*bump*

have a good time!

OOC: Air 3(5)

IC: Ze'el had been thinking all of last night. He had many ideas of how to light the candle without using Fire, but each one was more extravagant than the other. Eventually it got to the point that he had a spiraling vortex of Water, Earth, Air, and some Spirit thrown in for the heck of it, when Ze'el realized that he would actually have to preform the task. He cursed his pathetic strength for the thousandth time, and settled for the simplest solution that he could find. The only problem was that it was very likely that it was the solution that everyone would think of.

Ze'el cursed angrily. As much as he liked a challenge of the wit, it was fairly useless to him when he was so restricted. What was the point of creating a flame without Fire. The whole point of having Fire was to light a fire! Nevertheless, Ze'el wanted to best the challenge, and so he made his way over to where they were supposed to meet. After hearing the rules and being sorted into the first group, Ze'el stood at his spot staring intently at the candle. He suppressed the urge to vomit, just like he always did, when he grabbed Saidin. The filth of the Taint nearly caused him to forget all about his purpose and retch, but he had enough practice to ignore it.

Mentally slapping himself for being distracted so easily, Ze'el channeled Air, interlocking the flows and rubbing them against each other. He was trying to heat the air enough that it combusted, but he knew that air was very hard to heat to that point. It felt like he was getting somewhere, and so he kept at it. Eventually, however, he realized that there was no way that he was strong enough in Air to be successful. Feeling defeated, Ze'el resorted to plan B where he used flows of Air to float flint and steel to the wick and light it on fire the normal way. Well, it wasn't exactly normal, but it was nothing special either.

Hey! So one of the reqs for WS 11-15 is to post a completely open, unplanned RP. I've made a fun little obstacle course that you can have your character run through. Anyone who just wants to RP or is willing to help me out, you're more than welcome to come join in :)

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,37594.0.html

That's the link, and it only takes one post to go do the course, so if you're busy you don't have to worry about getting caught in a thread that might take weeks.

Everyone's welcome- trainees, Guards, and Warders can all join in. It's not related to your weapon score, so everyone has an equal chance of winning. I'll probably just end up flipping a coin to determine the winner. :)

OOC: Alright, this RP is completely Open, to trainees and Tower Guards and Warders. :) This RP'll be open for at least 2 weeks.

IC: Arath woke up with a smile; he had been planning today for a while, but it had been far too dry. Last night, however, it had poured all night. Arath whistled as he got out of bed, and went outside with a spring in his step, and all the supplies he would need. It was pretty early, but plenty of people were outside doing their own things. Arath found a good sized stick and got to work. The first thing he did was find a muddy section of the ground. It wasn't too hard, considering the recent rain. Then he stuck sticks into the ground at various intervals and tied ropes a few hands above the pit. Next, he drew lines to the next obstacle, so that the participants would know where to go.

The next thing they would have to overcome was a wall. It was a seamless wall that was was about all tall as one tall man standing on another tall man's shoulders. The only way for the muddy people to climb up were the ropes hanging down from the wall. (More than one rope because there would probably be more than one person at the wall at one time.) After they bested the wall, challengers would follow the course to a small lake, where they would have to swim across. The obstacles weren't very far apart, so it wasn't too hard to work it all out. Next, Arath took his stick and drew: "Obstacle Course!", and arrows leading to the start, all over the Yards.

When he had gotten a decently sized crowd (some from the arrows and some had wondered what he was doing) Arath cleared his throat and began his announcement. "Hello everyone! Trainees, Guards, Warders, all of you are welcome to challenge yourselves on my obstacle course! First you need to crawl underneath ropes through a mud pit, and then climb over the training wall, with only one rope to help you, and then follow the course until you come across a lake, that you will of course have to swim across, and finally make it across the finish line. It seems pretty easy, right? Well, the catch is that you're going through the course... with your legs tied together! The winner, in addition to getting a prize that you'll find out about at the end, will get the right to brag about winning a competition that has nothing to do with weapon skill! Trainees, if you win then you can say that you beat even Warders, and so on.

"Anyone who's interested can come get a piece of rope to tie your legs with, and line up at the start line." He waited until everyone who looked like they were going to compete got ready, and then lined up with everyone else (he would be participating, of course). "Ready... set... go!"

OOC: Alright, like I said in the beginning, this will be open for two weeks. I want to have at least four people by the end of the two weeks. All you have to do is post competing, or if you want you can post just watching. :) At the end I'll post doing the obstacle course and flip a coin or something to determine the winner.

