Alathea flatly refuses Jasper's offer to link with her to assist in her Healing. She looks him in the eye and shakes her head a bit. "You know full well what Ajah I hope to join, Light willing that I am raised, yes?" She mutters something to herself...Jasper thinks he can make out the words "If the Red will still have me after this...". With a shake of her head, she continues in her normal voice. "I have had to...adjust...my attitudes towards men like you in these past few weeks, but some things are more difficult to change. You and Pace, I still see you as dangerous, but you are also my companions. Perhaps even my friends. But the thought of saidin...I wish not to be so close to it, yes?"
Fury paints Jaspers face. He seems to be on the verge of shouting down Alathea, when instead he turns around. Alathea can hear him having a conversation with himself as he leaves, the following being carried on the air Illian whore and self righteous wench and friends, HA!.
sitting of to the far side, Jasper glowers at a head sized rock that rests on other rocks. Glaring at it, he sets the rock on fire and watches it burn to slag.
Pace is quiet as the group decides what to do, watching the others carefully. Riding out of the city Pace drops to the back of the group, and mutters quietly to himself. Lying, bloody darkfriends. They didn't just "find" us. That boneheaded fool declaring our presence across the Light-forsaken city would have made them aware of us, but the "coincidence" that they were in the palace this morning. It's just too much... When they arrive at the campsite he pulls his saddle bags off his horse and sets them a little ways away from the center of camp. He looks around and embraces the Source. He weaves a wide net of Spirit, Fire, and Air around the camp, sighing as he does so, "Burn me, but that won't help against darkfriends."
Later after Alathea's most recent blow up with Jasper, she suggests healing him. Pace stares at her coldly. "I wouldn't wish to expose you to "danger". Why don't you focus on those who you wish to save instead of those you wish to hunt." He turns his back and walks away, feeling pins and needles pricking the back of his neck.
Fiallain frowns at Jasper's back as he melts...rocks. She shakes her head and turns to Alathea and whispers.
Gathering up her things, she heads to the edge of camp. I will go and keep watch on oír target. When should I expect you to follow?
Alathea smiles at Fiallain, grateful for her words.
Alathea watches sadly as Pace storms off. She has no wish to "hunt" him down, despite what he so strongly believes. Doesn't he see that I want to help him? To "save" him? I will have to speak to him about this, but I don't think he will welcome my presence for a while.
after melting stones gets boring, jasper starts to wander the perimiter, looking out at the trees and pausing for moments, staring up into them. Finally, Jasper turns and heads to the middle of camp, laying out his bedroll and blanket.
well, if all of you are still wide awake from your adventures, you can guard my sleep.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Alathea finishes with her healing, and slumps to the ground. Light, I can barely keep my eyes open! I hope that nobody finds our camp...but I cannot stay awake! Stumbling to a likely place to lay down, she arranges herself as comfortably as she can, and tumbles into an exhausted sleep.
Jasmine will attempt to regain her strength and recover from the wounds she took. She will gratefully accept Alathea's healing and will offer healing in return to anyone that needs it.
Alathea looks over Ryland's wounds, and after a short inspection, she attempts to grasp the True Source. She isn't afraid at the moment, but looks back on the fearful things she's seen this night. The memory of the Darkfriend's heartless gaze as he attacked her is enough to push herself past her block, and she opens herself to saidar. With great concentration, she weaves Air, Spirit, and Water about Ryland's wounds. When she's done, she begins on Jasmine. Her wounds don't seem as bad as Ryland's, but Alathea takes extra time and precautions to ensure that her Sister is properly Healed. After she's done with Jasmine, she'll gladly accept Healing from her in return.
Fiallain's eyes narrow in concentration as she watches Alathea and Jasmine work their healing spells, trying to understand the purpose of each flow as the initiates weave strands of air, water, and spirit into the wounded flesh of their companions. The weaving only seems to grow in complexity however as the women work more quickly than Fia is able to follow. Finally, after Alathea intricately weaves a particularly fine string of spirit, she sighs and bites her lip with confusion. I have no idea why she just did that - or even how for that matter. Perhaps she would be able to explain.. I'll have to ask her later though, there is a task before me.
She peers up at Ryland as the borderlander steps away from the sisters, looking more hale after being healed. "Shall we then? It is a long run, I hope your legs are up to carrying you so far." She winks at him. "Perhaps If you ask nicely, I can go more slowly when you need to catch your breath!" When he signals his readiness to depart, she settles into an easy ground-eating lope, soon lost to sight as she fades easily into the night.
Ryland laughs and shakes his head. Only a fool would race an Aiel." He drops his pack and resets his kit for the coming night. "Burn me for a fool. Lets go. Try not to make to much noise and I will try not to slow you down to much."
