Ranma/WoT crossover Fanfic                                        last revised 5 January 2004

Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ and all associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, while the Wheel of Time characters and 'universe' are owned by Robert Jordan.  Both are used without permission.  This fan-fiction isn't intended for commercial use but is rather a tribute to both Ranma ½ and WoT.  There will also be miscellaneous cameos of other story lines; I leave their identification as an exercise for the reader.

Setting: This is set at the end of Ranma just before the failed wedding and in the middle of the book "The Shadow Rising" for WoT.  I am going to assume that readers of this fanfic are familiar with both the Ranma and WoT story-lines as I do not intend to provide 'story history' here.  If you are not familiar with either, please purchase the books, manga, video etc and become familiar, I believe it will be well worth both your money and time.  This fanfic is going to be told mostly (but not exclusively) from Ranma's point of view, which means that the main elements of the WoT story line will largely not be re-told here as a result except as they affect Ranma.

 * * * * *

Far Dareis Mai Ranma                       By Cloud Dreamer

 * * * * *

Chapter one - Challenge Race

 * * * * *

Ryouga sat by the koi pond fuming.  He was finally in the Tendou yard and trying hard not to get lost again.  Meanwhile he was 'amusing' himself by muttering imprecations against Ranma.  "Why must he interfere in my life and taunt me about my curses.  They're all his fault, that honorless coward.  How dare he hurt sweet Akane's feelings again.  I'll bet every body would be glad if he got lost and . . . got lost, humm."

What can you say, it was a new millennium and Ryouga was due for an idea.  He slowly worked it out and grinned to himself as he contemplated his victory.  He got up and was about to go search for his nemesis when he reconsidered.  He fixed his gaze on the open door into the dining room and by watching carefully, cautiously traversed the intervening four meters successfully.  There he waited for his prey.

Shortly Ranma appeared and Ryouga figuratively pounced.  "Ranma! I challenge you!"  He yelled into his face.

"Smells like bacon," Ranma remarked as he waved a hand in front of his face and grinned at Ryouga's sudden look of discomfort.

Grimacing in fury, Ryouga hissed, "I challenge you to a race Ranma."

"Yeah right, as if you find either the starting or finishing line, pork butt."

Ryouga grinned as he replied, "I seem to recall that I and Ukyou won the last race against you."

Ranma's face darkened as he snarled, "Ok, Ryouga you're on.  Name the course and terms and count on losing 'cause it's gonna be just you and me this time.  There won't be anybody else to pull your fat out of the fire."

Ryouga pointed to the Tendou dining table; "the table is the finish line.  Who ever returns and touches it first wins the race.  As far as the starting point, well, I'll have to show it to you.  The terms are simple; loser gives up on Akane.  Dare?"  He snarled as he held out his hand.

If Ranma hesitated, it was too short a time for any of the observers to notice as he replied, "you're on man.  Let's go."  He paused and grinned as he remarked, "all I gotta do is remember the way we go and it will be a piece of cake with your sense of direction."

Ryouga snickered as he undid one of his bandannas, "not if you're blindfolded all the way there."

Ranma paused in a rare moment of thought before answering; "I ain't wearing a blindfold if you ain't."

Ryouga hesitated at this obstacle and then smiled as he put a blindfold on himself, "agreed" he responded happily since knowing the way wouldn't have helped him anyway.

Nabiki captured Ranma's look of dumbfoundedness for posterity just before he shrugged and tied the blindfold over his eyes.  "Lead on P-chan," he said, grabbing a strap on Ryouga's ever-present backpack.

Ryouga happened to be facing the house doors at the time and the watching Tendous were amazed as he walked a straight line out of the house and then curved into the dojo.

Nabiki sighed, "There goes the blind leading the stupid."

"Oh, my, which is which?" asked Kasumi.

"I do believe they are interchangeable," groused Akane.  She growled, "I can't believe those two would make a bet with me as a prize."  Her face softened and she added, "I'm surprised that Ryouga would do that.  Does that mean he cares for me?"  She paused and laughed, "No, I see it now, he's just trying to protect me from Ranma."

Akane rose to her feet few moments later and sighed as she remarked, "I'd better go get those two idiots before they hurt themselves."

She quickly returned from the dojo, a look of confusion on her face.  "I couldn't find them.  We were watching the only door, yet they're not there.  A look of pain crossed her face as she muttered, "Ranma?  Ryouga . . ."

 * * * * Elsewhere . . . .

After Ryouga had blindfolded himself, he had paused and then reached out with his ki senses.  His were nowhere near as sharp as Ranma's and mainly used only for battle, but he thought that maybe they would help him now.  Before starting out he studied what his senses were telling him.  He could sort of 'see' a colored path before him.  He shrugged and stepped out onto the yellow looking path.  Surprisingly he didn't stumble for what seemed hours as he confidently strode along the faintly brick like trail, Ranma pacing behind Ryouga.