*flying glomp* hey! I think you owe me a post but I won't bug you with it until you get settled in, I know you're really busy :)

Eqwina :)

Sorry, I did that late at night :) How does it look now?

Arath wished that he could say that he had been having a nice day, but really he couldn't. He had late guard duty on the walls and hadn't gotten that much sleep, but couldn't sleep in because he was so used to getting up early. On top of that he had stubbed his toe getting out of bed, and had fallen on his rear trying to put on his socks. Arath was grumbling as he walked, muttering oaths about his room trying to kill him and about too-happy trainees. It was because of that that Arath was stomping through the woods to the reflection pools. He was planning on going there to meditate in the Oneness. After all, his fighting style depended on him being calm and collected.

To his surprise, he found that the refection pools were already occupied. Usually these ones were fairly barren, because many people preferred the waterfall to the pools. Arath studied the person (a trainee) for a little bit. It appeared that he wasn't doing too well in... well, whatever it was that he was doing. It almost looked like he was practicing forms, but then he would go try to balance. Arath felt for the trainee, remembering his own trainee days where he trained alone. It appeared like the trainee didn't exactly know what to do with himself.

"Hmm, I think it would help if you dedicated yourself to one thing, instead of trying to do five different exercises at once. With half the effort." The trainee jumped, obviously unaware of his presence, and looked a little guilty. "So, do you need help with your forms?" Arath was usually willing to give a hand to a trainee if he didn't have anything else to do. After all eventually the trainees would be his brothers in combat, and he wanted to make sure they were well prepared.

Req 1: Training Trainees 1- (help two trainees advance one WS)

Arath helped Visar learn about basic movements. There was a small scuffle between two of the trainees but that was broken up quickly and the less went on well from there.

        http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,33826.0.html 14 posts

Arath sparred Sandre for the 'Survival' choice req. The two got into an argument about Aes Sedai (Arath worshiping them and Sandre quite the opposite) which ended up in a spar. They were eventually broken up by the bell (the Tower Bell) when they realized that they both had places to be.

        http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,37559.0.html 14 posts

Req Two: Create Your Own

Arath helped out Melianna by acting as lookout when she snuck into the Tower Basement to try out her talent of reading Ter Angreal. He helped her get to the taller boxes and was left in the dust when she ran off to go tell an Aes Sedai about her abilities.

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,34503.0.html 7 posts

WS: 11

Arath was purposely letting his guard down, in order to lure the trainee into trying some more of his dirty tricks, and he wasn't disappointed. When he saw the trainee's blade dip low, he was tempted to tap him on the head to show the foolishness of the technique, but he wanted to see what the boy was attempting. It had been too long since he had fought on the streets, Arath decided, when he didn't realize what the trainee was doing until the sand was in the air. He squeezed his eyes shut before the sand reached him, but he was blind and he knew the trainee would be attacking next, so he crouched low to the ground before blinking rapidly to clear any dust that might be around his eyes. The trainee had been lucky that this was a spar, because his first instinct had been to lash out with his sword to disable his opponent, but he managed to control himself.

All of this happened in a split second, and when he saw the blow coming towards him he knew that blocking it would be futile, so he decided to pull a dirty trick of his own and stepped close to the trainee, so close that he was practically embracing him, and shoved him. Throwing sand in your opponent's eyes was petty, but effective, and he almost gave the trainee a compliment for getting close to hitting him, but his thoughts were interrupted. The loud Tower Bell gonged, and Arath remembered that he had guard duty again pretty soon. "Well, as much as I would love to stay and continue, I have to be somewhere." Arath sheathed his sword and turned away, but decided to say one last thing.

"Oh, and fighting you is pointless anyway. Winning means nothing for me, except that I'm a bully picking fights with trainees. Train hard and get strong, so that someday I can say that I defeated a real warrior, not a child who doesn't know when to give up. And watch your temper, very few people will be lenient with you around here." Arath truly did want the trainee to get strong though. If he could ever lose his attitude about Aes Sedai he would be a good ally to have.

Arath didn't really think that the trainee was lying when he apologized, but he didn't mind the potentially-very-harmful attack. In the Warders Yard they took training to a dangerous level. After all, when there was an Aes Sedai just around the corner, why spend too much time caring about safety? It was a nice change that the trainee was honestly apologizing for something, but he obviously wasn't planning on quitting though when he kicked up his sword. Arath suppressed a sigh and met the trainee's charge head on, but this time the boy did something a little more unexpected.

