Actually bothering to more than glance at the other woman, Addison pulled what must have been a very theatrical double-take.  "Bloody mother's... Er..."  Taking a moment to dig her foot from her mouth, Addi took a deep breath and let the colour subside from her cheeks, somewhat.  "Good afternoon, Loraine Sedai."  She bowed perhaps a hint more deeply than necessary - over-compensation for her earlier stupidity.  "I am Trainee Addison Thwait."

Taking the proffered lathe, she swung it through the air a few times in an embarrassingly overeager attempt to showcase her talent.  "Cook did mutter something about spending two days on that soup... didn't help the taste any.  Now that you mention it, I few guards did buy me a round or three of ale that night."  So much talking was making her jaw ache and her left hand came up on its own accord to rub it - as if that would help soothe it any, bloody lucky the idiot didn't break it.

Looking over and smiling at the Aes Sedai, she added "He's lucky I don't take more than just a lathe to his backside."

Muttering, Addison Thwait stomped over to the armoury - one of the great things she'd discovered since joining the Yards, and having had to adapt her wardrobe to suit the life of a soldier, was how much more effective stomping was in big, heavy boots as opposed to tiny, ankle-high shoes.  To further promote this image of intense frustration, she would periodically lash out at trees as straw dummies with the broken lathe she was carrying.  While usually she was on the friendlier side of the scale when it came to the residents of the Warders Yard, her bloody lip, cut cheek, grass-stained clothing, and burning glare were not exactly inviting conversation at the moment.

Her current battered state was the result of a spar with one of the newer trainees.  She had locked his lathe with The Grapevine Twists and was about to disarm him when her own lathe snapped, leaving her with only a half-foot of wood.  Improvising, she rushed him, knocking the boy to the ground.  Unfortunately, the idiot child hadn't quite mastered The Spring and was suddenly being held to the ground by his opponent.  Though he apologised profusely later, he struck without thinking and rammed first the but of his lathe into her mouth, then after she rolled off of him, struck her across the cheek with the thing.

Just barely keeping a hold on her temper, she'd refrained from taking the remaining half of her lathe to his groin and after yelling at him long enough to cool off slightly, began her trek towards the armoury to ask for a new lathe to be made.  At the armoury door, being far too preoccupied with brooding on her bad luck, she nearly ran into someone she, at first, thought only to be another trainee.  Muttering an apology, she moved to let the other woman out of the building.

"Well, at least I won't have to soak my hands in rosemary oil every night for a month after this trip!"

Thinking the woman was speaking to her Addi muttered back "Lucky you, I still have another two weeks left in the dining hall for knocking over a soup tureen."  There was another whole story of bad luck, combined with some clumsiness on her part, behind that particular penance.

Awesome!

Will totally reply today, after I've well... actually gotten some sleep

Memo to self: staying up all night is a lot harder when you've been off caffeine for two weeks

heh... ya there are a few of us oldfolks kickin' around here yet

welcome back old man

DUDE!!!

*tackles*

It's Isha/Estel with a shiny new handle

*two thumbs up*

That would be awesome Lor!

Sorry for disappearing, finals this week and next

Do you mind setting something up so Addi meets Lor before her ceremony?

behave?

do you know how?

:D

Helloooo

Anyone interested in standing for my lovely Tower Guard-to-be for her ceremony?

I'd life to do an RP beforehand as well, just to introduce your char to Addi.

heya Kenny!  WB :D

and chat shenanigans... say the word and I am there!

lol... well, here it's tomatoes, but that harvest season doesn't start 'til end of the month

just finished corn though, have a good two weeks where I should be back to posting

Estel Liones

Play Me 'Dem Blues

Serena Morrigan returns and adds her name to the long list of returning Blues with recently broken Bonds.

And with the Dawn, Came Change

Rivals Estel and Lavinya deal with the collapse of the Order of the Rose.

