03/17/2001

Practice Yard, White Tower, Tar Valon

Hard packed earth is ringed in by a plain wooden fence. Daily the practice
area is maintained by the pounding of young men's feet, as they are ran
about the yard or set to forms. Towards the left hand side of the yard the
thud of arrows hitting targets can be heard. The right is devoted to racks
full of practice weapons and armor. Throughout the day the harsh voices of
Gaidin urging the boys to work faster, stronger, harder can be heard. At
night the silence is almost eerie as only the cicadas come out to play
their nocturnal commentary.

A three story building is at the end of the hall, providing a place for the
trainees to live. A set of iron stairs up to the door is a favorite meeting
spot for some of the boys, to sit and rest when such things are granted.
Often they can be seen catching a meal there, to avoid wrinkled noses and
sniffs from young ladies unaccustomed to the sweat and grime they daily
generate.


Neelkan s already in the practice yard, grumbling loudly over a bunch of
notes here and there. He doesn't like paperwork (his reading skills are
slim to none) so it's best that he do these out in the yard so he has an
excuse to drop it when something big happens! Like... gentled male
channeler guy running in. He raises his eyebrows, quickly closes the bound
book and stands up, "What'cha runnin' from?"

Vermillion comes walking into the Practice yard followed closely by 2 tower
guards. At all times Vermillion is watched by the guard. We can't have the
Dark Friend wandering about too freely now can we? Truth be told.
Vermillion is amazed he's not in the dungeon right now. Kaomi granted him
his limited freedom though and he intends to make use of it. This is an
area of special interest to him. The place where the warriors of the Light
train. SHould be interesting to see.

What Helios is running from become quickly apparent as Aidou stalks into
the prac tice yard, log in hand no less. Hazel eyes are narrowed as they
sweep the yard. She heard he ran this way... There he is... sitting next to
her brother no less. Well she can kill (heh) two birds with one stone then.
She still has chastized Neelkan appropriately for running off to Aelgar
with a novice.

Helios rises quickly, stiffly, irritably, fists clenched in his hands. "I
/was/ running from my Accepted jailkeeper. Someone named Aidou." He starst
to look back. "She's long go- blood and ashes! Can't I get any bloody peace
around here?" If he notices the log, he doesn't care, he runs toward the
Barracks to find a place to hide around there, as if she hasn't alreday
spotteed him.

Warriors of the Light? Hah. Well, Neelkan frowns at the boy, then catches
sight of what he's running from. Oh blood and ashes. Why /her/? A Master
Gaidin can't get chastized by his Accepted sister! Even if she /is/ older
then he is! "Aidou, 'eh? Blood and ashes." He repeats what the boy said,
standing up and rubbing the back of his head selfconsiously. He notices the
person under guard, but his evil sister is kinda on the top of his list of
priorties. He starts over towards her, motioning for the boy to stay at a
'safe distance'. "'dou. I thought ya were past the chasin' boys stage."
Teasing her probably isn't the way to start when she has a log in hand...

Ha! Ha! Very funny. Aidou pulls her hand back and throws the log at her
brother's head. "Out of my way -Shun'u- I have a job to do and I don't care
if you're the Master Gaidin or the Creator himself. That boy," she points a
finger at Helios, "is not getting away. I'm supposed to watch him, and I
don't care if I have to go into the barracks to get him."

Helios is almost 19, actually. He's no boy. Not that he cares about that
right now. Is that a /log./ And did she just throw it at that Gaidin's
head? Curiously he wtaches this.

For once in his life, Neelkan raises his hand and blocks the log with his
wrist (the one without the bracer too). He's gonna have a /huge/ bruise in
the morning, but he couldn't let his trainees see him get pummeled by a
girl. "Aidou, the guy needs some privacy. Give 'im a break. How'd ya feel
if ya had t' have someone watch o'er ya all day long." He shakes his head.
He steps between her and the young man and says, "Ya can keep an eye on 'im
from 'ere. Ya don't have t' smother 'im. I don't think ya like 'at anymore
'en he does."

Aidou narrows her eyes even more at her brother. He's not allowed to block!
That's nor fair! She has near perfect aim with her logs! At least it
-would- have hit. "He should have thought of that before coming to Tar
Valon." She doesn't care one whit about his 'noble cause'. If he was stupid
enough to get caught then he has to face the consequences. "Now are you
going to let me pass, or am I going to have to start telling your trainees
embarassing childhood stories?" She goes from scowling to grinning just a
little evilly. She does so love to torment her brother after all. Except
that he's starting to become immune. :( With a weave of Air she picks up
her log and brings it back to her hand. "Come here Helios and I won't have
to hurt you. I doubt you're as good at blocking objects aimed at your head
as my brother is."

