Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Hama Valon, the city around the Grey Tower.
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Welcome to Hama Valon! The aptly named 'mountain guard' is the city that has grown up at the gates of the Grey Tower at the western edge of the Two Rivers. Like all cities, there are quiet quarters with pleasant inns, such as Elman's Creek, which used to be the nearest village when the Tower was young, but was absorbed as the new city grew; its Band of Brothers Inn is still a favorite relaxation spot for many of the Tower's denizens. And again, like all cities the world over, there are less pleasant places--narrow, nameless streets that house hells and other houses of ill repute. Most of the city falls somewhere in between, with hawkers crying their wares in the streets, respectable shopkeepers ready to serve you, and petty cutpurses happy to follow you.

Novices, Soldiers, and drin'far'ji must be accompanied by a chaperon when outside Tower walls or they risk being picked up as runaways and duly punished.
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Bella
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PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
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TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Bella » July 13th, 2020, 6:24 pm

Natlya Cade liked to run.

She had always been a good runner, but in her youth, it had always been her running away from something. Like on the rare occasions when one of her cons had been seen through and she had to hotfoot it out of somewhere. She wasn't sure she had ever run toward something, however. Right now, though, she was doing neither. Right now, she was just running. The trees and fields just outside of the grounds of the Grey Tower were always good for a quiet run.

The warder yarders weren't good for that. Too many people. Too loud. Out here, she could exert and allow her mind to wander...to think...

Recently, she had been made Gaidin Captain. She still wasn't sure what to do about that. Well, she knew how to do the job, but being in charge of the unbonded Gaidin--until such time as they were bonded--just reminded her of being fairly alone now. She had friends, sure, but no bond-mate. No lovers. No deep connections to her sense of duty or to her heart, not personally, just her duty to the Grey Tower.

To which of course she owed her life. But Morgan was long dead and gone. Terric had been...missing for a couple of years now, and she hadn't heard from him beyond the note of farewell.

It was just Natlya now, but she had carved for herself a decent life. She liked working with the trainees, taking them as persons like she had once been and training them to be like she was now but in their own ways. She liked watching how each one grew and changed and matured and progressed. It brought more meaning to her life than most anything else she had experienced in her days, though she imagined being bonded would always surpass that.

Finishing her run, she jogged back through the Tower gates and onto the grounds. She nodded at the guards in the gatehouse and then toward one of the lesser-used entrances. There weren't many folks around, but her adrenaline was still high from the run itself and the workout she'd put herself through.

So when she heard a small, unusual noise being her, it startled her. Nat spun on her heel and in the same motion, she dropped to a defensive crouch and pulled the knife from her thigh sheath. (No Gaidin remained unarmed, after all.) She made herself a smaller target but one still coiled and ready to bolt--either at an attacker or out of the way of an attack.

What...who...she saw brought her up short. Her red brows knit. Could...could that really be him?

"How..." she began, confused, as she got back to her feet.

Dropping the knife to the ground, Natlya ran toward him...

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Locke
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Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Locke » July 15th, 2020, 4:25 pm

It had taken an extreme leave of absence for Terric to truly see the Tower the way the Aes Sedai and Asha’man did. There were so many new faces in the practice yards. He did not see a single one of his former students. Unfamiliar Novices and Soldiers darted by on their chores dipping in quick bows and curtsies to the fancloth hanging from his shoulders but not a hint of recognition for the Gaidin who wore it. The Grey Tower was this unchanging monument that would last long after he woke from the dream. In a way it was comforting in such a way as a roof mistress could invite him into any hold in the Threefold Land and the rules of ji’e’toh would still apply. On the other hand, it made his skin crawl. Like looking at the corpse of a man you’d been talking to when a two step bit him. It was still the Tower but not his Tower. He had yet to see a familiar face, but that was immaterial. He needed to find An Asha’man or an Aes Sedai. If he could find a sitter, preferably a Red, he could do his part. Hand over the message and… and what? He needed to make things right with Natlya Cade, but he also needed to see this through to the end.