Daes Dae'mar for Dummies

Estel ends up teaching an group of similarly inept Accepted.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Estel struggles with her return to the White Tower after a month in Cairhien with Maegan.

I have worked 24h in the last two days...  This has been a regular occurrence for the last three weeks

I have lots of ideas (spending 12h in cornfields in pouring rain with nothing to do but think and count to ten tends to breed ridiculous plotlines in my head) but I haven't had time yet to do more than keep up with what's happening.

Are you going to be around today Carly?  I finally have a day off.

Despite the fact that Jaydena Sedai’s only acknowledgement of her apparently ex-Bondmate was a brief glance in the woman’s direction, Addison could tell the words were meant as much and likely more for Cairma than for herself.  It wasn’t that the trainee resented being seemingly used to hold a very one-sided conversation between two estranged people – not exactly, though her ego twitched with irritation; however, she felt intrusive upon a private struggle between the two.  Jaydena’s outwards indifference toward the glowering Tower Guard contrasted with the tender words with which she described the woman, who could obviously hear every words as clearly as Addi, standing behind them.

Lost in contemplation over the likelihood of being caught in the possible crossfire should either woman actually ever address the other openly, the trainee gave a small start when the subject of conversation was turned back to her.  She was just in the process of breathing, a necessity in order to avoid embarrassing herself further by gasping for air halfway through a response to the Aes Sedai’s questions, when Cairma grew tired of being ignored.

Addison was unsure whether to label her ordered dismissal as a blessing or lost opportunity.  On one hand, she would now be very clear of any stray cutting remarks between the two should they begin to argue; on the other hand, her conversation with the Green Sitter hardly presented a worthy prospective Warder.  Unfortunately, having already irritated her mentor this morning, disobedience was not an option.  She bowed to the Aes Sedai, saying “It is, indeed, my intention to one day serve a Sister.  Goodbye, Jaydena Sedai.”  Then, with one last glance at Cairma, Addi hobbled along the familiar path towards the infirmary.

lol... alrighty

what about Diona's eventual death?

we should definitely do this after Nasty's death (murder)

I disagree, I think AS can crack and mess up horribly... mind you, you have to expect MAJOR repercussions (ie. becoming the AS voted "least likely to succeed... ever")

and if we're going with confessions, Estel got pregnant, which was found out by Maegan and Perine the later by Sirayn (who used it to blackmail her into a sneaky clandestine organisation).  She then gave up the baby (and still regrets that decision and feels terribly guilty *insert depression, booze, self-loathing, public ridicule, anorexia, etc.*), baby grew up, tried to make contact with mummy but the two had a falling out and he left and later died without ever forgiving her (*insert more depression, booze, et. all)

55 years later she resents the Tower because of the choice she made and (after being made Sitter) will hopefully be taken seriously for the first time in her entire career.

Congratz Carly and La Vie :D

'Gratz Carly :D

*shakes up the bubbly*

*will beat when not working 12h days* :P

I'll try to catch you tomorrow Carly

A wince had already contorted her face in anticipation of the ground making painful contact with her knee – it proved unnecessary.  Conveniently, a handy shoulder appeared out of nowhere to save her from further self-injury.  Looking up at her Samaritan, she blushed.  Addi had realised early that female trainees and Tower Guards were, not a rarity, but outnumbered by their male counterparts a few times over.  With so many hormonally-crazed young men and so few women, female trainees became something of a commodity.  Light, the girls of Braden’s Hill had all fought over the same handful of suitable mates: good-looking, owned a farm of decent size, and wasn’t likely to start hitting a week after the wedding.  Addison could only imagine the looks on their faces if they could see the muscular, sometimes rich, and usually ridiculously attractive men she worked with every day – not that she noticed, of course.  Her single objective was to become a Gaidar and no ruggedly handsome trainee was going to get in the way of that!

