The man's voice took a while to really sink in and by then he was already stalking past her with Dorian. Tiegan couldn't do anything more than run to keep up with them both, trying to ignore the way the rain washed a trail of red behind their path, leading her to him.

Tiegan ran ahead of the man to try and be useful, useful by pulling doors open for him, to not faint when Dorian needed her, that kind of useful. She wasn't sure how much more she could do right now. She was trying to be strong but... but his throat was bubbling. Bubbling with air from his lungs. From the words he was trying to say.

She wanted to be sick. Who had done this to him? If he wasn't close to death Tiegan might have gone and hunted them down herself, touched the source or not!

And then they were in the dark together. Close. Close enough to feel warm breath on each other's skin, to feel every twitch and every movement. It was warmer in there than she had expected and the air was thicker. But it was more than physical closeness that this place brought.

Tiegan couldn't see. She was as blind as he was now and in a strange way she liked that, she liked being forced to rely on her other sense as he did every day. It made her feel even closer to him and it made her feel uncertian at the same time. Shy even. She was all of a sudden fumbling, unable to really tell much about anything, unable to see or to know if something was there other than them, she had to rely on Dorian. He was the one in his element in here, though she wasn't even sure if he noticed that, the one who was most competent.

And she liked that. One of her hands trailed down his shoulder to find his hand. Tiegan held onto it so that she'd always be aware of where he was in here... not that there was really anywhere for him to go.

"I missed you." She told him huskily. Had she told him that before? Oh well, it didn't matter. Tiegan could have said it for the next week and she probably wouldn't even come close to explaining the feelings behind that. It wasn't lust, or desire or ...it was just missing. Missing him and his presence and his smell and his feeling and... it was missing Dorian. One night alone together before this yet somehow they'd made a connection like that. It made her mind swirl.

"Are you... how are you going with training? And your brother? You feel like you're getting good." She whispered, wrapping both arms around him, head back on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I try but I don't seem to be getting anywhere with mine. I don't know... it's hard to explain, like maybe I didn't belong here after all."

Tiegan loved the rain. She loved to stand in it, to splash around in the puddles, to play as if she was a child again. There was something about it that just awoke a sort of childish joy in her that she couldn't find very often these days.

Though she couldn't exactly wander around in the rain these days, esspically while she was a novice under the heel of the Aes Sedai, it still drew her to a window. Or an open doorway. Or something. Today it had her drawn to wander though sheltered parts of the garden where she was dry and protected but still able to reach out to touch the rain as it fell hard to the ground.

She'd heard nothing of the fight. Or the older man's shouts either. It wasn't until she saw Corin that the shouts really clicked in her head above the storm, or the way he carried something limp. She had no idea who this man was either. Her heart stopped and it took a few moments for her mind to catch up and understand who he was carrying.

"Dorian?" Tiegan asked dumbly. He was so wet and so ...and red was all over him, it was everywhere, dying his clothes and his skin and his face and ... the close he got, the worse it looked, the rain spreading it further and further with every passing second. She felt her legs go weak and she wasn't sure if she could breathe. Tiegan almost fell over, somehow twisting so she landed on a soggy bench instead. Staring at the rapidly approaching man and the young man she loved she tried to call to them, "Dorian? What... Dorian's hurt?"

It was all she could manage to say, words seemed to get stuck in her throat.

Thrills ran up and down her from head to toe, Tiegan noticed, as she wrapped her arms tightly around his chest so she could tug him closer. Kissing him or not, it was still something of a comfort to be able to smell him again... he stil smelt the same, how strange was that of her to notice?!... and he still felt the same.

Well, he didn't. Tiegan blinked as she noticed that he was getting stronger. Muscles were under her arms. Noticable ones even.

She hadn't really doubted him becoming a warder. But now that reality seemed to come closer much faster than she'd expected.

Tiegan rested her head on his shoulder and sighed with contentment. They'd have to let go of each other soon... but for a few more moments, just a few more.

"I don't hate you. I thought maybe you'd hate me for getting you in trouble..."

"I think I'm real... we'd both have problems if I wasn't really here." Tiegan whispered, staring at the man who'd she had hoped for daily. No... hourly. Even if she pretended she hadn't, she had.

He was so adorable and flustered. And glad to see her, the most important thing of it all... Dorian was glad to see her!

Instead of answering him verbally, Tiegan had other ideas, glancing from side to side guilty before pulling him to her by his clothes and pressing her lips to his.

It was a quick kiss but it was enough for him to know exactly how she was. "I missed you."

Tiegan had been trying harder than before, she really had. THere wasn't much she felt she could do though, it was like some great big block had fallen... it just made her feel even more useless.