As the sun's first rays spread across the sky, Alathea kicks off her blanket and sits up. Despite her exhaustion from the night before, she has slept fitfully. Her dreams had been filled with sword-wielding thugs and cruel women with silvery leashes, and she had tossed and turned and kicked throughout the all-too-short night. Unable to go back to sleep, she rubs her eyes and yawns, then gets up.
Alathea thinks she's the first of her companions to wake. At least, from those she can see, they're still all asleep. Moving as quietly as she can so she doesn't awaken them, she changes into a cleaner dress and packs up her belongings. When the rest wake up, she'll see to her horse, and they'll all ride back into Tanchico and figure out how to infiltrate the warehouse. But for now, she takes a cookpot and pads silently towards the nearby stream. As long as she can't sleep, she'll let the others rest as long as they can, and she'll have porridge ready for them when they wake up.
Though his wounds aren't serious, Jed gladly accepts Alathea and Jasmine's offer for Healing. He then immediately sets to work cleaning his blade, wiping away the blood from the battle. Light, I just killed two Darkfriends...
hearing some rustling around the camp, jasper wakes up and yawns. Feeling the dirt from the night before in his hair, and all over, Jasper shrugs his shoulders, loosing them up. standing up and stretching, he sees Alathea go walking into the woods, heading to the stream. ohhhhh, i should. he says out loud as she disappers into the foliage.
stripping naked, Jasper sprints into the woods, past Alathea, and jumps into the deep pool in the stream.
Looking up at alathea's shocked face, jasper grins good morning! want to join me?
Alathea shows no shock upon finding Jasper in the stream. Instead, she looks him up and down appraisingly, then frowns. After bending to gather her water (upstream from Jasper!), she turns to return to camp. Over her shoulder, she calls to him, "You should put your clothes back on, Jasper. I'll have porridge ready soon, and if you're interested, I can Heal you properly."
"Heal" huh? hmmmm, you can "heal" me any time you desire Jasper calls out to her, finishing with a catcall whistle
Though his wounds aren't serious, Jed gladly accepts Alathea and Jasmine's offer for Healing.
chuckling from his own comments, Jasper gets up and wonders back to the camp. pulling up his pants, Jasper leaves his shirt off, and stares at everyone, waiting for the shocked looks, the questions, the horrific gasps.
Looking at jasper, everyone sees his body for the first time uncovered. his torso, arms, and it looks like the damage goes below the pants line, Deep cut lines cross his body, as if he was slashed 1000 times with a butchers cleaver. weaving across his body, large patches of skin show the end results of horrific burns, some with minor open sores that ooze fluid. within that burn damage, some of the skin has fallen off, leaving behind very pink skin, looking as if itself got a bad sunburn. In his joint locations, the elbows, arm pits, back of the knees, and hips, show deep brand marks, as if hot pokers had been applied to him.
the brandings are courtesy of some whitecloaks. the knife wounds are from some small group of thieves in Camelyn. and the fire damage...eyes boring into Alathea ...courtesy of a Red that i accidentally ran into not too long ago
Alathea stirs the cookpot and watches Jasper as he approaches. The man was still bare-chested, but at least he had put on his breeches again. Her eyes narrow as he nears. Are those scars? And burns? Light, that man looks like a pig that's been butchered by a blind man and left to roast over a fire for far too long! Not wanting to stare, but not wanting to seem like she's disgusted by his scars, she coolly shifts her eyes to Jasper's face.
Just as Alathea is about to tell him that the porridge will be ready soon, Jasper explains his wounds unasked. She listens calmly, but her lips narrow at the mention of his burns. When he finishes, she responds, "I am sorry for what has been done to you. Nobody deserves such treatment. But I hope you do not seek to blame me for another's actions, yes?"
Pace wakes late in the morning, groaning as he lifts himself off of his bedroll. He is pale and sweat glistens on his forehead due to loss of blood and from falling asleep just a few hours before. The bandages he used to wrap his wounds the night before have soaked through with blood. He sits for a moment holding his head before rising to his feet. Ignoring Jasper's latest antics Pace turns to his saddlebags, pulls out a waterskin and takes a deep drink as he walks away from camp.
raising his hands no no! that is not my intention. i just thought you should know everything there is to know about being a Red, including those on the receiving end of a Red's attempt at gentling. walking closer to the fire, Jasper pulls on his shirt and grabs his bowl. Walking up, he holds out his bowl for Alathea. After giving him a serving, Jasper sits back on his bedroll. looking at alathea, thanks for breakfast
Taking a big spoonful, Jasper makes a moking grimace needs salt though, hahahaha! he laughs as he polishes off his bowl.