Ryouga stumbled to a stop as the path faded.  He grimaced and lifted up on the blindfold.  Not seeing anything familiar he shrugged and told Ranma, "Ok, we're at the starting line.  You ready?"

Ranma stared in awe at the immense desert surrounding them.  As Ryouga started off, Ranma made a move to follow him.  Ryouga stopped and said, "Pick your own direction, Saotome."

Ranma hesitated then shrugged as he started back along the tracks they had made.  He paused once to look behind him but Ryouga had quickly disappeared.  Soon their earlier footprints faded on the barren rock.  Ranma looked about himself, somberly studying the desolate wastes ringed with dry stony mountains on two sides.  As the sun set, he huddled against a sun-warmed rock when the temperature dropped.  He murmured to himself, "Idiot.  Following Ryouga, real smart, yeah, world class thinking there.  Now I'm so lost I don't got no idea on how to get home.  Ryouga's in the same fix except that he's used to it and somehow always gets home anyway.  Idiot, I can't believe he actually tricked me."

Ryouga was chuckling to himself as he strode along.  His smile grew wider as the canyon he was walking down gradually became a jungle.  His smile vanished when he noticed the double suns in the sky.  "Ranma, this is all your fault," he screamed in confusion.

 * * * * Rhuidean . . . .

In the tent of the Wise Ones, Amys dreamed as did the other Wise Ones with her.  The coming of 'He Who Comes With the Dawn' filled their waking and dreaming minds, but tonight seemed slightly different.  She dreamed of a flame haired girl fighting a dragon.

When she arose the next morning, the dreams of the night before were still vivid in her mind.  She puzzled over them briefly, but stored them in her mind to consider later instead of allowing them to distract her from her duties to her people, the 'people of the dragon', the Aiel.  Today was going to be a busy day if her dreaming the previous several months had been accurate.

That evening, she sighed as she looked in the direction of Rhuidean, the ancient mystic city of the Jenn Aiel.  Today the ancient laws of the Aiel had been broken thrice.  It was death for an outsider to enter Rhuidean yet the Wise Ones present had allowed the young warrior Rand al'Thor, his friend Matrim Cauthon and the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred to enter there.  Since Rand was Aiel by blood, technically he was permitted even though he had been brought up as an outlander.  But he was not part of any clan so testing at the glass columns ter'angreal known as the 'heart' of Rhuidean for clan chief was against custom.  Mat was not to do so, he was entering Rhuidean only because he had demanded the right to accompany Rand and Rand had convinced the Wise Ones to allow it.  Moiraine hadn't thought of going but was accidentally told she needed to enter the ter'angreal 'rings' of the apprenticed Wise Ones in order to perceive all the alternate paths that hers and Rand's lives could tangle together in.  Otherwise her death or Rand's or both would result.

She sat down to talk with the other Wise Ones; she knew that it would be at least four and no longer than nine more days before they came back, if they did.  Only one out of every three men survived.  Fortunately more of the women made it back since their test shattered fewer of their beliefs when it was first taken.  This she knew since a woman had to also take the chief's test after her apprenticeship as a Wise One was complete though unlike the men they were not marked with a golden dragon by the columns.

As she gazed to where the city was hidden, she could not know that yet another set of outlander eyes were also looking at the city as well.  Ranma had approached the valley from the deeper wastes that few survived, so this approach was not watched.  He had already spent two days in the desert and was becoming somewhat desperate when he noticed the misty veil that guarded the city.  Hoping for succor, he entered the mists.  His guard was up and he felt the energies that attempted to lead him in circles.  He resisted them and finally entered the city only to stop when he saw that it was in ruins.  He reconsidered that and decided it was abandoned before it was completed.

Ranma hesitated as he noticed a naked dark haired woman jog into sight.  He was too tired and thirsty to even blush when he saw her.  She paused only a moment before entering into what appeared to be a piece of statuary consisting of three large interlocking rings. 

Ranma was puzzled as he noticed she disappeared completely from view yet there did not seem to be anything to hide her.  His curiosity aroused, he slowly started toward where he'd seen her only to pause when he noticed the wet footsteps on the ground.  Panting, he started into a stumbling run, backtracking the steps until he came to a fountain.  It was no longer flowing but the basin was still filled with water.  Ranma dove into the water, clothes and all.

Though the water was slightly muddy, that did not prevent Ranma from drinking from it until she could hold no more.  She floated in the water, soaking up the moisture, allowing it to sooth her baked flesh.  Finally she sat up and looked around.  There was nobody in sight.  She pondered following the footsteps; she could see that they led toward what seemed a veritable forest of hundred foot tall thin glass columns.  In the end her curiosity prevailed and she decided to follow the woman she'd seen earlier.  Hopefully somebody could tell her where she was and how to get home.

