09/24/2000


Despite the lateness of the hour when she finally made it to bed Corain is
up before everyone else in her room so that she can slip out without having
to answer too many questions. The hardest part... is putting her corset on,
and yes she does it because otherwise... well it's just too risky. But
needless to say it hurts like Trolloc's mother. However she manages to stay
quiet, only the Creator knows, but desperation is a wonderful tool when you
need it. She gets the corset on, and face white as a sheet, and a light
sheen of pain sweat on her forhead, she silently steps out of her room and
into the hallway. He better not be late, she grumbles in her head. She's
unhappy enough about the whole thing as it is to put up with any more
problems, real or imagined.

Well... He's not really late, but he /almost/ is. Neelkan comes running
down the hall and skids to a stop, catching himself on the wall right in
front of her. "'ey. Blood 'n ashes..." He nearly forgot. With everything
that's been happening lately... Feh. "Come on, Z--Cor, let's get ya taken
care of 'fore ya end up needin' m' t' carry ya 'round. Burn me if I care t'
be stuck doin' hard labor f'r ya f'r the rest of the year. The Gaidin get
it 'nough a'ready." He scratches at his hair for a moment and looks around,
"Ya don't need help walkin' a'ready, d'ya?"

Corain just looks at him as he skids and catches himself. She doesn't make
any move to dodge. At this point she probably couldn't even if he -had-
been about to run into her. Other than the obvious pain she's not letting
any emotions show on her face, except... for maybe a little bit of
annoyance, but she's trying really hard with that one too. "No," she snaps
and proceeds to hobble down the hall, grabbing one of the cloaks by the
door and settling it on her shoulders before she hobbled out into the cold.
"So what is your brilliant plan anyway," she asks dryly?

"It is brilliant, so don't mock it." Neelkan reaches over and takes her by
the elbow, even if she's saying she does need help and leads her towards
the exit on the Area, "I talked t' one of the Gaidin 'n we're gonna help
access some damage on one of the buildin's 'at got wrecked in the storms.
'ere's a few others, 'n while yer gettin' fixed up I'll go make 'n
appearance 'n tell ya what we'd see so if 'ey ask, ya'll know. Hopefully
'ey won't need ya too long. We're only supposed t' be out 'ere a few hours,
but I asked if we could have some time t' ourselves afterwards. Ya know,
out havin' fun 'n stuff, just in case. He didn't seem too upset o'er it,
since we've been couped up in 'is bloody Tower f'r weeks!"

Ok, she has to admit that that's pretty good. Corain was just planning on
sneaking out and hoping no one had noticed she was gone. "Who knew you had
a head on your shoulders," she asks. She doesn't say what she was going to
say, something along the lines of being pretty -and- having brains. The
comment about havin' fun 'n stuff just has to make her smirk though. "I can
walk," she grumbles a little as he takes her elbow, but she doesn't try to
yank her arm away because that would hurt too much. Each step makes her
side ache, and she's a little worried that one of these steps the bone is
just going to pop out through the skin, even if the corset is kind of
helping to hold it in. It's not the same as having it set. At least on the
bright side she will be more careful about who she fights in the future.

"It's not just f'r keepin' m' hair in, 'at's f'r sure." Neelkan says after
a small shrug, though honestly, he's never been exactly known for brains.
But coming up with a plan like that doesn't exactly take intelligence. It
takes more knowing how the Gaidin run things, and he's been on the bad side
enough to know how to avoid getting on it more, and how to pull pranks. He
used to do this as a kid all the time. Say he was going to the market for
his mom, and end up going into the forest to find a snake to sneak into
Aidou's bed. Heheheheheheheheh. Ahem. He lets her have her arm back, but he
goes ahead and leads outside.


Natural Highs, Alindrelle Square, Tar Valon

Neat, clean, polished wood floors and the heavy smell of herbs of every
sort greets the visitor. Windows are thrown open to allow the maximum of
light an air over a series of plants that grow out of window boxes. Several
shelves are present, lined with neat jars labeled in some odd sort of
writing full of all manner of powders, goos, leaves, and other substances.

A door leads back to a private residence. There is a cot here with plenty
of comfy blankets, as well as a hard table for massages. A counter allows
for ease of sales. It is not just wisdom's herbs which can be found here,
but tabbac smokes and incenses...some of which are prominantely displayed
on the counter, in a cup labled: Free Samples. Please Just Take One.


