Weapons Score 0 to 1: Complete Basic Fitness Reqs

Elective 1 : Basic Fitness

Getting started, from the bottom up : Complete

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,41588.0.html

Llewelyn follows Sandre's first lesson as a TG along with Belig, who he meets for the first time. He discovers the differents exercises and equipment used for daily training of the body and exhausts himself wearing iron weights, doing push-ups and swimming upriver.

Belig had met with Llewelyn by the river to take a sip as well. "You did surprisingly well considering it's your first time in those weights. See how keeping the weights tight to the body help?" at which Llewelyn answered with a grin : "It sure does, but it still ain't easy at all ! But since you're complimenting me, I guess I'm stronger than I look !"

He was cut off when Sandre suddenly jumped in the river with the iron rod he had brought with him. The boy stared at him, wondering what he was up to, when he asked the two youngsters to do the same. Llewelyn got is rod on the grass before he slided into the water more than he jumped in it. It was icy cold and after the first shock of the difference in temperature, it sure felt refreshing on Llewelyn's sweating body. Again, he listened to Sandre's instructions before complying. He swung the rod as fast and as hard as he could for he knew his body temperature would drop if he didn't work out quickly. It wasn't too tiring as the current wasn't very strong in this part of the river. And he managed to swing the rod again and again until he was told to stop without having to pause : a first until then.

Llewelyn winced when he was told to swim upriver for this, he was sure, would exhaust him much more than the previous exercise, and he was pretty sure he hadn't much more strength left either. Besides, he wasn't much of a swimmer, but he began swimming the crawl nevertheless.

He was slow, very slow. But it was the only way he could last a fair distance.

After some time, Llewelyn noticed his swimming didn't take him forward anymore, rather he was at a standstill. He pushed himself to swim faster, decreasing his stamina little by little but swimming forward again. At some point though, he had to cling on a root bulging from the riverside to catch his breath. He hadn't made much progress but Tar Valon was far behind him already. Llewelyn glanced around to see if either of his companions were in sight.

It was the first time Llewelyn left Tar Valon since he had become a trainee. He felt as a boy on an adventure to explore the neighboring world, studying insects, observing the wide landscapes, filling his lungs with fresh air...

And as they departed, Llewelyn noticed he wasn't the only one handling his horse with a little uneasiness. Even though Saldaean were known for their riding skills, there had only been a workhorse to train with at his family's farm. So he only had a little experience and that was it. Fortunatelly, contrary to Addi's fiery mount, his was a quiet mare with a fair chestnut coat, Dor'Ayende was what the ostler called her. The greatest challenge so far had been to prevent Addi's stalion from sniffing too close.

But as the day advanced and the number of hours in the saddle growing, his butt became numb and his legs heavy, and he already thought the morrow waking up wouldn't be pleasant.

Even more as Thera asked of him and Addi to go find food when they stopped to settle camp.

He exchanged glances with Addi before they departed from the clearing and into the woods. Seeing the decomposed features on Addi's face reminded Llewelyn of his own distress as he was well aware the early spring wasn't a favorable time for finding food in the wild. But the region was warmer than in Saldaea where snow would still be covering the earth with a white mantel, so they would be alright... he thought.

He followed Addi in the woods, looking intensely around for something - anything - edible. He recognised some roots along the way and dug those up, but it wouldn't fill any of their stomach, it was hard to chew and hardly tasty, but it was better than nothing. He exchanged some words with Addi who sure wasn't in the greatest of moods but he tried to loosen the atmosphere a bit by telling her some jokes. He probably wasn't very good at it, since he somehow didn't get the expected effect. Instead, she asked of him if he had any twine. "I have some," he answered. "But I doubt the others would be pleased to learn they have to wait until tomorrow morning to eat anything." She looked shocked as if he had done something horrible, whatever it was... She then called him a moron and explained that it was as good a way as any to get some supply for the days to come. Llewelyn indeed felt a moron as he hadn't thought about that and they started laying some traps good enough for any rabbit to fall into.

