10/22/2000

Guest Room,White Tower, Tar Valon

A bed, small but soft, rests beneath a large window. Fluffy blue and white
quilts are tossed over it, meant to provide a measure of comfort and
hominess. A oaken dresser and wardrobe are also present, as are a washbasin
and pitcher full of water. A single lantern rests on the bedside table.
Saferan carpets in purple and blue cover the floor, giving an interesting
mix between luxury and simplicity.

There are a few paintings on the wall, the bland sort of still-life scenes
one expects from a room that belongs to nobody at all. Daisies and
sailboats, painted in soft colors and left small, to hang over the various
pieces of furniture. There, mostly, an afterthought to be looked at and
forgotten, by some nameless artist who likely never went far.


You know, by coming here, Neelkan's risking a lot. Some people might start
spreading rumors that he was one of those guys who /knew/ she was a girl
(which he did, but hey, that's not the point here). He'd rather not have
people questioning him on his "relationship" with Zai. Especially since
they probably know of at least two times where they spent a while in the
city, and one time he brought "Corain" back drunk. There's a knock on the
door, then a head peeks inside. A head full of red hair and white streaks.
"Zai? Ya mind if I come in?"

Zaidah doesn't look up for a long moment. So much for that Gaidin trained
perceptiveness... it takes her a moment, but when she does, she snaps out
of it and jerks her head to look over to the door. "Hmm-?" The question
dies in her throat though, and she looks away again, at nothing in
particular. Another long moment and she shrugs a little. "I suppose not..."
Her gaze trails back towards the fire for another long moment, before she
looks back at him, and waits until he's close the door before saying, "I
haven't told anyone that you knew, if that's what you're here about. -You-
don't have to worry about getting kicked out." There is just... the barest
hint of bitterness in her voice, and she blows a lock of hair out of her
face... which settles right back where it had been, across one eye, and her
nose. You win some, you lose some.

Moving inside, Neelkan closes the door behind him and leans against it. He
shrugs his shoulders at the reassurance, saying, "I didn't think ya would,
Zai. Blood 'n ashes. Ya a'most had m' convinced ya really were a guy.
'least inside maybe. I mean, 'at I could trust ya. ... To an extent." He
shrugs again, trying to look as if she shouldn't take anything from that
besides... well... she shouldn't take anything from it at all. Alright?
He's just... being nice. Yup. ... Yeah right. "Ya really think 'ey're gonna
kick ya out? Burn it, yer better 'en half the students 'ey got 'ere, 'n I
bet 'ey know it. The only reason 'ey /could/ give t' kick ya out is 'at yer
a woman... 'n ya lied 'bout it... 'at too."

Zaidah has to smirk a little at that. He trusted her? To an extent? Yeah,
probably as far as he could throw her... which while he probably could, it
wouldn't be very far... Her brown eyes twinkle with just a bit of mischief,
but she bites down on any comments that might spring to mind. She's too...
subdued at the moment to try and start a fight, or be her usually annoying
self. Her shoulders shrug and she turns to look back at the fire. "I don't
know... so far none of the big wigs have come to say anything about it."
Her severed eyebrow arches a little at his next comment. What's this?
Strange... or at least she thinks so, that he would say something like
that... "...thanks..." She sighs, and tries to blow that hair out of her
face again, and again fails miserably. "It doesn't really matter, whether
they let me stay in the program or not. I mean... it's not like I want to
be bonded or anything."

"If 'ey're gonna kick ya out 'ey should let ya leave now. Burn it, I'd kick
the walls down stuck in 'is room as long as ya've been." Neelkan says,
offering a slight smirk, then looking around the room. "Don't tell me ya've
been catchin' up on yer readin' trapped in 'is Light foresaken dump..."
Though, he probably shouldn't mention that the room is tons better then the
one she probably had in the trainee quarters. Heh. He kicks off of the door
and takes a few steps forward, reaching behind him to pull something that
was hidden behind his back, held under the sash he always wears (it saved
his life once). What it is is a... small box. He opens it up and shows a
card deck. "Thought ya might feel up t' a game, 'r somethin'. I got some
freetime now."

"My reading, my sleep... Ghul, I spent the first two days in here drunk off
my ass." She doesn't mention that they took her alcohol away after that,
and only just recently gave it back to her... that's just embarassing. Zai
starts to eye him a little warily when he walks forward and withdraws the
box, but her eyes positively light up at the sight of the cards, and the
offer of a game. In fact she looks so happy she could kiss him! Not.. that.
..uh.. she would... or.. anything... She does jump on the offer though,
"Alright," and swings her legs down from over the arm, moving the table
beside the chair to in front of it and gesturing for him to pull up the
other. "Got a preference? I've always liked '9 Rods of Dominion' myself..."
of course.. that one is notoriously easy to cheat at, and... if she hasn't
gone completely rusty.. she was notoriously good at cheating. She wouldn't
do that to him though would she? Mmmmmmaybe... Her fingers look like
they're itching to get ahold of the cards.

There's a pause, and Neelkan shakes his head, "Nawh, I don't much care f'r
nine rods. It's too easy t' get cheated." He's a bandit... Bandits always
cheat! He keeps the cards in his hands and drags a chair over before
flopping down into it and thumping the deck against the table. There we go.
She can grab it now. "I was thinkin' 'Three Ages'. 'r maybe Sheylong's
Stand. But ya prolly don't know 'at last one. It's only popular down in...
oh wait, yer from Eharon t', ne'er mind. D'ya know 'at one?" He reaches to
grab the deck if she hasn't claimed it already to start shuffling up the
cards.