Slightly slanted, impish light brown eyebrows highlight largesh green eyes.
Thewoman before you is tall and muscular, with fingernails a bit blunted
from chewing. A pert nose and heart-shaped face lend her an air of
cuteness, though a stubborn line between her brows hints that there is
something more there. Long brown hair is pulled away from her face by a
butterfly clip and then left to tumble down to her waist at the back. She's
dressed in soft black breeches that flow with her as she walks, and a
matching black shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Wickedly curved knives
sheathed at her more than ample hips, their hilts well-worn, tell the story
of someone who can handle herself quite nicely. Her body language is alert
and cool, as if putting up a wall against most people that refuses to let
them in. Several belt pouches, contents unknown, make their way around her
waist.

The door to the shop opens, and a pair of seemingly young men come in. The
cold, and the walk hasn't done much for Corain's pain factor, and while
he's not actually going to lean on Neelkan, he's going -very- slowly, and
slowing down with each step. A glance around the room shows promise. The
Wisdom here looks like she knows what she's about from the 'decor' at least
to Corain's untrained eyes. He holds his arm around his waist, huddling
just a little under the cloak because even though there's not going to be
any channeling, the idea of someone else finding out his secret is scary,
which is why he's a little quiet right now as he enters.

The Wisdom has a smoke in her mouth, the sweet mingled smell of a
tabback/trigreen (that's pot, for the home audience) hybrid filling the
room. She's cursing as she stands on the counter, trying to repair a big
hole in her roof. "I'll be with you in a second, just sit on the bed," she
tells them around the smoke, the hammer giving a nail one last good
/whack/. "Bloody channelers and their bloody tampering with the flaming
weather."

Upon entering, Neelkan looks a little reserved, trying to hide the fact
that he's unsure that this is a good idea, but as /soon/ as he hears what
the woman has to stay about the weather and the channelers, not to mention
her use of words, he has to grin widely and lean over to whisper to Corain,
"I like 'is place a'ready." Then he waves a hand, "Go 'head 'n bloody well
sit down." He also seems to recognize what she's smoking, and flashes teeth
a little. What? Some of the bandits used to smoke whatever they could get
their hands on. He rarely did himself. His dreams were bad enough already.

You know, Corain could probably use some of that right now. It would
certainly help with the pain, but he of course doesn't know what it is,
just that it smells something aweful. He throws a weak smile back to
Neelkan, before settling down on the cot with a wince. Ow. Alright, that's
in the corset's gotta go, besides it would have to eventually anyway. So he
slides up his shirt a little to expose what would be bare stomach if it
wasn't covered by the uncomfortable contraption. The laces get worked at
before the whole thing get's tossed on the floor and she pulls her shirt
back down. She could have at least -warned- Akamo, but she's in pain
thought mode, so she's not really thinking very well. Sowwwy. :)

Okay, so he is a she. Big whooptie duptie. Akamo looks neither surprised
nor impressed as she hops off the counter. She's dressed as a man often
enough. "Where does it hurt?" Get right down to business, that's her motto.

Politely glancing away as she pulls up her shirt, Neelkan moves over to
look at some stuff on the wall until the corset hits the floor. Once it
does he turns back around. Yeah, all he would have seen ws a bare stomach,
but still, he doesn't like women, remember? So why would he want to look?
Heh. Yeah, yeah. He lets his companion do all the talking and just moves to
lean against a wall and watch. She knows her pains better then he would.

Dressed as a man. Hmmm.. well that's one way of putting it. Zaidah is a
little relieved at the reaction though. At least she won't have to worry
about... well.. everything that she'd been worrying about. She takes a deep
breath and lifts up her shirt to uncover her stomach again, and the problem
is pretty apparent. There is a huge bruise where one of her ribs has been
broken and is poking against the skin. "There," she says through slightly
clenched teeth. She's not going to tell the Wisdom that it's probably
broken. Any idiot can see that. And since it hurts to do anything involving
chest movement she's not going to say anything else unless asked. She's
just going to try and breath as shallowly as possible and not think about
the pain.

