I figured I'd go ahead and post this since people seemed to be enjoying the story so far. Just remember updates will slow down after chapter 5 as I'll actually have to start writing instead of just tweaking scenes till I like them. That and I wont be writing much till I finish reading book 11 and rereading book 2 and part of 3. Agian this hasn't been profread by anybody but me so sorry if there's any oddities.

Quick note on what various text types mean:
Italics are direct thoughts or dreams.
Thoughts in dreams 'look like this'.
>This is someone speaking a language that not all present understand.> (stupid site strips out the open bracket so I have to use two close ones.)

Disclaimer: Characters not mine, situations not mine, yada yada yada. Go read the prologue's disclaimer it still applys. (insert pithy comment here)

Time and a Half. Chapter 2, A Journey begins

The party slowly made their way through the ruins of Shadar Logoth. Ranma had never seen architecture of this type before. She idly wondered how long the city had been abandoned. Stone usually took a long time to show as much wear as was visible. Her thoughts were interrupted as she had to keep Meren from falling when she stumbled. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," she mumbled "just need sleep…" her words trailed off as she focused on placing one foot in front of the other.

Ranma was growing more concerned about her friend and was about to offer to carry her when Lan stopped the party in front of a large white building. The upper stories appeared to have decayed into a hollow shell but the ground floor looked as if it would be adequate shelter for the night. Lan carried Moiraine into the building after ordering the boys to see to the horses as the other girls followed. With only a moments of hesitation Ranma led Meren through the doorway into the large room beyond.

Ranma gasped as she saw how big the room was. the Tendo residence was spacious by the standards of Tokyo but it had nothing on this room. The house and most of the dojo would have fit inside this room alone. Leading Meren to a wall near where Lan, Nynaeve and Moiraine were having a heated discussion she helped her companion down. "Should we talk to the mage now?"

>No> Meren said switching to Japanese. >She looks as tired as I am, we can discuss the situation after we have both rested. And speak in Japanese for now.>

>Ok… why?> Ranma asked slightly confused, she didn't mind speaking in her native language but there didn't seem to be much point as the others couldn't understand it.

>For now I think its best we keep some of our secrets. I don't think we are in any danger from these people but we know nothing about them and I do not trust them fully… yet.> Meren leaned back with her eyes closed. >It might be best if you let me do most of the talking, particularly with Moiraine. Her type can get you to say more than you intend if you are not careful. Just try not to talk too much about our situation or where were from until I wake up.>

At this point Nynaeve approached the two of them. "How are you two feeling?" she asked.

"I'm fine and Meren here is just tired." Ranma replied.

She nodded as she knelt besides Meren, "I just gave the Aes Sedai some herbal tea to help her sleep, do you need some as well?"

Meren shook her head, "No just a few moments of peace and I'll be asleep. I also don't want to take anything that could interfere with me waking up should it be necessary. Give me twenty minutes and I'll be able to run a horse into the ground although a couple hours would be best if we need to fight."

Nynaeve gave the blond a dubious look obviously not believing the boast but she wasn't about to force her help on an unwilling patient that could do well enough alone. "Very well but if you need something be sure to tell me. I'm the Wisdom of my village and can cure most ailments with my cures."

"Will do Doc," Meren gave a weak salute as she replied before turning to Ranma. >Remember be careful what you say particularly with Lan or Moiraine.> Yawning loudly she drew her cloak around her and was asleep in seconds.

"She really was tired," Nynaeve observed, "What was that last she said?"

"Oh nothing important," she lied, if Meren wanted to hide what she said then Ranma wasn't going to tell either.

Nynaeve appraised the young redhead. She couldn't say much for the way the girl was dressed. The clothing was foreign in appearance but was obviously men's clothing, they were also several sizes too large. She was however pleased to see her hair done up in an appropriate if somewhat short braid. "We should let her rest, she is obviously tired. I cant believe those men making two girls walk." She ranted as she walked away giving her braid a jerk.

Ranma lacking anything better to do at the moment followed. "Well they did try to pull us up onto their horses after the fight, we just prefer to run." Ranma heard Nynaeve mutter something that sounded like Unladylike and inappropriate but couldn't make out much else. They both sat down near a small fire that Lan had started near the other girl, Egwene, Ranma thought she was called.

"So you can channel too?" Egwene asked Ranma trying to strike up a conversation.

"I can what?" a confused Ranma replied.

"Channel the one power like Moiraine Sedai. I saw you throw those balls of light at the trollocs back there."

"Oh that was the Moko Takabisha. It's a Ki blast not magic. I'm a martial artist and that's something anybody could learn to do with enough training." Ranma felt this was a safe enough subject as they weren't talking about anything Meren had warned her about.

"An artist? Like a painter?" Egwene asked dubiously, she had never heard of an artist that could do that.

"No like a fighter" is she that clueless?

"Oh so what you did wasn't channeling?"

"No its basically taking life energy and throwing it at your target." She wasn't sure what Egwene's fixation on Channeling was, Ranma was a fighter not a magician.

Nynaeve sniffed "Women shouldn't be fighting. That's mans work and one of the few things they have the brains for."

"Hey! I'm a g… er good fighter, I've been training since I could walk." Ranma barely covered her slip, she didn't want to have to explain her curse. Hopefully Meren would get the information they needed and get them home before THAT had to come to light.

"Its still not appropriate."

"Geez you sound like my mother." Ranma commented crossing her arms. She had only met her mother in female form and she hadn't liked seeing 'Ranko' fight either.

"Then maybe you should have listened better. Fighting and running around in men's clothing" she scoffed. "A woman should be dressed in proper skirts." Nynaeve was shaking a finger at Ranma.

Ranma laughed, "Ever tried fighting or even running in those things? How you take three steps without tripping is beyond me."

"Quiet, Moiraine Sedai is trying to sleep." The gruff voice of Lan broke into the conversation that was getting a bit loud. Ranma blushed while Nynaeve yanked on her braid muttering all the while and clearly wanting to give 'Ranko' a few more pieces of her mind.

Ranma thinking now would probably be a good time to leave quickly stood up. "I think I'm going to go get some rest too." And quickly scurried back over to where Meren was sleeping. Sitting next to Meren she wondered if all girls were strange as she dozed off into a light sleep.

Some time later both girls woke to the sound of "Where have those boys run off to?"

"What happened?" Meren asked instantly forcing herself awake.

"Mat Rand and Perrin seem to have gone off exploring." Thom explained.

"We are safe here thanks to the wards I have put in place however there is a good reason the trollocs will not enter here. There are dangers here that even they are afraid of." A hint of concern was bleeding through Moiraine's serene features.

"I'll look for them, Trimirida." Meren's eyes changed and she immediately frowned. "What is with this place?" she wondered aloud.

"You didn't expect to see them from here did you?" Moiraine asked still showing little emotion but apparently deciding now was the time to discover more about the two strange girls they had picked up.

"Actually I did. Not physically of course I cant see through walls any more than you can. I should be able to see their life aura though. Its as if there is a lot of ambient life energy in this city and it is washing everything else out." Even with her patchy memories she knew that this was not normal, the city would have to almost be alive for an effect like this.

"So normally you should be able to locate them through this Life Aura even through walls?"

Meren nodded "Yes I can see many different forms of energy with these eyes, some of them don't require line of sight. Its actually how we spotted you being chased by the trollocs. I don't know what could be blocking me like this unless the city was alive." She shook her head a bit at the absurdity of that concept.

"Perhaps… Never the less Lan will find them, he is out looking now."

"Should we help him? What is it about this city that is so dangerous?" Meren cocked her head taking another glance around. "And what's that dome around the building?"

"So you can see my ward. It will protect us from the evil that lurks here. During the day it is safe enough in the streets but after nightfall it is too dangerous. There is no sense risking more people out searching and your sword will be no use against this."