All the same, Addi blushed while pondering the reason behind a nagging sense of déjà-vu.  As she glanced up at his face, no name flew to mind though he did seem vaguely familiar.  Why did she suddenly feel nauseous?  It was not one of the usual side-effect of Healing.

Lynne told the boy to keep an eye on her, no doubt worried Addi would wind up back in the infirmary if left unattended too long – which the girl begrudgingly admitted to herself wasn’t entirely unlikely.  While the whoever this boy was helped her hobble back to the bed, she shot a glance back at Lynne who winked very un-“Aes Sedai”-ishly.  Addi blushed.

His next question, however, gave her an idea of where she knew him from; it also explained the phantom nausea.  The former farm girl grimaced through her red cheeks.  “Unfortunately, my balance doesn’t seem to change much when I drink.”  In other words, considering the horrifying stories she’d collected from fellow guests, her balance was more than a little off.  “I er...  Well, I don’t actually remember most of that night past the confrontation with... what’s his name?  The big guy who...  Anyways, I’m uh... Addison.”  She stuck out her hand and gave a sheepish grimace.  “And I’m really sorry, but you are?”

The Shield slammed against his connection to saidin simultaneous with another attack from the persona of Isha; fending off attack from two sides, Abrem lost to both and retreated to the back of their mind as Linten’s Shield locked into place and Isha stumbled back into control of his own body.  The shock of everything happening at once, especially the Void’s collapse, causes the big man to topple as surges of nausea and pain threatened to steal his consciousness as well.  After spending a minute fighting back the urge to vomit and clutching his ruined legs, he slowly stopped panting and struggled to his feet.

The whole training yard was staring at the two men, one barely managing to stand while the second still lay on the ground a few feet away.  At first, Isha worried the Shield might have caused one of his weaves to unravel, killing the boy, but after a moment the boy stirred.  As the Asha’man limped towards him, Linten eyed him warily; it was an expression Isha had never seen directed at him, though the boy was liberal enough with it towards every other authority figure.  Noticing the sun glinting of his discarded swords a foot away, the man practically collapsed to his knees attempting to pick it up – it would have been easier to use the Power, but his mentee had tied of the Shield.  This action only increased the caution betrayed by Linten.

“It seems you’ve beaten me.”  Isha said, offering his hand to help the boy up.  “No doubt Brent will award your pin tomorrow.”  Briefly, stupidly, the Shienaran considered apologising for nearly killing him but thought better of it.

Thwack…

A shimmering silver blade flew through the air and pierced through the slick oil painting, lodging itself into the wall behind it. Glowing at the end of the hilt was a shining sapphire that resembled the flame of Tar Valon. Not now, though. It appeared to be too much like a tear drop. 

“Hah! A tear drop! I’d be cursed by the Dark One’s own luck if I shed another bloody tear!” An enraged voice pierced through the silence.

Thwack…

Another blade, another scream, another hole in the wall. The small hands that wielded the knives were pale, almost ivory in colour, and shook with the anger so accustomed to her people. Saldaeans were known to erupt in a rage; however, it was usually over something petty like being jealous of another woman. No, this was nothing like that. Emptiness, loneliness, darkness, and pain that none but an Aes Sedai could endure, flowed through the blood of this tiny woman. For Ages and Ages, the female channellers of the White Tower had been dealing with the death of their Warders, many of them made it through the suffering alive, and lived on to Bond another.

No… not this… She pleaded with herself.

However, usually, the Aes Sedai would remain with the Gaidin or Gaidar for quite some time, before the time would come to release their mortal shells into the depths of the earth, the last embrace of the Mother. Not this Sedai. Her wounds cut deep, and seemed to bleed eternally.

Thwack…

The blade seemed to shake the entire way towards the painting, and when steel met wood, the hilt wobbled from the force behind the throw. The painting could handle the thrusts…but could she? Could Serena Morrigan, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, bear the loss of a fourth Gaidin? Could she handle the stabbing pain in her chest, the un-ending nights of waking to gasping sobs, and the re-occurring notion to destroy everything that crossed her path? Let alone, keep herself alive?

