Heart of Fire [Attn: Soldier Shadow Black]

[Sean]

He didn’t do poorly, Val decided, watching the end of the contest.

Even before Shadow had thrown himself into Ahm, the signs were clear that the lad had been bested. Letting go of the breath he’d been holding in a resigned sigh, Val reached into the pocket of his breeches and felt for his coin purse.

The fight had yet reached its conclusion. The other men were still cheering Shadow on even as Ahm let the boy’s thrust cut into his shoulder, the pain watering his eyes as he pressed his attack. Men like Ahmlin didn’t fight lightly. They were dangerous and fought for victory or death in every encounter. I wonder what it looks like to that lad…fighting someone who would die just to win a friendly wager.

Overextended and defenseless, the Soldier couldn’t have defended himself when Ahm’s forehead smashed into his nose nor could anything have prevented slash that bit into Shadow’s right thigh. Valadin didn’t hear if the boy screamed, but instinct warned him of the impending tragedy before it happened. A moment ago he was casually thumbing the coin owed to the men, the next his body slammed into Ahm, taking the large warrior down with a thunderous collision.

“Enough!” Val shouted as he rolled to his feet though he knew that Ahm had been roused and words wouldn’t be enough. “Someone see to the boy!” Val ordered, never removing his eyes from the threat across from him. “Ahmlin…you’ve won. Best you calm yourself,now.”

Ahm didn’t answer, but then he never needed to. Valadin could feel it himself, the heat of the blood flowing into his veins like an intoxicating elixir. The night which had been cool against his skin now felt as if he basked in the heat of day. The Fury, it spoke to him in a grating whisper from a corner of soul that lay dormant until the call for battle harkened. With a fevered laugh, Val gave in and tore free of his coat, exposing his torso to evening air. At his back he felt the others warily approaching to provide aid, but with a gesture stopped them, “See to the boy. I’ll…see to Ahm.”

Someone offered him a blade and Val took it. The rest was as if he were living in a dream.

Ahmlin moved towards him, lowering like a beast ready to pounce, but there was no fear as Val stepped forth. The Ox Lowers His Horns met Val’s Falling Leaf then Val countered with Cutting the Wind, the quickness of it staggering Ahm, but the Fury would not stop there; bloodshed would have to end the Song that flowed around them now.

There was a roar. Whose it was did not matter, only that it was bestial and unshackled by the propriety expected in everyday life. For the moment there was freeness.

Willow Embracing the Breeze blew easily through Ahmlin’s guard as if it had never been there and there Val stood, his sword’s edge pressed against the man’s throat, a trail of blood disappearing beneath the collar of the leather jerkin.

Valadin found the urge to kill was difficult to quell. Even while smiling and offering a bow to Ahm after backing away, even after the man returned the motion with a subdued jerk of the head, the Fury screamed to take the head of everyone within sword reach. Striding to where Shadow was, the patrol’s medic fussing over the Soldier, the shake of his hand was harder still to suppress, yet the Void gave him strength to maintain control. “Walk with me,” Val told Shadow before striding off towards the darkness of the meadows. “Only if you can, Soldier Shadow…” he added over his shoulder.

As camp, the voices of the men carried out into the open terrain where the land dispersed it leaving behind only silence. There, with the peacefulness of nature surrounding him, the heat of battle faded.

[Paradoxical]

Shadow forced himself to his feat staggering slightly and still dizzy from the blows. He pushed the medic away muttering something about being fine. He had entered the Void as soon as the fight was over but hadn't taken hold of the source in fear of using it as a weapon. He limbed after the Asha'man slowly. Although he could barely feel the pain some part of his subconscious did and he didn't push himself.

It took him several minutes to limb out to where the Asha'man stood in the darkened meadows. Once he reached the Asha'man he just stood waiting to see. Even in the Void he couldn't do much more than stand. The wounds were bad if not life threatening but they were sore and disorientating. So he simple stood and waiting, thinking back over the fight.

He had fought as he could yet it had not been enough. His best hadn't been good enough. He knew deep down that it wasn't his fault but that wasn't much comfort. He knew he it should be but it wasn't. He had fought and he had lost. There was no getting around it, no easy way of saying it or of accepting it. All he could do was face it and think.

[Sean]

After the thrill of battle providing a warmth that rushed through every cord of his being Val found it strange how quickly serenity settled over him. After a time of looking out over the rolling waves of the green that stretched infinitely into the darkness, the injured Soldier’s uneven footsteps called back Val’s attention to his immediate surroundings; he almost regretted inviting the lad out when there was such great freedom in solitude.

“It was a good fight,” Valadin stated without preamble. He knew from the lad’s sullen silence that defeat at Ahm’s hand had been an unwelcome culmination to the night’s excitement. “You fought well and you’ve earned the respect of the men…however much it may mean to you.”

Behind the words was the implied meaning that Shadow had yet to earn Valadin’s respect. Defeat was defeat and victory was victory; there were no fine lines between strength and weakness. Knowing it was not the time to make mention of this perhaps signaled Val’s growth as a warrior…maybe even as a man. Turning away from the fields Valadin found that the sheer height of the raven haired Soldier and his piercing velvet shaded eyes made for a disconcerting sight, but the Asha’man coolness came second nature now leaving no sign of emotion etched in the hard planes of his face. “There’s still room for you to grow. Without training you can never be truly strong, but what matters most is you hone your mind.”