Arath had grown up on the streets, and had grown up picking fights with people stronger than him. He knew that he was too close to avoid the punch completely, but instincts he thought he had gotten rid of a long time ago kicked in and he found himself sliding with the trainee's punch. The trainee still got in a decent blow, but it wasn't as bad as it would have been. He probably would have been winded, clutching his stomach if he hadn't reacted, but he would still probably have a decent bruise in the morning. Years of experience allowed him to completely ignore the twinging of his midsection as he chuckled. The trainee would make a good Guard if he could lose his ideas about Aes Sedai. Of course, the purpose of his fighting style was to kill his opponent quickly before they could find his weakness, but the fact that the trainee had found the weakness of it was admirable.

He disliked the trainee because of his blatant disrespect, but it was clear that he wasn't going to give up. Arath knew that he should be the mature one and walk away, but at the same time he wanted to know what else the kid had up his sleeve. Once it became clear that he wasn't going to think of any more new tricks, Arath would leave, but until then he would see what the trainee was capable of. Of course, in the long run his dirty tricks wouldn't help him too much, but they might give him enough of an edge to win a fight against an opponent his level or maybe even a little better than him. The next time they crossed blades Arath didn't give the trainee any new bruises. He didn't want to knock him out before he had found out all his tricks. 

OOC: You didn't mention where you aimed the dagger, so I just made up a place for my own convenience :)

IC: Arath's irritation flared once again when the trainee decided to insult him after he offered a chance at peace. Obviously he was searching for a fight, and if the boy wanted more bruises than Arath would be more than happy to deliver. Arath scowled but instead of striking first, he let the trainee come at him once again. He decided not to hit him too much at once, and instead gave him a good whack during each exchange. Even though the trainee irritated him, he had to admit that the kid was inventive, at least. He didn't make the same mistakes twice, but he wasn't good enough not to make any mistakes, and Arath exploited them ruthlessly.

The trainee came at him again, and Arath decided to end it again and give him another chance to back off. Arath, true to his fighting style, went inside of his opponent's guard and found that it was a mistake. The trainee managed to gain enough ground to throw a practice dagger at his head. He more reacted than though, and tilted his head just far enough to the side that the wooden blade passed him by harmlessly. It wasn't until he felt the stinging on his cheek that he realized he had a small cut on his cheek from the blade. Arath smirked and decided to extend the trainee's punishment. If he wanted to play rough...

Arath didn't even give the trainee a chance to react before he disarmed the boy with The Grapevine Twists and then continued with Arc of the Moon towards his head, stopping before hitting the trainee, but giving him a small cut on his own cheek. "I said enough. It was petty of me to fight with a trainee, no matter the provocation. I'm not proving anything by beating you and you certainly aren't proving anything at all by stubbornly rushing to get pushed down again." This fight shouldn't have happened in the first place, but if the trainee was too stubborn to know when to quit, Arath would have to think of a way to make sure the trainee stayed down.

Dedicated:

Name: Kassian 'Ze'el' Loreen

Learning RP: Saidin Related Let's Learn About Saidin (Attn: Kura) - 3 posts, http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,37524.0.html - In progress

Other Learning It's Go Time! - 3 posts, http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,37530.0.html - In complete

Using Saidin: Number of Posts, LINK

Inter-Divisional RP: Number of Posts, LINK

Asha'man Duel: Number of Posts, LINK

Arath's temper flared when the trainee had the audacity to call him petty. Sure, it was true, and he had been thinking it himself only a minute ago, but it was another thing entirely when the trainee had the nerve to say it out loud. The first lesson this boy would have to learn is that sometimes the truth is the wrong thing to say. He nearly made the first move and ended it there, disarming the trainee, but instead decided to be a little more fair and let him make the first move. When the trainee apologized he felt some of his ire seep away, but the trainee was using them to try to catch him off guard. The idea of a trainee catching him unprepared was laughable, but it wasn't exactly a bad idea.

Arath met the trainee's slash with Low Wind Rising, his smooth, controlled movements showing the difference between them. Instead of waiting for the trainee to attack again, Arath was true to his fighting style and counter-attacked with Striking the Spark. The form was a series of quick overhand blows. He wasn't trying all that hard, so the trainee blocked most of the strikes, but he made sure that he gave the boy a good thwap on the head, just so he knew exactly what he was dealing with. He backed up, giving his opponent some room, although he was itching to swoop in and end the fight. He followed Sara'an Dieb, and so he fought by going in fast, breaking through his opponent's guard, and ending the fight in a flash, but he wanted this one to last.