And what of Dorian? She had no idea... Tiegan hadn't wanted to risk peeking in the direction of the Warder's Yard. She liked the idea of being an Aes Sedai now. Maybe that was why she'd suddenly found a new block, she'd found Dorian and with him a pressing need to contine...

Too bad the need also hindered her, Tiegan thought dryly, as she stared out of the window at the garden. She played with one of the two braids and the bells idly, her mind heavy with the blank she'd experianced for so long.

It had gotten late again... and she was out of bed again. Tiegan made a face and hurried softly down the halls, trying to find a way back without being caught.

She skidded to a halt when she came face to face with the very trainee that'd been haunting her mind.

"Dorian?!"

((Omg. O__O Life goes 'WHACKWHACK' at me... and yet I return. Take that, life. :O ))

Surprisingly, a startled looking novice stood on the step, obviously not expecting her to be there. Waving her in with a tinkle of bells, Faerzyne closed the door with a resounding click before turning back to the novice.

"It is well past curfew child, you had better have a good explanation as to why you are at my office at this hour." Hands on hips, Faerzyne's eyes glittered with irritation as she waited for a response.

Tiegan had stood there outside the foor for a long time, somewhat terrified. Somewhat? That was an understatement, she was suddenly petrified.

Now she understood why they were banned from seeing those trainees. Tiegan had never really been interested in the other gender before, but if this was what happened frequently to a novice when seeing a trainee...

She felt so ashamed and stupid!

"I'msorryfordisturbingyou... I...uh. I was sent here." Tiegan spluttered out the entire story, save for a few modifcations about the other girls, staring at anything but the eyes of the Mistress of Novices.

Tiegan clentched her teeth together nervously when the Aes Sedai inturrupted her and tried to force the rest of the words that were trying to exist to go back to nothing...

She glanced to Dorian again hopelessly. She wasn't discoraged in liking him at all, rather, she suddenly worried about him. Till she heard what she was supposed to do... and what she wasn't supposed to do. But she hadn't been ogling, had she?

Tiegan jumped at the clap and with a helpless look at Dorian again, she hurried off down the hall and away from Dorian.

In her flustered state, Tiegan took a little while to find the right place, half paniked about getting there quickly before it got even later. But once she was at the door she paused and panted for air. Tiegan rapped a few times quietly, and waited for a few seconds... then rapped a little louder... then a little louder. But, she reasoned, if the Aes Sedai was too asleep to hear her, she could hardly talk to her. Right?

OOC- No, you're just in time! :D Join the fun! *hands out bottles of wine, chocolate, and popcorn*

IC-

Tiegan was half stumbling, half running towards the Tower. She wasn't even sure why she was, or what she was supposed to be running from, but she couldn't bring herself to slow down. Tiegan was already inside the building and into the Novice Quarters when she found herself skidding to a halt when confronted by quite possibly the most terrifying experience she could ever recall facing- an Aes Sedai.

Briefly the idea of pretending she was sleepwalking and therefore unable to answer or to respond crossed Tiegan's mind, but she wasn't sure if sleepwalkers ran. Or were in such as mess as she was. Or could make eye contact, followed by a complete look of utter terror and panic.

"Um..."

And she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to think up of anything else either by now, it had been a long night and full of things that Tiegan hadn't exactly been prepared for. She'd only wanted a walk! It was so much more complicated now. If she'd only had a walk and if Tiegan hadn't meet up with anyone, she probably wouldn't have been very afraid right now. It would have been full out lies, big smilies, no fear for whatever would happen. But now she'd met Faile and Aithne, and that other boy, and Dorian... Tiegan wasn't sure if she liked the idea of leaving it all now.

"Um. I was... walking. I couldn't sleep. I didn't know what else to do so I went out to walk." Tiegan started, and then froze. She couldn't exactly give away the names of the other two novices, could she, just to save her own skin? "And um... I went outside. For fresh air."

Tiegan's grey eyes darted around to stare at anything but the Aes Sedai, looking very miserable and guilty. Her eyes fell into Dorian standing back there, and her eyes widened in shock. What was he doing? He'd be caught too! Unless he'd already been caught? Was he supposed to be following the Aes Sedai? Hurriedly she added, "And I met a new friend, but... but... but I promise I was going inside and not seeing him again for a long time! I just got caught up in having someone to talk to."

She trailed off again, well aware that the last thing the older woman wanted was the woes and insecurities of a novice. Tiegan's eyes fell off Dorian and she stared at her feet again, a bundle of misery and guilt. What if she'd gotten him kicked out? Tiegan would be very glad to be kicked out if it meant he could stay. She felt her heart race a tiny byt as she dared to add, staring up at the older woman, "It really was my idea to stay and talk, Dorian had hurt his ankle and was going to go get some help for it, so ...so... it really wasn't his fault. I made him keep me company."

