Disclaimer: See first chapter I really don't like repeating myself.
Chapter 2.
David Judd was not happy. He was quite happy to live in his own little word, play his war games, and try to survive high school. It was not funny when the woman who he knew liked him suddenly told him he had to pack up and leave his happy little home and go to this place that he might not come out of alive. No scratch that, he would be extremely lucky to walk away from this alive. His anger increased when Jo Dee 'No wait scratch that Jolyen Sedi now.' He thought angrily, brought him here and dumped him with some people he had never met before let alone trusted. He sighed. Normally he could win an argument against Jo Dee. But now he had a feeling that if he tried he would be jerked around like a puppet on a string.
"Hurry up stork boy! I will not have a day dreamer in my charge." Lorn called to David. "Especially one practically bound to Jolyen Sedi." David barely had time to get his sword up before Lorn attacked. He had surprised Lorn he knew, with what he already knew of the weapon but he was still not good enough. He had fallen on his butt enough times to attest to that.
Toby broke the metallic silence between the two fighters with a question. "Lorn, what does 'bound' mean? You've talked about me being 'bound' to Faith as soon as she's raised, which I don't understand either and now you're tell in Dave that he's as good as 'bound' to Jo Dee. What the hell does it men?"
Lorn looked surprised. "To be bound to an Aes Sedi is the greatest honor a warder can hope to accomplish. It means that you serve and protect that woman with your life. You learn the arts of war better than others in hopes of defending her with your last breath. Through the bond you can feel each others emotions, know what the other is thinking. However the bond also means that if she gives you an order you must fulfill it, even if it is as dire as leaving her to die on the battle field as you seek healing."
"So it's almost like you're married to her?" Toby asked again.
"No boy. The bond is deeper than marriage. Her emotions are your emotions, your weaknesses are more dangerous to her then they are to you." Lorn replied shortly.
"What happens if the bond breaks?" David asked quietly. Lorn looked grim.
"Let's hope that never happens to either one of you." He said with steel in his voice that said louder than words that he spoke from experience. "You, stork, are lucky to have Jolyen Sedi choose you. She is from the Green Ajah and will most likely have more warders then just you and she will not have to depend upon your poor swordsmanship in a time of dire peril. Now guard!" He said as he swung his sword at David.
~*~
The women were in the tower being led back to the Amyriln seat. Jolyen needed Siuan's approval on two matters. One she needed to be raised back to a full sister and two she wanted to hand train her friends. She looked at the two women trailing behind her. If the Black Ajah was really loose on the tower she did not trust the other women in the tower to train her friends. She knew all they would be taught and any other talents such as dreaming or healing could be trained by women who she trusted. After all it was her right to see how they were trained, she did discover their talents and they were her friends.
"Jo what is going on?" Faith asked her. "What the hell does all this mean?" Jolyen sighed.
"This was my life before I went across the stones. I was a full Aes Sedi sister able to channel the one power at will. You Faith have the potential to channel that power, to do what I do, and that is needed now. Both of you sit down and I'll fill you in on what's going on here." She sat her two friends down on a bench in the hall and began to speak. She told them about Rand Al'Thor and the story of the breaking and how men who could channel were generally feared as a rule and were gentled to prevent them going mad. She told them everything she knew about recent events and those of the past that would affect them in the future. When she was finished the sun had sunk low on the horizon.
"I think it's time for diner and I need a drink." Jolyen said and the others agreed.
"Hey Jo, you said you used to be a full sister. What happened?" Jamie asked. Jolyen sighed. She knew this was going to crop up.
"Faith, Jamie, I was accused of using Balefire. I had a choice, either cross the stones and never return or be stilled. And being stilled scared me more then the world on the other side of the stones. To be stilled would mean I could never touch the power again, I would always be able to sense it but I would never again feel its sweet flows of power rushing though me. And trust me the fact that I had a choice was very kind, normally if a woman is found guilty she is stilled. I was only given a choice because I was framed."
