Glinting Blades, Warder Meets Aes Sedai

[WoT_Eagle]

Riahc was still motionless laying in his bed and Aniram was growing impatient. “Move or you will be moved!” That got him up. He was still moving slowly, as if completely dazed, but at least he was on his feet. Aniram continued to busily pack essential items of Riahc’s because she was certain he would forget them. A small knife, some string, canvas, flint and steel, a blanket, a change of clothes (ordinary), and some hard bread, smoked meat and flakey cheese all went into Riahc’s saddle bags. Aniram’s bags contained similar items with the addition of a tiny hummingbird figurine, a special cloak, and her Aes Sedai shall (she never went anywhere without it).

When Aniram was sure she had not forgotten anything she grabbed Riahc by the wrist as he continued to struggle with the laces of his boots, and dragged him to the west stables. There two ordinary looking brown horsed stood, fully saddled and waiting. She had purchased the horses last night for a decent price. She had thought of everything. Aniram dropped Riahc’s wrist and briskly entered and clambered up onto her horse, still largely unaccustomed to the animals. She was about to call to Riahc to help her get her horse moving but she noticed that he hadn’t moved since she let go of him. His large form completely barricaded the open doorway; his feet were firmly planted on the dusty ground. He had an ‘explain or try to nock me down’ look on his face. “Stubborn, uncomprehending men!” Aniram muttered darkly under her breath. She shot him a look that would have moved a lesser man, but Riahc didn’t even flinch. Aniram sighed; she would have to explain, not all, but enough to get the oaf to accompany her. “What do you remember from last night?”

“I killed a darkfriend, and then introduced myself,” Riahc stated plainly.

“And then…”

“And then you woke me up today.”

“You remember nothing else?” Aniram had to make sure, so that she could play this out right.

“Nothing past giving you my name.”

“Then I shall inform you of the later events. I gave you my name, Aniram Sedai, just as a horde of darkfriends tried to kill me. You killed them all but lost an excessive amount of blood.” Aniram stopped, annoyed because Riahc was checking his body for new scars. “You were healed!” she snapped, then continued on in a calmer tone, “Just before you passed out you promised to protect me at all times. Then you were moved to your room, and well, you know the rest. So, now that you have heard, will you go back on your word?” Aniram was quite impressed with her little speech. Now, all she needed was the right answer.

“If I gave my word, I will stay true. I am your man.” Riahc gave the right answer.

“Good, then get on your animal and let us ride.”

They rode out of Tar Valon with little difficulty in the direction of the village of Four Kings. They rode in silence. When Aniram could no longer make out the city on the horizon behind her, although the White Tower itself was still visible, she decided that the time was right. They were too far away to turn back. Out of her saddlebags Aniram pulled out a cloak. It shifted colours, from green to blue to grey then back to green, in the short time that it took to thrust it in the direction of Riahc. “You’d better put this on.”

When he saw what she was offering he barely missed a beat. “I’m not a full warder yet. I cannot wear the cloak unless an Aes Sedai bonds me.” The truth of the situation finally hit home. Riahc was speechless.

“You Riahc are Warder of Aniram Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah. You are mine.” With this Aniram untied the weave that prevented Riahc from knowing her own emotions. Riahc stopped cold.

[Bertricia]

wow 2 whole pages!! !! anyways, i'll post soon... maybe

[WoT_Eagle]

k, i actually gave you something to go on! isn't that special?! i think it is! post soon! please! it would make me happy

[Bertricia]

Riahc sat his chestnut gelding calmly as he and the Aes Sedai called Aniram cantered easily due south. Every few minutes he glanced anxiously at the small woman bouncing atop the bay she had chosen for herself. He didn't want to offer any advice, as to not offend the Aes Sedai, but he couldn't help feel nervous watching her. Riahc himself had always enjoyed riding and was always amazing when other people did not. Slowing to a halt far enough away from Tar Valon that only the gleaming White Tower sparked in the sun, Aniram pulled from her saddlebags a green cloak that switched to brown, to grey, and then back to green, and spoke the first words since leaving Tar Valon. "You'd better put this on," she suggested calmly. Riahc realized what was being asked of him, and he was startled.

"I’m not a full warder yet. I cannot wear the cloak unless an Aes Sedai bonds me.” Riahc eyes widened as the two things clicked in his mind. A flaming Aes Sedai is asking me to wear a bloody Warder's cloak. Light! She wants me to be her - Riach stopped in thought as he felt something invisible tighten around his body and suddenly he had this strange new awareness of Aniram. He could feel her emotions, he could feel her hurts (she bottom end was definately sore) and he could feel her tiredness from the long ride.