Ranma hesitated when she was close enough to touch the rings.  It was pretty obvious that while there was no place for the woman she'd seen earlier to hide, it was equally obvious that she was not there.  The short redhead studied the rings for a few moments, extending her fighting ki senses.  She was surprised as she sensed the energy contained in the rings.  It wasn't ki and didn't seem to be magical either.  She could 'see' it but that was all.  She couldn't gather any more information other than it existed and was unlike anything she'd previously encountered.

Ranma thought about what she'd seen and finally decided that it was a doorway to somewhere else.  Maybe a doorway home though she doubted she'd be that lucky.  Ranma shrugged and walked through the ring.  Anyplace was better than here, she hoped.

As she stepped into the ring and disappeared, her wet clothes fluttered to the ground on the other side of it.  Not that Ranma noticed.  She seemed to be floating in a void filled with slowly shifting colors.  In them she saw a confusing multitude of paths before her.  No matter if she looked up, down or sideways, there were hundreds of paths spread out as she looked.  She noticed that they all involved her living her life as a girl.  She saw herself married to Kuno or Ryouga or Mousse or . .  . ewww.  She shuddered and quickly turned her head.  She noticed that each path actually seemed to end well for her, well except that one, ugh. 

She noticed that the Nerima paths were fading out slightly, puzzled, she studied several other paths that seemed to grow brighter and saw that the Nerima paths were now contingent upon choices she made in this new world.  Ranma grimaced as she realized that she would have to convince some tall, tattooed, fire-haired jerk to open a doorway to send her home.   She shrugged as she popped her knuckles 'that' shouldn't be a problem she grimly snickered to herself.

She studied the guy some more so she'd recognize him and then realized that he couldn't send her home until he had learned the technique elsewhere and she had taught him a few martial arts techniques as a 'power-up' as well.  She sighed in frustration; "this ain't fair!"  She snarled, "I ain't no babysitter."

In response, she noticed that her attention shifted to other paths.  In these, she lived her life in this new world.  In many of them she was slain by horrendous creatures.  In a few of them she married and raised a family, mostly successfully, but war encroached here as well.  Frequently she seemed to live her life as some sort of warrior maid.

"But I'm a GUY!" She yelled.  It startled her when the scenes blanked out around her leaving her floating in darkness so complete that it momentarily frightened her.  Suddenly she felt a familiar tingle pass over her as her body shifted to its male form.  The multi-pathed scene once again appeared before her, but this time it showed the possibilities for Ranma's birth form.

Ranma smiled as he noticed all the different paths that lead to him and Akane being together.  The smile faded as he saw that half resulted in his death.  Most of the remainder ended in divorce.  A few did not, but the cost to him was high.  Ranma swallowed hard and wondered if he really could give up martial arts just to keep peace with Akane.  Once she became the dominant martial artist in the relationship with him, then she was all smiles.

Ranma's eyes were a bit blurred as he turned away and then studied the few paths that had him married to Kodachi.  He shuddered and decided that the unmentionable marriage on the girl side wasn't all that bad in comparison.

Life with Ukyou seemed to fall into two categories, either she was wildly happy or he was.  In either case, they both seemed content, but which case depended on whether or not Ukyou was focused on being a wife or 'the best okonomiyaki chef in the world'.  Ranma sighed as he realized that a partnership with her would be flawed for one of them.

Speaking of partnerships, him . . . married to Nabiki?  No way!  Ranma peered closer, yep, and pretty happy too.  Seems Nabiki got a kick out of making Ranma happy.  Who would have guessed?  He grinned as he stored that information for further consideration though it bothered him that there were actually only a few paths for them where he and her actually got together.  Not surprisingly, most of his other paths with Nabiki involved some sort of business arrangement that was not to his favor or liking.

Ranma sighed as he looked at the last of the paths that were grouped with another individual.  There were a lot of seemingly random paths involving girls he'd barely or never met, those he ignored.  But Shampoo was not a girl to be ignored.  Ranma glanced over the paths with her, surprisingly; not a few of them showed him with multiple wives, mostly Amazons.  But a few also had either Akane or Ukyou with him and Shampoo; fewer still had both.  But it was a real eye opener to realize that Shampoo eliminated the negative impacts of either girl.  Almost all of the time lines with Shampoo turned out ok.  Unfortunately, most of them ended up with Ranma living in China and eventually taking a subservient role to Shampoo as she matured.  Ranma scratched his head confused as to why his future self looked so happy though.  Must be potions he concluded at first.  On second thought, 'maybe it's not potions' he muttered to himself as he noticed how many kids he had in these timelines.