~*~
Toby and David stumbled their way back to the tower and were shown to their rooms by novices ordered by Jolyen to help the young men. The novices waited outside their doors as Toby and David changed and washed, they then showed the men to the kitchen where they could eat.
Toby looked up as he heard Faith's voice coming from down the hall. He saw her walking away from him and he broke into a run to catch up to her. When he did he saw that someone had changed her out of her jeans and tank top and put her in a dress. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. She smiled and hugged him tightly.
Their happiness did not last long. Soon a young girl in an Accepted's dress shattered their peace. She came panting, as if she had run a long way.
"Milady, the mother craves a word with you and your charges. She says it's urgent." She managed to pant out to Jolyen.
"Well then, we mustn't keep the mother waiting." Jolyen said as she gathered her skirts and motioned for the others to follow her. She led them down a twisting route to the mother's chambers.
In twenty or so minuets she had led the others down to the chambers of Siuan Sanche, the Amyriln Seat and the leader of Tar Valon. She knocked on the door, only to be stopped but the Keeper and finally let through with a scowl.
"Welcome my children." Siuan said as they entered the room.
"May it be that I speak for all of us when I say may the Light illuminate you, mother." Jolyen said with a curtsey. "You summoned us mother?"
"Yes I did." She motioned to the other people in the room. "Jolyen do you know who these people are?" She continued when Jolyen shook her head. "This man is Rand Al'Thor, the man beside him is Perrin Aybara, the woman beside you is Moraine Sedi and her warder al'Lan Mandragoran, and our final member is Matrim Cauthon. I'm sure you have heard of them since your return. I have taken great pains to get them here. Would you care to introduce your companions?" Jolyen nodded and spoke.
"The tall dark haired man beside me is David Judd, the other man with us is Toby Herndon, the red haired woman behind me is Jamie Black and the woman with short cropped brown hair is Faith Johnson. And I am Jolyen Sedi of the Green Ajah." She curtsied again. "It is an honor for all of us to be in your presence Lord Dragon, surely the tower has rarely seen such a grand gathering. Mother, may I ask why I was summoned?"
The Amyriln grinned and motioned for the new arrivals to sit. "Now that we are all here I can begin. As you well know the Dark One is breaking the seals on his prison left and right. It's like having a shark in a minnow net. It's only a matter of time until the net breaks." She looked at them all with a level stare to drive her point home. "I will not risk him breaking loose at any cost. This is one shark that has to stay in his net. Otherwise who knows what will happen. Rand I understand that you need to fight him, but you're not ready yet. Jolyen Sedi has brought us a weapon that none of us were expecting. She has brought us the Phoenix. There are virtually no prophesies containing the Phoenix, some that do say that he would not rise again until after the second breaking. So naturally none of us were expecting our outcast to bring him back to us." She gifted Jolyen with a smile.
"He was not supposed to be born on the other side. If Jolyen wasn't already there and Egwene hadn't dreamed him we would have never found him. Rand he is to help you fight the Dark One." Siuan finished. Jolyen looked around before she stood up.
"Mother as much as I was expecting this, and as much as I though I was ready, I cannot give up one of my friends to a war that isn't theirs. I shouldn't have even brought them here. They were safe where they were. Mother I have nearly 50 years under my belt and the eldest of my friends has only 17! I will not make them fight and die when they could be safe. It was a mistake to bring them here; I am taking them home tomorrow morning." Jolyen stood up and strode from the room. Her friends looked at each other. David shook his head and followed after her.
"Umm... I have no idea why we're here. Jamie? Any clue? Didn't think so. Miss. Amyriln ma'am? Jo's right, she didn't want to bring us here. It's not her fault that she's looking after us. I'd do the same thing in her shoes. David's gone to calm her down and bring her back." Faith spoke fist.
"David and I know some of the risks in being here, not all by a long shot but still some. I want to help, David does too but he'll never say a work to piss off Jo Dee, sorry Jolyen Sedi. I personally have really no clue what's going on but if it's bad enough to make Jo lose her cool it must be big." Toby said cautiously. The Amyriln sighed and continued without the other two.