Of course Zaidah claims it! Her fingers deftly snatch up the cards from
under his, and she hordes them greedily, grinning at him while she
shuffles. "How can you possibly keep forgetting that? Oh, I know, it must
be the clothes. If I didn't think it would lessen my chances of getting to
stay... I'd start wearing them again.. but.. well.. I figured... since it's
that whole female thing they're objecting to I shouldn't -emphasize- it."
Much as she may want to. She shuffles while she talks, and it doesn't take
long to work the rustiness out of her fingers. She really shouldn't 'cause
now he'll probably suspect her of cheating, but she just has to show off a
little, things like.. cutting the deck one handed and tossing the cards
(Slinky like) from one hand to the other. Of course.. he's probably seen
plenty of stuff like this during his time with the bandits. Finally she
does put the cards down on the table. 'Sheylong's Stand it is. Go ahead and
cut."

"Ye'h, I heard how ya got yerself caught. Did any of the trainees pass
out?" Neelkan chuckles softly, leaning back in the chair a little and
watching her shuffle away like a pro. He can just picture it. Corain
sparring with the Amyrlin's Gaidin. Corain getting a hit to the chest. Her
/busoms/ flying out! Muhahahahahaha! Half the trainees are so young they've
probably never seen breasts outside their mother's! (Erk! Bad thought.) His
face turns a little pale for a second, but he clears his throat before it
could really be noticed and sits up, reaching out to cut the deck randomly.
He isn't going to cheat the girl. "'n I just f'rget a'right? It's not like
I 'member where most people're from anyway."

Zaidah has to laugh at that herself, and in contrast to his paleness she
actually blushes a little. Savor it, it's probably the only time you'll see
her blush. "I don't know. I... I don't want to talk about it, ok?" 'Cause
it's embarassing! Alright Zai... stop it. That's silly... it's not like
plenty of men hadn't seen them before that.. yeah.. but.. not all at once..
and.. well.. it's just different ok! She snatches up the glass of wine and
takes a sip, more to hide behind it and calm herself than to actually enjoy
it, and when she puts it down again she picks up the cards and the blush is
gone. They were just boys after all. She deals as experctly as she shuffled
and they each end up with a neat little pile of cards in front of them.
From here on out she has a completely straight poker face on. If she
cheated though.. she gave herself the wrong hand... 'cause Neelkan has a
perfect, starting hand for this game. Amyrlin, 2 of flames, 4 of cups, 6 of
staves and 8 of swords. She puts the rest of the cards at the center of the
table, and arranges her own hand. Actually, she's a little relieved, 'cause
she wasn't sure if he'd been there or not. She didn't see him, but there
were enough that he might have been overlooked. Not that it's nothing he
hasn't seen before just... it just would have been different. She's just
glad he didn't get to see her humiliation. "Yeah but.. oh nevermind. Go
ahead and go first, since I dealt."

"Look, Zai, I understand. A'ways 'fore the guys kinda knew what t' 'xpect,
huh? 'n all 'ese people thought ya were a man. Shocked the bloody Light
outta 'em I bet." Neelkan grins a little, wishing he /had/ been there, just
to see the looks on their faces! It would have been /priceless/. But he
wasn't. He just heard about it from every single trainee later. Half
claiming they knew. Half claiming the suspected. And a rare boy claiming he
had no idea. More boys protecting their pride then anything else. Neelkan
just laughed at them all. None of them knew, and he knows it. He looks at
his hand and lowers his eyebrows a little, as if highly disappointed in
what he got (though she might know what he got). He pauses for a moment,
looking thoughtful, then pushes down a card, not really paying attention.
The 8 card actually. He didn't come here to win. He came here to cheer up
someone.

Zaidah arches an eyebrow at the card he puts down and gives him the most
quizzical look. Ooops, so much for poker face. It almost says 'what are you
doing silly?' as if maybe she does know exactly what his hand is, and did
it on purpose. Oh well. Ok... so she's showing off a little.. she puts down
an 8 too... an 8 of flames, and picks a card from the top of the deck.
"Yeah, I know. I can't really blame them... truth be told... I'm not even
sure if I really want to stay.... I mean... I do, but... it'll be
different." Very different. A smirk touches her lips again, "I'll either
have a Shayol Ghul of a time getting a sparring partner, or never be
without one," but she has a feeling the former is far more likely. The ones
better than she is won't want to be accused of beating up on a girl, and
the ones who aren't as good won't want to lose to a girl... so what's the
use of staying?

"Ya could a'ways spar with m'. I'm not too good at handlin' 'ose staffs
though. Maybe ya could teach m' how, 'n I could help ya with yer sword
maybe..." Neelkan shrugs his shoulders and looks over at the card that was
laid down, clicking his tongue for a second, as though he didn't notice the
odd expression the girl made. Again, without really paying attention he
lays down another card, this time the lowest card he had. Looking at the
newest cards, he ponders over them for a moment, and then shrugs, "I really
won't mind sparin' with ya, if ya want." Or teaching her either. He's given
a few small lessons to Espiria already, and Zai already has tons more
weapon skills then Espi ever dreamed of having.

Yeah, but Espi could still kick her ass. It's so unfair! Zaidah is staring
at him incredulously though. "Huh? What happened to not hitting a girl? You
didn't want to spar with me before. Heck, you didn't even want me sparring
with any of the other trainees before!" He didn't say it in so many words
but... his behavior, especially at the battle, certainly implied it. She g
lances down at the Amyrlin he put down, and smirks, that's better. She puts
down the Queen of Manetheran... and does it seem like she's got.. a very
similar hand? He might not notice though. Never know. "But I guess if you
really want, I could brush up on my sword." More like start learning the
sword. So far she knows how to hold it without cutting any of her bodyparts
off.