Vermillion makes his way into the yard. He seems quickly drawn to a pair of
trainees duking it out with long staves in a sparing match. His eyes go
many places at once, watching people as they train and receive instruction.
The guards that follow him are not at all sure about the idea of allowing
the man to roam in here, but Kaomi said what she said and who are they to
argue? Vermillion walks about, eyeing the practice racks now and the
students actually sitting -idle- near them. Oh my. Last but not least, his
eyes travel to brother and sister as they have it out and she throws things
at him. Verm is thankful he was an only child.

Helios stares angrily at Aidou. He caught a whif of that. Like killing
birds? Here's the Offical Bird of Eharon, hit it! Normally, he'd NEVER
disrepsct a superior woman, but right now he doens't care.

"/Aidou/. I'm the Master Gaidin now. Ya can't treat m' like 'is!" Neelkan
hisses under his breath, growling. Not only is he getting yelled at in
front of his trainees, there's a guest under guard here too! His blue-green
eyes dart around the yard and he growls somemore, teeth bared for a moment.
This is so unfair! "Could ya please show m' a lil' respect? Kaomi obviously
thought 'at I deserved it." He doesn't like being threatened with
embarassing childhood stories in front of his students! Just because she's
his big sister.. Grr. And... it's better he has his back to Helios right
now.

Ogiean slips in quietly, unnoticed by most everyone in the room. He
casually lounges at a distance, watching the scene with apparent interest
while casting an interested, and slightly sympathetic eye to the man under
guard. It reminds him of a time ago when he was in similar circumstances.

Aidou's jaw drops at the gesture Helios flicks at her and she just reaches
up to put her hand on Neelkan's cheek and turn his head so he can see it
too. "Now are you going to tell me I should give him a break?!?!" Wow,
there are a lot of Eharonans (:P) here today, so yes, they shoudl all know
quite well what that means. At least she's shocked enough by the gesture
not to bite Neelkan's head off, though she does grimace a little. "Fine."
But just a very little. Does this mean she's going to have to change her
project? Nah, once he finds out what she has in store he'll -have- to be
nice to her, let her do whatever she wants, and just generally be a dutiful
little brother because she just knows that he'll absolutely adore the gift.
But that's the only reason she doesn't change her mind! :P

Helios doesn't last that long, not that he cares if Neelkan sees. Casually
he walks over the weapons rack, unless someone stops him, and takes out an
arrow for a long bow. he plays with it in his hands.

"..." Neelkan lets his head gets turned and catches the end of the gesture.
And almost immediately he starts to get rather upset. He doesn't move out
of the way, instead he stalks over to the boy and says in a /very/ soft
voice (too soft for him... scary), "Put that down." Ach! No accent!!

Helios runs the arrow's end across his fingers. He draws blood. And does
not notice. "If I don't?" He asks, almost to himself. He's unconcerned.

Vermillion is watching the group now. he will happily nibble on the
gaidin's sister, but that's for later. Hmm. This is the master gaidin?
Getting bossed about by an Accepted and being defied by a trainee. No
wonder these people are soon to be extinct.

Aidou knew she could count on you Shun'u. She actually smiles rather
happily as she sees her brother 'play' Master Gaidin. She'd never admit it
but she's actually quite proud of the little brat. Of course.. she doesn't
hear his words, but she can tell by body language and the look on his face
and such. She folds her arms and watches for the moment.

Neelkan's blue-green eyes narrow and he looks back towards his sister,
nodding for her to take whatever means nessassary to extract the arrow from
the man's hands as he says, "Then I'll give you back to the Accepted over
there. I was trying to help you, but if you're going to act like a bloody
flaming milk-brain then she can have you back. You deserve her." And Helios
isn't a trainee.

Helios shrugs, "I don't care." He cuts himself, more deeply this time. His
palm. He bleeds freely. Its far more firghtening than Neelkans earlier
tone, and by his eyes - his face id dead to emotion - he seems torn between
pain and pleasure, not wanting and enjoying.

Vermillion certainly doesn't know that. truth be told he doesn't know you
are the master gaidin either Neelkan. He can see you are a gaidin though,
and that there is a milk brain defying you and injuring himself. He would
move that way if the guards did not stop him. If the kid wants to kill
himself, vermillion will show him how to do it right.

Oh no Verm won't! Aidou would get in trouble though at this rate -she-
might be showing Helios how to do it right. She pulls the arrow from his
hand with another flow of Air and binds his hands together. "So good of you
to come around brother." She just flutters her eyelashes at the 'you
deserve her' comment. "We can't have him killing himself now can we?" Truth
be told though she doesn't care where Helios goes, just that he doesn't get
his hands on sharp objects. "Speaking of which, I need to borrow your
tessen for a few days." She smiles faaar too sweetly. Be afraid, be very
afraid.