~*~
It was early in the morning when the council ended for sleep. Toby sighed regretfully; he had only a few scant hours to sleep before training. He latched onto Faith before escorting her to her room and walking back to his alone.
He felt as though he had barely closed his eyes when he was being shaken awake by Lorn. As he wiped the sleep from his eyes Lorn began throwing clothes at him. Breaches, a lacing necked shirt and coat. He fumbled into his outfit as the warder left, presumably to wake up David.
Bleary eyed he walked to the kitchen in hopes of being fed only to find himself being swept out by a large woman holding a spoon like a scepter. His stomach growled and reminded him of his lack of dinner the night before and his scant lunch. He stumbled down the halls he remembered in hopes of finding the training yard. He did not succeed.
Instead of the training yards he found himself face to face with the man called Rand Al'Thor. Or at least he though it might be him; his memory didn't work well when he was half asleep and hungry. He bowed yawning before the other man and once again began walking in the direction he hoped the fields were in.
He stopped at Rand's laughter. "You're going the wrong way. Forgive me if I don't remember your name from last night, I wasn't quite awake. If you're looking for the warder fields you have to go back the way you came. Come, I'll show you." Toby just blinked awkwardly. They stood there for long moments before Toby shrugged and followed Rand down the hall.
"Sorry, I barely remember your name, but I was told you were important. Why is that?" Toby asked half asleep.
"You don't know? Well that new. Where do you come from?"
"Buffalo New York, although I highly doubt you'll know where that is. Nor do I think you'll know where the United States are because they don't exist here. So spare a few words for a stupid tourist." Toby said irritably.
"You would get along with Mat. But honestly no one has told you about the breaking and the Dragon or any of it?" At Toby's nod he stopped dead in the hall. "Well this we have to fix. Come with me I'm sure Lan and Lorn won't care if you miss one day's practice." He led Toby down the hall to the warder's fields and cornered Lan.
After explaining the predicament he took both Toby and David with him to explain what was going on.
~*~
"No, Faith! Light you could have just killed us all with that!" Jolyen yelled at her friend. "You have to picture the void not try to create one in the room!" She sighed.
"Jo, I'm trying! But not all of us are air headed bimbos who don't need to put forth effort to think of nothing!" Faith shot back. Jolyen only showed a small widening of her eyes before Faith was picked up and floating in midair, and then pinned against the wall.
"By thinking of nothing I was just able to thicken the Air around you so you cannot move or fight back. If you would just master creating the void in your mind you could have fought back. At this moment I could shield you from the Power and you would not be able to fight back until I loosened my hold." She replied calmly, right before Faith fell to the ground and she was the one flying.
"loosen up Faith I can't breathe." She said calmly. Faith did as she was told and was soon being restrained and shielded as Jolyen slid gracefully to the ground. "Very good! If you can learn to do that without me making you fly I will be very happy." Jolyen called it a day right before noon and Jamie took Faith down to the fields to see how the guys were doing.
~*~
"What do you mean the guys are gone?!" Jamie screamed at the stone faced warder. "Those are two of the only four people I know here you better damn well find them!"
"from what I understand it is not a novices place to order any about. Even if you are from another world I will not obey a woman young enough to be my daughter, unless I am bound to her." Lan said calmly. "Now return to your studies novice."
"Grrr! Men here are so, so irritating!" Faith yelled for all to hear.
"I agree with you completely." Nynaeve said from behind them. "But where I come from they are far more stubborn. I am Nynaeve by the way; we were not introduced properly before." Jamie and Faith jumped at the sound of her voice but calmed when they saw she meant no harm.
"I'm Faith and the airhead next to me is Jamie." Faith announced. Jamie glared.
"Yeah, I'm with stupid." Jamie said jerking her thumb at Faith. Nynaeve grinned.
"What were you two trying to get out of Lan? I might be able to help in that area." She said with a cryptic smile.
"I don't what to know what goes on behind that door, but I do what to know where my boyfriend and David are." Faith said.