Meren wasn't so sure, she knew how to take care of herself but she also knew that she was not fully rested and her defenses were defiantly not what they should be. Finally she nodded "very well, since we are both awake now I suppose we should talk."

"That would be best. Tell me child how long have you been channeling?"

"I can not. Or at least not the way you do."

Moiraine gave a knowledgeable smile. "On the contrary I can sense the ability in you and your companion and I saw what you both did."

Meren smirked a bit, maybe she was telling the truth about sensing the ability but Meren knew she was fishing. Ok I'll bite this time. "Neither what I did nor what Ranko did was channeling unless channeling is just your word for magic in which case perhaps I did."

Moiraine shook her head. "Channeling is not magic, by weaving flows of the One Power we can create effects that could seem to be magic to the untrained but are not."

Meren nodded "That explains why it looked like a tapestry being created. Either way that defiantly isn't what Ranko did. She fired a Ki blast, its done by projecting ones own life energy into a tangible form. I'm actually impressed that she can do it, I know the theory but can not do it myself. As to what I did I copied the pattern of your spell but I fueled it with my own power." To demonstrate she held up her hand and forced the symbol there to become visible. "This is the physical representation of my connection to the power I was accessing. If I can tap into the same power source you use I am unaware of it."

Moiraine nodded in understanding, this explained why she couldn't see Ranko channeling and why Meren's felt strange. "Never the less you both can channel and I would strongly suggest you go to Tar Valon for training. You will start to channel on your own soon enough and without a teacher one in four women die."

"I thank you for your warning and will consider your offer but at the moment Ranko and I just wish to go home." Ok let's see where she goes with that.

"Running to your home will not save you child. Even there you will begin to channel and the danger will still remain. Your best chance at survival lies at Tar Valon and training with the Aes Sedai."

Ahh so she really wants to get women who can channel to join her group, probably curious about my powers as well. She conceded that it was possible that her and Ranko's safety was Moiraine's concern but she doubted if that was all. "Perhaps but where we are from nobody has ever heard of channeling or Aes Sedai. I suspect that at our homes channeling is not possible and therefore not a danger to us."

"Unless you live in a Stedding you will be able to channel no mater where in this world you live."

Ok lets she how she reacts to this. "And if we aren't from this world?"

Meren smiled as a brief flicker of confusion broke through Moiraine's calm demeanor "What do you mean?"

"As near as I can tell we are not from this world. An accident of some sort transported me to this world and left me without many of my memories. Ranko unfortunately got dragged here with me, she is from a world different from my own as well. We were hoping you may have some information on how we could get home or know where to send us to find it." Well cards are on the table lets see what she does.

Moiraine remained doubtful. "So you claim that you are lost travelers from another world and you happened to be near us and you came and helped us on the off chance that we would have the knowledge you seek. This all sounds rather convenient to me."

Good she's cautious, Meren thought relieved that she was reading the Aes Sedai correctly so far. "You are partially right. We travelers from another world no mater how unwilling and we do need help finding a way home. And we did happen to land near you when we arrived a few days ago. However we didn't help you just on the off chance you could help us. We were attacked by trollocs and then discovered more of them herding you and we decided to help."

"You would willingly help total strangers by rushing into a group of hundreds of Trollocs?"

"Why not? Ranko and I took out a group of fifty rather handily."

"You what?" was the chorus from the other two girls and thom.

"We took out fifty trollocs and one of those eyeless men. I then saw more of them after a group, if they are willing to randomly attack me then they are my enemy. And an enemy of my enemy is a potential friend. The fact that you were a Mage was a coincidence. We had intended to seek out a local magic user or other Wiseman to attempt to get home. My instincts are telling me that someone like you might have the knowledge we need."

"Aes Sedai are not Mages. We do not work magic although we do keep the most extensive libraries of this age." Moiraine appeared upset by the repeated claim that Aes Sedai were the same as Mages.

Meren smirked a bit, that was all the information she needed. "Then my original assessment was correct. You do possess knowledge of the type we seek or at least know a place where we can look. I suppose I would have to go to Tar Valon to get this information hmm?"

Moiraine was not pleased with the self satisfied grin on Meren's face although this could still lead to them entering the tower. Both girls had the potential to be strong, too strong to pass up and if their story was even partially true a great many at the tower would want to speak to them. "You are correct."

"Then I guess Tar Valon is our next destination. Would you mind telling me what you can about channeling and Aes Sedai?" Meren had what she wanted and figured it was a fair trade for helping them but wouldn't turn down other information if this Aes Sedai was willing to offer it.

"You truly know nothing of the Aes Sedai?" Moiraine asked. When both Meren and Ranko shook their heads she proceeded to explain about the power and the Aes Sedai. Meren filed the information away for later reference. She didn't think she was all that interested in becoming an Aes Sedai herself but learning to channel could be useful. A different thought was running through Ranma's mind.

"Um what about men who can channel?" she asked a bit nervously.

"The male half of the source is tainted by the dark one. All men who can channel go mad and die. Aes Sedai hunt down Male chandlers and gentle them, cutting them off from the source so they cannot themselves or others." Moiraine was curious as to why Ranko paled a bit at that information but was distracted by the boys piling into the room. She began to scold them for their recklessness as Meren pulled Ranma aside

>Whatever you do don't change back in front of her> she warned in Japanese.

>No kidding, I don't want to know what's involved in gentling.> Ranma shuddered as several worse case scenarios involving cutting things off ran through her mind. >I may not have a choice though, hot water can seek me out at bad times too.> Ranma was glad that she had decided to hide her curse from the others.

>Ok I'll do what I can to keep that from happening. And don't worry too much about what she said. I get the feeling that she can only sense a female that can channel. While you're a girl there's a good chance you are only able to touch the female side, its possible your male form cant channel and your safe.>

Ranma wasn't all that reassured >That's easy for you to say you're not the one with madness looming over your head.>

>Well if you stay a girl till we find a way home your safe.>

>But I'm a guy I don't want to spend any more time as a girl than I have to. And what if we are stuck here?>

Meren didn't have a good answer. >Well have to deal with that IF it comes to that. Until then there is no point in getting worked up. She hoped the words sounded less hollow than they felt.>

"What are you two talking about over there?" said Nynaeve interrupting their conversation.

"That is between us, if I had wanted you to know I would have spoken in your language so you could eavesdrop." Meren replied tersely.

"I was not trying to eavesdrop!" Nynaeve shouted while yanking her braid at Meren.

Meren pinched her nose and sighed, maybe its best I don't alienate these people too much. "We have just gotten a lot of information we needed to discuss. Because this directly affects both our futures we needed to decide what too do but we want the decision to be private. I think you can understand with the two of us being stuck in a place that is strange to us how we would want to stick together."

The explanation seemed to placate the girl but she still walked off muttering and yanking that silly braid of hers. You'd think she would pull her hair out by the roots with how much she does that.

Over the next hour Meren had a few quiet conversations with many of the other members of the party. Egwene seemed in awe of the Aes Sedai and wanted to be one of them. Nynaeve hated her with a passion for interfering with her village and dragging the others off. Thom wouldn't say exactly what he felt but he painted a picture that said the Aes Sedai were not to be trusted despite the Three Oaths. The boys ranged from fear to awe to respect in varying degrees but seemed to have no real knowledge aside from what village stories would provide.

After a while she decided that Tar Valon was the place they needed to go but she defiantly was going to be cautious around Aes Sedai. There was too much left unsaid. After discussing her findings with Ranma they both decided to get what rest they could.

Hours later Lan appeared and informed them that there were trollocs and halfmen in the city and they had to leave.

"Why don't we just fight them?" asked Ranma. She wasn't one to run from a fight.

"That would require the power to hold them off and that would destroy the wards, attract the very thing the wards are meant to protect us from and attract every halfman within twenty miles. To leave is not my choice but we are the hare, and the hounds dictate the chase." Explained Moiraine.