Tiegan sat there still and quiet as Dorian spoke, breathing in his presence and his warmth in the cold of the night. It was dark there and she could see nothing, but it only heightened her awareness of every beat of his heart, every twitch of a muscle, every breath in and out.

She reached out to feel along his sides as he explored her arms, feeling the way Dorian's body was thin underneath her curious fingertips. There weren't any real large muscles like Tiegan had seen on the Warder who'd led her to the White Tower. He'd seemed invulnerable to Tiegan, aloof and above all other men. But Dorian was still real, still as human as she was, Tiegan could feel each of his ribs, the contraction and expansion of his lungs as he breathed on her, the quickened heartbeat. He was real.

She whispered as he told her all of the things she needed to hear, "I know we can't see each other again for a while... but if we're ever close, you'll know it's me. I'll wear bells in my hair like I used to."

The entire overwhelming feeling of this made Tiegan's throat hurt with a swelling of emotion. It was like she would feel when she wanted to cry... but she wasn't sad. Dorian was just so... so... perfectly imperfect.She could sense and adore every one of his faults as equally as his many qualities.

Tiegan suddenly felt a bit afraid of all of this. Light, it was so overwhelming, so dangerous, so frightening! She let go of his body, dropping her hands to reach for his hands. It was too much for now. She had to get away and think about all of this, to work it all through her mind, to think about it. Tiegan didn't exactly have much experience with all of this, she'd never heard much about that 'love' emotion as her family were ones who admired the arranged marriage system, and she'd never had a sister to confide in when she had felt affection for others before she'd left- they were all younger than her. The only love that Tiegan had ever heard of was lust, and given that most of her education was in taverns, those stories didn't exactly fill her with a great excitement for love.

So what was she supposed to do now?

When he started to argue against being her Warder, Tiegan listened very quietly. He was so insistent, so determined to not become her Warder... what was she supposed to do? She wanted to reassure him that everything would be all right, but Tiegan had suddenly become afraid that it wouldn't be.

She had no idea the strength she gave him, or that she helped him so much. Tiegan's panic over her inability to control or understand all of this had started to swallow her, and she was trembling when she pushed him away from her. "I ... maybe you're right. Maybe we can't. I was just being foolish... and ...it was just fool's talk. It's not you at all, I just need to think and ... I'll talk with you again, okay?"

Tiegan stood up, half-stumbling on her own dress, and ran towards the White Tower, heart sinking, a melancholy mood drowning any sense of happiness she'd felt.

'Why didn't he answer,' She tormented herself, 'why couldn't he just say 'no, sorry, I don't say yes to the first desperate lonely novice that comes along, but do you happen to know a green sister?' and get on with it?'

Tiegan didn't risk looking in Dorian's direction. She was deathly afraid of what she'd read there, if anything at all, it could be very good. ...or very bad. Either way she wasn't really feeling up to that. Tiegan was tired, starting to get emotional, and she blamed it all on the fact that they were sitting there on a bench in the middle of the night. Nothing to do with Tiegan's insecurities about being overlooked, or forgotten, or just plain not belonging?

The problem with Tiegan was that she was very good at convincing herself of things that were stupid to anyone else who'd hear them. It was no wonder that she rarely voiced those kinds of thoughts. But at the same time, the ability to believe in something or someone could come in very useful.

She jumped when he took her hand, so lost had Tiegan been in her escape from reality, and stared at him. First he sent a thrill through her, he wanted to be her Warder? But then it turned to disbelief on her part, Tiegan could see how being blind could have it's disadvantages... but she didn't understand why he'd feel like he wasn't good enough. Tiegan half didn't want to understand. She knew the confidence she'd felt in him, even when she'd been unable to see his blindness, and she knew that it hadn't wavered when she'd noticed. So why should her trust in his strength change now?

Tiegan wasn't happy when that warm physical contact was broken and he turned away from her. She felt a bit rejected by him, still stubborn in her feelings about his blindness. It was there but it wasn't bad. And she was annoyed too. Warders weren't there to replace the mother, what did they teach trainees in the yard? That when an Aes Sedai bonded someone, that she needed them to be her senses? Tiegan had thought of it as a partnership when she heard stories, of the great two who did great things together.

She sighed out loud. It wasn't his fault. If Tiegan had been born with no legs, she might have been sure that she'd never ride a horse. Or if she had been blind, and she had been around men who believed that kind of story, she probably would have been just as sure as he was.