After an hour or so, as the sky was getting darker from a minute to another, they ended up near a stream and they both beamed for it was the perfect solution to their problem. Addi asked Llewelyn whether he was good at fishing and he answered her with a wide grin before starting to prepare fishing rods for both of them out of the remaining twine, the straighter tree branches they could find around, fishing hooks he had also brought along and some freshly dug up worms. They then settled on the streambank and waited for some fish to bite, which was not too long as it was - Llewelyn and Addi had soon found out - the beginning of the spawning season for spring salmon. Llewelyn helped Addi when she was facing troubles struggling to pull up their fattest catch.

They had to stop though because it was too dark to see and lightening a torch would frighten the other fish, but with just that, they had already managed to catch enough to feed their whole lot until the next morning, when hopefully the traps they had laid would have caught some preys. They returned to the camp heavily charged but without having to search the way back thanks to Addi's sense of direction. Llewelyn was pretty proud of their work and he couldn't help but grin like an idiot. When they had left the clearing, he honestly didn't thought they would find anything substantial and now that they were back with their arms filled, he somehow felt elated.

Shera felt relieved at Larindhra Sedai's answer, except from her clothes she could she could keep all of her possessions, which she retrieved in the leather bag she had brought with her.

She energetically nodded when asked if she understood she was not to wear anything else other than her... whites as the uniform seemed to be called, then followed the Mistress of Novices outside her office. Shera couldn't help from diverting her eyes from the Aes Sedai's back to let her look all over the place in awe, nearly losing her guide out of sight from time to time. Each time, she tried to run as silently as possible to close the gap and was thankful the floor was covered with rugs that muffled her steps. But this probably couldn't fool anybody and the girl was pretty sure the Aes Sedai was well aware of her lack of focus.

When they reached a secluded courtyard, Larindhra Sedai burnt Shera's clothes (probably by channeling as the fire came from nowhere) and explained what the gesture symbolized. The girl felt the importance and the solemnity of the symbol and kept silent during the whole process. She thought that probably many novices had cried while their clothes burnt along with their past lives, leaving only ashes scattered by the wind. Shera did not for she was here to start a new life in the White Tower as the Mistress of Novices had put it. And many other novices had probably felt the same. Larindhra Sedai must have witnessed all kind of attitude as she had welcomed those different novices.

“Welcome to the Tower. Welcome to your new life.” she said as she gently squeezed Shera's shoulder. The girl answered with a warm smile but stared deep in thought at the remaining ashes of her past life a little longer before leaving the courtyard after the Aes Sedai.

Shera didn't wander off this time, most of her curiosity and enthousiasm had faded off after the previous ceremony, but she already knew it wouldn't be too long before she regained those. Besides, Larindhra Sedai was speaking to her and it would have been very rude if Shera wasn't listening to observe the ceiling's marble... Thus she learned she was assigned a mentor, a warmhearted Accepted whose name was Selene. She was already growing impatient to meet her.

Shera had already forgotten which way they had gone before they arrived at what she would consider her new hearth. It would be difficult to find her way back to Larindhra Sedai's office in the morning, so she would have to wander a bit after setting her things in the room and maybe she'll bring some paper and charcoal to draw a map... She wasn't sure if she was allowed to though. Would it be better to meet with Mistress Selene to learn about rules and customs before wandering in the alleys to draw her map at the risk of getting totally lost ? Shera frowned at the dilemna. She glanced at Larindhra Sedai who was ready to go back to her office and asked if she was authorized to do what she was planing.

Llewelyn grinned when he heard he was right about Belig being the son of a soldier, and brother to another... "When you meet a Shienarian, either he's trained in the ways of war himself or his family is, but most of the time, both of these facts apply." as his father told him. Llewelyn himself felt lucky he was born in Saldaea : it was one of the Borderland country, participating in the never ending struggle against the Dark One and maintaining the other countries safe from waves after waves of Trollocs. Yet, Saldaea was different from Shienar constantly under attack, it was much more quieter.