Once again the Nerima paths faded somewhat in intensity and revealed themselves to now be dependent on his actions in this new world he found himself in.  Ranma sighed as he realized that he was in fact in another world.  The rings had revealed that to him when they showed his future possibilities.  Still it was hard to accept.  All of the paths started to fade into a few choices.  In one grouping, male Ranma lay dead in a few weeks, in a thousand different ways.  In another grouping, Ranma fled back the way he came, again there were a thousand sub-strands.  In one, he found Ryouga and followed him to freedom.  Even as he watched, this option faded.  In a few others, he escaped over the mountains to end up a slave.  In almost all of those that remained, he died in the wasteland.  There were a few nebulous paths where he couldn't see the start or the end but saw clips of possibilities.  A few of these featured him sharing his life with . . . with his cursed form?  Whoa, weird he thought to himself.

In the last major grouping of paths, Ranma saw himself become a girl and the path became those paths he'd seen for his girl side.  Teach and defend somebody who was marked with some weird dual tattoos on his arms until that person was able to open a path home.  At that point the path split several times.  On one major path, he saw the Nerima crew and the girl/guy choices he'd already seen for home.  On the other path of this initial split, the one where he did not use the gate home he saw yet another split.  On one sub-path, he saw all the womanly and warrior Maiden choices again.  But on the final remaining sub-path he saw nothing.  Not that there was not a path, there was but it seemed to turn a corner and was no longer visible.  But one of the shadows he saw on this path seemed to be male.

Ranma snared, "BULL, there ain't no way I'm gonna live as a girl!"  At that moment, he tumbled to the ground.  Ranma shakily looked about himself.  Noticing he was naked, he hurriedly put his clothes back on barely noticing that they were now dry.  He then stumbled back to the fountain to get some more water.  It seemed to him that it had been days since he'd last drunk anything again.  Ranma paused as he looked into the basin, over half the water he'd seen before was now gone.

He shrugged and drunk his fill, thankful that the sediment had settled and the remaining water was clear.  Ranma decided that perhaps the two guys who'd made the tracks he'd first followed might have some ideas.  He'd follow them and talk with them, couldn't hurt he supposed.

As Ranma entered the first of the glass columns he felt a moment of disorientation.  It seemed as if a message flashed across his eyes; a very strange message, yet vaguely familiar in a way.  Humm, his friends Hiroshi & Daisuke had used words like it and Nabiki had named it 'techno-geek-speak'.  Yeah, that was it.  What did 'thread failure', 're-sequence' and 'null option override' mean anyway?  Was this thing some sort of computer or what?

'Or what' he decided.  He'd vaguely heard of something called virtual reality, this sure seemed to be like it, sorta.  Ranma lived part of Genma's life as he trained under Happosai.  For the first time he felt some sympathy for his father. 

Ranma took another step forward.  He then lived parts of Happosai's life as well seeing what drove him to develop his school. 

Yet another step between the glass columns, then it seemed he saw the blood lines of his parents briefly flicker backwards in time before fading into a stylized dragon symbol.

Ranma shook his head, he noticed two men some small distance in front of him.  One was on his knees and even as Ranma watched, he fixed a black cloth over his lower face and screamed "I am Aiel" as his mouth spewed bloody froth.  His fingernails ripped his throat open; he fell over, stiffened and was still.  Ranma hesitated then realizing that nothing could be done, he looked to the second man.  The other had ignored them both and unsteadily took another step forward between the columns, vanishing from Ranma's sight again.

Not wanting to lose sight of him, Ranma hurriedly took another step toward him only to once again be plunged into another reality.  This time he seemed to be in a weird sort of 'overview'.  He wasn't anybody or anything, but he could perceive what was happening in the world.  He saw a wondrous world below.  It was much like home in so many ways.  The technology was high and the land peaceful.  Then the world broke.  Ranma saw the people scattered and saw their attempts to survive and make a new world for themselves.  He wondered at a feudal world that seemed to be manipulated by sorceress-like women who lived in a white tower.  He saw the origins of the city he was in and the people who guarded it.  He shuddered again at the harshness of their life and the fierceness of the elder women who guided them.  They reminded him so much of Cologne in everything except height.  They were all rather tall, he noted, and very powerful it seemed.

Ranma stumbled past the last of the glass columns and fell to his knees, dizzy.  He saw the tall man he seen earlier, but this time he was with another man.  They were fighting dust?  No, animated dust devils he realized.  Suddenly the taller man drew energy to himself and used it to disrupt all their opponents.  The two fled into the mist before the creatures could reform. 

Ranma marked where the two men had gone.  He hesitantly started forward, but the disturbance ended before he neared the rippling dust.  Cautiously Ranma once again entered the mist and made his way out of it.  He paused on the other side and noted that dawn was approaching.  Ranma searched for tracks and eventually located some that he hoped were those he needed.