He parried the trainee's next blow, and then kicked his feet out from under him. The trainee landed on the ground hard with an 'oomph' and Arath backed up again. "You're focusing too much on your upper body. Protecting your upper body is important but without legs you don't put up much of a fight." The words by themselves could be valuable advice, but the mocking tone they were spoken in left no room to doubt their intention. Really Arath was usually far more friendly but the trainee's words about Aes Sedai struck a chord in him. If the little hypocrite hated Aes Sedai so much then he could leave and go get himself killed in the blight or something.

When the boy got up he was smiling, and that made Arath more irritated. He was no where near rage, but he was definitely peeved. He gave the trainee some time to collect himself, but this time he made the first move. He started with The Boar Rushes Down the Mountain, and put the trainee on the immediate defensive. After a few more slower forms, he attacked with Cat on Hot Sand. It was meant as a fast bunch of strikes to distract and confuse the opponent, but Arath made sure a good few of them hit. The kid would definitely have some bruises in the morning. Then he followed up with The Wind Blows Over the Wall. It started with a blow to the wrist that Arath made sure landed, and then a stab at the chest; he stopped short before stabbing the trainee though. He had put more force than strictly necessary into the strike at the wrist, to make sure that he dropped his sword. If he had hit with the edge of his blade there would be no doubt about him dropping his blade, but with the flat end it was not guaranteed.

Arath backed up and let the trainee pick up the fallen weapon. He found that most of his anger had drained and he was left with logic. He had given the trainee bruises that wouldn't fade for a while, and his wrist would twinge for a while. He had already defeated the trainee twice, and anything more would be unnecessary regardless of the situation. "That's enough," Arath said. Honestly he was a little bit ashamed of himself for picking a fight with a trainee. That didn't mean he liked the trainee by any means, but if he just kept his head down and walked away, Arath would forget that this meeting ever happened. If he decided to do something stupid though... well, obviously he hadn't learned his lesson well enough.

OOC: If you want to RP using forms that's fine, but if you don't want to use forms that's also alright. Just makes sure that if you do use the forms you stick to the beginning and intermediate ones. I figured that the first time Sandre was probing him, and the second time Arath didn't give Sandre any chance to fight back, so Sandre didn't really get a chance to fight dirty yet. :)

As the trainee rattled on and on, Arath got closer and closer to snapping and stabbing the fool through the gut, but somehow (light be thanked) he managed to refrain from doing so. If he had just kept his speech to the last line Arath wouldn't have been so angry. As long as the foolish trainee followed orders, Arath couldn't really complain about him. But the boy decided to talk about how they were wasting their gift, squandering off and plotting against each other. He might as well go off and enlist as a White Cloak for all of his idiocy. Honestly was this boy a fool? Aes Sedai were the only people who could fight the Dark One, and they were the world's only hope at the Last Battle. They couldn't afford to waste all of their ranks in a futile battle against the blight.

"Boy, do you honestly think that the Aes Sedai do nothing in the blight? They send what aid they can afford! You say that Aes Sedai are dwindling. That is true, but do you have any idea how long they live? You've never seen any Aes Sedai army because they need to save their full strength for the Last Battle. But to say they do nothing is the most ignorant statement I've ever heard. The Grey Ajah has stopped more wars before they started than you could count. The Brown Ajah has discovered so much lost knowledge about the age before us, and led the fronts of all sciences. The Yellow Ajah has healed so many people who would have died without them. The Green Ajah has fought more battles in the blight than you will ever. The Red Ajah has brought down more insane male channelers and False Dragons than you can count on ten hands. The Aes Sedai have done more in the past three thousand years than you will ever do in your lifetime, nor your children will do, nor your children's children..."

Arath stopped his rant when he realized that the trainee wasn't really listening to what he was saying. He wanted to report the boy to Thera, but he knew that the woman wouldn't do more than give him extra chores. He wanted more than that, he wanted to give the boy a lesson so that he would at least learn to keep his mouth shut. Right as the trainee was about to go into a rant of his own, Arath cut him off. "No. I can see that my words won't change your mind, nor will your words change mine. The best way to solve this is through blades." It was petty of him, to provoke a trainee into a spar, when it was more than obvious who the winner would be. But the trainee seemed like the type that was too proud to tell anyone, so as long as he didn't injure the boy enough that he would have to visit the Yellows, there wouldn't be any consequences.

