Wheel of Anime: Book 2 – The Hunt Is On Chapter 4: A Day in the Life By John Biles http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Stories/Jordan/ ********** "You will wait until Mabriam's Day, and then you will quietly slip out with a group of guards chosen by you, and then you will take the horn to Illian," Nabiki said to Setsuna. "Can we afford to wait over a month?" Setsuna asked. "We must. By then, no one will be paying attention. Also, as you know, a fair number of Aes Sedai quietly leave just before Mabriam's Day in order to avoid the pranks." Setsuna said, "Or to set up a truly impressive one." "Yes, exactly. No one will notice. I am having the men Lord Parn sent remain here so that they can join you; the few Tower personnel who have to be involved, the easier it will be to keep secret. They don't yet know why they're waiting, of course." "Of course," Setsuna said. "I wonder which of the two boys will be the Hornblower." "We shall see," Nabiki said. "Probably Kurz, as I imagine the Pattern would not want the Hornblower getting lost." Setsuna winced. "Kurz with the ability to call dead heroes back." "It pains me as well, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, daughter. And sometimes, it seems to get drunk first." Setsuna sighed. "I know, I know." ********* Life in the Tower gradually fell into a weekly routine; it was easy enough for Ranma and Ukyou, who were used to working every day, day in and day out. They got the impression Usagi was having a harder time of it, while they didn't see too much of Hinako, as being Kohai kept them very busy. For example, Ranma-chan's day on the twenty third of Amaline opened with the ringing of bells as the sky outside was starting to light up. Ranma-chan jumped down out of bed, slipping on one of Usagi's stuffed animals as usual. The sound of her crying out in pain caused Usagi to start, sit up, bang her head on the top bunk, and pass out. Ranma-chan got up and sighed, then threw the stuffed lion (which in some vague and academic way resembled the Lion of Andor, if it had accidentally been exposed to heavy amounts of gamma radiation over a period of years) at Usagi, who yelped and woke up. "Five more minutes." "If you don't get up, you won't eat," Ranma-chan said, slipping out of her nightclothes into one of her white Kohai dresses, which was more or less a sack with sleeves attached. Usagi sprang out of bed like all the Fanboys in the Blight were after her, and quickly changed into a dress, then was out the door, leaving Ranma-chan to amble over to the next room and knock. Ukyou was dressed and ready, dragging a still-groggy Hinako along. "Hey, Ranchan," she said. "Where's Usagi?" "Hungrier than usual," Ranma-chan said, heading off to the dining hall with Ukyou and Hinako. Ryouga, Kurz, and Nanami were already there by the time the three of them got to the dining hall. Usagi was into her second bowl of stew. The cooks seemed to love stew, especially for feeding to Kohai and Warder Trainees. Still, it was pretty nourishing if not especially tasty, and everyone ate up. "So, how was the trip?" Ranma-chan asked Nanami. "You being a city girl and all, I expect you're not used to the countryside." The Warder Trainees took periodic trips out into the countryside to get them used to travelling in wilderness and surviving there; one of the classes had just gotten back from such a trip. "Master Yupa was quite pleased with my progress," Nanami said a little stiffly. "She only fell in two rabbit holes the second day, and one the third," Kurz translated. "How many the first?" Ranma-chan asked, grinning a little. "Kurz!" "I don't know if they make numbers that big," he said. "Only five," Ryouga said, just to be fair. "And she didn't ride into a tree branch because of riding without looking where she was going the way a certain blonde man from the Two Rivers did." "Hrmph." "I wish I could have gone," Hinako said. "The Tower is nice, but I kind of miss the countryside." "They've got me herding sheep on Firstday mornings," Ranma- chan said ruefully. "It's like I never left home. Stupid chores." "Working in the gardens is kind of fun," Usagi said. "I like plants and the gardens are really beautiful." "I like sleeping in on Firstday mornings," Ukyou said, grinning. "I wish we got a day mostly off like you