“I presume you know of the Flame and Void?” Val asked returning his gaze to the scene of nature before them. The light from the camp at their backs ended in a dark wall and beyond that lay the unknown. In their . “When you fight you should always have an awareness of surrounding. Have you learned to draw upon this awareness at will?”

[Paradoxical]

Shadow listened while the Asha'man spoke. Defeat was defeat. Gaining respect did nothing to fix it regardless of who's. In the end he simply answered the Asha'man's question.

"I know of it. I enter the Void when I take the source." He wondered what the Void had to do with sword fighting. Was it a focus thing? He didn't know.

All he knew was that he wanted to learn to fight properly. To use a sword as a weapon. To master the sword, if possible.

"Sir, could you teach me to fight properly with a sword, like you did at the end there" He asked carefully.

He wanted to learn, needed to learn so that when he fought again he could win. He would win the next, if he had to die in the attempt of it. A part of him thought that would be better to fight and die in an attempt to win then lose a fight again.

Another more logical part of his mind knew it was foolish but he didn't care. He would win next time. That was all there was to it.

[Sean]

Val suppressed a chuckle at the notion of fighting ‘properly’. In his youth, swordsmanship had indeed seemed like an art that could be mastered simply by learning the technicalities involved. A few memorable lessons with Fodhr had quickly dispensed with that idea. Battles were fought and won…or they lost resulting in death: either of a comrade or of oneself. Form was a thing defined by the self and each man possessed their own unique adaptation to swordsmanship; there was no ‘proper’ way to fight. There was win and live or don’t.

“Teach you? Never thought anyone would ask me to teach anything,” Valadin murmured while surveying Shadow’s condition. That leg will need tending tonight. Better not keep him out here long, he decided.“One final lesson then: close your eyes and keep as still as you possibly can. Allow the Void to envelope you…move beyond the pain and exhaustion you’re feeling with your flesh and open your mind’s eye to the world. Tell me what you can sense in detail.”

It was a simple exercise and Valadin couldn’t take credit for its innovation. A Gaidin in the Yards was giving a lesson on awareness while on the hunt. What the prey might be was never discussed, however each student was asked to close their eyes and absorb what details they could without seeing. After some time the Gaidin would question each on what they were able to discern from their environment. The purpose was to teach Warders-in-training to be wary of even the more irrelevant minutia for it could mean the life of the Aes Sedai or Asha’man . Val had begun to practice where he could.


“Go on now, close your eyes.”

Note: This is about awareness in combat so use all your senses. The environment is really up to you. In the thread I've been describing it as a meadowland spanning from the mountain base in the far east. After this Shadows needs medical attention.

[Paradoxical]

He listened and close his eyes when the Asha'man instructed him to. Quickly he took the Void, entering the calmness within. The pain and tiredness faded away so that they barely bothered him. He could sense then on the edges of his mind but they felt like someone else's problem.

He could sense the field around him. The short grass that stretched off everywhere and the few trees in the far distanced. He could detect the mountains far far away to the east.

He felt the brush of the wind on his face and heard it ripple over the ground, pushing the grass around. He could smell cooking and fire coming from the camp.

He said as much to the Asha'man and waited for his response all the while trying to detect more.

[Sean]

Listening carefully to the words of another, as Val had come to learn, gave insight into the frame of the person’s thoughts. That might have helped if time could be taken to listen to every nag and complainer that journeyed to the Grey Tower asking assistance without ever trying to solve matters with their own hands. Perhaps then something of worth might be learned by listening. Until that time action is the best course to solving any problem

Returning to the situation at hand, maybe it was the flatness of his voice or the poignant disposition the lad exuded, but Valadin felt the Soldier has missed the intent of the exercise. Not unexpected, but disappointing given the glimpses of promise gleaned during the fight. I suppose even those with talent will not grasp everything in their first attempt.

“See yourself to the medic and then get some rest with the remaining hours. No more trouble with, Ahm or the both of you will see punishment for it.” There lay no threat in the words, just the absolute certainty that the consequences for breaching the order would be enacted as they had been given. “As for other request…” Val added, craning his neck upward to find twin purple orbs returning his look. “…we shall see. I’ll send for you on occasion whenever there’s chance. The path of the sword will find you should you earnestly seek it. Now, be gone with you. I’ve got first watch tonight.”

As Shadow made his way back to camp Valadin tried to grasp what he sensed in the young man. It wasn’t long before pride and stubbornness came as answers. Admirable traits in the right conditions, but they were also very likely traits that would lead to an early demise.

Still, Valadin found himself intrigued by the past that had brought such a person to the Grey Tower. The Pattern had a way of discovering people in the most unexpected places and pressing them into the eternal struggle between the Shadow and the Light. This Shadow was another enlistee in a battle with already mounting casualties. All those sacrifices were made for the preservation of life. Or at least on the surface that’s why one fights for the Light.

A distant black hump rose out of the land reminding Val of a ride he’d once taken with Lady Ives. Back then he wasn’t sure he knew what to fight for or why the Green Ajah should be his choice. Now he stood as a member of the Green, proud, yet knowing with uncompromised clarity that it was not for the Light’s sake that he fought the forces of evil. The irony of that nearly brought a smile to his face. Nearly.

[Paradoxical]

Is that us done? I'm struggling to tell if their is anything I need to say.