Thwack…

Granted, two of her Bondmates were still alive. One, was slowly going mad, although he would surely deny it; and the other...  Oh, Thera…Why? Serena’s chest heaved as she felt a sob building. It seemed to wash over her body like a wave exploding from her heart. Was it possible, that having a beloved Gaidar, whom you loved more than anything, marry a man and forget all about you while you were busy trying to save blasted lives, be worse than all of the others? Light, she was still alive; yet, Serena pined for the woman like a bloody lost puppy. Yes, their bond had been broken, but that did not mean the woman had to move on. Did it?

The slow creaking of hinges broke Serena’s concentration, and she turned towards her door quickly. Without thought, she lifted her hand to the side of her head and thrust her last knife at the door. A familiar face glared back at her. To her dismay, the Saldaean Aes Sedai did not hear the comforting sound of the steel penetrating the wood. Instead, it hung in the air, mere inches before Estel Liones.

“A few years late, don’t you think?”  Light, it was a good thing she’d been on her toes coming in or else she’d have a nasty hole in her chest.  While a knife imbedded in one’s body certainly made a fashion statement, they were hardly the most comfortable of accessories; idly the Domani ran a finger along her forearm where an inch-long scar stood testament to one of the many rather miserable days the Blue had experienced.  “What have I done recently to elicit this sort of welcome?”

Considering the Red Amyrlin and recent change in Ajah leadership, coupled with the return of its least favourite member, the sound of periodic thunking was hardly an uncommon occurrence in the Blue Quarters these days.  Nastascia, at least, no doubt spent countless hours of the day thunking her head against her desk and Light knew the reason for her frustration spent excessive periods of time thunking the brandy bottles she was no longer allowed to drink against the walls.  With the threat of Tarmon Gaidon looming over their heads, younger Blues spent as much time as possible thunking their Warders (or each other) today, lest they be thunked on the head by a Trolloc tomorrow.

However, today’s source of thunking came from a particularly familiar room that hadn’t been occupied since Estel’s last escapade from the Tower.  Serena had left shortly after the Watchers group had been released from their Bonds and, at the time, the younger Blue had been in no condition to talk to anyone – least of all her “babysitter”.  Some two months later found in her in a... if not healthy, at least more balanced state of mind.  Besides, she and Lavinya had an incredibly tenuous agreement concerning Order Members.

Therefore she’d gone to investigate, and barely survived, her one-time friend’s return to the Tower.

"Now, if you would just channel Spirit into this. I'm absolutely sure that if you channel just a small thread of it..." Serena stared back at the tall, dark haired man in confusion and disbelief. "You cannot be serious. I can't just channel into something I have no idea what it's for." The man's black coat and breeches hardly creased when he crossed his arms. His dark brown eyes held the intensity of a flame. He did not need to speak for Serena to feel his disappointment, the bond reeked of it. Arath could toy with her emotions in ways she had never known a bond could be manipulated. "I-I don't want to. It could kill us both, Arath." His eyes burned with frustration, and she suddenly felt herself embracing the True Source. Somehow, he had managed to get her to agree that she would not channel unless he said so. How had he done that? How had he made her succumb to him? "No, it will most likely kill you, before me." Afraid beyond belief with sweat beading on her forehead, Serena channelled.

Pain prickled all over her body, from head to toe. She writhed with it. Was it coming from inside? Why couldn't she stop it? Waves of nausea rushed over her as the sharp stabbing pain seemed to increase. Small black dots danced in her peripheral vision as she shook....

