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((Yay! He DID kinda leave me hanging sweatdrop
I will try to post today after class!))

"-Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation." Darius closed his copy of The Karaethon Cycle, painstakingly copied from the one the Lord Dragon kept on his desk. He watched the seemingly sleeping form of his former teacher.

"I don't know that you can hear me, Yurin, but we could really use your help. The Pattern is shredding more and more, there are Forsaken in Tar Valon, in the White Tower itself!", realizing his voice had raised at the end, he glanced at the attending Sister. Eran Sedai, if it pleases the Light, was how she introduced herself, so it was how he remembered her name. Of course a Yellow, she had affixed her tilted, smoldering Saldaean gaze on him, as she so often did on his daily trips to later report to the Lord Dragon that "Mog's condition is unchanged."and it was rather disconcerting. Especially with the hulking brute she called a Warder constantly glaring at him as if her attentions were somehow his doing. She also had a disturbing habit of fingering the blue marriage knife her Ebou Dari husband had given her. However, he had died in a duel almost a decade earlier. She hadn't been with a man since his passing. Darius knew far too much about Eran Sedai, if it pleases the Light's personal affairs. It wasn't his fault, all he did was enter, greet whatever Aes Sedai was attending, and sit with Yurin.

A sudden wracking cough from one of the other patients too weak for Healing took her attention and her Warder, the ever-vigilant puppy followed her with his eyes. Perfect. A slight rustle as he flourished his overcoat wide to replace the battered tome in its inner pocket while his swift hands added an outfit from the many spares, a few pieces of clothing that could get him in a lot of trouble if he were discovered, but he was already heading for the door.

"Thank you, again, for allowing me to intrude upon your time, Eran Sedai." If it pleases the Light.
"Your presence, as always, is a comfort, and a pleasure", he made a leg, mid-step, never pausing, but still somehow managing to saunter as if he had never been introduced to the concept of hurry.

"No, but it would be", was the purr that followed him out.

Light, are all women mad? The heat in his cheeks would have delighted Eran Sedai had she seen her remark hit home so directly. And here he was following a mule-headed plot he had schemed up all for the sake of yet another one. Fayela Sedai had practically vanished after he first met her and he hadn't been able to clear his mind of her. He had expected to see her at the training yard at some point in time, but while he had haunted the training grounds every day that he wasn't sent on some errand or other from the Black Tower, he had not seen her. What he was about to do was generated from all of the happenings around the island of Tar Valon, too many battles, too many whispers of Forsaken and Darkfriends in the Tower. He had to know for himself if she was safe. He had inquired about her, but no one seemed able to give him more than an "Aes Sedai business is Aes Sedai business... Have you given thought to being a Warder?"

Well, he was about to put it to the test, since he was often mistaken, due to his size and how he carried himself, for a Warder or Warder-in-training. Changing in the rooms Yurin had gotten for him the day he had stopped being Yurin. Stop that! He made himself change his train of thought by going over the mental map of the Aes Sedai living quarters. It had taken some doing, but he had managed to find a registry and map of the White Tower and had painstakingly located what he hoped were Fayela Sedai's rooms. If he couldn't find her directly, perhaps, he could at least glean her whereabouts. He looked at himself in the mirror, stared until he saw the proper expression staring back at him, through him. Tight across the chest and arms, it was the largest one he could snag easily, the cloak would have to be enough to cover, it would work under for casual scrutiny. Forest green, felt almost like he was dressing for Bel Tine. Suddenly he realized what was missing from the picture looking back at him. No sword. On his way to the Tower, he searched out a smithy, perused his weapons, haggling an excellent price (it was hard to try to gloss over quality to a superior blacksmith purchasing your wares) and situated the blade awkwardly on his hip. The staff is such a reliable strong weapon, why can't the use them so I don't look a fool?

He stalked, trying to affect the casual walk of a Warder, always seeming on the point of lopping some fool's head off for looking at an Aes Sedai wrong. Brilliant, wander through the Women's Quarters dressed as a Warder surrounded by Warder's, whose idea was this again? Oh, yeah... Mine. Good job, Jain Farstrider, what's the plan when they draw their blades and you fumble yours?

Suddenly, he was standing at what he was certain was her door. Or was it that one? He raised his fist and knocked without hesitation, and tried to look like he belonged there, he was reaching for the handle when he recognized the sounds of an occupant. Light, is she here? I didn't plan to actually talk to her!

Oh, Light it really was her. Just hold your poise. Wait, Warder-in-Training? While not true, didn't Aes Sedai get about by letting others draw their own conclusions? Well, what's good for the sheep is good for the shepherd. Holding his shoulders back and his back straight, he towered over the Aes Sedai. His usual slouched posture was his way of trying to fit in with the more normal sized people around him, but Warders did not carry themselves like that. He saluted her in the way he had seen some Warders do.

"Fayela Aes Sedai," he said, giving her the full honorific for effect.
Forgive the intrusion."Uh.I-"Well, you see, the last time we spoke, we made kind of non-specific plans to train together."Hi."I have tried to find you several times at the Training Grounds but you never came back."Um."I know it's kind of strange, but I was worried over the constant evasive answers I was given and came here to find out for myself how you really were."Howhaveyoubeen?" Oh, Blood and Ashes.

The Darius standing in his mind's eye slowly lowered his face, the palm of his right hand coming to meet it with surprising speed. Any Yellows around? About to die of embarrassment here...