"Well if we could find a more defensible location Ranko and I could probably hold off an army of those things." Meren commented, despite her words she was concerned by her inability to see where the trollocs where. The energy blocking her sight was still there although it now had a malevolent feel and seemed to be stronger in areas.

"No we will use my original plan, which I can carry out now that I am rested." Moiraine proceeded to explain the plan of crossing the river to escape. "Get to your horses, we are not across the river yet."

"But what about Meren and Ranko? They don't have horses." Cried Rand.

Both girls laughed. "Don't worry about us, we could run all your horses into the ground and keep going for hours if necessary." Meren wasn't about to ride a horse when her own feet could serve her better.

The party left quickly and all went well until the grey mist of Mashadar blocked their path separating the party. Even this hadn't been too bad until they had run into the trollocs. Meren and Ranma being the only fighters in the group engaged to protect the others but while they were fighting everybody else vanished.

"Can you find them?" Ranma asked trying in vain to stretch her Ki senses to detect them.

Meren shook her head in frustration. "This blasted city is blocking everything. I can barely see your aura and your standing right in front of me. Well nothing we can do now lets get out of here."

Both girls took off at a dead run eastwards making much better time than with the others. Eventually they ran into a wall of the grey mist as more was filling in behind them. "How high can you jump?" Ranma asked looking at the rooftops.

"About twenty five feet vertical but how will that help us? If we try to jump this we could land in more on the other side?"

"Who said anything about jumping the fog?" she replied with a cocky grin and leapt onto the nearest balcony taking several hops to reach the rooftops.

Meren just shook her head and followed. Soon the two were hoping from rooftop to rooftop well above the fog. Tendrils still reached up here and there but they were easily avoided. Before long they were out of the city and headed east to the river. "That was an interesting way to travel. You do that often?"

"All the time back home. Its quite fun when you get the hang of it and it beats taking the streets."

"No argument here." Meren replied as she scanned around. She could see numerous scattered trollocs but couldn't pick out any of the party. "Looks like we are the first ones out. You want to head to the river and wait or run around smashing trollocs?"

Ranma thought about that for a moment. While a fight could be fun she knew Meren tended to kill the things and even knowing they were evil she still didn't like that much. "Let's just head to the river." They ended up catching a few more hours of sleep in a tree before going in search of the others at daybreak.

Meren's sight quickly located two of them with a third converging on them. Of the others she couldn't be sure. She thought she saw two people across the river as well as a large number down the river a ways, probably on a boat but she couldn't tell if any of them were members of the party. They repeated the previous nights display of aerial skill in the treetops and found Lan and Moiraine. They got to listen in on some interesting conversation between the pair and later with Nynaeve from the treetops a fair distance away.

"Well I guess that confirms that those two across the river are from the group and the rest are likely on a boat downriver." Meren whispered to Ranma.

Ranma nodded. "Are we going to join them or sit up here all day?"

Meren looked at the redhead with a mischievous grin "yes well join them but first there's something I want to do. Did you see how Lan reacted when Nynaeve surprised him?"

Ranma nodded absently then realization dawned on her face. "You wouldn't?"

Meren's grin got wider as she dashed through the treetops after Lan as he made a beeline for Nynaeve horse. He's a good tracker but it's hard to track something on the ground that never touches it. As Lan approached the tethered horse Meren dropped out of the trees right behind him. "Hi Lan!" she shouted in a deliberately cute voice.

The reaction was imitate Lan spun and had his sword completely drawn before he recognized her. She stood there with her hands behind her back twirling back and forth cutely with a huge grin on her face. A hit of anger replaced the shock on his face as he re-sheathed his sword. "That was foolish, I could have killed you."

Meren laughed, "I'm not too worried about that I could have avoided or blocked if necessary," as if to prove her point her knife was instantly drawn and held in a high block right in the likely path of Lan's opening blow. The movement was faster than the eye could follow. Lan gave a reluctant nod of respect as she re-sheathed her blade. At which point Ranma dropped out of the tree behind him. Both girls giggled fiercely as he nearly jumped out of his skin and had a hounded look for several seconds before his calm stony exterior reasserted itself.

"That was kinda fun eh Ranko?" Meren asked loudly as they followed Lan back to where the others waited.

"It sure was," replied Ranma, "He sure spokes easily." There was no apparent reaction from the Warder but Meren could distinctly hear teeth grinding.

"So have you decided to go to Tar Valon with us?" Moiraine asked as they approached.

Meren shrugged and then nodded. "We may as well. From the sounds of it that is where we need to end up anyway so we might as well have company and someone who knows the way."

"Very well but know that I will not let anything stand in the way of my fight with the dark one." warned the Aes Sedai with only a subtle hint of threat.

Meren nodded the threat was well understood although she was not worried. She didn't trust Moiraine anymore than Moiraine trusted the two of them. If worse came to worse they could always travel on alone. Ranma missed the subtlety altogether.

And so began the long trip down the river.

The next morning Meren and Ranma were up before the others aside from Lan who apparently never slept. They moved off a short distance so they would not disturb the others and began to spar.

"You're not bad when you actually get into it." Meren commented as they briefly separated after an exchange of blows.

"You're no slouch yourself." Came the slightly arrogant sounding reply. Ranma was enjoying this despite her earlier reservations. It helped that her female form while faster wasn't quite as strong as her male form. There was less chance of hurting Meren accidentally, or at least not much.

Both combatants rushed each other again. Ranma launched into a flying kick which Meren ducked and then countered by grabbing the redhead with her tail. "What do you think you two are doing?" Both combatants turned their heads to the source of the voice to see Nynaeve striding towards them already partway into a lecture about how they should not be fighting. Puzzled expressions crossed their faces as she cut off mid rant and gaped openly at the two.

"What?" they asked in unison. The effect was slightly comic considering Meren was down on all fours and Ranma was hanging upside-down by her ankles her head right next to Meren's.

"What are you?" Nynaeve asked backing up slightly.

Both girls looked at each other trying to figure out what had spooked the wisdom. Suddenly seeing how she was holding Ranma realization dawned on Meren. "Oh." She said slowly to the now rapidly retreating back of Nynaeve.

"What's the mater?" Ranma asked as Meren flicked her up into the air and landed deftly on her feet.

Meren blushed a bit as she kicked at a loose stone. "I um, think this is my fault."

"Your fault? How?" Ranma inquired scratching the back of her head.

"Well, remember how I said I normally keep my tail around my waist because it freaks people out? This was just before we helped them fight the trollocs."

Ranma nodded remembering the comment.

"The thing is I kept my tail around my waist all day yesterday and didn't think to mention it to them…" she trailed off letting that sink in.

After a moment Ranma echoed her friend's earlier remark, "Oh."

Meren nodded "They don't know about my tail and Nynaeve just found out in a rather unfortunate way." She sighed a bit and began walking off towards where they had left the others. "I guess I have some explaining to do."

When the two approached Nynaeve had composed herself but it was obvious she had told the other two. Moiraine was studying her with a serious expression and Lan while not holding his sword had an air of being ready for instant violence.

"Hi everybody, I guess I sort of forgot to mention this." She said slowly twirling her tail between her fingers.

Everybody was looking at her tail intently and she turned a bit to give them a better view. "I'm sorry. I normally keep it hidden to not bother people but I should have mentioned it last night." As she spoke she let her tail wrap around her waist once again looking like nothing more than a yellow rope accessorizing her outfit. On closer inspection the others could make out the soft fur covering the tail but the effect was still pretty convincing.

"Do all the people from your world have tails?" Moiraine asked in a level tone.

Meren had to think about that for a moment sifting through the images and feelings she could pick out in her memories before shaking her head. "No at least not the world I grew up on. I'm half Nekoten which is where I get my tail from. I cant remember what the other half is but I think I grew up on that world and they don't have tails there."

"I see, are there any other surprises you forgot to mention?" Moiraine asked.