Alathea frowns. "What was done to you is not allowed. Whichever Sister did that to you was not following Tower law." She pauses, considering. "There are many reasons for joining the Red Ajah, or any Ajah. Just as there are many reasons for joining...your organization, yes? I am well aware that many join the Red for reasons that I cannot fathom. I have my own reasons for wanting to join. They likely differ from the reasons of the others who wish to join the Red, but they are valid to me."
nodding while eating, jasper scratches his chin with his spoon handle. seems that tower law is a bit lacking in regards to men who can channel. The only Tower law that i know that is resolute is those 3 oaths you ladies take on gaining the shawl. what are they again? Never lie, Never use the one power as a weapon, except in self defense and whats the third?
Looking at alathea with Concern in his eyes look, i understand you have reasons, i guess my whole point to this is to make you you are making a fully educated decision that will affect the rest of your life.
Your camp is secluded a distance from the road and you feel isolated in the evening, no lights but the one from your campfire. Alathea and Jasmine weave strands of the One Power amongst the members of the group, and where wound once were now was unmarred flesh and strength draining weariness. Everyone dug into the food that evening with relish, even the Aes Sedai in training forgetting their manners at points.
By the morning everyone felt rested and ready, yet with nothing to do but wait the day seemed to drag by. The unnatural heat of the season only helped exacerbate this feeling and it became an exercise in patience as the day wore on. The sun was setting when Fiallain and Ryland returned from the city.
Fiallain takes a seat by the fire and helps herself to some of the cold breakfast leftovers. I don't know if it would have been easier if the item was at the Palace. The wharehouse is an unremarkable building, a solid square structure with few windows high on the walls. There is one door set into its side along with a larger set of double doors where they bring in wagons for loading and unloading. There are 4 guards at the entrances along with 2 pairs of guards patrolling the perimeter in opposite rotations. There are many people who come and go during the day but most of the guards seem to recognize them and the ones they don't they stop and question before allowing them to proceed. In the evenings there is fewer traffic although some people do work into the wee hours. We saw no indication of any darkfriend activity but with how the shadowfriends work, that's no surprise.
Everyone processes the information and discuss options into the evening, planning how best they are to handle this situation.
Alathea listens intently to Ryland and Fiallain's description of the warehouse. It seems like it won't be easy to get into this place. I wish Jak was still here; he'd know just what to do. But Jak is gone, and it is up to her as much as it is to any of her companions to find a way into the warehouse. Didn't Jak describe breaking into a manor house once? How did it go...
"Fiallain, Ryland," she asks, "How easy would it be to get onto the roof of this warehouse? Perhaps if we could all get onto it, we could use a rope to get in through one of those windows, yes? And if we distract the guards, perhaps they will look elsewhere while we are on this rope, yes?"
hmmm...we have a total of 8 guardsmen, 4 at the entrances, 4 inside. How often was the rotation, Fia? did the men guarding the entrances swap with the men inside? or were they assigned to that one spot? Did a new shift arrive while you were watching? Also, i shoulda asked about this before hand, but did you happen to see the location of a barracks? It would be nice to know how long it would take for these guys to get there when it lets loose.
also, i think we shouldn't wait too long. i think we should hit the place tonight, a couple hours before sunrise, when the night is the longest. This gives us roughly 8 hours to plan.
"And," Alathea adds, "If at all possible, we should go tonight. Perhaps the guards will be tired or careless in the middle of the night, but there will certainly be less people around to see us. And the sooner we get there, the less chance those Darkfriends have of getting this item before us."
Manners thrown to the wind, Fia licks her fingers clean after finishing her breakfast. She frowns a moment as she considers Alathea's question. The roof should be fairly simple for me to get onto and I'm sure Ryland is limber enough as well, he can move well when he tries to... But it will take some climbing and maneuvering about to do - it would likely take some doing for those Who aren't used to such things.. With the two patrols moving about, there wouldn't be much room for error. I wonder... Is there a way to use the power to cut an opening quietly in the roof? We could possibly lower in that way rather than trying to swing in thru a window.
Pace approaches when Fiallain returns and slowly lowers himself to a sitting position nearby to listen to her report. "I'm not a bad climber, I could make it up if someone lowered a rope to help. Perhaps the rest could make it slowly with a knotted rope. Then I could harden the air between the buildings to create a bridge between the two buildings. I suppose some may be uncomfortable crossing an invisible bridge of Power though. Pace smiles weakly. "I could lower you or others to the window with the power, but I don't know a weave to cut through a wooden roof."
cut through a roof? too easy. wood and stone cannot stop me
cut through a roof? too easy. wood and stone cannot stop me
Cut through quietly without attracting the guards Jasper?
awwwwww. you take away all my fun. jasper gets a sad look on his face. but yes, it is quiet.