Ranma lost the trail a few times so it was nearly mid-afternoon before he saw the tents spread out on the hillside above him.  There were three groupings, two large ones with a much smaller one between them.

Mindful of the harsh images he'd been shown in the unfinished city in the valley behind him, Ranma decided to approach the smaller tent grouping first.

Ranma was barely a hundred feet from the first tent when a white-haired woman left the tent and stared at him in shock.  He saw her eyes widen at something she saw on him.  Puzzled, Ranma examined his clothes, stopping suddenly when he noticed the golden dragon like tattoo on his right arm.  As he lifted it to his face to see better, the old crone gave voice to an undulating wail.

In moments, hundreds of armed warriors had rushed to stand about a hundred feet away in two groups on either side of Ranma

A fiery haired angry man snarled, "So Wise Ones, yet ANOTHER outlander at Rhuidean.  What is your justification this time for flaunting our ancient laws?"  Ranma could see that this one was aching to kill yet he was held in check by the cold eyes of the four women who were now standing together.  Ranma shuddered as he sensed their auras of authority.

The one who had sounded the warning chuckled.  To Ranma it sounded like the laugher of Cologne on being told that Happosai had developed a cold and needed her help, mirthless and merciless too.  She looked at the man as she pointed to Ranma and said, "twice now you have nearly broken the 'peace of Rhuidean'.  To 'honor' your obedience to our laws, I now give you Couladin and the Shaido the task capturing this outsider.  You must take him at least a full day's travel from Rhuidean before you kill him though."

"But why?" asked Ranma.  "I'm a stranger, lost in the desert.  I did nothing wrong in the ruined city, certainly nothing worth dying for."

Before they could answer, a tall man in the opposite group of warriors spoke.  "I am Rhuarc, a clan chief as is made known by these markings," he answered as he raised his left arm to show a golden dragon tattoo.  He pointed to Ranma, "you are marked as well but on the wrong arm.  That shows you have entered the heart of Rhuidean and are an outsider.  By our laws you must die."

With that, the several hundred Shaido Aiel in the opposite group converged on Ranma.  Ranma leapt high over them and made a run for their tents.  Rhuarc's Jindo sept clansmen were soon engulfed in laughter as they watched Ranma dodge through the Shaido tents and make mockery of their skills.

Ranma didn't think it was funny though.  His fists had laid nearly fifty of the men out cold when before he encountered the first of the warrior Maidens.  She had momentarily decked him, but her cry of triumph became short lived as he leg swept her and tossed her into the oncoming warriors.  Her hard body caught them at shin height and the entire front rank tripped and knocked those following them off balance too.  The howls of laughter from the opposite Aiel camp didn't help either.

Momentarily alone, Ranma swept a watering bag up and upended it over his head, triggering his curse.  She quickly tossed a blanket around herself and sat down as the horde swept into the tent.  She quickly pointed and said, "He went that way."  They were gone in a moment.  Ranma sighed until she noticed the girl she'd tossed was staring at her.

"Who are you?" The warrior Maiden asked.

Ranma gulped knowing that any version of the truth would be fatal.  "Un, I . . . I'm part of that tall red-headed guy's group."

She frowned, "you mean the one who claims the title of 'he who comes with the dawn'.  The outlander who was allowed to go to Rhuidean, the ones who hides with the Wise Ones now?"

"Uh, yes?  I think so."

The girl snarled, "You abuse the peace of Rhuidean, get out of my tent, NOW!"

Ranma dropped the blanket and stepped out of the tent.  She slowly made her way to the small group of tents, heart in hand.  She glanced at her arm and was both thankful and puzzled that the golden tattoo was absent.  From the paths she'd been shown, she knew that this part of the trail was precarious indeed.  The suspicious eyes that regarded her only reinforced her discomfort.

{author's note, Wise Ones go to heart of Rhuidean and are not marked, thus girl Ranma not marked either.}

As she approached the tents, the same white haired old crone she'd first seen earlier stepped out; she stopped in mid stretch and froze in place staring at Ranma.

About then Couladin came panting up and snarled, "Amys! Yet another outsider at Rhuidean?"

Before he could continue, Amys, the Wise One before them, barked, "And have you caught the last one I gave you yet?  NO!  Then go and do as you were told."

Face flushed with fury, Couladin stomped off but not before snarling, "She wears similar clothes.  She must be in league with him.  She is not to be trusted.  No outsiders can be trusted."

Amys held the tent flap open and beckoned to Ranma, "hurry girl."

"I ain't no . . . awh, never mind," she grumbled as she quickly entered the tent.  Once inside she paused at the sight of the others, but Amys pushed Ranma to the floor as she entered behind her.  Amys paused as she laced the tent flap closed, a signal that the Wise Ones were not to be disturbed.