Akamo mmms and walks over to a cabinet. She removes a big bottle of whiskey
and a shotglass. She pours one for Zaidah. "Drink it down. When you're nice
and drunk I can work." She then stubs out the remainder of the smoke. Yes,
much easier to probe around and look for breaks when you ain't feelin' no
pain.

Oh Light! Neelkan reaches up and covers his mouth to keep from laughing.
This is going to be fun. He is not going to get drunk as well, because that
would lead to bad things, so he's just going to snicker softly over against
the wall.

Hey, no complaints here... though she does shoot a glare at Neelkan. Yeah,
yeah, laugh it up fuzzball. But you didn't see us in the South passage
where she confessed her true.. er.. wait.. wrong theme. She sits up a
little and leans on the elbow opposite the broken rib, winces, grabs the
shot and knocks it back. Then she pours herself another and that one
dissapears into her mouth as well. Aaaaaah, nice and warm. At about the 4th
one she's no longer knocking 'em back, more like.. sipping. Giggl- ow.
Nope, still hurts, need more liquor. She doesn't exactly have a low alcohol
tolerance, so it might take a bit of time, but eventually she does lay back
down again, giggling without wincing. In fact she's pain free enough to
start huming a little, probably some baudy drinking song... let's just hope
she doesn't actually start singing it...

Akamo smirks and nods, coming over to start feeling for the break. "Got
whacked good, didn't cha. First thing is to bring down this swelling." She
moves over to the shelves and runs her finger along neatly labled jar until
she comes up with one full of green goo. "Hey, go light a couple of those
incense things," she tells Neelkan. "This stuff smells like dung." With
that she opens the jar. It doesn't exactly smell like dung but wet wookie
fur...uh...trolloc fur...might apply.

Who you calling fuzzball!? Hrmpt! Sure, he grunts and stuff, but he isn't
/that/ harry! Much better looking too! Flex. Neelkan notices the glare and
actually sticks his tongue out at her in a completely childish fashion. He
watches her get juicy as a sailor and mutters something about how they are
going to blame him for bringing her back drunk like that. He wrinkles his
nose at the goo and nods, moving over to the incense and works to get them
lit.

Zaidah can't resist any longer. But at least she actually has a nice
singing voice, even if her words are a little slurred. "Weeeeeell a Sko'man
clad in ki'llllt left a bar one evenin fair. An one could teeeeell by how
he walked that'd drunk more'n his share! He fumbled round.. till he," *hic*
"could no looonger keep his feeeeet. Then," uh... how'd it go again? Oh
yeah! "He stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street." She
sings right through the dung smell, and the rib poking and the tongue
sticking out. She's in a happy whiskey land. "Ring ding didleidleahdio Ring
dai didlyaioh. He stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street."
*hic-giggle*

Akamo starts spreading the goo all over the break, chuckling. "Keeps 'em
from remembering how bad my bedside manner is in the morning, too," she
points out. "I'll give her some willowbark for the hangover, but also make
sure she drinks plenty of water. If she drinks plenty of water she
shouldn't even get a hangover." Little known secret of the drinking world.

Raising his eyebrows, Neelkan nods slowly. Oddly enough, he's been getting
as juicy as she is since he was... too young. His sisters caught him more
then a few times before he ran away. But he didn't know that either. He'll
have to remember that, "I'll see 'at she does." And he'll remember that for
himself! Or... try to. He moves over and snickers down at his... not really
friend... but fellow trainee at least and says, "Well, she prolly shouldn't
try t' get a job singin' at a tavern any time soon, should she?" Sorry. He
has to poke fun. It's a rule. See? ---> Rule #2. Poke fun whenever
possible, especially if they can't poke back.

"About that time two young'n lovely girls just happened by. An one says to
the other with a twinkle in her eye," Giggle. "See yon sleepking Sko'man,
so strong an handsome built. I woooonder if it's true what they don't
weeeeaaaar beneath the ki'lt. Hey! That tickles!" Giggle. Words words, what
were the words again. She repeats the line she just sang 'cause picking up
where she left off is kind hard to remember, even though it's just the
chorus again. "Ring ding diddle... iddle.. uh.. ahdio! Ring dai
diddlediddlediddlediddle (er.. broken record) uh.. er.. he stumbled off
into the-" no, she already sang that part... "Oh! I wonder if it's true
what they don't wear beneath t-" Gasp! She -stares- up at Neel, and then
grabs his shirt front and drags him down to breath her stinky alcohol
breath in his face. Or try to anyawy. "Poodiehead!!"
Heheheheheheheheeheheheh. Oh yes, pleeeeeeaaaase, no hangover. Whiskey
good, hangover baaaaaaad.