When Belig asked how he managed not to fall over and pointed out his weights as too loose or too heavy, Llewelyn checked it out by himself and Belig was right : appart from the straps Sandre had helped him with, the others were not strapped tight enough, thus he began tightening the loose one and answered Belig with an "It was freaking hard and I had to focus all on the way here on my balance but I guess I never tipped over. I walked from time to time though."

And as he was saying that, Sandre arrived right behind them. Llewelyn honestly thought that he wouldn't have made it to the river before Sandre, even as he was given extra time. Sandre probably had a hard time finding someone to help him with the remaining materials. Most of the trainees were fleeing the Tower Guards they were not in training with in case they would be alloted more work than necessary. It was still weird seeing as Sandre had only been recently promoted and he was well acquainted with most of the current trainees.

And their training kept on with pushups and situps that left again Llewelyn with a striking disadvantage, seeing as he had only practiced those to brag in front of Shera and to show her how much stronger men were than women, after which she pouted for a whole week and he even had to present his excuses, for some reasons that eluded him but he had managed to lighten her mood by doing so. Thus pushups and situps were, once again, not his forte while he was accompanied by a TG and a soldier in crib. Still, he once again gave his best, huffing and puffing as it was getting harder and harder with the weights on, sweating buckets after buckets.

When he could no more and sensed his limbs would yield beneath him, he just stopped for some time, hopping not to be yelled at, rested a little before starting again.

With the squatting and jumping exercise, he was at dismay seeing his jump was so low even as he tried his hardest. The constant pressure of the weights and the long time of training were starting to take their toll as he had to pause more and more frequently.

When they finally stopped, Llewelyn noticed he wasn't the only one exhausted, which comforted him somehow. And he would have jumped in joy when Sandre announced they could take off the weights, but he hadn't enough strength left to do that. Or so he thought, when he managed to get all of the straps off his body, the sensation of lightness was amazing. But he already knew it wouldn't last... Again he went to the riverbank and took a sip of clear water as he thought it important to maintain himself well hydrated in such conditions. And he stretched again as he knew it would make it easier for the next exercise and he would be able to get out of his bed the next morning without getting killed by soreness.

Llewelyn listened again to Sandre's instructions as to where they were headed. So there is indeed a rational reason for the no jogging order ! he thought, surprised.

And as he was ordered to, he started running as fast as he could in the pointed direction, but it was far from easy as he still wasn't accustomed to the weighs that felt unnatural on his body thus his movements were frantics and his stride wasn't steady nor balanced. Besides he had to watch with every step he would not tip over as he sensed he was dangerously close to definetely lose his balance and fall flat on his back. But he gave it his all anyway. He had to walk some way, though, to catch his breath because his muscles felt sore and the exercise was rough on his still growing body.

While he walked he noticed that he couldn't see Belig ahead anymore. Llewelyn remembered Sandre had said the weighs came from the Shienarian's country, and he had probably trained with those seeing as he didn't so much as break a sweat.

Llewelyn had finally managed to somehow steady his breathing, so he decided he would give running another go, but his muscles burned and ached all over as he started, it felt even worse than when he had stopped to walk. Yet he tried to surpass the pain and move forward.

After some time, it didn't burn as much and he noticed he was more comfortable with the weighs but now it was his throat that started to burn as thirst was the natural reaction to the sweating...

Llewelyn felt he could cry of relief when he finally spotted Belig near the riverbank and the designed rocky formation, but he held it in and just hurled himself to the riverbank to plunge his head in the cold and refreshing water. After his first burst of frenzy, he quieted down and formed a bowl with his hands to drink from the river and sooth his burning throat, but he was careful not to drink more than needed as it would make his belly heavier. After some tricky moves, he finally managed to stand up on his feet and began stretching his sore muscles while waiting for Sandre. He asked Belig for some help and they both ended doing some stretching exercises.

"So, if I understood it right, those are made in Shienar ?" he asked Belig pointing at the iron weighs, in an attempt to establish dialogue and satisfy his never-ending curiosity. "And I can see you've already trained with those ! What are you ? A son of soldier ? Wouldn't be surprising from a Shienarian..." he said with a grin, his tilted eyes becoming no more than slits whenever he was smiling.