Ranma glared at Amys and snarled, "you . . ." Only to be cut off as other three Wise Ones abruptly sat up in eerie unison, each glaring at her as Amys had and was.

"Unh oh," muttered Ranma as she prepared to flee once again.

The battle spell was broken as Egwene smiled and passed a water bag to Ranma.  Ranma sighed and visibly relaxed as she gratefully drank the cool water.

"Girl," started Amys only to be interrupted by Ranma.

"Name's Ranma ya old hag," stated Ranma nonchalantly.

Ranma became aware that the girl and two of the older women were suddenly building up some kind of energy field.  She thought to herself, "Well, I can play that game too."  Ranma formed a ball of ki in her hand and held it there.  Suddenly she felt the other's energy sliding over her but it seemed to be repulsed by the ki that was flooding her being.

"Amazing," one whispered.

"It's not saidar," stated Egwene.  "I can't shield her."

"The flows of air that I weave just slip or flow off her," said a surprised Amys.

"Enough!" snapped Blair.  "Are we Shaido to also break the peace of Rhuidean just because we are in our tents?"

The others sat back, Blair turned a harsh eye toward Ranma, "girl, you should show some courtesy to your elders."

Ranma paused and then quietly observed, "ya know, it's odd.  There always seems to be some old woman or perverted old man demanding courtesy but somehow they never bother to follow their own advice.  They demand what they refuse to show others."

Blair's stone face impossibly stiffened even more before she sighed and said, "Ranma, my apologies.  My name is Blair, be welcome to my tent."

"Blair," Ranma bowed slightly and added, "thank you for your hospitality."

Blair smiled and said, "I am surprised to see you here though you were expected."

Amys looked at Blair, "you dreamed of her too?"  At Blair's confirming nod, she looked to the other two Dream-walker Wise Ones.  They also nodded.  Amys said, "I dreamed a flame haired girl was beating on a dragon . . ."

"But the dragon became stronger the more she beat on it . . ." said Blair.

Seana continued, "but when the girl was absent the dragon became weaker and slothful and . . ."

". . . took unneeded harm because of it.  The dragon was stronger when the girl beat on him," Melaine finished.

"Ranma," asked Amys.  "Where do you come from?"

Ranma pointed toward Rhuidean.

"Where is your home and who are your people?" asked Egwene.  "You don't look Aiel except for your hair."

Ranma hesitated, oh, well, it really couldn't get worse, she hoped anyway.  "I'm not from this planet.  Someone who I thought was a friend, tricked me into getting lost on this world away from my own."

Egwene's brow furrowed, "you mean you are from one of those other worlds that the portal stones can take us too?"

Ranma was at her side in an instant, "portal stone.  You mean there is something that lets you go to other worlds?  Can you get me home?"

Egwene was startled, but she answered.  "Well, they do go to other worlds.  But right now Rand is the only one that knows how to use them and only barely at that."

Ranma gently slapped her palm over the center of her face and muttered, "Let me guess.  Rand is some tall, red-headed jerk with twin double tattoos."

"You've met him?" wondered Egwene.

Ranma sighed, "No, in the rings, I saw him and how my only chance to get home was by training him in my fighting styles until he learned enough and grew strong enough to be able to send me home."  She paused then said thoughtfully, "Though that guy I saw in glass columns looked a lot like him."

"In the rings?" gasped Blair, eldest of the Wise Ones there.

"Did you enter the rings?" asked golden haired Melaine.

The Wise Ones sighed in unison as Ranma nodded.

"Tell me you didn't go to the glass pillars," pleaded Seana.

At Ranma's answering flush they all slumped further into the pillows they were leaning on.

"Fighting style?" Amys asked, "are you a warrior then?"

Ranma's cocky smirk spread across her face, "the BEST.  I am Ranma Saotome, the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, one of the most dangerous styles in my world."

Seana snorted and stated, "That's unimportant.  What are we going to do about her going to Rhuidean and not only taking the test for apprentice Wise One but the final test as well?  If she were Aiel, she'd be considered one of us, a Wise One, despite having no training at all.

Melaine sighed and asked, "Ranma, you are dressed the same as another outlander who violated the laws of Rhuidean today.  Is he a countryman of yours?  Are there more of your people to come?"

Ranma hesitated, she was NOT going to tell about her curse until she absolutely had to, so she needed some sort of answer that wasn't truly a lie.  Ranma knew she had the world's worse poker face and she also suspected that the four older women at least could tell if she actually lied outright.  Ranma slowly replied, "He's a kinsman of sorts.  And it's just the two of us."  She smiled and added, "I can say this, he won't bother ya as long as I am around."

Seana studied the short girl for a few moments before observing, "You know, with her fiery hair and matching complexion, she could pass for Aiel except for being so short."

Blair thought for a moment and added, "That might work.  But we need a plausible reason for her to be teaching fighting skills to the Car'a'carn."