Not from me Meren thought. There was Ranma's curse but hopefully the two of them could keep that secret under wraps. Hot liquid wasn't all that common out in the wilds. "No" she said with a shake of her head "At least not that I can remember. I know I have other powers that should come back as my memory returns but until then…"

Moiraine nodded slowly as she considered this new information. "Very well however you will inform me of any other surprises in advance from now on."

Meren didn't appreciate the tone of Moiraine's command but she nodded her agreement. Best not to anger her too much. A fight could get messy and being on the good side of an Aes Sedai could be helpful before we get home. "Shall we get moving? We have a long way to go."

After a curt nod from Moiraine and a glair from Nynaeve the party soon continued their trek down the river.

The next morning Ranma was running through a kata while Meren got some exercise in her own unique way. She was balanced in a handstand on one palm and slowly doing pushups from that position. No wonder her right hook feels like Ryoga's she thought dully.

They had both decided not to spar near the party to avoid any lectures from Nynaeve. She had talked both their ears off during the trip the day before and both were tired of listening to it. Instead they intended to run on ahead of the others to get some sparing in while they waited for the others to catch up. This had the advantage of allowing Ranma the opportunity to return to her normal form for a few hours. At the moment they were passing the time until Moiraine woke up so they could tell her.

"Do you always do that?" Ranma asked curiously as she began a new kata. This one was one of her aerial forms involving high leaps with a great deal of hang time.

"Sure" came the reply with a slight grunt. "You'd be amazed how much arm strength you can build up doing this."

"I may have to give it a try" Ranma commented. She had seen Ryoga leap one handed with her on his back but he also carried around that umbrella that was heavier than most people in that hand as well. She must work her right arm more to help with swinging her sword she thought as she noticed a new spectator.

"Good morning Nynaeve, care to join us?" she asked as she leapt a good twenty feet into the air kicking and punching at nothing all the way.

Nynaeve looked back and forth between Meren's pushups and Ranma's aerial acrobatics for several moments before turning around and walking off jerking her braid all the way. Meanwhile Meren lost her balance and fell over laughing as Ranma landed. She didn't think she had said anything funny.

Ranma picked himself up out of the small crater he had made as Meren landed next to him. Spiting out a bit of dirt he turned to the girl. "That was a neat trick."

Meren smiled with only a hint of smugness. "You're the one who wanted to take the fight to the air."

Ranma chuckled, his style specialized in aerial combat and only Herb had ever truly challenged him in the air. One time Meren had dodged by leaping strait up and he had followed continuing the fight in mid air. This had gone on for a bit with Meren loosing until she brought her tail into the fight.

While Ranma had been throwing kicks and punches at her she in turn grabbed him with her tail. A quick forward flip wiped him around and sent him hurtling to the ground. "Ya ya, you'd be in trouble if I grabbed your tail halfway through that move though."

Meren crossed her arms and grinned smugly "Your welcome to try."

Ranma rubbed his neck working out a few kinks. She's probably right he thought, that tail was not only strong but very fast. In his girl form he might have a chance of grabbing hold of it but as a male she kept it tauntingly out of reach.

"You don't have to hold back your strength you know."

"What?" snapping out of his thoughts. "What makes you think I'm holding back?" he didn't know how much more she wanted he was hitting her now instead of being totally defensive

"It's the way you throw your strikes. When you spar as a female I see you throw them in such a way that you get more power out of them. When you fight as a guy you don't. I won't break if you hit me hard and even if you did injure me we could always have Moiraine heal me back up afterwards"

It irked Ranma that she could read him so well. Most opponents wouldn't notice or care. It seemed as if Meren wouldn't be satisfied until he went all out or she got hurt.

Both combatants squared off again this time with Ranma throwing more power behind his strikes. This was a slight disadvantage as they tended to be slower and easier for Meren to avoid but her defense wasn't perfect. One good strike caught her across the jaw sending her flying across the clearing. Ranma was horrified when she didn't immediately spring to her feet. Oh no I hurt her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean…" his apologizing was cut short as she pushed herself to her knees and wiped a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth.

"Nice hit." She commented looking at the back of her hand. "Sure packed a wallop. I haven't had this much fun in who knows how long." She finished with a grin. "Now that you're really serious lets… Rats!" Her gaze grew slightly distant as she gazed off over his shoulder.

"Lans coming?" Ranma asked.

Meren nodded with a sigh as she tossed a water bag to Ranma to change back into a girl. Lan had been trying to sneak up on them and watch their sparring matches for several days. Meren wondered if he was noticing the slightly different tracks Ranma left as a Man. The chances were low considering how much damage they tended to do to the ground they practiced on but there was still a chance. What he would make of it was anybody's guess however.

"I wish he would leave us alone" Ranma said as he poured some water over his head. "We join back up with them each evening and all." She concluded.

"They're probably suspicious of what we do out here alone. Oh well lets just keep sparing like this maybe a good show will make him give up." Meren dropped back into a ready stance and waited for Ranma to engage. Both girls continued to spar until well after Lan got close.

Lan watched silently from the shadows as the two girls spared. Their unarmed combat prowess was quite impressive and he knew Meren was also an excellent swordsman. Despite the fact that they ignored him he was sure they were quite aware of his presence. Those eyes of Meren's almost guaranteed that she would spot him as she tended to fight with her powers active.

He still hoped to catch them unawares one of these times. Not only to assuage his pride a bit after the way they seemed to sneak up on him with ease but also to glimpse the mysterious third individual he suspected they were meeting. He had no definite proof although some of the tracks he saw looked like Ranko's but were deeper as if made by a man. He had informed Moiraine about his suspicions but there was no proof. For all he knew Ranko could be giving Meren piggyback rides on occasion. While an odd idea it would explain the heavier tracks.

After a while both girls stopped and sat back to back in the middle of the clearing. They were chatting about something but they spoke in that other language they sometimes used.

"Still there?" Ranma asked.

"Yep and I think he knows we know it too. But does he know we know he knows?" she said with a laugh.

"What?"

"Oh never mind I'm just rambling. I've had enough exercise for now so why don't we just chat for a while before heading back."

Ranma sighed inwardly, one of the few ways Meren was like other girls she knew was that she liked to talk. "What should we talk about?" Martial arts maybe she hoped.

"Oh I don't know. Why don't you tell me more about your home? I think it would be interesting to know more about those girls you had chasing you around. Be sure to watch what language you use Lan is still listening."

"Well first there's Akane. She was the first fiancé I found out a bout. Her dad was an old friend of pops and they apparently arranged for their kids to marry before we were born. Then there was Ukyo. Pops arranged that one near the beginning of our training journey. He ran off with her dads yatti which he offered as a dowry. The funny thing was I thought she was a guy at the time." Ranma looked up at the sky as she remembered the good times and the bad.

"Lets see next was Shampoo. I beat her in a fight as a girl and because of some strange law of her village she had to try and kill me. She didn't know about my male form at the time and later I accidentally knocked her out defending Akane from her. It turns out another law says if she is defeated by a male she must marry him." She was interrupted as Meren started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Oh I was just thinking how interesting that must have been. If she didn't know about your curse she would have wanted to kill you as a girl and just plain wanted you as a man."

Ranma chuckled a bit as she thought about it. Even though it wasn't funny at the time in hindsight it was hilarious. "Ya well then there was Kodatchi Kuno. I saved her from falling once and after that she decided I was the man for her and was constantly trying to marry me. We never were engaged but that fact didn't bother her any. All the Kunos were crazy."

"Ah yes you did mention her brother and the principle." Said Meren as she remembered the rundown of Ranma's history she had gotten the first day. "Quite an interesting bunch you had after you."

"Interesting is not the word. And that's not counting all the other girls pops engaged me too. At least half a dozen showed up over the months and who knows how many more there were."

Meren thought about this for a while. She really wondered how Ranma had done as well as he did. "Why did you put up with it?" she asked

"What do you mean? I didn't really have another choice."