"Your boyfriend?"
"You know, my worse half, significant other, Prince of Darkness..." At the last name Nynaeve tugged on her braid. "Whoa, calm down you don't want to tare that out by the roots do ya? It's just a nick name. You know like calling someone a stubborn ass?" Faith continued.
"Oh you mean your lover! I can help with that, wait here." Nynaeve walked back up to Lan just as the boys walked around the corner with Rand and Mat. Faith ran at them and jumped on Toby, wrapping both arms and legs around him; as if he could disappear at any moment. The others laughed, until they looked over and saw Nynaeve and Lan locked in what looked to be a very passionate embrace.
"You two came with these boys right?" Mat asked. Jamie nodded as Faith clung tighter to Toby. "Did someone at least tell you what you're up against?" Again Jamie nodded. "Good." Mat concluded.
"Have any of you seen Jo- sorry Jolyen?" David asked. Jamie shook her head.
"Not since noon." Faith called from her position on Toby's lap after the two had found a bench to sit on.
"I wonder where she is." David said off handedly as he sat down with two of his friends and watched Jamie follow as Mat and Rand walked away.
~*~
"Mother, please! I cannot test them! I cannot ask Toby or David to try to touch Saiden! The taint..." Jolyen ranted pacing. She was cut of by Siuan.
"Will not affect them. They are not of this world Jolyen." Siuan said calmly. "I think I was wrong in giving you back your ring and shawl. You are not thinking clearly in this matter. You are thinking with your heart not your mind. If one of them is the Phoenix then he will help Rand and the others are free to go, you included. I know that if the Phoenix is Toby Faith will not follow you back, but if it is the other boy, David, all the rest of you are free to go. The girls could leave now if they wished. You could save all but one Jolyen. That is all I can offer you."
"But mother! The last time, and come to think of it the only time, the Phoenix rose he surrendered his life to save the Dragon! He killed himself! I can't let that happen to one of my boys! If Toby dies it would kill Faith before the day was out. If David dies..." She trailed off. Siuan gave her a knowing look.
"Now we get to the heart of the matter. I have seen the way you look at him Jolyen, I'm not blind. I know that in your heart if he dies you will not last the next day. You don't want to take the chance that it is him for fear of his death, and if it isn't him you'll be ashamed of the relief knowing that you place a loved ones death to a close friend. That is the problem isn't it?"
Jolyen nodded. "Mother, I could not live with myself knowing that I sent a friend to his doom and quite possibly another to hers. Nor could I live knowing I was sending David to his doom. I cannot be the one to test them. I could not even stand to be in the same room. Let me take them all home mother. To where it is safe. This is not their war."
"But it is yours. No matter if you are on the other side, if the Dark One wins you will begin to fade. You will get sick with an illness that no one on the other side has seen. If we lose, you die, Jolyen, along with anyone on the other side who can channel as well. Nothing can change that." Siuan said with pity in her eyes. "I will test the boys myself tonight. If you wish to be there you may come. If not I will not force you. Light shine upon you my daughter."
"And you mother." 'Please light let them not be able to channel, for their sakes and mine.' Jolyen prayed as she left the mother's chambers.
~*~
The sun had set past the Dragonmount when the Amyriln seat brought Toby and David to one of the empty rooms in the tower. Jamie and Faith were not in attendance as they had been forbidden entrance. Jolyen sat in the corner looking everywhere but the Amyriln, Moraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Lan, Rand and the scant others in the room. She would not let her eyes be cast upon the two boys who she had come to love, one as a brother and one as more.
Toby and David stood in the center of the room, looking every inch the warriors they would soon have to be. Both looked at the Aes Sedi and warders in the room but neither flinched. They stood there, no one moving a muscle, it appeared that nothing was happening to the untrained eye; but if one could channel they would see the flows flying around the room from those present who were known to channel. The purpose of these flows was to light the boy would could touch the one power with an inner glow, much like if one had suck a candle under his skin. The flows infused themselves in one boy. When Jolyen looked up she wept openly.