Akamo finishes with that stuff and goes to wash her hands in redwort. Her
hands have a permanent reddish tinge thanks to that stuff. She then pulls
out a plaster mix and starts making it up, though not before she finds, and
lights, another smoke, allowing it to hang out the corner of her mouth.

Erk! Neelkan finds himself with his face close to a drunk smelly breathed
woman who he despises (well, he'll insist on it at least). He brings up his
hands and prys her fingers off with a glare and says, "If I'm a...
'pootiehead', 'en yer a milk-sop." Yeah. That's his worse insult. All his
worse insults involve that awful m-word. Shudder. He looks over at Akamo,
"How long d'ya need 'i--'er t' stay 'ere?" He's so used to calling her a
him.

Zaidah releases him without much trouble and goes back to her song. She
gets a little softer for the next part. "Tey crept up on that sleeping
Sko'man quiet as could be. An lifted up his ki'lt" hehe "about an inch so
they could see." And the next part she just belts happily. "And there
behold for them to view beneath his Sko'ish skirt was NOTHING MORE'N LIGHT
HAD graced him with upon his birth. RING DING DIDDLE..." Well, you know how
the chorus goes. Hehehehehehehehe.

Akamo gets the big white gloppy mixed up and starts dipping bandages in it.
She then eases Zaidah up and starts wrapping them all around. "She can go
home just as soon as I'm done immobilizing the ribs. Six weeks, then return
to get the cast off." Smoke wreathes around her head as she talks.

There's a small sigh and Neelkan closes his eyes for a few moments. Six
weeks in a cast? she isn't going to like that at all. And it'll be hard to
hide it from the Gaidin too. Blood 'n ashes, he doesn't want to have to
think of more ways to help her, but he's in this pretty deep himself. They
probably won't be happy he tried to help hide her. Grrrrr. "A'right. I'll
make sure she comes back." And he'll try to make sure she doesn't take it
off early or anything silly. He reaches up and rubs at his ear, then says
towards the girl, "Could ya try singin' a lil' louder? I can still /'ear/
outta 'is one." He points at one of his ears.

Zaidah stops to watch the smoke and sticks her finger up into the cloud to
swirl it around a little, and the softest of whispers comes from her lips,
"cheeeeeeeese." Heheheheheheheh. Now, song. Where was she? Ah yes! She
frowns cutely at Neelkan and sticks her tongue back out at him before she
continues, and yes she's just a little louder. "They marveled for a moment,
then one said 'we must be gone'. Let's leave a present for our friend,
before we move along. As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon, tied into a
bow aROUND THE BONNIE STAR THE SKO'S KI'LT DID LIFT AND SHOW." Yes, she
really likes that line. "Ring ding..." etc. :) No, she won't like havign to
wear the cast for that long.. and yes.. she'll likely try and take it off
sooner, but she's not worried about that right now.

Oooh boy. "She won't be able to take it off, short of carving it off with a
sword. You gotta use a saw. See?" Akamo pulls out a box to reveal a tiny
saw for just that purpose. Then she goes back to winding stuff around the
girl. "I'll keep her here till the mess dries."

"I was bein' sarcastic!" Neelkan growls loudly over the loud song, then
nods to the woman. Keeping the firefly's hands off a sword won't be as easy
as it should be, but he'll do his best. He grumbles something about how he
never realized how annoying drunk women can be. Of course, almost every
time he was around drunk women, he was drunk himself (and even more
annoying no doubt).

"Weeeeeell, the Sko'man woke to nature's call and stubbled towards the
trees. Behind a bush he lifts his ki'lt and gawks at what he sees! And in a
startled voice he says to what's before his eyes 'Och! Lad I dun know whar
ya been, but I see ya won first prize!" HeHeHeHeHe. "Ring ding didle idle
ah dio. Ring dai didly aiy oh. Och! Lad I dun know whar ya been, but I see
ya won first prize!" Giggle. Aaaaaahhhh, that's much better. Hmmmm... more
whiskey. Not that she -needs- anymore. She does reach for the bottle,
though she stops to take a peek into the box at the saw. "Hi Sarshastic.
I'm Ssssshaidah. Nice ta meet ya." Yes, yes more annoying by far.