"Huh?"

Seeing Ranma's confusion, Egwene volunteered, "She means Rand.  That's his Aiel title, it means chief of chiefs."

Amys looked at Ranma and then at Blair.  "There is a precedent.  Rand's mother was an outsider who was adopted into the Maidens of the Spear.  If she was to become a Maiden; that would allow Ranma to teach Rand."

Melaine thought for a moment and then slowly said, "There are rumors of Aiel families and holds of small almost renegade septs that live in isolation on the edge of the great waste where it is said that none can survive."  She paused, noting that she had their attention, "and Ranma did say she came to Rhuidean from that direction."

Amys nodded and replied, "I will claim she is of the Taardad clan, of a previously unknown sept, the Saotome sept and hold, which has perished, leaving only herself.  My husband Rhuarc is clan chief, I will ask his backing."

Ranma started to protest only to subside as she realized that strictly speaking, she was the only Saotome on the planet.  She looked to Blair and asked, "What do I need to know in order for this to work?"

One or the other of the four Wise Ones spent several hours taking turns briefing Ranma on Aiel culture.  Ranma surprised Egwene at how readily she absorbed some of the information.  It appeared that many of the Asian honor and 'face' concepts bore a strong resemblance to the Aiel ji'e'toh.  For her part Ranma explained about ki.  Egwene and the four Aiel Wise Ones were very surprised to learn that it was a visible use of Ranma's own life energy.

That evening, Ranma slept in the same tent as Egwene and early the next morning was introduced to Aviendha whom Ranma learned had returned from Rhuidean only an hour after she had.  Amys instructed her to teach Ranma the ways of the 'Maidens of the Spear'.  The last part of this instruction was very brief.  Ranma demonstrated her mastery of combat, tossing Aviendha on her tail five times in ninety seconds despite the Aiel girl using her weapons and Ranma being nominally unarmed.

Once the match was complete, a fuming Aviendha began to systematically destroy her weapons.

Ranma stood there, stunned as she watched what appeared to her to be a temper tantrum. 

Egwene came and stood beside her and whispered, "It has nothing to do with her loosing those matches to you.  She was ordered to leave the Maidens and become an apprentice Wise One.  She is required to destroy all her weapons."  She needlessly added, "She's not happy about it either."

Ranma thought about it for a few moments before snickering softly, "at least 'my weapons' can't ever be taken from me."

Amys escorted Ranma to the Jindo tents of the Aiel warrior society, the Maidens of the Spear and introduced her to Adelin, one of the older warrior Maidens.

Adelin tested her, tests that Ranma passed due to Amys and Aviendha's coaching.  Soon Ranma was taking the oaths that made her a Maiden of the Spear, the Far Dareis Mai.  Promising to not marry or have a family as long as she was a Far Dareis Mai was easy for Ranma to do.  For the next two weeks, Far Dareis Mai Ranma was mostly sequestered until she had learned the rudiments of Maiden hand talk and some of the lore of her new society and people. 

For the time being, Ranma had resigned herself to living as a warrior maid.  The kill on sight orders for her male form still stood and this desert was a long way from anywhere else she could live.  There were a few bright spots though.

The second morning since she had become a 'Maiden' started early for Ranma.  Nervous from sleeping in the midst of a tent full of mostly nearly nude Maidens, Ranma woke instantly as another Maiden leant down to waken her.  She quickly became a fast friend with Enaila, a short redhead of the Jarra sept of Chareen Aiel.  Enaila could have been mistaken for Ranma's twin sister, the two looked so alike.  Their friendship started when the two met that morning and Enaila had noticed that she could look Ranma straight in the eyes, finally, someone who was not taller than herself.  Her grin had sparked one on Ranma's face, of such trivialities are friendships born.

During these two weeks, the only time Ranma was allowed out of the Jindo Far Dareis Mai society area was for an hour just at dawn.  At both Blair's and Amy's insistence, Ranma began to teach Rand some hand-to-hand skills.  For the rest of her day, various Maidens taught Ranma.

Each morning as Ranma woke Rand up for training, she noticed that Aviendha was not taking her change in status very well as she sulked; reluctantly talking to Rand only when forced to while all the Aiel who had been at Rhuidean began to march toward the 'golden bowl' where the announcement that Rand was chief of chiefs would be proclaimed.  Despite Aviendha's attitude, Ranma was puzzled by the glares that the other girl directed at her.  'She couldn't be jealous?' thought Ranma to herself.

It was a long boring two weeks for Ranma.  There had been a brief battle of some sort the third night out or so.  Ranma shuddered at the memory.

"Gah!" yelped Ranma as she saw her first ever Trolloc, dead like all the others that had attacked them.  "What the hell is that thing?" she asked her friend Enaila. 