"Well." She contemplated how to say what she was thinking. There was no delicate way to put it. "It's just that if I had a father like yours I would have just left. He seems to be the cause of a lot of your problems and leaving would have let most of them crash down around his own ears."

Ranma didn't know what to say about that. Meren was right but she just couldn't be like Meren. "I suppose but no mater how bad pops was he was still my father."

"I guess, I still think he was a looser that didn't deserve you." Meren listened and sometimes laughed for a while longer as Ranma described some of the wild and crazy stunts the girls had done trying to win her over. Meren could tell that Ranma wasn't entirely blameless for the situation but none of those girls were good enough for someone like Ranma in her opinion.

"Is Lan still around?" Ranma asked after a while.

"He wandered off an hour ago actually."

"What?" Ranma asked slightly annoyed. "Why didn't you tell me I could have changed back?"

Meren smiled at her friend, "Well I was enjoying our conversation and believe it or not you're actually more talkative in this form."

"I am not." Ranma said crossing her arms in a huff.

"Are too."

Ranma huffed indignantly, "What would a macho chick like you know about it."

Meren raised her eyebrows resorting to name calling eh? "Oh probably not much more than a tomboy like yourself."

"Hey I'm a guy."

Meren smiled innocently as she took a close look at Ranma's chest. "You sure? You seem to have the wrong plumbing at the moment."

"HEY… I… it's a curse!" Ranma spluttered in indignation.

Meren laughed and put a hand on her friends shoulder. "Relax I'm just teasing you. Lets head on back the others should be stopping to camp soon."

Ranma huffed and faced away from Meren with her arms crossed. Meren knew just how to cheer the girl up. Walking up behind her she spoke in a quiet singsong voice, "I'll cook diner." Sure enough that cheered Ranma up quickly. He sure does like my cooking Meren thought with a laugh. Of course with what he's told me about Akane's cooking anything could be better than that. She still wasn't sure if she believed anybody could be that bad a cook.

The two girls headed back up river a ways until they found a good campsite in the path the others were taking. Setting up Meren began preparing a meal which was just about ready when the others finally arrived.

Meren woke up feeling really good. It had been about a week since that night at Shadar Logoth and she had been enjoying her sparring sessions with Ranma. Her only regret was that Ranma didn't like to practice with a sword. Apparently Kuno had been enough of a nuisance to give him a bad taste when it came to sword work. I know I'll ask Lan to practice with me.

She happily hoped up off the ground noting that Ranma was still asleep and went in search of Lan. Sure enough he was there wrapped in his cloak leaned against a tree as if he had been there all night. He could have been sleeping like that except his eyes were open and watching her. "Do you need something?" he asked flatly.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have a quick sword match before we set out this morning. I have some practice weapons with me." She tried the big puppy dog eyes that Ranma had shown her.

Lan was apparently immune to the routine for all he showed on his face. After a moment of thought he nodded and led the girl away from the camp so they would not disturb the other's sleep. After they were a suitable distance away he held out his hand.

With a smile Meren reached into her pouch and withdrew two long wooden practice swords and tossed one to Lan. When she saw his raised eyebrow she explained. "This pouch has an enchantment on it that makes it larger inside than outside. We would probably need a wagon to carry all the stuff that I could fit in it." She drew a shorter wooden blade from the pouch and tucked it into her belt before taking up a ready stance with her blade.

Lan shrugged his way out of his shirt before adopting a similar stance with his own blade. He sure is well built Meren thought with a grin as the two engaged each other. The steady crack of wood striking wood rang out as they both danced through various sword forms. The beat was slow at first but quickly built in tempo until there was almost no time between the loud clacks.

"I do not recognize many of the forms you are using." Lan commented as the two circled. Meren noted the bright sheen of perspiration on his bare chest as he continued. "they are effective however, where did you learn them."

Meren smiled as she launched a complicated series of strikes that seemed to rain down from all sides. "its something of a family style. I've been practicing it for years." Her grin turned predatory as she shifted her grip and drew the practice dagger from her belt. "And this is my own style."

Lan arched an eyebrow at her new stance. "Are you sure this is wise? You can block and attack like that but a strong blow could overwhelm your block one handed."

If anything Meren's grin grew wider. "Care to try breaking my guard?" The clack of wood grew to an even faster pace as both combatants attacked and danced around one another.

True to her word despite Lans strength he could not break through her guard with her sword arm. She could not duplicate the feat with the dagger but she did not try to instead she deftly parried the blows so they would just miss her. It was taking all of Lans skill as a blade-master to even attack without being struck and Meren was a whirlwind of quick strikes blocks and parries.

Meren blocked a high strike with both her blades forming a scissor trapping Lan's blade. She stepped in and pivoted grasping his arms and threw him over her shoulder to land flat on his back. Not stopping there she did a small flip while he was falling landing on his chest and pining his arms to his sides with her legs. She leaned in close as she held the wooden dagger to his neck. "You loose." She whispered in a husky voice greatly enjoying the feel of his chest between her thighs.

Suddenly Meren realized exactly where her thoughts were going and was off Lan in an instant. Stupid stupid stupid she mentally berated herself for missing the warning signs.

Lan stood and massaged the shoulder that had nearly been dislocated when Meren through him. "Good move. Unorthodox but effective."

"What?" Meren asked coming back from her thoughts and did her best not to notice Lan didn't have a shirt on. "Oh ya I guess it is a good move. Well I think were done for the day." She said in a slightly too cheery voice and bolted back towards camp leaving a somewhat stunned Lan trying to figure out what happened.

Meren's thoughts were a bit chaotic as she rushed back to the camp. Nice going dummy. If you don't pay more attention you'll have to live with the consequences. Your not ready for that to happen… particularly with him. She found Moiraine awake sitting besides a small fire in the camp.

"Is everything alright child?" Moiraine asked.

Meren looked down at her feet. She didn't like being referred to as "Child" but right now she had more important on her mind. "Yes, I need to ask you a favor."

Moiraine cocked an eyebrow; it was unlike Meren to come to her asking for something. "And that is?"

"I uh… need you to keep an eye on me for the next week. A closer eye than you normally do anyway."

"I'm afraid you are not making much sense. Why?"

"well…" this is embarrassing, "It has to do with um biology." She still couldn't out and say it and continued beating around the bush.

Moiraine still did not understand. She guessed what the girl was talking about but didn't understand her request. "And why would your cycle require me to keep a closer eye on you?"

"Well… uh you see… I'm not entirely human and I'm a bit different…" she trailed off.

"And this is a problem…?" she hoped the girl would finally provide some meaningful information about her request.

"Well the differences cause me to have those times less often but the week before there are… urges that are difficult to control. I'm not saying I can't control them but it would be safer if I wasn't left alone with any men for the next week."

Moiraine finally thought she understood the problem. "Are you saying your afraid that you'll…"

"With Lan? Yes, and if I lost control I'm not sure if even he could stop me. It would be… unfortunate. So could you please not let me out of your sight for the next week?" she pleaded.

Moiraine sighed. She did not think this was necessary as Lan would not allow anything to happen and the chances of Meren finding another man out here were slim. However this would give her the opportunity to learn more about Meren and perhaps start teaching her how to channel. "Very well child, you will have to stay with the group. I will not chase off after you and Ranko just to keep an eye on you."

Meren nodded happily "That's fine, thank you." She was relieved to at least have some backup. She was more worried about being alone with Ranma than with Lan. The more she liked someone the harder it was to keep control and Ranma changed into a man when they went off to practice.

As if on cue Ranma walked at just that moment stretching. "Hey Meren you ready to head out?"

"Ah no not today I think Ranko." She replied a bit nervously. "I don't feel like it today."

"Oh why not?" she was rather confused considering how much Meren seemed to enjoy sparing.

"Uh well…" Meren leaned in close and whispered "it's a girl thing." Before walking off.

Ranma just stared after her. That answer didn't explain anything.