The only downside was that he would have to hold back a lot. There weren't any training lathes around, and so he would have to make sure to only hit the kid with the flat of his blade. He wished that they had training lathes, so that he could hit the trainee as hard as he wanted and not have to worry about slicing him to pieces. Arath drew his blade and smiled mockingly at his opponent. "You can draw your blade or you can run like a coward. Your choice." From what he had seen from this trainee, there was no way he would back down now.

The Green Ajah was by far the most... eccentric, if any Aes Sedai could be described as such. They had a reputation but Arath could hardly say that they deserved it. All of the Greens he had met, while not as into the 'Aes Sedai perfect serenity' were very respectable. They were warriors, and so he treated them as warriors. More than that, they were his Commander; their command held more weight than that of the Captain of his Banner's, and they were to be protected at all costs. All Aes Sedai had worked for years to train themselves to be weapons against the Dark One, and so all Aes Sedai deserved the greatest of respect. Therefore, when he heard the trainee snort, and glare at the woman's back in obvious disdain, Arath felt a muscle in his eye twitch.

Not many men came to the Tower that disapproved of Aes Sedai. Fewer remained. He didn't know what this trainee had against the woman, and he didn't know if he had some sort of history with the Green, but all he cared about was that the boy would show the proper respect. He stared at the trainee pointedly, hoping that the fool would get the notion and look over, and return to his training. If he dropped whatever sort of grudge he had right now, then Arath wouldn't do anything, and let Thera beat it out of him when she found it out. However, the trainee did not realize that he was being stared at, and Arath found himself getting more and more irritated by the second. The light-blinded fool obviously didn't realize that Aes Sedai were the only people keeping the world safe from the Shadow. Even the borderlands would have fallen a long time ago if it weren't for the White Tower. In fact, the southern lands probably would even forget that the Dark One existed if it weren't for the Aes Sedai making sure that everyone remembered the Judgment Day soon to come.

Finally, Arath had enough. He stalked over to the trainee quietly, making sure that he wouldn't notice him until he was close enough. When he was a short distance behind the boy, he stopped and said a few words. "You shouldn't look at an Aes Sedai that way. Your entire purpose and your future is to protect and serve Aes Sedai. You aren't making a good impression staring at one like she is the Dark One himself," Arath scolded, crossing his arms and staring down (or rather up, for he was at least a hand shorter than the trainee) at the trainee.

All in all it was an ordinary day in the Yards. The sun was shinning, the grass was still wet with the morning dew, and it was a beautiful day outside. It was a wonderful time to be out practicing forms, which was exactly what Arath was doing. Unfortunately everyone else had the exact same idea, and all of the good training areas had been taken while Arath was doing early morning guard duty. It was unfortunate, but he had managed to find himself a secluded spot; however, he had to share it with a trainee. The boy had been there first and so Arath didn't think it would be fair to kick him out. The trainee seemed to be doing pretty well. He wasn't cutting himself open at least. He missed his own trainee days; he used to be so close to his friends, but now it seemed like they had all drifted off apart from each other.

The other thing about such a nice day was that it was a time where all of the Accepted and the younger Greens would be adrift in the Yards. The young Greens were notorious for searching for a Warder to grab. Thus, it was no surprise to Arath when he could make out a green shawl in the distance. The woman was too far away to discern, but it was either someone very proper or very young, because it was mostly the very young Aes Sedai who were recently raised who wore their shawl everywhere. Arath didn't blame them, if he had dedicated decades of his life training to be an Aes Sedai, he would want to wear the shawl at every moment too. He didn't let the woman bother him though, and went on training. A couple years ago he probably would have stopped everything he was doing and waited for her to arrive, but now he knew better. She probably was just in the mood to watch someone train, and if she wanted him to stop, she wouldn't hesitate to tell him.

Arath stopped mid-form when he heard the Aes' Sedai clear her throat behind him. He turned around to see what was obviously a newly raised Green, for she did not yet have the ageless features that she would one day. "Hello, Gaidin, you must be very dedicated to your training to be practicing on such a day like this."