To avoid any busybodies on duty in the main hall who’d probably want to know where he had been for these last few years, Terric stepped off the path and cut through the trees. There was a small kitchen entrance this way mostly used by trainee’s shirking their responsibilities. As he slipped between trees, he caught sight of a red haired figure jogging a short ways off. He stepped badly, uncharacteristically snapping a twig under his boot, as a world of emotions slammed back down into him. Was that Natlya Cade? It was. He was at a loss at how to apologize. Where would he even start?

She was spinning to face him, a knife appearing in her hand. It was good to see she hadn’t changed. She did drop the knife and come running when she recognized him. “You shouldn’t drop your knife in the grass, Natlya Cade,” he said in a soft voice, “A squirrel might take it and try to stab you with it.”
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Bella
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PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Bella » July 15th, 2020, 9:11 pm

Those were all the words Natlya gave him the chance to get out.

At least when he spoke, however, she knew this wasn't a hallucination... At least, she was pretty sure. The redheaded former thief hadn't experienced many of those in her life, really, but if she had been prone to it--and to seeing Terric no less--she imagined it would have happened long before now.

Was she angry? Yes, she had been angry that he left with only a note on their nightstand. She still was. Were there still cracks in her heart? Surely, of course there were. However, she had lost one lover irretrievably once, and the fact that he was here, now was what was most important to her.

He came back!

Those Gaidin reflexes launched her off the ground at exactly the right moment to, well, land on him. Whether he fell or not was up to his own balance, but her arms were around his neck and her legs around his waist, clinging and kissing him without a single care as for who might be standing around gawking.

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Locke
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Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Locke » July 16th, 2020, 2:21 am

It was her. He let out a grunt as she threw herself into his arms. It was indeed her. He opened his mouth to apologize for leaving, to explain why he’d been away so long, to tell her that he had missed her, but she smothered the words with a kiss. He could have lost himself forever in that moment. He did for a while though.

Catching his breath, he held her feet dangling over a foot off the ground. “It’s good to see you again, shade of my heart. So much has happened over the last few years. I’m sorry I had to leave. I believed there was an emergency at home in the Threefold lands. I might have been mistaken though.” Words were tumbling out at this point, “I don’t actually know what the emergency might have been. However, my sister says that you can visit her kids whenever you want, so there’s that. Also…” his voice growing somber, “I need you. Well yes, that but also, I Need your help”
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Bella
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Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Bella » July 16th, 2020, 5:18 pm

At this point, she wiggled away from him enough to get her feet on the ground. She listened to his words--rambling though they were--and her own emotions rise and fell and rose again in time with each thing he said. The only thing all the emotions had in common were that they were intense. More intense than she could recall feeling anything in years.

Nat didn't reply at first. Well, she did, but not in words. No, first she wheeled off and punched his arm. Hard. She could deliver it, and she knew he could--and would--take it.

With the kiss and the punch out of her system, she worked hard to rein her mind back under control. "I can't believe you're here," she said, shaking her head and leaning against him. An emergency back home that wasn't? What was going on? She pressed her forehead against his chest, fighting the speed of her heartbeat. "What do you need my help on?" she finally asked.

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Locke
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Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Locke » July 16th, 2020, 8:12 pm

The blow connected solidly and might have struck a nerve or so Terric assumed as a mix of pain and numbness radiated up his arm. He laughed slightly, “Get a few more in if you need. I do have toh. Great toh.” He’d meet his toh to her, but he feared he’d have an even greater toh to himself, to his Aethan Dor brothers, and countless innocence if he put that first.

After letting himself feel her against him for a moment longer, he disentangled himself. “Walk with me, Natlya Cade. On my way back from the Threefold Land, I found myself in Lugard. There, I volunteered my services to help track down a missing girl. She was an orphan and the guards didn’t care to search for her. I only found out about her through pure happenstance. The daughter of the man who’s Inn I was staying at was apparently her near sister or such as for Wetlanders.” As he talked, he set off back towards the Tower Gates, careful not to out pace her.

“The story becomes somewhat strange,” he said, his voice taking on a dark tone. “Pit, that’s the name of the girl, she was one of the older girls at an orphanage in the city. At her age, they might have expected her to set off on her own. In fact, the mistress of the orphanage tried to convince me that Pit had left with some boy. I wish that had been true. Thankfully, I did not believe the woman. I pressed her for the truth. She proved she was a woman without ji. She had sold the girl.