Ranma was board. She felt like she was slowly going crazy. She wasn't sure what she had done but Meren was avoiding her and had been for the last week. Oh she talked to her when Ranma started a conversation but she would bring it to an end quickly and otherwise would try to avoid looking at Ranma. Instead Meren spent most of her time talking quietly with Moiraine.

Ranma had tried to apologize despite not knowing what she had done wrong but Meren's response had confused her even more. She had insisted that she was dealing with a problem of her own and Ranma had nothing to apologize for. Ranma shook her head; I'll never understand girls she thought dejectedly. She didn't want to admit it but she wanted her friend to pay at least a little attention to her again.

She also missed the sparring sessions. Not only were they better exercise than practicing alone but also more fun. The fact that there wasn't much point in running on alone to practice also meant she had spent the last week stuck as a girl which bothered her almost as much as being ignored by her friend. Of course she wouldn't admit to missing the talks the two had, guys don't talk for hours on end after all.

She sighed again as she looked over at the only person who was paying any attention to her at all. There was Nynaeve mid rant about something; Ranma really hadn't been paying attention. With them actually being near each other for most of the day she had taken to trying to teach 'Ranko' how to be a proper lady much to Ranma's dismay. Still Nynaeve was a nice enough girl when she wasn't all high and mighty and telling everybody how to behave. Unfortunately her two favorite pastimes were telling other people what to do and arguing with Moiraine.

"… at least you're not trying to learn how to use the power. Filthy thing that power is." Ranma sighed as she heard a part of what Nynaeve was talking about. Meren had been accepting some lessons from Moiraine on how to channel. Moiraine seemed pleased by her interest although Nynaeve didn't, she probably just doesn't like the fact that she's being even that friendly with Moiraine. Even Ranma could tell there was no love lost between those two.

The lessons had started a week ago as well usually taking up a good deal of the evening. Ranma had sat in on one but immediately didn't like it. She didn't like the thought of having to surrender to the power to use it and those exercises… Ranma shudder as she thought about how girly all that stuff about imagining being a rosebud and such was. Maybe if I try again Meren will start talking to me again she thought even though Meren had kept her attention riveted on Moiraine during that one lesson.

At least Meren had taken the time to set her mind at ease about the possibility of going insane. Apparently a man actually had to channel the power to be affected by the taint. Both the channeling and the taint would be pretty obvious to the user and it took a decent amount of exposure before any ill effects would be noticed. The fact that she would have plenty of warning if there was a chance of going insane was only a minor comfort. If she did get that warning the only way to protect herself would be to stay a girl until she could get home. Assuming it isn't possible to channel there she thought dejectedly.

Thinking was one thing she had been doing plenty of lately. Back home there was rarely time to stop and think between one crisis and the next. Out here in the wilderness not much happened. Day after day of the land passing slowly by and even Ranma could only practice so long on her own without having to find something else to take up the extra time. The only downside to thinking so much was that her life was kind of depressing when thought about too much.

Maybe things would get more interesting tomorrow. Moiraine had said they should reach Whitebridge after a few hours of travel. A city might be just the thing to take her mind off her problems. It better, I'm gona turn into Ryoga if something interesting doesn't start happening soon. Deciding to go to bed early she left Nynaeve ranting there. She idly wondered how long it would take for the wisdom to notice she had left.

That night Ranma dreamed. He knew it was a dream right away. First off he was a guy again and he distantly remembered going to sleep as a girl. Second he was standing in that field he saw an image of that first night. The rolling green hills seemed to shimmer in the pale light of the full moon.

"So alone…" Ranma turned to see the shadowy girl next to him. "I hate being alone… Why do I have to be alone?"

"What do you mean? Why are you alone?" Ranma asked but the figure didn't reply as it moved up a nearby hill. Ranma could hear a flute playing a hauntingly sad melody drifting across the landscape. The music seemed to be coming from the other side of the hill. Ranma shrugged and followed the girl up the hill.

When Ranma reached the top he could see a stone walled city in the distance. Behind the city he could see the castle from the first dream. Just down from the crest of the hill was Meren sitting next to a small campfire playing a flute. She appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen years old and it was obvious that she had been camping in that location for several days.

'I didn't know she could play music like that.' Ranma thought as he listened to the enchanting tune. It was if all the loneliness in the world had been distilled and put into music. Despite the melancholy nature of the melody there were undercurrents of hope that caused Ranma's eyes to moisten. He wasn't sure how long he stood there listening to Meren play but eventually the music stopped.

Meren sighed as she hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knees. "I hate this time." She muttered to herself. "Hopefully it will be safe enough to go back tomorrow. It's so boring out here alone."

"Safe to go back?" Ranma asked. "What do you mean? If you don't want to be out here alone why not go back?" Ranma looked towards the city. It was several miles away but he knew she could cover the distance in less than an hour. There was no reason that he could see for her to not go back… unless. "Is that your home? Is there some reason its dangerous for you to go home right now?"

The younger Meren gave no indication that she could hear him. She sighed again as she wiped at some tears running down her face. "No I'm not going to cry. This will be over soon and life can go back to normal. At least until the next time." She concluded with another sigh.

"Next time? What next time? Please Meren tell me what's wrong." Ranma pleaded in vain. The seated girl could not hear him.

"It hurts to be alone even when its for your own good." The phantom said walking over to Meren.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong? You seem to know what is going on, answer me!" Ranma was growing more and more frustrated as this dream got more and more confusing. Why couldn't Meren go home? Would she be in danger if she went back? She seemed sure this would happen again, did this happen often?

Ranma watched in shock as the blurry girl suddenly took on definition. She now looked like a transparent version of the Meren Ranma knew. She sat down right on top of her younger self assuming the same posture. Young Meren had a ghostly version of her older self superimposed on top of her. Both Merens sighed and spoke together. "I hate being alone."

Ranma opened his mouth to ask once more what the problem was but the world was already fading.

Ranma woke to find it was still dark out and the others sound asleep. Ok these dreams are just too weird. Something's got to be going on, she thought as she looked around. She heard soft humming next to her. Looking down she saw Meren lying beside her with closed eyes. She was humming the same melody she played in the dream.

"Meren?" Ranma whispered quietly but got no response. Meren was sound asleep. Ranma watched the face of her sleeping friend for a while and noticed glistening tear tracks on her face. She cried in the dream too, Ranma thought, could I be seeing her dreams? But why were there two Merens?

Ranma shook her head before lying back down. Strange dreams were just too much trouble to figure out. Despite her attempts to go back to sleep she spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what these dreams could mean.

Meren was feeling kind of lousy this morning. Oddly enough she couldn't be happier about feeling bad. The telltale cramping meant it was now safe to be around men again which was good considering they were about to reach a city that would be full of them. She felt bad for avoiding Ranma for the past week but it couldn't be helped. She didn't want to take any chances. I'll have to make it up to him she thought and she knew just how.

After getting Ranma up they headed out to have a quick spar, Nynaeve's objections be dammed. Sure enough some exercise had gone a long way to pulling Ranma out of the funk she had gotten herself into even if she didn't have the chance to turn back into a guy. Having her friend talking to her again pulled her the rest of the way back to normal, or as normal as a guy turned girl ever got.

They were happily yammering away when the Whitebridge came into view. "Will you look at that?" Ranma said in awe. Nothing back home could compare to this. The bridge looked like it was made out of crystal lace so fine that it couldn't possibly support its own weight and yet people were crossing back and forth without a care to the impossibility of the feat.

"Yes it is quite pretty." Meren said halfheartedly. Her gaze was directed across the river to the town of Whitebridge. It looked like there had been a number of fires very recently. She absently picked up a small stone and held it in her clenched fist. She was busy contemplating how those fires could have burned in the pattern she was seeing and didn't notice as she drew on her powers.

"What are you up to?" Ranma asked pulling Meren out of the trance she found herself in.

