an arm defensively to ward off the Draghkar as it closed in.

And then the singing began.

The shouts for help soon died down, and slowly, the man lowered his arms as he went into some kind of extatic trance, brought on by the Draghkar's crooning. Slowly, the beast stepped closer, and even though a few spasms from the man would betray his attempts to resist whatever had gotten a hold of him, it was no use. Two clawed hands embraced him, and the beast lowered its head to give him a single kiss in the neck area before unceremonially dropping his now-lifeless body to the ground.

The beast retreated back behind the grate, and after it lowered Calaun again semi-turned towards her students, checking to see who had fallen under the effects of the Draghkar's song. A good look from her would clear up any lingering effects, of that she was certain, but she also wanted to prevent doing so unnecessarily. It lessened the effect in her opinion, preferring to have her pupils for the day work to prevent rather than to spend effort trying to resist.

- "As you can see, Myrddraal aren't the only ones with abilities. Generally considered dumb as bricks, Draghkar can nevertheless be useful in taking out anything they can sneak up on. Including channelers, if their Warders can be kept occupied through other means. In case you were wondering, that man's soul has been sucked out."

She waited in case they had further questions before continuing further down the corridor, globes of light once again appearing to illuminate the way -- and the Trollocs in the cells.

Calaun

Still with me?

Martyn said nothing as he was ordered to follow, simply starting to walk along with the other Asha'men in the group as they walked deeper into the Stone, heading to areas that normally would have gotten him killed for trespassing regardless of his allegiance. And then, after an impossible amount of twists and turns that almost screamed they were made with the purpose to throw off any attackers, they reached the center. The Heart.

He watched Jarron wait a moment before resting his hand on the haft of a crystallic sword. Even while not holding the One Power he could sense it radiating from the sword, saidin in the Void reaching out for it if only he would fill himself with it. Gritting his teeth, he willed himself not to, mentally glaring at the accursed light that had dared intrude on his life.

Without it, he would have lived and died with his wife.

Without it, he would have seen his daughter grow.

But he had it, and he was intending to make the Dark One pay for that curse.

"Hurry up now boys. It's time you all had some real training"

He blinked, mind snapping back to the present from the battle against saidin he had been fighting. He noticed a black portal standing in front of them, and judging by its size it was obvious the Dragon intended for them to walk through it. Close behind Sereth, he walked through the hole in the air without a glance left or right. Long before oaths, long before allegiances, he had made a promise to himself that he would see this through to the end, and so he would.

Martyn Stonebridge

Determined.

The cabin door opened again, and Timeon emerged, holding a bucket in one hand as he opened the door adjacent to it that led to the crew's quarters. If Mehrin would be looking his way, he'd notice a pile of bloody bandages in the bucket in the brief moment he was outside, but none of the crew was looking up, as if they were used to the sight.

A moment later, Mara emerged, looking slightly paler than first but otherwise fine. Stretching out, she took a deep breath before walking over the deck, checking if the crew had prepared the ship to disembark yet. The way she treated her crew was different as well, not raising her voice once, and being more gentle with the sailors than they were amongst themselves. To her, they were her family, and she treated them in much the same way she'd treat a brother or cousin. Though she held the final say in what happened on the ship -- and they knew it -- she still valued their opinion.

Walking over to the bow of the ship, she turned around and sat down, watching the last of the preparations being made. Rope and sails were checked already, so unless she missed her guess it shouldn't take more than ten minutes before everyone was ready. She could use the time to gather some of her strength. Spotting Mehrin, she raised an eyebrow at the massive training weapon on his back though, and soon changed into a grin and a look that said 'I see what you did there', though she made no move to get up yet.

Mara

Resting a bit

Melenis was looking her absolute best for the occasion. While she was obviously dressed for travel, she tried to radiate order as much as she could, as always drawing the majority of her confidence and strength from the weapon slanted across her back. Though she knew how to fight without it, courtesy of a number of lessons from a former Warder, she still very much preferred keeping the ashandarei close to her.

Already on her horse, she arrived at the agreed location, spotting one other person there. She greeted the both of them, listening to the rules Grandmistress Vishnu had laid out before them. As the most skilled person in their group, it made sense for her to be the leader even if she hadn't said it, but she knew it to be necessary in case someone was planning to play heroics under her leadership.

Another reason why she had volunteered for the trip was that she hoped to get a few pointers on weapon handling from Cairma. She had learned much from Kynwric, and was grateful for it, but she wanted some fresh views in her teachings so as to keep herself versatile as her skill with the weapon improved. The prospect of learning more about the creatures that had attacked a group she was in back during the pickup in Shienar was something she was looking forward to as well. She was going to be a Warder, she couldn't afford to be surprised at what the Dark One could (and most likely would) toss her way.

Melenis

Prepared and ready, ma'm!

Scylla had almost made her way to the humanoid form, so similar to her own, spreading her wings to the woman in an effort to make her understand that she was like her, and having no intentions to hurt her. In her mind, she started preparing what to say, how to tactfully convince her to return to the Wolfkin with her. They would see her safe much like Jon was doing for her, she was sure of that. She took a few steps forward and--

--winced in pain as an arrow streaked through one of her wings. She could feel the torn skin, the broken bone, the warm blood flowing down from the hole in her wing. Under different circumstances, she would have marveled at the amount of detail given to her wings, truly a part of her in body and soul, but she had other things to worry about. A rustle in the bushes allowed her to see her assailants, large bestial shapes she instantly recognised to be Trollocs.