She was forthcoming about who she’d sold the girl to, however. Maybe thanks to my rakish charm,” Terric said flatly. “I don’t know how important the middle men are, but I found what seemed to be a final customer. A man who’s name I never learned. I simply know that he was a male Channeler with delusions of refinement. Pit wasn’t his first purchase and I don’t think she was intended to be his last either. We can’t ask him now, though because he met his untimely end to a severe case of blood loss. And arrows. So I don’t know what the next link in the chain is or what he wanted. Well I can infer one thing. I believe Pit can channel, or learn maybe. If I wasn’t mistaken when I listened in, I think he wanted to find her a teacher. But I don’t think he was affiliated with any of the Towers. I just don’t know the who or what else is involved or the why. Well I have guesses but if you tried to drink guesses in the desert you’d die of thirst.

Either way, I need to find out more about this situation. Pit is the closest thing to a lead we have left alive. I have her in a room at the Band of Brothers. She’ll have to go to the Mistress of Novices at some point, but I doubt she’ll be particularly thrilled.”
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Bella
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Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Bella » July 18th, 2020, 9:12 pm

That was a lot to take in all at once, and Natlya was silent as she walked alongside him. It did impress her how easily the muscle memory returned to allow her much-shorter legs to take strides that met in the middle with his conscientious walking. She listened, and listened some more. Occasionally blinking as if that would help sort thoughts.

Having been an orphan herself, one who had run away from an orphanage far too young, the beginning of the tale was especially poignant to her. She had no doubts at all that the mistress of her orphanage had spent no time whatsoever trying to find her.

That was another story, however. In fact, it's Natlya's biography. You can read it for yourself.

"Neither was I when I was brought to the Tower," she finally said, "and I got over it." She paused and stopped their strides with a hand on his arm, turning him to face her as she looked up into his eyes she had missed so much. "What do you need me for?" she finally asked, trying to follow the thread. "You said the man who bought her is dead and she is here. You intend to search for who else was involved with it all?"

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Locke
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Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Locke » July 23rd, 2020, 5:26 pm

“Exactly,” Terric said, meeting her gaze. He continued, voice somber, “It’s been a few months since Pit and I left Lugard, and any of the man’s accomplices might have already gone to ground, but we need to go back. There are more missing girls and even if I can’t save them all, I can at least learn what happened to them.”

He sighed, turning to continue walking, “But all the bravado, ji, and righteous fury in the world won’t get them back. We need a plan.”
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Bella
Female Channeller Representative
Posts: 5615
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Bella » July 24th, 2020, 10:54 pm

Nat smiled a little, but it wasn't a mirthful expression. It was rueful, but resigned. A small bubble of fantasy burst out of existence in her mind about his returning to the Grey Tower for her. Well, it had been for her apparently, but not in the way she had wished. Still, this was an important task. He was right about that.

"We do," she replied, tacitly agreeing by use of the word "we" that she would join him. "Fortunately, I'm pretty good at that." After all the cons and heists and robberies she'd orchestrated? Yes, she was good at it. "Let's go to my--" Her words halted and she frowned a little, wondering what he'd think of the fact that she'd stayed in what had been his quarters turned theirs for such a short time.

She licked her lips thoughtfully. "Let's go to my quarters and discuss all the information you have, and we'll make a plan."

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Locke
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Joined: April 13th, 2016, 5:21 pm
PC: Terric of the Salt Flat Sept of the Nakai Aiel
SC: Alric Aurella
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Re: Running Wild [Attn: You Know Who]

Post by Locke » August 7th, 2020, 3:46 pm

Terric stifled a small wince. “I do have a lot of toh, Shade of my Heart,” he said ruefully. “But, before we return to your quarters, we should probably get Pit to the Mistress of Novices. I don’t exactly trust her alone at the Band of Brothers for too long. Given enough time, I think she might figure out where I hid my spears. Impatient girl wants to train with the real thing but she’s still too reckless.” For all of his grumbling, there was a tinge of fondness in his voice. “I know she’ll want to walk the path of a Gaidin, but snakes don’t fly though the skies and goats don’t stalk prey.”
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