Well, at least he had cuteness and pity to help him communicate. The Gray Sister's unusually pessimistic response, halted the Dedicated's sputtering, his senses sharpening as he focused. Whether she needed his aid, his arm, or his ear, she didn't need a stumbling country blacksmith. He followed her inside, closing the door behind him, the sudden prickling of his skin sent his training into action before his brain even decided what caused the goose bumps. The sweet torrent of saidin had filled him, the fight to wrench control before he was overtaken by the flood of life flowing through him happening in an instant as he seized command, and a knife of Spirit readied in his mind's eye to cut the weaves as his stance altered to a defensive posture as his eyes darted about searching the location of the Channeling before he took into consideration that he was in an Aes Sedai's personal apartments in the White Tower, of course saidar would be used.

Slightly disappointed, he shoved saidin away, sighing as it took its post just over his shoulder, the temptation of light tantalizing him with the possibilities. The entire reaction and recovery had occurred in only a heartbeat, his mind, lagging only slightly behind his reflexes. Unconsciously, he rubbed his too large arms, trying to ignore the feel of Fayela Sedai holding the Source and his disciplined response to another holding the One Power of instinctively holding it himself.

"Yes, Fayela Sedai, tea sounds wonderful." His eloquent delivery was ruined by him trying to sit without dealing with the unaccustomed, accursed blade at his waist. The resulting brief commotion of him wobbling, trying to hold his balance throwing his upper body forward while holding the hilt of the sword, tip buried behind the cushion of the chair he had failed to sit in, which was the fulcrum in the weird see-saw he had made of himself, occurred while Fayela's back was to him while she tended the tea. He managed to find himself in a standing position when she turned back to him.

The never quite a Warder-in-training tried to look nonchalant as he deliberately jerked the blade around to the front of his belt, leather creaking with his brute use of force, and awkwardly tried to find a way to sit where the Light-blinded blade wasn't in the way somehow. My anvil for a staff!! A stick... a toothpick. Anything but this unwieldy thing!

"Thank you for your courtesy. I really just wanted to ask after you. I haven't seen you in some time." he smiled wryly, his mischievous twinkle, impossible to keep out of even the most innocent of smiles, shone through.

"I've been, uh, training often, hoping to catch up with you again, see if we can't get my country hands to deal with the elegance of a sword." His voice dripped with derision at calling the hunks of metal "elegant", but he couldn't think of any other reason to spend time with her. Except maybe to become a Warder. What? Warders don't have to use swords. Oh, shut-up.

As he spoke, he took in her personal rooms, his quick eyes gathering details and squirreling them away for later scrutiny, the complementing colors and furniture lent a homey yet ordered appearance. He gave a small smile, he would have recognized these as her quarters if there was no other indicator.

Her pleasant, easy manner and warm, amused chuckle set the Dedicated's back at rest and even let him sit, if only slightly awkwardly. Ally? Ally!? If he didn't watch the Bloody thing every minute, it was trying to trip him when it wasn't busy bruising his ankles and shins. Hey! You listening? We're supposed to be ALLIES, stop fighting me.

He was, at turns, glaring, and watching the sword suspiciously out of the corner of his eye when he smiled and looked into her eyes and she looked into him. A blush crept up his neck, taking over territory faster than Artur Hawkwing, as he again tried to push down the thoughts he had occasionally had of her which were now surfacing as fast as he could hide them away. Light, please let her not be one of the ones who could read minds. He felt almost as if he were being weighed and measured.

His ears perked up as her melodic voice continued and he blanched slightly at her mention of his blade. His gaze shot daggers at it. Don't you even think about it.

He replied, "It's not so much that I don't want to learn, as I don't know that I can. I was taught how to use a staff at a very young age, and it makes sense to me, the weight, the movements, everything about blade-work seems so oafish and clunky, it just seems so counter-intuitive to use one when you could have the reliability of a good staff. Perhaps we should spar, and you could show me how I am wrong?"

A puckish smile wryly spread across his lips. His mock battles against his Blademaster tutors at the Black Tower weren't usually won by him outright beating them, but by using his exceptional defense to wait for the mistake that would always come eventually.

She grinned mischievously, a twinkle clear in her eye. All traces of depression gone. She could not help it. Not only had he challenged her, but he questioned her art. She loved swordplay, it was a part of her, and she would not give up her dream!

"Very well. I accept your challenge. Wait here while I change into something suitable for sparring and then I will show you how truly magnificent a sword can be!"

She turned faster than he could blink and rushed into the back of the quarters, a gray curtain swishing closed behind her. This closed off section of her apartment contained her bed and dresser set. She quickly changed into breeches and and a form-flattering shirt that allowed for movement of her arms. Faye did a quick check in the mirror. Although she was in more male-oriented clothing, there was no denying she was a woman, she was too shapely to be otherwise. She approved and re-strapped her sword to her side, visible this time. She also slide her daggers back into place on her person and walked out into the main section where Darius was waiting.

Faye was still grinning that devilish grin as she watched his reaction to her quick exit and return. "I'm ready, let's go."

Faye was taken aback my his sudden weaving saidin.She'd had no idea he could channel. It certainly did not change anything. She was not like some of her sisters who felt that male channelers were spawn of the Dark One. No, they certainly were not that, they were the Aes Sedai's other half. And as she took a peek into the gateway she blushed, seeing him in his small clothes, and thought about the possibilities of him being her other half.

When he returned she was facing away from the gate, like nothing unusual had even happened. She turned back and smiled at him, taking her position across from him in the arena, sword at the ready.

Her face calmed, only a hint of smile remained as she focused herself.This is not going to be easy...
"Begin."

She circled around him slowly, testing out the edge of his reach. She'd lash in quickly, only to dodge as he easily kept her away. But she was not discouraged. This was a game. This was a dance. She certainly looked like a dancer, gracefully weaving around him, her sword ringing as their weapons met and still singing when it only found air. Faye and her sword were one, one movement, one entity, and watching her, no one could deny its beauty.