- "JON! Over here, more Trollocs!!"

Though she knew Jon to be knocked out by a tainted arrow, his name was the first thing that sprang to mind when she wanted help, and any Wolfkin -- and wolves, for that matter -- would be able to recognise the cry for help for what it was. More arrows followed, and she retracted her wings before they could hit, watching in shock as the Trollocs started closing in on her.

She wasn't out of the fight yet though. With a whipping-like motion, the first Trolloc fell to the ground, claws raking at the dagger stuck in its jugular. Feeling a hint of hope, she drew more of her daggers, throwing them at the group of Trollocs that blocked her way to the Wolfkin forces, intending to create an opening and fight her way through to them. A quick calculation of how many knives she had left followed, and she knew she would need more, but it was the only chance she had and she fully intended to grasp it with both hands.

Scylla

Fighting to evade capture

Nirinla walked out of one of the alleys of the poorer districts of the city. Behind her, the bodies of the brigands that had attacked them the night before lay dead, not far from where they had started their ambush. Much as she suspected, they had wanted to take revenge for her injuring them, which in turn had caused her to seek them out, giving them an opening by thinking to overrun her while she was without Jenai. Rather than risk them firing an arrow from hiding, she had opted for luring them out in a preemptive strike.

They never learned.

Feeling a bit better after waking up well before dawn, she proceeded to walk back to the Tower. With a little luck, she would arrive in Jenai's room before she would wake, though she didn't put much faith in it herself given the feelings she was getting through the Bond. Taking a deep breath of morning air, she felt confident in that not even a single drop of their blood had stained her clothes, and started to look in the direction of the Tower to look for signs of Jenai.

Nirinla

Almost home

Heh, good win all, great game ^^

Give yourselves a pat on the back!

*pats own backside*

But yeah, good team effort all! ^^

Can i still join in?

...So work called me yesterday morning when i thought it was my day off, and my boss asked me to come over when i actually wanted to spend that day posting.

Got a bonus out of it though, so i can't say i'm too terribly upset about it, just... Yeah. Posting runs postponed until the weekend.

kk, good luck with that Track and Field stuff ^^

Well, RL dropped the workload bomb on me like only RL can, but i should be gettng back tomorrow-ish. I'll likely have a bunch of threads waiting on me (sorry guys) but at least i'm reassured by the idea that at least i posted this as an LOA of sorts before things went hectic.

Back in business, just need some startup time to get into the thick of things again ^^

Well, you show up at the Tower grounds for some obscure reason or another, and end up being taken to the Mistress of Trainees.

Who should be a couple months pregnant at this point, but i disgress.

As long as you end up knocking on the door to her office, it's all good.

Congrats!

Now we can all wait on get our reqs together! ^^

Kidding aside though, i believe you can still sneak into Intermediate Saidar, we're still on class I so it shouldn't be a problem much.

Well, she's a bit overworked lately, been working on several apps in entirely different settings (Star Trek, present day anime and medieval fantasy with magic) which pretty much drained her. I don't want to get her overworked after all ^^

And besides, it's not like i won't not be here, so it's not really a LOA... Just mostly ooc postage for a while.

Feeling a bit meh lately, will resume regular posting schedule in a few days, a week at most.

Methinks i need muse recharge ._.

Surprised at her Aes Sedai's request, Nirinla turned her attention to the Bond, feeling small traces of guilt trickling across to her before Jenai regained control of herself again. She hoped it wasn't because of her past again, despite being good friends there were some things she simply didn't wish to let her know.

Hunting the Black Ajah, that was Jenai's task as much as it was hers as a Warder to protect her. But given that they knew so little about their enemy -- save that they could channel, of course -- she knew every distraction to be a potentially fatal one, and didn't want to burden the woman with her past no matter how close they were. She felt it was her weight to carry, her burden to bear, taken physical form in the sword at her hip.

- "...As you wish, Aes Sedai."

There was a small pause before she answered, spent scanning the Aes Sedai's face for emotion out of habit. She believed she could guess the reason why Jenai would have asked what she did, but confronting her in public about it was something she was not willing to do no matter what, not in sight of the very place the Black Ajah believed to be their center of power. Like the Tower, they too would have to remain whole and unbroken if they were to survive this.

Nirinla

Going quiet again

Scylla was walking around camp, frantically looking left and right to see where she'd be able to do the most good. She had never been in a battle before, even the time she was captured had been little more than an ambush lasting seconds at best. As it was now, the full chaos of the fighting had struck all around her, forming a current that threatened to sweep her away. And with Jon not being able to be there, she missed having someone, an anchor to remain close to.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed something attack one of the Aes Sedai. She turned, her night vision allowing her to see the shape of wings frighteningly similar to her own, on a body that, for a moment, looked human enough to make her think it was her a few feet away.

Her energy spent from the flying earlier, she tried to get up in the air, yet stopped after a few attempts as she lacked the strength to generate the amount of lift required. She started to half-run after the creature, trying to see who it was, if she'd recognise whom it had once been. Would she be able to save more of her kind? Would she be able to talk him or her into joining them as well?

The battle mostly tuned to the background, she kept her eyes on the scout, following where it was going. Surely she must have spotted her by now, surely she would...

Scylla

Following herself

Will do ^^