"What?" Meren felt the last of the power she had used fading away but had no idea what she had used it for. Feeling something in her hand she opened it to reveal the rock had turned into a small crystal with a faint golden hew to it. "Hmm what's this?" she muttered as she used the Trimirida to examine what she had made."

"Wasn't that a rock you picked up? How did it turn into that?" Ranma asked looking over her shoulder.

"I haven't a clue" she replied absently. The crystal glowed brightly to her sight almost as if it were… a beacon! A smile crossed her lips as she realized how to use the small magical construct she had created. This thing could be useful she thought before turning to Ranma.

"Hey Ranko you want to spend a bit of time in the city together?"

"Sure." She agreed happily. She wasn't sure what had changed over night but she was glad to have her friend back to normal again. She wondered if perhaps last nights dream had something to do with the change. The Meren in the dream had said something about it being safe tomorrow. Ranma pushed that thought aside, whatever the problem back home had been couldn't possibly be a problem here could it?

"Ok let me go tell Moiraine and well head out." She hurried up to the Aes Sedai who was just starting to cross the bridge with Lan by her side. "Ranko and I are going to look around the city a bit, well meet up with you on the outskirts."

Moiraine looked down from her horse "What of your request?"

Meren just shook her head. "I'm fine now; the next stage started this morning so the danger is past. I may be a bit snappy for a few days but that's it. Here take this." She said handing the crystal to Moiraine.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's sort of a homing beacon. I can see it from a long way off. Also if you give it a good hard squeeze it will send out a signal I will feel. Hang onto it and I'll come find you guys when you leave the city or squeeze it and I'll come running if there's trouble."

Moiraine looked at the small bead and nodded. She didn't think it was a good idea to let those two out of her sight regardless but she also knew Meren was only informing her out of courtesy. Her hold on the two of them was tenuous at best but Meren said they would return and she seemed to stand by her word. "Very well but we will not be in the city long."

"No problem we won't be long." Meren said. Moments later she had retrieved Ranko and the two of them quickly disappeared into the crowd.

"So what are we doing?" Ranma asked as she was pulled along.

"Well a couple of things. I found out from Moiraine that at least two of the boys came down the river and passed through this town. I would like to find out any information about them that I can. But more importantly I'm taking you shopping."

Ranma stopped dead in the middle of the street. She had heard that line before and it was never any good. "Oh no. There's no way your stuffing me in a dress."

Meren looked at the redhead with a puzzled expression. "Who said anything about a dress? You've been wearing that same set of cloths for two weeks and they'll wear out at this rate. You at least need another change although we can get some variety in your wardrobe as well if you want."

Ranma greatly relieved that she wasn't going to be stuffed in a dress again conceded to going shopping. "Ok but nothing frilly either."

Meren laughed. "Don't worry well find something suitable for a tomboy like you but I need to make one stop first if I can find the proper shop."

Ranma grumbled about being called a tomboy while Meren talked to a few people they passed. I'm a guy dang it. After a few minutes she simply followed along as she took in her surroundings. There were a number of burnt buildings and the people seemed on edge. Despite this they talked to Meren and even opened up a bit.

Ranma was surprised at the change that had come over her friend. Gone was the mischievous and carefree aura the girl normally projected to be replaced by an aura of confidence and authority that seemed to make the people trust her. Ranma wondered if there was more to her friend than the tale of a simple soldier she implied.

After about twenty minutes Meren seemed satisfied with the information she had gathered and quickly lead Ranma down several streets. "So what were you doing?"

"Oh just getting some information. I'll tell you about what I found out in a bit first… ahh here we are." She said stopping in front of a shop.

Ranma looked at the sign over the door. "Uh what are we doing here this looks like a jewelry shop?"

"Don't worry were not here to buy. The money I'm carrying from my world is different from here but if my hunch is right I can convert it here." She smiled and proceeded inside where she talked to the proprietor.

Ranma was a bit confused; wouldn't you normally go to a bank to exchange currencies? She watched as Meren pulled a handful of gems out of her pouch and laid them on the table. The jeweler examined each of the gems in turn before haggling with Meren for a bit. After a few minutes he handed her a bag of coins in exchange for the gems.

"There now we can go shopping." She said stuffing the bag into her pouch.

"What was that you were selling? It looked like a pile of gems."

"It was sort of. That is the currency back home, what I sold him would have been enough for a couple decent meals back home but here I sold it for enough for us to live like royalty for a couple of weeks and I think he shortchanged me." She shrugged, she didn't care if the man got the better end of the deal she had more where that came from and she just needed some money for now.

Ranma whistled softly at the statement of how much money they had. "Nabiki would love you." She commented dryly.

"Who? Oh yes the mercenary. Well either way our next stop is just around here."

She led them to a large and obviously successful tailors shop. It took a bit of convincing to get the tailor to bring out 'Men's' clothing for them but eventually they managed to find several shirts and pairs of pants that would do for Ranma in both forms. When it came time to get some undergarments Ranma balked when Meren tried to get her to try on some for her female form.

"I'm not wearing a bra." She hissed.

"you really should wear one you know. Those will be a lot more comfortable to have if you do" she waved a hand towards Ranma's chest. "how you can stand all that jumping about with them hanging loose is beyond me. You can keep the boxers if you want although I'm not sure how you deal with that time of the month in them."

"Their comfortable enough, I don't want it." She pouted. What did she mean that time of the month? Probably another girl thing.

"Look will you at least try it? I'll get some fabric and see if I can make something more to your tastes later but I don't think they carry anything that has someone with your curse in mind."

Ranma looked at the bra that was offered to her. It didn't even look like any bra she had seen before, more like a ring of fabric that was shaped in the front to support the breasts without crushing them. The fact that it wasn't frilly in the slightest didn't change what it was though. With a sigh she took it, "fine" she said as she went into the changing room to put it on. She was actually a bit surprised to find Meren had been right about it being more comfortable having them supported when she walked.

Meren had an insufferable grin on her face. "See I'm always right aren't I?" She broke out laughing when Ranma called her a macho chick again.

Meren paid for their purchases as well as buying several bolts of cloth. Some was high quality linen while some was silk. She purchased a variety of colors but made sure to get plenty of the red and black Ranma preferred.

"Where are you going to keep all this stuff?" Ranma asked as they exited the shop with rather large armloads of clothing and fabric.

Meren just smiled and ducked into an ally where she proceeded to stuff everything into her pouch. "Just didn't want to do that in the open, too many questions."

Ranma just shook her head stupid question I guess. "So where too now?"

"Well let's go get something to eat and I'll tell you what I found out earlier." Meren smirked as Ranma happily followed her in search of an inn. Ranma never turned down food in Meren's experience. Shortly they were seated in an inn with a name Meren didn't want to contemplate too deeply waiting for the balding and slightly pudgy innkeeper to take their orders.

The overweight man gave them a funny look when they ordered five helpings of whatever was cooking. Meren simply pushed a single gold coin onto the table and the man bustled off to fill their orders. Who was he to argue with a paying customer? He returned shortly with five steaming plates full of food and a mug of ale for Meren. "Can I get anything else for you ladies?"

"No thank you this will do." Meren said quickly covering a growl from Ranma. They both began eating their meals. Meren ate at a brisk but well mannered pace; Ranma was doing her human vacuum cleaner impersonation. Meren chuckled lightly as she noticed several young men turn away at the display. They had been eyeing the young redhead as if they wanted to make a pass at her. Better for them that they don't.

"You really should learn some table manners you know." She dryly commented.

"Waf or" was all the response she got from the redhead who barely paused to say that.

Meren just shook her head, "Never mind the concept would be wasted on you." She took a sip of her ale and grimaced. "Cant say much for the ale here. Anyway there are a number rumors floating around town. Many have to do with a false dragon being caught and some nation down south calling a great hunt for a horn. Those seem to have something to do with prophesy around here but I wouldn't worry about it." Meren didn't put much stock in prophesy, people were better off without it.