The light was shining from David.
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Chapter 2.
David Judd was not happy. He was quite happy to live in his own little word, play his war games, and try to survive high school. It was not funny when the woman who he knew liked him suddenly told him he had to pack up and leave his happy little home and go to this place that he might not come out of alive. No scratch that, he would be extremely lucky to walk away from this alive. His anger increased when Jo Dee 'No wait scratch that Jolyen Sedi now.' He thought angrily, brought him here and dumped him with some people he had never met before let alone trusted. He sighed. Normally he could win an argument against Jo Dee. But now he had a feeling that if he tried he would be jerked around like a puppet on a string.
"Hurry up stork boy! I will not have a day dreamer in my charge." Lorn called to David. "Especially one practically bound to Jolyen Sedi." David barely had time to get his sword up before Lorn attacked. He had surprised Lorn he knew, with what he already knew of the weapon but he was still not good enough. He had fallen on his butt enough times to attest to that.
Toby broke the metallic silence between the two fighters with a question. "Lorn, what does 'bound' mean? You've talked about me being 'bound' to Faith as soon as she's raised, which I don't understand either and now you're tell in Dave that he's as good as 'bound' to Jo Dee. What the hell does it men?"
Lorn looked surprised. "To be bound to an Aes Sedi is the greatest honor a warder can hope to accomplish. It means that you serve and protect that woman with your life. You learn the arts of war better than others in hopes of defending her with your last breath. Through the bond you can feel each others emotions, know what the other is thinking. However the bond also means that if she gives you an order you must fulfill it, even if it is as dire as leaving her to die on the battle field as you seek healing."
"So it's almost like you're married to her?" Toby asked again.
"No boy. The bond is deeper than marriage. Her emotions are your emotions, your weaknesses are more dangerous to her then they are to you." Lorn replied shortly.
"What happens if the bond breaks?" David asked quietly. Lorn looked grim.
"Let's hope that never happens to either one of you." He said with steel in his voice that said louder than words that he spoke from experience. "You, stork, are lucky to have Jolyen Sedi choose you. She is from the Green Ajah and will most likely have more warders then just you and she will not have to depend upon your poor swordsmanship in a time of dire peril. Now guard!" He said as he swung his sword at David.
~*~
The women were in the tower being led back to the Amyriln seat. Jolyen needed Siuan's approval on two matters. One she needed to be raised back to a full sister and two she wanted to hand train her friends. She looked at the two women trailing behind her. If the Black Ajah was really loose on the tower she did not trust the other women in the tower to train her friends. She knew all they would be taught and any other talents such as dreaming or healing could be trained by women who she trusted. After all it was her right to see how they were trained, she did discover their talents and they were her friends.
"Jo what is going on?" Faith asked her. "What the hell does all this mean?" Jolyen sighed.
"This was my life before I went across the stones. I was a full Aes Sedi sister able to channel the one power at will. You Faith have the potential to channel that power, to do what I do, and that is needed now. Both of you sit down and I'll fill you in on what's going on here." She sat her two friends down on a bench in the hall and began to speak. She told them about Rand Al'Thor and the story of the breaking and how men who could channel were generally feared as a rule and were gentled to prevent them going mad. She told them everything she knew about recent events and those of the past that would affect them in the future. When she was finished the sun had sunk low on the horizon.
"I think it's time for diner and I need a drink." Jolyen said and the others agreed.
"Hey Jo, you said you used to be a full sister. What happened?" Jamie asked. Jolyen sighed. She knew this was going to crop up.
"Faith, Jamie, I was accused of using Balefire. I had a choice, either cross the stones and never return or be stilled. And being stilled scared me more then the world on the other side of the stones. To be stilled would mean I could never touch the power again, I would always be able to sense it but I would never again feel its sweet flows of power rushing though me. And trust me the fact that I had a choice was very kind, normally if a woman is found guilty she is stilled. I was only given a choice because I was framed."