"One of the Dark One's minions," responded the wary Maiden as she kept glancing about herself.  Ranma studied the carcasses and decided that the 'no-killing' precept of her school did not apply to such creatures; especially after Enaila had told her some of their less savory habits such as making stew from children.

Both she and Enaila had missed the fighting.  Ranma because it had ended before she'd fully awakened, much to her disgust and the irritation of her mentors.  Her mentors had thereafter begun a training program of their own involving sneak attacks on her when she appeared to be sleeping too soundly.  They did not expect Ranma to retaliate in kind.  It turned out that Enaila had a broad mischievous streak and quickly grew to consider Ranma almost a first sister.  With her guidance and Ranma's skills, a good night's sleep became somewhat rare for all in the Jindo Maidens' tents.  More than once, the two of them used their uncanny similarity to each other to deceive the other Maidens as to who they were dealing with.

Ranma carefully fluffed the pillow and arranged the improvised wig to strengthen the impression that it was Ranma asleep on the pallet in the small tent she now shared with her friend Enaila.  Just before the two of them left, Ranma refreshed the pool of hot chi that was trapped within the confines of the tent.

Enaila grinned at her as she also finished with her part of the bait.  Both of them faded into the shadows as they prepared to wait out the attack that they had overheard being planned on them.

Ranma snickered silently to herself as she watched the approaching shadows carefully avoid the path and entrance to their tent.  Only a few nights earlier she had used her ki to dig a pit in front of the tent opening and fill it with as fine a dust as her ki could sweep into the hole.

The memory of the results was delicious to say the least.

The three Maidens who had decided to startle Ranma and Enaila had jumped into the front of the tent entrance screaming out a war cry.  Well, that had been their intention anyway.  Their screams changed crescendo as they vanished out of sight into the dust pit.

Ranma had used her ki to encourage the resulting dust plume to fall over those Maidens who had answered the resulting shrieks.  None were particularly pleased; especially when they looked into the tent to see that Ranma and Enaila were both apparently still sleeping; though it was admittedly hard for the two redheads to suppress their giggles at the time.

Ranma had later learned that those involved had tried to use the sweat tent to get clean only to end up covered in mud.  That had frustrated the those Maidens all the more.  The laughter of the other Maidens hadn't helped the matter either.

However, tonight they planned for something else.

Ranma watched as the shadows resolved itself into a dozen Maidens who each cautiously peered into the tent to assure themselves where their quarry was positioned.

Ranma noticed that each of then carried some sort of container.  Enaila later told her that each basket contained either an irritating herb or insect; nothing life threatening, but something sure to make their life miserable.

As the other maidens had advanced, Ranma had slowly circled them wrapped in her father's cloaking technique while laying down a thick layer of cold chi that was unnoticed in the cool desert night. 

Ranma and Enaila grinned at each other as each of the other Maidens simultaneously stepped forward, slashed the tent in a dozen places and tossed their basket into the tent hole they had just made.

Before their adversaries could retreat, Ranma 'ignited' the hot and cold chi she'd laid down.  A small tornado formed instantly and was then fueled by the other Maidens' excitement.  It wasn't particularly dangerous, other than the fact that it swept the dozen Maidens into the tent and then lifted everything a few meters into the air.  It also caught up another two dozen watching Maidens who responded to their shrieks.  These Maidens all ended up experiencing what they had planned for Ranma and Enaila.

Ranma and Enaila could barely stand up for their laughter but this was moderated by fact that they ended up sleeping on the ground the next evening but thought it well worth it.  In the following few days, 'defeated' Maidens had more than replaced the belongings that the two diminutive red heads had lost in an effort to restore their own honor.  Ranma's original clothes were lost but they were replaced by a half dozen changes of the over shirt and breeches or the cadin'sor that were the normal wear for all Maidens.  Ranma's fit her far tighter than her original red silk shirt and loose pants and made her really apprehensive about what would happen if hot water should find her while in them.

On the other hand, Ranma began to teach the other Maidens some of her skills as well.  They were very impressed and soon there was a steady stream of Maidens eager to be introduced to this new fighting style.  Ranma had been a bit reluctant at first until she'd heard that the Maidens were Rand's bodyguard.  She'd changed her mind and now relished her time as a sensei, a role she filled surprisingly well.

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Somewhere else, Ryouga sighed happily as he looked over the terraced fields and thought to himself; 'Finally! Finally I'm getting back to civilization.'  He froze in place as the huge bronze dragon soared overhead.  Somehow the sight of a man sitting on the immense beast's neck did little to comfort him.

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Akane glared at her competitors and snarled, "Leave me alone!  I don't know where that baka got himself lost.  If you want him then just go and find him."

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Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Pages.

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          And -mysite.verizon.net (slash) cloud-dreamer/index.html

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