..."No!" Serena bolted upright in her bed. The black dots that had invaded her vision still bounced about. Wrapping her arms around her slightly damp body, she shivered. Glancing over to the empty place in her bed next to her, Serena slumped foreword and let a few tears streak down her cheeks. It was on nights like this that the Blue Sister especially wished she wasn't at odds with Thera. The bond was fuzzed as usual, and Serena could not do anything but wish she could beg her Gaidar to come to her aide. But she couldn't. After returning from the Black Tower, Thera was hardly to be seen. It pained Serena to know that she had caused such a wall to build between the two of them.

Wiping the cold sweat from her brow, Serena made her way to the washstand. The sun had not yet appeared on the horizon, and she already knew it would be ridiculous for her to try and return to her sheets. It was much too lonely there anyways. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror above the washstand, she could see that the usual mischievous spark had disappeared from behind her eyes. Was it from the torturous experiments that Arath had used, or was it because the love of her life would never lay in her arms again?

"I will not be broken." She lifted her chin in defiance, and set her shoulders. Too many of the women that had been bonded by the Asha'aman at the Black Tower had come back in pieces. Serena had been lucky. Arath had not been incredibly harsh with her. Other than the fact that he used her to test out his experiments. He had not raped her like so many others had done to their "bondmates". When it had come time for him to release her of her bond, he did it almost reluctantly. Arath had not gone mad...yet. Serena was sure she bad been able to feel the Taint lick at his brain, and perhaps at their bond, but she doubted if that was really possible.

After the experiments and the pain he had caused, was it possible she felt bad for him? Would she have bonded a man against his will if they had been stalking the Aes Sedai? What if saidar had been tainted and not saidin? What if the tables had been turned? What then?

Shaking her head, she was sure that any number of her Sisters may have slapped her in the face and asked her to return to sanity if she had brought up those questions to any of them. Suddenly, a thought came to her as if a candle had flickered on in her mind. There was a possibility that she may get some answers to her questions. One man, one freakishly tall and frightening looking man was here in the tower. Mad as any man could possibly be, and dangerous...

"Isha."

Serena stepped swiftly into her breeches and pulled her shirt over her head. Wrapping herself in her long blue coat with the flame of Tar Valon embroidered in blue on the breast and back, she headed to the dungeons.

Soft leather boots hardly made a sound on the cool stone floor. The guards let her through without hardly a glance. At last, she came to the cell that housed the man, if he could still be called that. Peering through the bars that caged the beast, she saw the large dark form of the Shienaran. Biting down on the inside of her cheek, Serena channelled a blue globe of light.

"Isha Talcontar, I am Serena Sedai. May I have a word with you?"

“Grrraaaaaahhhh ooooooooouuuuuuuuuut meeeeeeeeeeee!”

What had once been an arm forced its way through the barred window in the door. Now the limb was barely recognisable as a part of a human body, particularly a living one. The Yellows had Healed what remained of the flesh, but what had once been a bulging forearm was now reduced to a few layers of tissue separating the bone from the dank prison air. It was that lack of flesh that allowed the body part through the narrowly spaced bars on the door but when it tried to grab hold of the Aes Sedai’s throat, there was no hand to grab with. In fact, not only was there no hand to grab with, but only about half of the forearm remained.

Of course, the prehistoric scream had been preceded by much clawing and scraping at the door. After all, it takes a few minutes to locate the door and then the window when one has no eyes to see with. And, of course, it takes a few minutes to move oneself from the farthest corner of the room to the door when one’s remaining muscles are no longer sufficient to move one’s enormous body across even the tiny cell. Add in the lack of hands and mangled stubs that had once been feet and it had actually taken the man best known as Asha’man Isha Talcontar some three minutes to actually respond to Serena Sedai.

Now that it became clear there was no way he could have harmed the Aes Sedai short of bludgeoning her with his half-a-forearm, the man slumped back to the prison floor, all his energy wasted in that singular push.

“Sorry about that.” The voice wasn’t different from the scream in pitch or timbre but was certainly distinct from the earlier scream in that the words were completely cohesive and spoken confidently — almost with a sense of charm. “Couldn’t rein him back in time. You may have a word with me, though I doubt you’ll be able to coax Isha out. Actually words, plural, would be nice, no decent conversation around here — for obvious reasons...  Talking to myself is only so stimulating.”