Akamo shakes her head, finishing, and goes to wash her hands. She takes the
whiskey away before Zai can get anymore and replaces it with a biggg glass
of water.

Rubbing hands through his hair, Neelkan grumbles softly under his breath.
He so does not want to be the one helping her back into the Tower, drunk,
under the watchful eyes of the Gaidin. And they're /definately/ blame him.
Even though its the fault of whoever broke her ribs. "Next time, ya get t'
plan the outtin'." He mentions to the drunk woman, knuckling his closed
eyes lightly.

Water?? Blech! She's not going to drink that icky stuff! No no no! Give her
a sec, and maybe she'll mistake it for whiskey and drink it anyway, but
right now she's wrinkling her nose violently at the stuff. Huh? Next time
she gets to plan the outing? What the heck does that mean? "Pumpkin, more
matter, less art." There, one good nonsensical sentence deserves another.
"Oh! Am I better?" She looks down at the wet white stuff around her ribcage
and blinks and then squeeks! "What in the name of all that is good, and
sweet, and crunch in Ba'alzamon's beard is that??" Yup, she was totally out
of it when Akamo was putting it on her. She gives it a little poke and
peers at her finger afterwards. Snif- Whew!! Icky!

"That," Akamo says briskly, "Is what is going to heal your ribs, young
lady." Good and sweet and crunchy in Ba'alzy's beard. She's gotta remember
that one. She shakes her finger in Zai's direction. "Just you drink that
water or I'll not give you any willowbark and you can suffer through the
hangover!"

"Drink the water 'r I'll leave ya in the bath rooms all by yerself in 'is
state." That would be bad. She'd probably start pawing at all the young men
coming in to take their baths. Hehehehehehe. Neelkan ponders it for a
moment. It would be /so mean/, but dismisses it a moment later. He promised
to keep her secret, and he'll do his best. Just hope she doesn't go and
kiss him while she's drunk in front of people or anything. People wonder
about him enough since he "hates women."

Zaidah's brown eyes go wide and pouty at Akamo and Neelkan. They're being
so mean!! Oh alright, she'll drink it. "Cheese," she mutters grumpily. No,
the cheese cannot protect you. So, looking right at the both of them to
make sure they see her drink it she picks up the glass, brings it to her
lips, and it's amazing that she actually gets -most- of it in her mouth.
She pulls the glass away to mutter to Neelkan, "I think -you'd- be more
upset about that than I would." And probably the other trainees too...
though some of the likely wouldn't mind her pawing at them, but Ahem :)
Yeah, and if she kissed him in front of other people, she'd probably break
a few hearts herself, considering how many girls have been flirting with
her anyway. Who knew she'd make such a cute guy?

Akamo chuckles and leans back against the counter. "I ought to dump one
over your head." Despite the fact that Akamo all but ordered you to get
drunk. Oh well, there are advantages and disadvantages to the Akamo Sunami
Healthcare Plan. We have just encountered a disadvantage.

Well, girls sometimes tend to like guys who are almost too pretty to be
men, so it's not too much of a shock really. Neelkan nods to Akamo, "I'd be
more 'en willin' t' offer, though I was thinkin' tossin' 'er in the snow
would be a good start t'." He winks and made no comment to him being upset
over her pawing over the trainees. He doesn't care who she paws at, as long
as it isn't him. He's got enough problems concerning women as it is without
one who dresses like a guy and could outdrink him and outcurse him as well.
"Tell m' when yer ready t' go. I still need t' drop b' the buildin' we're
supposed t' be lookin' 'at."

Yeah, but he was the one who forbade her from being in that bath room in
the first place, wasn't he? How kind of him to try and protect the other
trainees' virtue from the evil, deceiving woman. :P "Dump me in the snow
and I'll dump a bucket of milk on you in your sleep." Yes, she has picked
up on the fact that to him milk is a bad thing. She's gonna have to ask
just why one of these days because the story would amuse her to no end.
Glug glug glug, there, water all gone. She glares half-heartedly at the
both of them and let's out a breath. The liquor is starting to wear off,
but at least the bone is in a little better place now. And she's by no
means totally sober, she's just not slurring her words as much. Brown eyes
look over at Akamo, "how much longer do I need to stay?"