Sorry to break the rythm, kinda busy right now... I'll have a reply up by Sunday, promise...

I'm also here... kinda

Llewelyn paid close attention to Sandre's instructions. But his focus was shattered and he had to try as hard as he could not to laugh at the "WE DO NOT JOG" sentence, he hardly managed to shrug it off with a wide grin. So, yes ! Jogging are for pussies and Warders are not ! Pussies, that is... Llewelyn allowed himself to think it was the kind of attitude typical to Sandre, or at least what the boy had learned about him from Elyan and Edana.

But his grin was soon wiped off his face as he didn't know where to start with the provided equipment. He was inwardly thankful to Belig who quickly advanced toward the rack and began strapping tightly the iron weighs around different parts of his body with an ease that indicated his experience in handling those. Llewelyn observed him before trying to mimic his gestures. He wasn't sure whether he had chosen weighs adapted to his own strength, he just tried to choose whatever felt heavy in his hands before fixing it on himself.

After having covered every limb with iron strappings, he tried to move a bit to accomodate, but of course, his movements were hampered and he felt as if he was climbing a steep slope with each step. Would he even be able to battle in such condition ? He clumsily hobbled to seize an iron rod on the rack, heavier than his usual sword as Sandre had instructed. Already sweat was dripping from his back.

Light ! This training would be hard but most effective, Llewelyn could already tell.

He just kept on walking around, swinging his iron rod from time to time until further instructions.

(OOC : I may be going beyond the boundaries of PG-13 rules with that first paragraph, PM me about it and I'll edit this part)

Shera cringed when Larindhra Sedai paused to emphasize that Shera should have known the name of the Aes Sedai. But the girl really could not remember this Aes Sedai ever presenting herself. Maybe she did in front of Lilia when Shera was absent. Shera could describe her and say that she had a Warder but could a mere description help to pick among the Aes Sedai that existed ? Shera was pretty sure their number was countless.

She then gave every information that was asked of her while the Mistress of Novices was writing it down. She tried to be as detailed as possible to show that had she known the Aes Sedai's name, she would have given it as well ! More than once, Larindhra Sedai glanced up from the book to glare at her and make her understand she was being too descriptive, or she interrupted with a scathing reply. Therefore Shera soon answered with much summarization.

As she tried the white set of clothing that was handed to every Novice, she was quite proud that the colour fitted her blond hair nicely, it was rather tight though and Shera was relieved to hear that she would have clothes made on her measurements later.

After she had folded her previous set of (dirty) clothes, she brought them along with the leather bag that accompanied her on her journey from Saldaea. And before she followed the Mistress of Novices out of her office, she asked softly :"I'm not allowed to keep anything ? Even small objects ?" She was thinking about the good luck charm Llewelyn, her childhood friend, had made specially for her before she left her village to wish her luck during her apprenticehood in the White Tower, and that she had kept with her at all time until now. She had even grown pretty attached to the little fury rabbit foot she kept in her pocket. Everytime she felt down on her way here, she would put her hand in her pocket and hold the soft tiny object, which renewed her cheerfulness.

Llewelyn was pacing the training grounds looking around to see if a class was about to begin where someone as inexperienced as he could participate. He still lacked most of the basics that would allow anyone to train daily on his own. The lad remembered the notice posted in that common room informing Sandre would be holding his very first class this morning somewhere around this parts.

He noticed Sandre that was standing next to a rack with... - Llewelyn wasn't sure what it was exactly - heavy looking utensils of some sort on it. The boy hadn't spent much time with the newly raised Tower Guard but he could still recognise him on the first glance since he had seen him along Elyan and Edana more than just a few times.

Sandre seemed ready to kill as he glared at some other trainee who looked lost. Before this escalated in a bloodshed, Llewelyn appeared at the trainee's side and greeted him : "Howdy there ! I'm betting that you're a new trainee like me. I'm Llewelyn Naese by the way, and I guess you're looking for some place to start training. Well follow me !" he said cheerfully as he headed toward Sandre.