"Dorian, I don't need a warder who thinks he will do all of that for me. I can do that just as well as anyone else if I learn." Tiegan swallowed a lump of muddled emotions down, and hesitantly... she really wasn't sure if he'd like what she was about to do or not but it had always worked for her... she wrapped both arms around him from behind in a warm embrace. Tiegan's head rested on his shoulder. "It's your other strengths that I wanted to help me, the strengths that make you anything but a fool. I don't know you, or why you lost a birthright... but I know that your eyes haven't made your brain any worse off... only your confidence is damaged."

The spot she'd chosen really wasn't any different from the last. It was a bench. With bushes surrounding it. But Tiegan felt a little safer here, as they were futher away from both the Training Yard and the Tower.

Tiegan was holding one of Dorian's hands when she sat down, and she looked at their clasped hands in wonder. She couldn't remember doing that?

She stared up at his face. This wasn't something Tiegan had ever expected to do or feel. Especially so quickly! But there was something about his manner that made her feel calm and confident. She was no longer 'Tiegan, the misplaced person', Tiegan felt like a real novice of the White Tower. And though he hadn't done all of it, the sense of peace she had when in his presence definitely helped a great deal.

Tiegan sat there for a long time, saying nothing. If he said anything to her, it was lost on her, as her mind had started whirling. She had always been impulsive. But her father used to tell her that being impulsive was sometimes the rigth way to be, when it came to instincts.

So she suddenly blurted out something that was unexpected for the both of them.

"Dorian? That kiss, did it mean...I mean, what did it mean?" Tiegan asked in a low whisper, wary of being caught, but her mind was full of questions, and ideas, and things she wanted to know. She adored Dorian, she had from the moment she'd seen him, and she already knew what she wanted to ask him. But if she didn't do it soon, she wouldn't do it at all. Tiegan added quickly, "I... I know I just met you and the kiss might not have meant anything and people will think I'm being too hasty... but I was taught to trust my instincts and even if the kiss wasn't anything, even if we'd only be friends for the rest of our lives... I know you'd make a great Warder one day because you can think just as well as you can fight and you'd get better offers from other women in the tower but you make an impression on me. A really good one. And um. If you would...um. If you'd think about... um... perhaps think about being my Warder?"

Tiegan flushed, and squeezed her eyes shut. She'd known him for two hours and she was asking him that. Impulsive? Just a SMALL bit. Light, had she put him on the spot... "Don't answer! It's okay. Just... I don't know, think about it for a long while... then answer. But not now... So um. So.. where did you come from?"

Summary

Faile fell asleep in the library and woke up past curfew, and hurried out as fast as she could. Tiegan couldn't sleep, got dressed, and went for a walk. And Aithne lost track of time while hiding from an Accepted.

The three girls ran into each other in the hallway, scaring each other to death by each of them mistaking one (or in Tiegan's case, more than one) of them for Aes Sedai or Accepted. Tiegan decided it'd be safer outside where there wasn't an echo, so they all went for the gardens.

Dorian couldn't sleep either and went for a walk. Ended up in same gardens as the three novices. Danian, Dorian's brother, soon woke and noticed his blind brother was gone and went after Dorian to bring him back.

Three girls stood there staring at Dorian and Danian. Tiegan was besotted, Aithne (Afraid of being caught) fainted dead on the spot. Danian rushed to help her, (Thus proving that trainees have no idea where or how to help fainting or hurt woman, and need much more Warder training!), Dorian got confused about what was happening, Tiegan watched.

Danian saw Faile, Faile saw Danian. Much starry eyedness right there, as well as some embarrassing blurting out of how handsome/beautiful they saw each other as, instant love at first sight. Aithne was forgotten by the two.

Tiegan decided to try and get away from them as fast as she could, and innocently (ha, yea, right.) led Dorian away, inviting Aithne. She declined and decided to act as a lookout.

Tiegan and Dorian talked/got to know each other a tiny bit more.

Danian and Faile competed in the synchronised blush Olympics. Both won gold.

Someone almost caught the lot.

Aithne heads back to her room, discovered by Aes Sedai and given chores. :O!

Faile and Danian hide too, Danian makes sure Faile doesn’t get pricked by thorns but ends up nearly falling unconscious because of a natural poison within the thorns. Faile frantically tries to keep Danian, she still has some iodine ointment from her chore by Leona and cleans his wounds, slapping him in the face to keep him alert. Finally manages to keep him awake and their ways part hoping secretly to meet again some day

(Two days after the stroll-thread with Danian and Faile takes place.)

Dorian and Tiegan ended up half on top of each other hiding behind a bench and a hedge, ended up doing the cute accidental kiss teenagers do. Dorian tries to get up and discovers he’s sprained his ankle. Then Tiegan decided they should go somewhere safer, more hidden, to talk. Dorian follows.

OOC- And so we come back to where we are now! :D