~*~
Toby and David stumbled their way back to the tower and were shown to their rooms by novices ordered by Jolyen to help the young men. The novices waited outside their doors as Toby and David changed and washed, they then showed the men to the kitchen where they could eat.
Toby looked up as he heard Faith's voice coming from down the hall. He saw her walking away from him and he broke into a run to catch up to her. When he did he saw that someone had changed her out of her jeans and tank top and put her in a dress. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. She smiled and hugged him tightly.
Their happiness did not last long. Soon a young girl in an Accepted's dress shattered their peace. She came panting, as if she had run a long way.
"Milady, the mother craves a word with you and your charges. She says it's urgent." She managed to pant out to Jolyen.
"Well then, we mustn't keep the mother waiting." Jolyen said as she gathered her skirts and motioned for the others to follow her. She led them down a twisting route to the mother's chambers.
In twenty or so minuets she had led the others down to the chambers of Siuan Sanche, the Amyriln Seat and the leader of Tar Valon. She knocked on the door, only to be stopped but the Keeper and finally let through with a scowl.
"Welcome my children." Siuan said as they entered the room.
"May it be that I speak for all of us when I say may the Light illuminate you, mother." Jolyen said with a curtsey. "You summoned us mother?"
"Yes I did." She motioned to the other people in the room. "Jolyen do you know who these people are?" She continued when Jolyen shook her head. "This man is Rand Al'Thor, the man beside him is Perrin Aybara, the woman beside you is Moraine Sedi and her warder al'Lan Mandragoran, and our final member is Matrim Cauthon. I'm sure you have heard of them since your return. I have taken great pains to get them here. Would you care to introduce your companions?" Jolyen nodded and spoke.
"The tall dark haired man beside me is David Judd, the other man with us is Toby Herndon, the red haired woman behind me is Jamie Black and the woman with short cropped brown hair is Faith Johnson. And I am Jolyen Sedi of the Green Ajah." She curtsied again. "It is an honor for all of us to be in your presence Lord Dragon, surely the tower has rarely seen such a grand gathering. Mother, may I ask why I was summoned?"
The Amyriln grinned and motioned for the new arrivals to sit. "Now that we are all here I can begin. As you well know the Dark One is breaking the seals on his prison left and right. It's like having a shark in a minnow net. It's only a matter of time until the net breaks." She looked at them all with a level stare to drive her point home. "I will not risk him breaking loose at any cost. This is one shark that has to stay in his net. Otherwise who knows what will happen. Rand I understand that you need to fight him, but you're not ready yet. Jolyen Sedi has brought us a weapon that none of us were expecting. She has brought us the Phoenix. There are virtually no prophesies containing the Phoenix, some that do say that he would not rise again until after the second breaking. So naturally none of us were expecting our outcast to bring him back to us." She gifted Jolyen with a smile.
"He was not supposed to be born on the other side. If Jolyen wasn't already there and Egwene hadn't dreamed him we would have never found him. Rand he is to help you fight the Dark One." Siuan finished. Jolyen looked around before she stood up.
"Mother as much as I was expecting this, and as much as I though I was ready, I cannot give up one of my friends to a war that isn't theirs. I shouldn't have even brought them here. They were safe where they were. Mother I have nearly 50 years under my belt and the eldest of my friends has only 17! I will not make them fight and die when they could be safe. It was a mistake to bring them here; I am taking them home tomorrow morning." Jolyen stood up and strode from the room. Her friends looked at each other. David shook his head and followed after her.
"Umm... I have no idea why we're here. Jamie? Any clue? Didn't think so. Miss. Amyriln ma'am? Jo's right, she didn't want to bring us here. It's not her fault that she's looking after us. I'd do the same thing in her shoes. David's gone to calm her down and bring her back." Faith spoke fist.
"David and I know some of the risks in being here, not all by a long shot but still some. I want to help, David does too but he'll never say a work to piss off Jo Dee, sorry Jolyen Sedi. I personally have really no clue what's going on but if it's bad enough to make Jo lose her cool it must be big." Toby said cautiously. The Amyriln sighed and continued without the other two.