"Thank you, Aes Sedai, but I'm no Gaidin. Merely a humble Tower Guard. And today is the best of days to train, while the weather permits." He smiled at the Green, but didn't even bother to learn her name. The only Aes Sedai that he would even consider bonding was a certain Yellow... but that was neither here nor there. He still humored the woman, and showed her the finest respect, for she would one day fight the shadow and help save them all. When it became apparent that he wasn't really all that into the conversation, the Green merely smiled at him (obviously trying to muster up all of the Aes Sedai mysteriousness that she could) and walked away. Arath bowed to her on her way out, almost missing the trainee's reaction to her presence.

Anyone out there? I have cookies. *waves a bag of cookies around*

Ze'el jumped when the other man (a Soldier, he noted) spoke. He was a little irritated that he had interrupted, but he was far more irritated at himself for not noticing that he was not alone. He had been so absorbed in the game that he was completely oblivious. He studied the Soldier briefly, noting that he was taller than average, but overall having a normal appearance. His eyes were a little lighter than most, though. He blinked a little at the Storm Leader's outstretched hand, but then remembered the stone that he had caught.

He suppressed the urge to smirk when Covai explained the rules of the game. Obviously he had been fairly accurate in his analysis of the game. He listened to the explanation of the conquering of territory, and then how to capture individual pieces. The game seemed fairly simple the way the Asha'man explained it, and so Ze'el set off to do what the Storm Leader instructed. He was supposed to look at "the ones that want to conquer the black" or in other words: the white pieces. One he knew what to look for, the jumble of black and white seemed to sort its self out in his mind. After that, finding pieces that looked like they were going to be taken was fairly simple. In fact, it was so simple that Ze'el found himself looking beyond the individual pieces.

The point of the game was to control more area than your opponent, and so Ze'el looked beyond the pieces and at the groupings themselves. You had to gain more ground while fortifying your own position, because if you left your pieces by themselves they would just be picked off by your opponent. Ze'el scratched his chin as he scanned the board. His first impression was to control the area directly in front of him, imagining the board as a battlefield, but he noticed that Covai had placed the stones hardly caring about which area was closest to which player. He kept that idea in mind, because the all of the areas were worth equally as much.

He then proceeded to look at the groupings of the stones. It didn't look like they were concentrated in one area, but instead they were spread out into different groupings all across the board, like skirmishes. He frowned and thought that it would be better to focus all of your stones in one area, so that you couldn't be surrounded, but then he tried to think of where you would focus your stones. If you placed all of your stones in the middle of the board, then you would be easily surrounded and your opponent could focus on conquering the rest of the board. Likewise, if you put all of your stones in a corner, then you would be boxed in.

The next thing he noticed was that you couldn't think of the board two-dimensionally. You didn't have one group facing another group, for your stones could be taken from all sides: forward, backwards, right, and left. There was one group of white stones that looked like it was overwhelming another group of black stones, but then there was a group of black stones behind the white ones that could easily overwhelm them. While examining the board that was no longer a simple board, Ze'el found himself frowning. This 'simple game' was a lot more complicated than it first appeared.

OOC: sorry if my thoughts are a little jumbled, I was trying to keep an eye on my little brother while writing it :)

Ze'el wondered what exactly he was getting himself into when his instructor came skipping down towards him. The man smiled broadly at him, and Ze'el managed a small smile in return. This man was unsettling, it was almost like the strange Asha'man was studying him like some sort of insect. When Sereth told him that they had met once before, he scrambled to try to remember the meeting. How had he acted? What had he said? Finally, he remembered back a couple months to meeting this man in the Inn. He certainly had a good memory to remember that meeting when Ze'el himself had to think about it.

He was a bit irritated as the man decided that he needed to flaunt his weakness. Maybe he couldn't weave impressive weaves that would tear the ground asunder, but he was smarter than most of the buffoons that occupied the Farm. He forced himself to return to apathy, and then listened to the rest of the man's speech. Apparently he was a tad bit more skilled than other men. He was perhaps a little bit more skilled than average, but he was by no means the most skilled man around. Still, the man did stroke his ego a little bit, and so Ze'el would work with him. The man didn't look like he was extremely concerned with physical activities, and judging by the odd way he spoke and acted, Ze'el would say that he was the scholarly type. He could work with that.