Llewelyn wasn't sure whether he should act as if Sandre was still sleeping in the bedroom next to his or if he should address him with the due respect for a Tower Guard. He doubted Sandre would send him to Thera's office if he wasn't respectful enough, but as newly raised in his rank, surely Sandre needed to assert his authority. Thus Llewelyn decided to play it safe in front of a yet unknown trainee : "Good morning, Sir. I am here to attend the training," he said in an almost military fashion.

The boy glanced backward to the if the other trainee was following behind him.

Hey Sangreal, mind another pupil showing up ?

Shera entered the office when she was bidded to, blushing at the mention that the chair would need cleaning after her stay. She sat nevertheless and tried to arrange her skirts to be more comfortable but noticed that patting the linen cloth would produce a faint cloud of brown dust in the air. She immediatelly stopped and just rested her hands on her lap.

Her glance wandered in the room, taking note of the furniture, the piles of reports on the desk, the various books... etc and paused on the Aes Sedai's shawl. It was fringed with red. Shera retrieved from her memory what little she knew about the Aes Sedai from the Red Ajah : they were entitled to prevent men using the saidin from rampaging the world in their madness, but more generally were supposedly not very friendly toward any kind of man. And that was all. The girl realized she, as a country bumpkin, had in fact very little knowledge about the White Tower and its different people. But maybe it was the Aes Sedai themselves that wanted it so.

Shera tried to answer the Mistress of Trainees' various questions, and she took her time to speak clearly. It was frustrating but inside the Tower, not many people would be able to understand her usual flow of words mixed with some saldaean lingo, and it seemed she was doomed to stick to the conventions of speech.

"My name is Shera Elwin, Larindhra Sedai. I have already been tested back in my homeland Saldaea and it appears that I can be taught how to channel. I have forgotten the name of the Aes Sedai who announced this to me." She kept unsaid the fact that her mother was a channeler, and that it was thanks to her that Shera came to be tested at all by that passing-by Aes Sedai who had sensed the One Power in Lilia (Shera's mother).

"But I doubt she even gave it, because she seemed to be avoiding unnecessary attention." She added as she remembered the Aes Sedai's secrecy. Shera had never seen an Aes Sedai before meeting her, but Lilia had identified her immediately and it was only when the girl was listening to their long conversation that she understood who it was that was seating in their common room.

Now, she could also distinguish an Aes Sedai when she saw one : they all gave this peculiar impression that they were both young and old at the same time.

"I don't know the extent of my potential, though. I haven't been told about that. This Aes Sedai seemed to be in a hurry and she didn't stay long." That was a lie. And Shera was bad at lying. Her mother had told her that she would shift on her feet when she was standing or suddenly move hands she usually kept still, that she would divert her stare from the person she was talking to whenever she was lying. Lilia used to make fun of her because she could never hide a thing from her parents. But Shera thought it wouldn't bother her in becoming an Aes Sedai as Aes Sedai don't lie.

Actually, that Aes Sedai did seem on a hurry but still spent an entire evening in their little house, speaking with Lilia until late in the night. But it was true that she had taken little time in testing Shera, though.

The girl kept on more firmly as she was speaking the truth again, hoping a stranger wouldn't recognise her previous lying. "But she still strongly adviced my coming here before she left. And here I am..."

Shera realized no one would pop in the White Tower simply because they were told to, so she tried to think about her purpose in coming here. She couldn't tell Larindhra Reyne about her mother's condition... Or could she ? Could she inform yet another Aes Sedai about her channeling mother ?

Lilia had lead her whole life as a fugitive because she had the spark : being constantly on the run, fearing the Whitecloaks and their informators, or being always doubtful of everyone, even close friends... And even when she finally settled the farthest away possible from the Fortress of Light, she was never at peace.

And Shera refused to live in the shadow of her mother's fear. She wanted to show her mother what it meant to be able to call upon the True Source without being constantly on her guard for she would have the whole White Tower to back her up. That was the reason she listened to the Aes Sedai and came to Tar Valon : for her mother's sake...