~*~
It was early in the morning when the council ended for sleep. Toby sighed regretfully; he had only a few scant hours to sleep before training. He latched onto Faith before escorting her to her room and walking back to his alone.
He felt as though he had barely closed his eyes when he was being shaken awake by Lorn. As he wiped the sleep from his eyes Lorn began throwing clothes at him. Breaches, a lacing necked shirt and coat. He fumbled into his outfit as the warder left, presumably to wake up David.
Bleary eyed he walked to the kitchen in hopes of being fed only to find himself being swept out by a large woman holding a spoon like a scepter. His stomach growled and reminded him of his lack of dinner the night before and his scant lunch. He stumbled down the halls he remembered in hopes of finding the training yard. He did not succeed.
Instead of the training yards he found himself face to face with the man called Rand Al'Thor. Or at least he though it might be him; his memory didn't work well when he was half asleep and hungry. He bowed yawning before the other man and once again began walking in the direction he hoped the fields were in.
He stopped at Rand's laughter. "You're going the wrong way. Forgive me if I don't remember your name from last night, I wasn't quite awake. If you're looking for the warder fields you have to go back the way you came. Come, I'll show you." Toby just blinked awkwardly. They stood there for long moments before Toby shrugged and followed Rand down the hall.
"Sorry, I barely remember your name, but I was told you were important. Why is that?" Toby asked half asleep.
"You don't know? Well that new. Where do you come from?"
"Buffalo New York, although I highly doubt you'll know where that is. Nor do I think you'll know where the United States are because they don't exist here. So spare a few words for a stupid tourist." Toby said irritably.
"You would get along with Mat. But honestly no one has told you about the breaking and the Dragon or any of it?" At Toby's nod he stopped dead in the hall. "Well this we have to fix. Come with me I'm sure Lan and Lorn won't care if you miss one day's practice." He led Toby down the hall to the warder's fields and cornered Lan.
After explaining the predicament he took both Toby and David with him to explain what was going on.
~*~
"No, Faith! Light you could have just killed us all with that!" Jolyen yelled at her friend. "You have to picture the void not try to create one in the room!" She sighed.
"Jo, I'm trying! But not all of us are air headed bimbos who don't need to put forth effort to think of nothing!" Faith shot back. Jolyen only showed a small widening of her eyes before Faith was picked up and floating in midair, and then pinned against the wall.
"By thinking of nothing I was just able to thicken the Air around you so you cannot move or fight back. If you would just master creating the void in your mind you could have fought back. At this moment I could shield you from the Power and you would not be able to fight back until I loosened my hold." She replied calmly, right before Faith fell to the ground and she was the one flying.
"loosen up Faith I can't breathe." She said calmly. Faith did as she was told and was soon being restrained and shielded as Jolyen slid gracefully to the ground. "Very good! If you can learn to do that without me making you fly I will be very happy." Jolyen called it a day right before noon and Jamie took Faith down to the fields to see how the guys were doing.
~*~
"What do you mean the guys are gone?!" Jamie screamed at the stone faced warder. "Those are two of the only four people I know here you better damn well find them!"
"from what I understand it is not a novices place to order any about. Even if you are from another world I will not obey a woman young enough to be my daughter, unless I am bound to her." Lan said calmly. "Now return to your studies novice."
"Grrr! Men here are so, so irritating!" Faith yelled for all to hear.
"I agree with you completely." Nynaeve said from behind them. "But where I come from they are far more stubborn. I am Nynaeve by the way; we were not introduced properly before." Jamie and Faith jumped at the sound of her voice but calmed when they saw she meant no harm.
"I'm Faith and the airhead next to me is Jamie." Faith announced. Jamie glared.
"Yeah, I'm with stupid." Jamie said jerking her thumb at Faith. Nynaeve grinned.
"What were you two trying to get out of Lan? I might be able to help in that area." She said with a cryptic smile.
"I don't what to know what goes on behind that door, but I do what to know where my boyfriend and David are." Faith said.
"Your boyfriend?"