“Grrraaaaaahhhh ooooooooouuuuuuuuuut meeeeeeeeeeee!”

Serena cursed herself for being foolish enough to believe that the bars and wood of the door could have been safe enough to keep the giant man at bay. Quickly, the threads of an Air Shield appeared around her. The Blue Sister had been surprised many times in her life, and it still made her heart jump into her throat; especially when a mangled arm came thrashing out through the bars of his prison. Emerald green eyes widened at the site of the twisted flesh of what must have once been his forearm.

Did we do this to him?  Arching a dark eyebrow in question, Serena then shook her head. Surely, if we did, there must have been some logical explanation for it. At least, she hoped there was.

Serena was about to speak when...

“Sorry about that.”

Tilting her head to the side in confusion, the Aes Sedai could hardly believe it was the same man. It was the same voice, but it was hard to understand that someone who was obviously insane enough to make a noise like he first had, could produce something that sounded so much more civilized.

“Couldn’t rein him back in time. You may have a word with me, though I doubt you’ll be able to coax Isha out. Actually words, plural, would be nice, no decent conversation around here — for obvious reasons...  Talking to myself is only so stimulating.”

Him? Wasn't he Isha? Serena wasn't exactly sure what to think. The man she had been Bonded to had not been as insane as Isha Talcontar already sounded. She knew that many of her Sisters had done studies of the Taint on saidin, Serena had read many of them, but was she really prepared to deal with it head on? For a moment, she chewed on the inside of her cheek while she considered her options.

Deciding to continue with her plan, however insane it may have been, Serena replied. "I can imagine. Conversing with ones' self can only go so far." Who knows? Maybe it went a lot further for the man on the other side of the door then it ever could with her. "Do you mean that you are not Isha Talcontar? And if not, then by what name should I call you? I am sure things might feel more...comfortable if I called you by the right name." This was a very sticky situation, and the Aes Sedai felt as if she was treading on thin ice. The man could switch at any moment.

He thought for a moment, leaning against the door. “I don’t suppose you mind if I sit down, do you? I... or we... are not what... umm... we... once were.” Dropping back down to the ground heavily, the man leaned against the back of the door, letting the acoustics of the tiny cell bounce his voice back to the Aes Sedai separated from him by a few planks of wood. How long had it been since he’d been that close to a human being? Months? Years? Millennia? It had been millennia and yet it had been only months; the unique situation of multiple personalities returning from Ages past in the same body was... if not unheard of since the Tainting of saidin, virtually unstudied due to the unstable nature of the subjects and thus the actual workings and therefore: methods of thinking and setting it into an understandable concept for a sane human being, even the insane human subjects, to understand was difficult and unprecedented.

“I’m not sure how much you know, or even anyone in the White Tower, knows about the Taint so I’m not sure what assumptions to make. I don’t know much about this myself, Abrem might be able to tell you more because he’s been here longer, even Dog’s been here longer, so I’m really just figuring this out myself.

“I suppose, for your sake, you can call me Isha. But I am and I am not Jethro “Isha” Talcontar; just as I am Abrem and I am Dog while simultaneously remaining a separate... not being but, consciousness might be the best word to describe it. As a separate consciousness, I am Petr Unrau; as a collective, we all make up the person who is now Isha Talcontar.”

“You are not me.”

“Now you come to talk? Sorry, he’s gone again. That was Isha as I am Petr. Are you following? I’m trying to explain everything the best I can but I am neither a philosopher nor psychiatrist and what I say is based entirely on what I’m experiencing and the assumptions I’m drawing from that. My education was not focused on the enigma of the human brain.”

Lesson 3: http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,46030.0.html

Tig if you're interested in finishing the class just catch up when you have time.