This boy is sick. Truelly. He's worse the Kyleigh. Neelkan shakes his head
a little bit and says, "'at's too bad." He steps out of the way and adds,
"I can see why 'ey want ya under guard. I don't got a bloody clue what ya
lost personally, but all ya got left is yer life. D'ya really wanna give
'at up too? I'm not yer wet-nurse, 'n I'm not gonna tell ya want t' d', but
the way I see it, ya shouldn't give up what ya got left. Ya had somethin'
taken, but ya risked it when ya came 'ere in the first place. If ya thought
'at e'erythin' was goin' t' turn out a'right and ya'd get t' leave 'n
e'erythin' would be Light 'n happy 'n fluffy-nice, 'en ya were lyin' t'
yerself. Yer not the only one in the world sufferin', so if ya really wanna
die, why dontcha ask t' join the army? Least 'at way ya'll die doin'
something useful instead of bein' a bloody pain in the ass." ... ... Oi.
Neelkan had a speech. And without though he takes the metal tessen off his
belt and hands it over. Boy, something must really be on his mind lately.
That, or being bonded to Kaomi has done damage to his brain.

Helios blinks at Neelkan's speech - how did he know? - but then his face
contorts as he realizes his relief is gone. "Did I say anything about
killing myself? Why can't you leave me the Shayol Ghul alone!" He begans
twistinbg his wirsts in the binding, ton hurt them as he snaps them.
Simulatenously, he begisn kicking at the sword in the rack, trying to stab
his leg...

Why brother.. how inspiring of you. For Aidou's part... she doesn't really
care. Oh she would be sorry if he killed himself, but if he wants to hurt
himself then he deserves what he gets. Not that she's going to let him, but
she can at least tell herself that that is because she was assigned to
prevent him from doing it. She sighs and weaves more Air to completely
encase him in it from the neck down. "That's not in my job description."
She smiles sweetly at Helios too and then sits down on the bench nearby,
opening the fan and examining it. It's fairly obvious that she's using the
power, to anyone with half a brain, even though they can't see exactly what
she's doing.

Vermillion just watches Helios, and indeed everybody else around here. So
far he's not all that impressed. That's ok though cause who wants to
impress a Dark Friend? He turns round and heads for the courtyard. Rest
assured, he will be back here before too long though. Tower training
methods are a point of interest to him. They do operate on something of a
different philosophy round here afterall.

Neelkan growls under his breath. "Ya know what, now I'm gonna have t' have
someone clean 'at up." If the guy's gonna kick things around, he should
kick his own stuff! Yeah! The Master Gaidin watches his sister tie the boy
up (though he can't see the weaves that do it), then starts to issue orders
to a few boys standing around gawking to clean it up and replace anything
that was broken. To his sister he says, "Take 'im t' the Yellows. 'n I
wouldn't be at all in objection if 'ey gave 'im the /really/ nasty stuff."
He looks at the boy. "Ya wanna hurt yerself, spend a few months in the
Infirmary. Ya'll avoid injury at the cost of anything after spending some
time with /'ose/ women."

I'm sorry, Vermin. Perhaps you'd like to come over here and help? He could
use it at the moment. Unthinking, Helios reaches for Saidin, and finds it
like trying to reach for the stars. No. Like trying to grab a banner in the
breeze, so close he can almost touch it, like he can feel the breeze it
produces. But it flutters fom his grasp. Helios slumps as he finds himself
utterly defeated. Lowering his head, he begins sobbing. He can't even hide
from everyone else while doing it! He manages to hold his strangled sobs in
his throat, and tries to avoid the eyes of everyone else. he closes them
too. The tears leak through regardless, but he's managed not to make any
more sounds.

Well.. some people may have trouble watching others cry, but Aidou is
unmoved. She glances up from the tessen blinking. What? Oh how cute, he
thinks he gets to order her around just because he's the Master Gaidin?
Well... at least it was a good idea. She approves of that. "Alright. Come
along." She stands up and snaps the tessen shut, tucking it into her sash.
She'll return it to him soon, in much better condition than she found it.
;) She puts her hands on her hips and just looks at Helios for a moment and
does unbond him. That's just... wrong to drag people around. She wouldnt'
have any qualms about it if he was being a pain in the neck, but... even
she doesn't have the heart to further torment a crying man.

Neelkan is not one for watching people cry. He turns his eyes away from the
boy and starts to yell at the trainees. Everything from how they need to do
something or he'll send them /all/ to his sister, to if they don't get the
rocks outta their bloody pants. Nothing to see here! Move along!