Silence issued while Shera spent some time debating whether she would make her mother's story public to the Tower. She would rather not, but she did not want to lie to the Mistress of Novices either. In the midst of her reflexions she glanced toward the Red sister to see if she requested further explanations at all.

Llewelyn will be available to either you or Jaydena once he becomes a TG (which will be, I guess, in a very long time, at least a few month). You'll just have to shake him a little out of his... obsession for his childhood friend, and I guess it will need time and a well developped relationship...

Well, at least he came to the Tower with the idea of becoming a Warder...

Llewelyn was carefully checking each pocket of every clothes that would accompany him to his weekly laundry trip along the river before folding them into a wooden basket. It was foolish to fold dirty and sweaty clothes but his mother had raised him into that habit with the simple reason that folded clothes left more room in his basket to put more clothes...

As he was checking the jacket he had been wearing during his last training session, he discovered a piece of paper he had no recollection of ever putting in one of its pockets. With arched eyebrows, he slowly unfolded what seemed to be instructions for a stealth class. The irony of the situation didn't escape him : he had no inkling that someone had put that paper here while he was wearing his jacket. If it was that Jasen Pontean guy that had slipped the note in Llewelyn's pocket, he was pretty much the right person to teach a steath class. And the boy was always up to learn something new.

Of course, their class would take place at night - coud there be more fitting a time ? - but Llewelyn was pretty sure that the teacher had asked the Mistress of Trainees, Thera special curfew permission for all those who attended, or would it be part of the training as well ?

In such a case, Llewelyn carefully chose the clothes he would wear that night : nothing too colourful or bright, black, dark brown and grey only ; nothing too extravagant, or that would hamper his movements. Well, that was about most of his clothes, since a peasant has no money to buy coloured or frilly clothes...

Finally set, Llewelyn headed on time to the appointed meeting place without being noticed. There, he met with Visar and several others and hoped they wouldn't wait too long for a group this size would attract unwanted attention for sure. He sat cross-legged, his back leaning against a nearby tree trunk as was his habit when waiting for someone. After some time, Visar among others seemed gradually irritated as their wait dragged on, but Llewelyn under the cover of the leaves wasn't as tensed as them.

Yet he jumped as high as the others when a faint sound of metal pierced the silent night, quickly followed by some blurred movements at the corner of his eye. Llewelyn spun his head toward a stranger who wore a grin on his face and presented himself as none other than their stealth teacher, Jasen Pontean.

The brisk laugh of Visar gave Llewelyn another scare. Another loud noise and the guards would be swarming about the place and the trainees would find themselves in Thera's office before they could explain their situation. Thus, Llewelyn went to Visar's side and presented himself to their teacher in a much lower voice than his companion while he gave him a friendly pat in the back and grinned.

"I'm Llewelyn Naese. Forgive that loud mutt, he has much to learn in this class."

(OOC : *wink* No hard feeling, heh Visar ? Besides, now you can pester me for being a zealous student...)

When Llewelyn had launched his attack, he already knew this would leave him open to his opponent's retaliation if he wasn't quick enough. He managed to withdraw his hand as to notreceive the full strength of the blow. Instead only the tip of Visar's lath grazed the side of his wrist. It hurt a lot but having avoided most of the swing, Llewelyn managed to keep a grip on his weapon's handle, which was the purpose of this poor evade.

As Visar advised earlier, Llewelyn imagined his wrist blooded, slit to the bone if they had been wielding real weapons, and the thought filled him with a nasty fealing, and sent a chill down his spine.

He had no time to imagine any further for Visar was taking the lead and thrust at the boy's chest. In a panic, he desperatly tried to deflect the lath by a wide swing up but he couldn't complete the move before the thrust had propelled him flying a good ten feet away on the grass. The air had gone from his lung and he laid on the ground, his whole body hurting all over as his vision blurred.

It took him a little while, what seemed an eternity to his pained senses, before he could see well again and sit properly. He scratched the back of his head. "You had me here Visar."

He mentally swore to train as hard as he could so as not to fall so easily on the battlefield. The whole spar had not lasted much more than a few seconds and he was already dead. He hoped he could get better at fighting quickly.