"... Warder ... Aes Sedai ... Green Ajah ... Mine" were the only words Riahc heard. He was too overwhelmed to think. Riahc promtly fell off the side of his horse, which he had named Bobby, after the way his head bobbed up and down while cantering. Opening his eyes, Riahc found himself looking into the face of Bobby who had been sniffing him curiously. Riahc groaned and rose to his feet to see Aniram trying to dismount her bay mare with difficulty.

Aniram was muttering angrily about how her own two feet were always good enough to her, how her mare was a wild beast and things of the like. Riahc walked slowly up to where the bay mare danced nervously, picking up on her riders emotion. Frustration flooded through the bond. Yes, this bond thing would definitely take some adapting to. Riahc placed his hands on Aniram's sides and gently lifted her from her horse. Again Riahc felt her emotion through the bond, this time, startlement tinged with anger. As Aniram turned around her mouth opened to say something, but her mouth closed at the same time the startlement and anger was pushed down. Aniram looked at Riahc with that weighing gaze, that would take some adapting to aswell, and finally said, "Are you all right?"

"Are you inquiring about the fall, or the bond?" Riahc replied calmly.

"Both."

"Well, I must admit, this will take some adjusting to, but it's not anything I'm not willing to face. As for the fall, other then a bruise on my shoulder, I reckon I'll be fine. But then, you could probably have told me that." Riahc said with a smile.

"Yes, I suppose I could have done that indeed. But now we are just wasting sunlight, and I mean to be in Four Kings by dark." Aniram said regaining her bossiness.

"Blood and ashes, Four Kings? Why would we go there?" Riahc asked. Four Kings? Light, I haven't been in Four Kings for years. When I left there I had no intention of ever returning. Blood and bloody ashes! "Listen, some things happened to me in flaming Four Kings. Things I'd rather not be reminded of, if that's quite all right with you." Riahc said, feeling the memories flood back into his mind as his brows began to fall into a face that would startle anyone but an Aes Sedai. Riahc had always had a bad mouth. His mother slap his bottom with a spoon when he would curse, but since arriving at Tar Valon, he rarely let his mouth run.

"First of all," Aniram said, "you will learn to control that tounge of yours and speak like a man, not some child trying to be a man. And second of all, I'm aware you were born in Four Kings, and that is exactly why we must go there first. If we are ever to find who that darkfriend was we must start at the beginning."

Riahc had to turn away. He would not, could not, let this Aes Sedai see him weaken. He remembered his mother's warm smile, his father's strong arms carrying him as they picked fruit from the trees, and his young sister's voice as she sang sweetly with the birds outside. Riahc felt tears try to fall from his eyes, but he pushed them away, instead, he schooled his face to calm with more effort than the hardest drill the Warders in training had to do. Buddy nuzzled Riahc's arm, and Riahc smiled at him and murmered some soothing words. Concern began to flow into the bond, reminding Riahc that Aniram could sense his feelings just as well as he could hers.

[Bertricia]

look-it! i posted! and its long-ish! well its long for me, anyway, i know its only medium-short for you, but its long for me

[WoT_Eagle]

i love your post! riahc fell off his horse! i laughed! i really did! um, wasn't the horses name bobby? but at the end it was buddy. other than that it was great! i'll post soon!

[Bertricia]

whoooops! it was supposed to be Bobby, that was just a typo, heh but yeah, i'm glad i could make you laugh with my "ness" anyways yeah

[WoT_Eagle]

The beginning. That’s what she had told Riahc- her Warder. She had to get used to calling him that. Aniram was convinced that the Darkfriends were hunting him, after all they had almost killed him that night she met him face to face for the first time.

Loss and hurt flooded through the bond. It was so strong that Aniram had to blink back tears of her own. What happened to Riahc to make his hurt so strong? I must find out, I must, Aniram thought. Riding silently for a few steps, she thought about how to get Riahc to open up. She decided on inquiring boldly; no Aes Sedai word tricks would crack this man. “Tell me what happened in Four Kings. I need to know,” it was more of a command then than a question.

Aniram felt her Warder’s emotions sink in her mind like a rock in water, full of suspicion, loss, hate, and stubbornness. Outwardly she was met with stone cold silence. Aniram sighed. Braking Riahc would be more work than she thought.