"You know, my worse half, significant other, Prince of Darkness..." At the last name Nynaeve tugged on her braid. "Whoa, calm down you don't want to tare that out by the roots do ya? It's just a nick name. You know like calling someone a stubborn ass?" Faith continued.
"Oh you mean your lover! I can help with that, wait here." Nynaeve walked back up to Lan just as the boys walked around the corner with Rand and Mat. Faith ran at them and jumped on Toby, wrapping both arms and legs around him; as if he could disappear at any moment. The others laughed, until they looked over and saw Nynaeve and Lan locked in what looked to be a very passionate embrace.
"You two came with these boys right?" Mat asked. Jamie nodded as Faith clung tighter to Toby. "Did someone at least tell you what you're up against?" Again Jamie nodded. "Good." Mat concluded.
"Have any of you seen Jo- sorry Jolyen?" David asked. Jamie shook her head.
"Not since noon." Faith called from her position on Toby's lap after the two had found a bench to sit on.
"I wonder where she is." David said off handedly as he sat down with two of his friends and watched Jamie follow as Mat and Rand walked away.
~*~
"Mother, please! I cannot test them! I cannot ask Toby or David to try to touch Saiden! The taint..." Jolyen ranted pacing. She was cut of by Siuan.
"Will not affect them. They are not of this world Jolyen." Siuan said calmly. "I think I was wrong in giving you back your ring and shawl. You are not thinking clearly in this matter. You are thinking with your heart not your mind. If one of them is the Phoenix then he will help Rand and the others are free to go, you included. I know that if the Phoenix is Toby Faith will not follow you back, but if it is the other boy, David, all the rest of you are free to go. The girls could leave now if they wished. You could save all but one Jolyen. That is all I can offer you."
"But mother! The last time, and come to think of it the only time, the Phoenix rose he surrendered his life to save the Dragon! He killed himself! I can't let that happen to one of my boys! If Toby dies it would kill Faith before the day was out. If David dies..." She trailed off. Siuan gave her a knowing look.
"Now we get to the heart of the matter. I have seen the way you look at him Jolyen, I'm not blind. I know that in your heart if he dies you will not last the next day. You don't want to take the chance that it is him for fear of his death, and if it isn't him you'll be ashamed of the relief knowing that you place a loved ones death to a close friend. That is the problem isn't it?"
Jolyen nodded. "Mother, I could not live with myself knowing that I sent a friend to his doom and quite possibly another to hers. Nor could I live knowing I was sending David to his doom. I cannot be the one to test them. I could not even stand to be in the same room. Let me take them all home mother. To where it is safe. This is not their war."
"But it is yours. No matter if you are on the other side, if the Dark One wins you will begin to fade. You will get sick with an illness that no one on the other side has seen. If we lose, you die, Jolyen, along with anyone on the other side who can channel as well. Nothing can change that." Siuan said with pity in her eyes. "I will test the boys myself tonight. If you wish to be there you may come. If not I will not force you. Light shine upon you my daughter."
"And you mother." 'Please light let them not be able to channel, for their sakes and mine.' Jolyen prayed as she left the mother's chambers.
~*~
The sun had set past the Dragonmount when the Amyriln seat brought Toby and David to one of the empty rooms in the tower. Jamie and Faith were not in attendance as they had been forbidden entrance. Jolyen sat in the corner looking everywhere but the Amyriln, Moraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Lan, Rand and the scant others in the room. She would not let her eyes be cast upon the two boys who she had come to love, one as a brother and one as more.
Toby and David stood in the center of the room, looking every inch the warriors they would soon have to be. Both looked at the Aes Sedi and warders in the room but neither flinched. They stood there, no one moving a muscle, it appeared that nothing was happening to the untrained eye; but if one could channel they would see the flows flying around the room from those present who were known to channel. The purpose of these flows was to light the boy would could touch the one power with an inner glow, much like if one had suck a candle under his skin. The flows infused themselves in one boy. When Jolyen looked up she wept openly.
The light was shining from David.
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