"I would prefer not to have to fight at all... I'd rather make peace with our enemies... but after Shienar I know that it's impossible. Those monsters... they..." Ze'el took a breath, feigning the need to regain composure. "They killed so many people, and didn't even blink when their own comrades died. I want to find a way to defend myself and my friends from those things," Ze'el said with conviction. Half of it was true: he did want to defend himself. "But to answer your question: you're right. I may be able to do some of them, but flashy weaves won't do me any good. I want to learn weaves that will get things done, and weaves that I can use, not the weaves that will needlessly rip apart the earth and tear people to shreds."

sure, what do you need?

The clack of stone on stone attracted Ze'el's attention. It wasn't an uncommon sound, in the Farm, but it didn't sound like blades crossing or any weave that he knew of. It was a more gentle sound, like dropping pebbles into a cup, one by one. His curiosity had been sparked, and so he went to investigate. He didn't know of anything that would make that kind of sound, and Ze'el wasn't comfortable having unknowns around him. Plus the sound was almost mesmerizing, like watching a drop of water drip from a bucket. It wasn't too hard to locate the source of the odd noise, but what he found wasn't exactly what he expected.

The Storm Leader sat facing a strange square board, covered by black and white stones. At first he thought that they were just random designs, an odd pastime that struck the man's fancy. It wouldn't be the first time that the Storm Leader amused himself in some way that didn't make sense to the men around him. He would have walked away then, but he hesitated. The Storm Leader was an odd man, but definitely a smart one, perhaps there was some hidden meaning behind the oddly placed stones. The more he watched, the more he realized that the stones weren't random, but in patterns. He would alternate placing a black stone and a white stone, and they seemed to advance. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

After a few more stones were placed on the board (and a couple stones moved from their previous positions to new ones) he realized what it reminded him of- it was like those boards where generals representing their army facing the enemy's. The black stones were trying to flank and capture the white stones and vice-versa. Ze'el deduced that it must be some sort of strategy game, where the black battled the white. It did look very similar a sort of battle simulation, but it was also complex. Just when Ze'el thought that he understood some of the rules the Storm Leader did something to enlighten him. Finally, he decided the only thing he understood about the game was the the black was trying to flank the white, and the white was trying to flank the black.

Ze'el didn't realize that he had wandered closer to the other man in his examination of the game, and so he was surprised when he found a white stone tossed at him. In his surprise, he nearly forgot to act meek. "Err... I've never seen the game before, sir," Ze'el admitted. "But from watching you it looks like you're trying to flank the other person?"

actually, nix that. Turns out I have a lot of stuff to do this week and I don't want to overload myself. Sorry :)

Ze'el was drinking in the Inn when he saw the Storm Leader hammering something up onto the wall. It wasn't an uncommon event, the Storm Leader was known to do odd things. Sometimes Ze'el thought that the man might be slightly affected by the Taint, but when you dug a little deeper you could see very clearly that the man was sharper than a blade made from the Power. Covai Seriba was a very strong channeler, and he had more experience than most of the Tower put together, but the real danger lay in his wit. The man was smart, very smart, and his playful exterior just made more people underestimate him.

Normally he would ignore whatever was on there, but the fact that it was the Storm Leader who posted it made him a little more wary. Common sense told him that it was very likely that the notice was just some sort of game or other odd thing Covai came up with, but the caution that Ze'el lived by made him check it, just in case. Scanning over the paper, Ze'el nearly scoffed and turned away. He had seen the so called 'competitions', and they were really just a bunch of men all fighting to see who was the 'best'. Ze'el didn't need to join in the foolery, but the "ability to discover more uses of the One Power" made him curious. If he was honest with himself at least on some level he didn't want to compete because he knew that just about every man in the Tower was stronger and more skilled in the Power than he, but if it was a test of creativity...

The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed. He had wanted to come up with creative uses of the Power to make up for his weakness, and here was exactly what he needed. Plus, ever since the battle in the borderlands, the Dedicated had realized that he was no match for some of the creatures out there. Just a couple of weeks ago he had scoffed at the Storm Leader's idea of training, but now he realized that the man truly did know what he was doing. The Asha'man would train him well, and that was quite frankly what he needed. Making up his mind, Ze'el headed for the door of the Inn, where the Storm Leader had went.

He quickly went over his plan of action in his head. He wanted to appear more confident than he had when he first arrived at the Tower, but he didn't want to overdo it either. He spotted the Storm Leader and made his way to him, seeming slightly hesitant. When he got to the man, he bit his lip slightly before stating clearly, if softly: "Kassian Loreen sir, here to sign up for the tournament."