The pair spent the rest of the daylight hours riding, then walking for a mile or so (so as not to tire out the horses completely), then riding again, Riahc silent as the dust on the road, and Aniram contemplating ways to get him speaking again. She was so absorbed in thought that she didn’t notice twilight rapidly blotting out the sun, still no Four Kings in sight.

“We must stop to make camp,” Riahc’s quiet whisper shattered the long held silence. Aniram jumped at the sound. Look at me, acting like a Brown, so out of this world that my own Warder’s voice shocks me! She grumbled inwardly. She managed to get out a ‘yes, here’s fine’ between mumbling and moaning as her stiff muscles moved.

Riahc led them off into the trees to the west of the Caemlyn Road and stopped in a clearing by the river. Aniram sat herself down with a grunt while Riahc busied himself by collecting firewood, building a fire, cutting boughs for rough beds and other such things.

After a small meal of dry bread and hard cheese that left her stomach growling, Aniram decided she would try again, “You must tell me of your past, you must. It will surely help us figure out what the Darkfriends are after. It will actually tell us many thing, all of which may be important. I can assure you that I will sympathize with your experiences; we are bonded. If you will not tell me to solve the Darkfriend mystery, then you must tell me for the sake of our bond. It is your duty as Warder to Aes Sedai to-“

“You need to stretch,” Riahc’s softly spoken word cut off Aniram’s voice, her carefully thought out speech falling into a frivolous pantomime. “I can tell your muscles are cramping and causing you discomfiture. Here, do this, it’ll make you feel better,” Riahc stood on one foot while holding the other bent behind him as he was speaking.

Aniram closed her gaping mouth with an audible click and promptly turned her back on her posing Warder. He cut me off! How disrespectful! And now he’s trying to boss me around! Who does he think he is? I am the Aes Sedai here, not this, this- youngling! Aniram stiffly stoked over to her saddle bags, grabbed the course wool blanket, limped to the pile of boughs that would serve as a bed and lay down. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pulsing of lead and fire in her legs. It was well after dark when the Aes Sedai finally fell asleep.

[Bertricia]

Riahc sat on a fallen tree, tending the small fire he had built. He watched where Aniram lay on a rough bed of boughs, breathing deep in sleep. Riahc contemplated when and how he should tell Aniram of his past. He knew he would have to tell her sooner or later, whether he told her willingly or not. He decided he would tell her today, before they left camp. Riahc put the last log on the fire and stretched out on his own pile of boughs. Sleep came within moments of laying his head down.

Riahc awoke the next morning before the sun. He began saddling and bridling the horses, so when Aniram awoke they could continue travelling wasting little time. Aniram sighed and opened her eyes. Soreness gushed through the bond. Aniram should have stretched last night, as he had told her to, and was paying for it this morning.

“Good morning,” Riahc said. “Did you rest well?” Aniram just nodded in Riahc’s direction as she dug through her saddle bags. She took out an ivory comb and began pulling it through her glossy dark locks. Riahc felt at his own hair curling out at the nape of his neck and behind his ears. Riahc had never been too concerned about his appearance and wondered whether being bonded as Aniram’s Warder would change things.

Riahc was trying to find the right time to enlighten Aniram about his family, but decided there would never be a ‘right’ time.

“I’m sorry for not answering you yesterday. About what happened in Four Kings.” Riahc said bluntly. Aniram nodded and began to say something, but Riahc cut her off. “As you know, I was born there, and I lived with my father, mother and sister. We lived in a small house, just outside the town. We had a large fruit bearing tree that my sister and I would climb and play on.” Riahc smiled at the recollection of his home and family, but his face darkened as he continued. “On a normal day, about this time of year, darkfriends attacked us. They killed my father, mother, and sister. I was the only one who got away. My father tried so hard to protect them. But… it just wasn’t enough.” Riahc pushed down his emptiness and hurt and continued. “I just perched in the tree, and watched. I’ll never forgive myself for not doing more. So I left. I bought myself a horse and I rode north, and kept riding north, until I found myself walking the streets of Tar Valon. And then, you know the rest,” Riahc finished.

Aniram walked up to Riahc and touched him on the cheek. "I'm sorry," was all she said. With a sigh, she turned and began to ready her saddle bags for the long journey still ahead of them.

[ladyofchaos]

ANNOUNCEMENT!


Erm... I just transferred the entire Hogwarts thread to the new board. *sweatdrop*

Sorry that I have no life... so if you guys could RPG there now?
If it's ok with Rita...

the URL is

http://myth.thoughtfull.net