Akamo comes over and checks the cast. "About five more minutes and that'll
be done, then you guys are free to go after we settle the bill. If you
don't have the money today you may set up a payment schedule; however I do
sumbit a list to the guard each month of names and descriptions of those
who don't live up to said schedule."

Yeah. He was saving the trainees from the horrible fate of being
/mollested/ by a firefly. Neelkan glares up until milk is mentioned, then
he starts coughing as if she actually just did that. He overcomes it and
glares again, then reaches into his belt and searches for some coins he
has. He won them in taverns, from the coins he got from the Amyrlin and the
Yellows months and months ago when they told him to go out and buy clothes.
He never bought clothes though. He bought ale. But they don't need to know
that. He looks at Zai and mutters something about how she's going to pay
him back.

Of course she'll get hi- er.. pay him back :) Zaidah never actually
expected him to pay for it, but since he's going to go and be all
gentlemanly about it she's certainly not going to stop him. Strange how
some things she tries to refuse all help with, and others she's perfectly
happy to accept it. She snorts a little at Akamo's mention of giving their
names to the guard, a little insulted that someone would doubt that she'd
pay her debts, but the alcohol helps curb that reaction a little. She's
just too happy to get too upset. And everyone should want to be molested by
a firefly. It's so much fun. She looks over to Akamo and grins a silly
little grin. "Thanks. If that's not enough to cover it I have some too.
Um.. uh..." how to say this? "Please.. don't tell anyone about... my being
a girl."

Akamo names a really reasonable figure, actually. Its only a silver. "Your
secret is safe with me." Akamo says, waving that off. People always get
insulted, but it makes sure she gets paid. Akamo used to not do so and she
only got paid half the time.

"Ye'h, wouldn't do t' ruin the surprise. Zai, 'r ya plannin' t' pull up yer
shirt the day ya finish just t' see how many people pass out?" Neelkan
grins and can't help but snicker softly, "If ya do, I wanna be 'ere." He
counts out the coins she requested and shoves the remander back into his
sash and hands them over. There. Paid in full. No need to give their
descriptions, but this guy would be hard for /anyone/ to miss. His hair is
visable miles away... As an afterthought he adds to Zai, "T' see 'eir
faces, not ya." Just so she doesn't get ideas.

Oh, she's already got ideas, but she knew what he meant. She just has to
smirk and say, "Sure, sure. You're a horrible liar pumpkin. And that's not
a bad idea... If a Gaidin's gonna die of a heart attack, he should at least
die happy." She's just teasing though, honest, and so modest too. Ok, time
to get up. This should be interesting, but of course she's not going to ask
for help. Without being able to bend her stomach really she kind of wiggles
to the edge of the bed, puts her hand on the wall and lurches up to her
feet. Wheeeee. That was fun mommy, can we do it again? We might have to
'cause for a moment it looks like her feet don't want to support her and
she's going to fall back onto the cot. She giggles at herself. "Thanks,"
she says with that giddy smile to Akamo and looks around like she forgot
what exactly she was trying to do again. As an afterthought... she does
snag one of those little sticks in the can marked: Please Take One, and
tucks it behind her ear for later.

Akamo chuckles and holds out Zai's corset for her. "I wrapped that," she
says, casually, pointing down, "so that it covers anything important. You
can leave off the corset for awhile, which is a bloody good thing to do,
because squeezing into that will be difficult with the cast."

"Don't call m' pumpkin, /firefly/." Neelkan says with a glare, throwing
back the name he gave her the day they met, since she threw the one she
gave him (Of course, she calls /every/ guy that probably. Grrrrr. At least
he gave her a unique nickname). He nods to the woman a few times, then
moves to offer an arm to his training buddy? and says, "If ya end up
killin' a Gaidin, I'll spot ya a drink." Then he leans closer and whispers
in her ear, "Could ya try t' get 'at Dedicated Varcel?" Immediately he
shakes his head and shrugs, "I'm kiddin', really." Well, mostly...