Helios runs. At least, in the direction of the Infirmary. Whether he goes
there is something different. He has to get away from all these people!

Aidou acks and takes off after him again. Yes, trainees... tremble in fear
lest Aidou get her hands on you. "Bye Shun'u! Have fun playing Gaidin."
That's so cute when he barks orders. She would tousle his hair if she
wasn't taking off after Helios.

"I'm not playin'!!" 'Shun'u' yells at his sister. But that's it.

Neelkan is standing around in the yard, ordering trainees around to clean
up a mess left by a certain gentled male channeler. He seems to be in a
pretty bad mood. And he's rubbing his wrist a little too, as if it's
bruised. Though he doesn't seem to realize it. "Ya heard m'! Get the rocks
outta yer trousers! If ya wanna work so slow, ya can carry weights on yer
bloody back."

Raeth enter the courtyard in a not such good mood himself. A small frown
flashes across his face at the mess. "What's going on here?" Raeth asks
Neelkan in an icy voice as he approaches. You'll notice he stops just about
staff's distance away from you. Oh he was deadly serious about you not
comming within reach of his staff.

Glancing over, Neelkan stiffens a little bit, then shakes his head, "Just a
small commotion is all. 'at gentled male came in 'ere t' try t' 'scape his
'ccepted guard 'n made a huge mess tryin' t' hurt 'imself. It's taken care
of." He lowers his voice a little, "Just givin' the boys somethin' t' do so
'ey won't gossip. Isn't the poor kid's fault really, but if he 'spected
somethin' else comin' t' the Tower 'en he was an idiot."

Raeth nods letting his cold gaze hang on Neelkan for one more second before
turning his attention to the practice yard. "I want you to know that the
only reason I'm here talking to you is because we have a job to do. Tower
business. That's all." He says to you without taking his eyes away from the
practice yard. "I know about the love weave that's going on, and even if it
is not your fault. Just try to stay away from me as much as you can until
this thing is solved."

There's a soft flinch, and Neelkan lowers his head a little bit. It sounds
so cheep when it's called a 'love weave'. He can't help that it feels more
real than anything else he's ever felt. He's never had someone love him
like that! That he knows of at least... It was a little intoxicating.
"A'right.. What's 'is Tower business?"

"I'm letting you know that I'm going to the fort. I'm not telling the
Amyrlin. By the time she realizes it, I'll already there. When that
happens, then you can tell her where I am." Raeth keeps his eyes on the
practice yard. Looks like it's safer that way. Too much looking at Neelkan
will make him run his staff right through the man.

"Why're ya goin'?" Neelkan asks, rubbing a hand through his floopy hair.
His own eyes want to stay on the ground right now, because he feels rather
ashamed being around this man who he always respected who wants to kill
him. It's a little disconserning knowing someone wants to kill you,
especially when you like the person.

Raeth turns to Neelkan if only for a heartbeat. "Am I going to regret
telling you why?" Raeth lets the unspoken threat hang in the air before
turning his eyes away again. To him, the world goes silent and right now
all he hears is Neelkan's steady breathing.

Neelkan shrugs his shoulders, "If ya tell m' not t' tell 'er, 'en I won't."
His breathing is steady, but and he does glance up at the older man for a
moment. He doesn't look afraid... perhaps the best way to describe his
expression is.. abashed.

Raeth wasn't expecting you too look afraid. As a matter of fact, he'd be
very disappointed if you even hinted fear. "She'll probably figure it out
on her own. Besides, not only her. I don't want you telling anyone. This is
important, Neelkan." He pauses to let that sink in. "Zaidah. As you might
know, she's gone. And I'm pretty sure that's where she is. The fort."

Zaidah? Neelkan's head lifts a little bit more, eyes widening. But then he
controls himself and nods, "A'right. In 'at case, good luck. Though I'm
sure ya won't need it." He shrugs, then glances back at the students,
shooting them a quick glare to get back to work.

"Oh I will be needing it. The fort is not pretty place as you might guess."
Light knows Raeth isn't immortal. One wrong move and he's very much dead.
But perhaps this hate he has for Neelkan at the moment is what will keep
him very much alive. If he dies, Neelkan wins and keeps the girl so to
speak. He lives, he takes her back. Raeth glances at you one last time. Why
did he tell you this? He has his reasons. He gives you a quick nod, this
grasp on his staff visibly tightening. "Goodbye Neelkan." He turns and
begins to walk out the practice yard.

"I know. I've been there." Neelkan says softly, shrugging. He was in the
prisons even. It was a miracle he was released. But he doesn't dwell on it.
"Fare well.. Raeth Gaidin." The use of title.. Hmm.