Byron had be downed as well. Their team had been utterly defeated.

Llewelyn got on his feet, his chest flaring with pain, retrieved his lath and glanced at Melenis to see if they should just keep on.

(OOC : it seems the whole purpose of teaming up is quite useless if we miss one of the members... What should we do ?)

No Weapons Score improvement : Complete Arrival Reqs

Arrival

Determination falters : Complete (?)

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,39999.0.html

Llewelyn arrives at the White Tower, meets with Dragar, finds a room in the barracks and meets with two of his roomates.

The (?) mark about the completion depends on wether Llewelyn meets with his third roommate, Byron (played by Thorfinn). But the thread is more or less finished.

It had been a week since Llewelyn had seen the poster clipped on one of the barrack's walls for all to see announcing that Thera, the Mistress of Trainees, would be giving a mountain survival lesson to all those who wanted. Of course, he had signed up immediately for it would be an exciting experience he was sure to remember his whole life.

On the one hand, it would enable him to finally meet with the Mistress of Trainees instead of facing the grim Dragar. On the other hand, Llewelyn did not know much about trekking in the mountains and it would be a first for him, since he had never been allowed to come near to the only chain of mountains on the Saldaean territory that formed the northern borderland with the Blight.

And because of his lack of knowledge he had met some difficulties in finding the material and equipement that was listed on the poster. The boy had no trouble buying a solid rope but he had no clue about some of the gears required and spent some time wandering the trading streets of Tar Valon, often at the neglect of his training in order to search for it.  Fortunately, he had finally met a kind stranger with knowledge of that matter, who lead him to the right store and showed him the right gears to buy.

Llewelyn had packed everything the eve of the early departure, checking numerous times that he hadn't forgotten anything, but he was so nervous he couldn't sleep quite well that night. At daybreak, he wasn't as fresh as he usually was, but he couldn't stand still. He made sure Edana and Elyan were already up - they were supposed to come along - before leaving the barracks, and arrived early at the meeting point even though he knew he would have to wait for the others. But a ginger haired woman was already there leaning on the stables' door, honing a blade in between two pack horses. The Mistress of Trainees seemed a fierce woman in Llewelyn's eyes, like most of the women around the yards.

The boy approached Thera and bid her a good day. Intimidated, he didn't say any more and laid his bulged leather bag on the grass and sat next to it, looking intently at his feet and waiting patiently for the other trainees to show up.

Visar's explanation about acting as if they were training with real blades made sense.

Yet Llewelyn was glad that Visar was willing to start from scratch again. It would only make more practical experience. The boy glanced toward his partner again but nothing had changed in the last spent minute.

He raised his lath to face Visar's, his opponent was waiting patiently, observing him with an intent gaze. It would be Llewelyn's turn to launch an attack. He now knew that frontal attacks or brute strength would leave him disadvantaged. This left him with swift and well aimed attacks.

He took a deep breath in, calming his nerves. He made a quick side step on his left, positionning his right foot ahead and slightly bending his knees before giving his lath a left to right wide horizontal swing, aiming at Visar's right flank.

(OOC : don't be too lenient on him, it's his first training, remember ! And even though, he's not totally unaware of sparring, his experience is much less than yours, Visar. Make him suffer !)

Respect the elderly, that's what I've been taught so far...

Thanks for everyone's warm welcome, I'm also looking froward to RPing with y'all

As Mariasha Gaidin asked what was worrying him, Llewelyn didn't bother giving much of an explanation. He just said : "Nah, I'm just wondering about things that won't happen until a long time. I don't want to spoil the mood of such a bright afternoon. I should enjoy more of the present day."

Saying so, he relinquished his worries in a far and tiny corner of his mind, and tried to ease any tension that might remain, his mind soon drifting in daydreaming.

Shera had decided to go to the White Tower on her 16th birthday.

But before that, she had long debated with her mother as to her future following the Aes Sedai's visit to the Elwin family.