"There are also wild rumors of dark friends and trollocs chasing riverboats. What interested me was that apparently there was a boat that passed through yesterday that had an old gleeman and two boys as passengers. From the descriptions it could be Thom Rand and Mat."

"So they made it at least," Ranma said at least remembering to swallow this time.

"My thoughts exactly." Meren paused and just watched Ranma for a few moments. "Good grief with the way you eat its like your worried someone is going to steal your food." This comment precipitated much coughing and choking from the redhead. Herm must be a story there I'll ask him later.

"Anyway there was a riot yesterday that was the cause of most of the burned buildings around town. This same riot ran that boat out of town." Meren's expression darkened a bit as she continued, "The reports are sketchy but the riot seemed to be sparked by an older man getting in a fight with another that could have been one of the eyeless."

Ranma gulped "You think it was Thom?"

Meren nodded sadly, "Nobody knows what happened to him but I don't see anyway that old man could have survived one of those things. Of the boys I couldn't find anything else but a great many people fled eastwards along the road in panic."

"So you think they may have run that way?" Ranma asked.

Meren nodded slowly taking another drink. She was about to continue when she noticed a reflection in her mug. Drawing her knife she studied the uniformed soldier standing in the doorway in the reflection. The uniform looked spiffy with its bright red coat and burnished breastplate but the man looked pompous to Meren. Oh joy a pretty-boy in the local militia out to prove himself.

The young officer looked around the room. He spotted two strangers, a young blond with the look of a mercenary about him seated with a young girl. He decided this one didn't look as tough as the large man from the previous inn and decided to puff up his ego after that last encounter. He walked up behind the young man and inquired to his business.

"Our business is our own, go away." Was the gruff response.

"Look here young man if your business threatens the good queen's peace it is my business. If you and your lady know what's good-" he had just put his hand on the mans shoulder when he was interrupted.

"Remove your hand or I will remove it from you." It was just then that the officer realized that the young man was really a woman. A woman with bright green eyes that looked very pissed.

"Your lady?" came the dangerous growl from Ranma; a red glow was starting to become visible around her.

The officer gulped and backed up half a pace before realizing that it was only a couple of girls. He had nothing to worry about. "Now see here, do you have any idea who I am?"

"No" Replied the blond, "but I suppose your about to tell us."

The nerve of her the man thought. "I am Private first class Mitchell of the queen's militia. This town has seen enough troubles of late without mercenaries disturbing the good queen's peace. I suggest you leave soon." There that will show them.

Meren looked him directly in the eyes. "Well private we will leave when we are good and ready and not a moment before. You on the other hand will leave NOW!"

The private backed up and soiled himself as he watched her face. On the last word her green eyes had changed to golden triangles for a moment. Several course s of action ran through his mind including drawing his sword and running for help. Finally the best course of action came to mind and he jumped on it. His eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

Both Meren and Ranma stared at the man sprawled out on the floor for several seconds. Abruptly Meren started laughing. "I shouldn't have done that but it sure was fun."

Ranma had her arms crossed under her breasts. She was still upset at the man for calling her Meren's lady. She thought the private was getting off to easy but she couldn't kick an unconscious man.

"I guess we should get going, the others are moving to the edge of the city." She flipped a couple of coins to the innkeeper. "Sorry about the mess." She looked at the glowering redhead and then had an idea. Grabbing her mug she poured the remainder of the ale on the unconscious mans head and breastplate.

"What did you do that for?" Ranma asked although she was pleased with any added vengeance no mater how petty.

Meren grinned as she led them outside. "Imagine how his superiors will react when they find him reeking of bad ale with that stain on his pants."

Ranma thought about that for a few moments as an evil grin spread across her face. "You are downright evil sometimes." She said as she began laughing. Meren joined in her mirth as she led them to where the others were waiting.

to be continued...

AN: Well that's the next chapter hope people have liked it so far. I'd like to answer a few reviews here while I'm at it.

First not trying to make Meren into a Mery Sue. She isn't a one dimensional character meant to solve all Ranma's problems over night. I've actually put a great deal of thought into her back story, you just haven't seen it yet. I am using her as a catalyst to make Ranma deal with his problems but it wont happen over night, just having time to think will deal with much of it. She just takes a very dim view of male chauvinists and will not put up with it so that's why that got dealt with first, and even there all she managed was a special exemption for herself mostly. The rest of his problems they'll still be sorting out well into the time the story progresses to the time in Falme with my current plot outline, that's well over 9 months time wise. That and he'll pick up a few new ones along the way. She also has her own history to deal with which will cause a great deal of trouble for them both. She is powerful yes, Ranma will be to and they are going to need every ounce of it once I'm done. :) I'v got plenty of time to work with storywise so I can take the time to do it right.

Plot wise, specifically how they landed in Randland. First we have Ranma, your local chaos generator. Second we have an overloaded spell interacting with another magical field and a magical artifact being destroyed all in close proximity. Finally you have the precedent of Ta'veren in WOT. There was one incident where a man was killed as he sat down to dinner by a roof tile flying through his window that was blown off a roof a mile away by a gust of wind, all because Rand was in town. Tagging a ballistic object with an inter-dimensional traveler doesn't seem all that much of a stretch given the stories were dealing with here. "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" as it were. If they are needed they will be there.

For the anonymous reviews oops, apparently they are turned off by default. I fixed that. Appreciate all the feedback folks keep it comeing.

oh and if anybodys wondering the rest of the ranma cast will work their way back into the story eventualy. be on the lookout for a particular lost boy soon.

If you like this story please review. If you don't like this story and want to give constructive feed back please review. If you don't like this story and want to flame me "Roni nar rashnik shnee tassha!" I leave it to your imagination to figure that one out.
If you want to contact me directly you can send mail to my hotmail box under the name Merendel. Put the word Hotan in the subject line somewhere to ensure it gets past my junk mail filter.

few more haveing to do with this chapter.

Borg rabit: ya there are a few words I know I'm lousy with. aparently my origonal proofreader has less time to read than I do to write. I can always patch things later if someone points errors out, I've done the best I could on my own.

Whitefox: I forgot about the bow. Its kind of a plot string I sort of set up the inital groundwork for that didnt make sense when I got there. May give the bow to Ranma but realy between the Moko Takabisha, Deamon god assault bomb (dont rember the origonal name for that one, often called vacume blades in fan fics) and eventualy channeling does ranma realy need more ranged attacks?

Yhabiki: mentiond in the prologue AN that this is just after volume 35 wich is basicly the konatsu arc but just before his mother finds out about the curse. so yes he does know the Umisen-Ken (invisability) technique and I'm going to asume for storys sake that he figured out the stuff from fighting Ryou (or whatever his name was.) curently I'v already had him use it twice in what I'v writen and I plan on mixing in some of the others when I find a good spot. the fast updates were because I wrote up to chapter 5 before I even posted the prologue wich ends up being about a week after the events at the end of EOTW and those two have struck out on their own for the tower ahead of the others. the reviews have made me post em faster than I planed as I'v been rereading TGH and all the sceans haveing to do with the tower in preperation for them entering the tower. My outline is slated for two chapters in the tower but in that outline they were also soposed to finish at the eye by the end of chap 2 :p as to Ranma channeling, well it is my story, havent decided on the male half for sure actualy, although I do have an idea for what realy was drowned in that pool he fell in. a few hints will start showing up soon. May or May not bring Safron in eventualy too, got an idea for him but that wont be for a long long time yet and it may not work out by then.

MingSHun: RAFO (haha as a jordon fan had to do that) that stands for "read and find out" for all those non jordon buffs.

I'll try to push out the other three chapters I'v already writin soon. 3 just needs a few tweeks on one scene, 4 is prety much ready as is but I still feel 5 needs some work. and I have to work this in with reading the new book and some of the old ones and my job.

And I do consider this chapter as number 2 despite what the site seems to think. Cant convince it to list the prologue as chap 00 or something