Lilia had suffered her whole life because she had to hide her channeling ability. She wasn't very skilled at it but the spark had brought her much grief and she was relieved to hear that her daughter could be taught but had no spark. She had always been wondering if she had passed on that lifelong burden, the natural ability to channel the One Power to Shera.

But the Aes Sedai had insisted on her daughter going to the White Tower and it seemed Shera wanted that for herself as well. At first Lilia had objected, but as she saw her daughter so adamant (besides, no one can say no to an Aes Sedai), she could only yield to her request. It was up to Shera to decide how her life would go, yet Lilia had managed to make her think it would be better to wait a little more until she was 16. That way, she got to spend more days pampering her baby girl, before she was hers no longer.

And that day finally came when Shera left home, her heart heavy with excitment, apprehension and sadness.

The way to Tar Valon seemed endless as days after days spent on the road didn't seem to make the town any closer and many incidents happened : she had been stolen most of her coinage during a previous halt into town ; a sudden storm had left her soaking wet miles away from any town, farm or forest ; she had then been mistaken for a beggar and prostitute, which led to very awkward circumstances, but the stranger was gentleman enough not to lay a hand on her after she had cleared the situation, and he even gave her food to keep on her journey..

Nevertheless she was indeed getting closer to Tar Valon and the magnificent White Tower was at last in sight. She hurried up, excitment making her heart beat faster.

She made her way at the foot of the huge building, looking in awe at the many people busy with training in the yards using weapons of all sorts, some she had never seen before and some she had already seen being wielded. She entered the building itself and asked her way around. She ended in front of a heavy wooden door where she was told she would find the Mistress of Novices, an Aes Sedai from the Red Ajah named Larindhra Reyne. Suddenly Shera felt very self-conscious, she had dirt all over her clothes from the long trip and she hadn't taken a bath in days. She backed away, hoping not to have been heard from inside the room and was decided to make a run for the closest inn... when the door opened, revealing in the frame a pale olive skinned woman, with dark hair and eyes and the agelessness features typical of the Aes Sedai.

Shera didn't know if she should act as if the door hadn't open and still make her way to the closest inn to wash her skirt and shirt which once bright colours were now dull under a sick layer of dust from the road and blotted with dark brown stains of dirt all over. She didn't even want to think about what her face and strawberry blond hair looked like. How could she have presented herself to the Mistress of Novices in such a getup ? She inwardly cursed herself for getting too excited to notice such important details.

But it was already too late to put any act on as she had frozen still when the door had opened. And the now arched eyebrows of the Aes Sedai she assumed to be Larindhra Reyne spoke volumes about what she thought of Shera's appearance. Shera tried to get some composure before addressing the woman that would be above her the whole time of her novicehood and probably even longer after that. She curtsied before saying : "May the Light shine on you Larindhra Sedai. I would like to become a novice in the White Tower, and I have been told I should begin by coming to your office."

She had said that in a breath and she bit her lips as she was reminded of her mother's warning : when you speak quickly, your heavy accent make you hard to understand. You should always take the time to make yourself clear.

Helpless, Shera tried to smile for a change, hoping that it would make up for both her speach and appearance, and not disgrace herself in front of the Mistress of Novices.

Training yoohoo ! Sign me up too...

But Addi, if you injure yourself, I won't be able to see you as a potential target for my next pranks...

Llewely might want that as well...

Just for information : can we do more than one training RP at a time ?

Beer ? Was that all a woman needed before making a lifelong decision ? Llewelyn could only look at her in dismay. Did she really mean it ? That she met her to-be Aes Sedai and decided to be bonded to her all in one single night with a little help from... beer ? Then, Llewelyn wondered if it wasn't some part of that women's intuition nonsense that let them know immediately whether they get along well with one another. If that was so, that wasn't of much help to solve his problem. He'll have to figure things out on his own then...

As Mariasha motionned them to the riverside, Llewelyn dug up a little patch of loose soil to try to find worms, which fish were so fond of. He found some and handed them to the others before putting one on his own hook and angling his line in the waterflow. He picked up a blade of grass to chew on and waited patiently for a first bite.

(OOC : sorry, no inspiration to relaunch a debate tonight)