guys," Kurz said. "They work us hard." "But you get the whole evening free and we have study hall," Ukyou said. "And we have to do all those chores." "Oh yes, like making you cook will kill you," Ranma-chan said. "You get to do something you like instead of things which suck." "If we had to do chores on top of everything else, I would DIE," Kurz said. "The best thing about those chores is that I've been able to make some pocket money doing them for Kohai for pay," Nanami said. "As some people really desperately want more free time." Ukyou's eyes widened. "Belldandy will...she won't be pleased if she finds THAT out." "I am discreet, and so are my clients," Nanami said. "I'm not as in love with poker as Kurz is, so I've got to find something to do with my evenings." She wolfed down a mouthful of stew. "And I'm not like Ryouga, who keeps going down to the forges and letting them use him for free." "Hey, I like forgework and they let me have free materials in return for working for them," Ryouga said. "I've got to practice if I'm ever going to become a master." Hinako nodded. "It's a good way to get the experience. The White Tower has some of the best blacksmiths in the world." "And Hanajima Sedai will probably expect us to memorize them all," Usagi said, finally pausing in gulping down food. Ukyou groaned. "All those Amyrlins. How can anyone CARE?" "She cares," Ranma-chan said, sighing. "Which means we have to." "BORING," Usagi announced, then began working on a loaf of bread. "You ready to be glared at by Sayoko Sedai?" Naru asked, coming up to Usagi. "Ugh," Usagi said. "The bucket was an accident! An accident!" "Doesn't like you much?" Kurz asked. "She doesn't seem to like any of us for some reason," Ranma-chan said. "Although I think with me and Ucchan it's because we sort of slept through our first day of class with her." "She seems to think Kanako is just great," Ukyou grumbled. "Sempai Kanako isn't THAT bad," Naru said. "She's got that dead stare, and if she gets mad, she goes and disguises herself as you and does things to get you in trouble," Ranma- chan said. "I can't stand her." "She's good at teaching, though," Naru said. "She's a good channeler," Ranma-chan said grudgingly. "I understand the Reds have their eyes on her," Hinako said. Ranma-chan shuddered. "Figures." "We'd better get moving so Sayoko Sedai doesn't send us to scrub the hallway again or something," Ukyou said. "But...food..." Usagi said. Ranma-chan rose and grabbed Usagi by one of her trailing ponytails. "You ate enough for three people, c'mon." "Ranma!!!!!!!" ********** "Archery practice AGAIN?" Ryouga asked. "We practice archery most mornings," Nuriko said, longbow in hand. "I'd have thought you'd have figured that out by now." "I don't mind," Kurz said. "It's fun." "You can shoot an arrow into my target any time, Kurz," Nuriko said, grinning. Kurz turned red and Ryouga laughed. Sousuke said, "You don't have any targets of your own, Nuriko." Nuriko turned to face Sousuke. "Brother, it's a metaphor." "It's not a very good metaphor," Sousuke said, "If people can't tell what you're trying to be symbolic about." "You could tell, couldn't you, Ryouga?" Nuriko asked Ryouga. Ryouga laughed. "Yes." "I wish I couldn't," Kurz mumbled. Nanami listened and grinned and lined up to start shooting. She was not the world's greatest archer, and spent a lot of her time missing. "Obviously, this was not an invitation for him to kill you," Sousuke said. "So what was it?" Nuriko leaned against a tree and laughed and laughed. "Oh, brother, you are so utterly hopeless." "Less laughing, more shooting," Mistress Rei, the archery instructor, said to Nuriko. She was a tall, skinny woman with long green hair tied into long twin braids; she was Kandori, and her parents had named her after the famous heroine of the sagas, or so the students had heard. She certainly shot well enough to BE the legendary heroine in the opinion of many. She stopped at Nanami. "Your stance is bad. Like this," she said, taking her own bow and posing. Nanami did her best to match the stance. "Like this?" "Better. Now, clear your mind and shoot." It was hard to clear her mind when everyone was staring at her, but she tried, then fired. She hit the target, though only barely. "A good start," Mistress Rei said. "Now, keep working on it." "Yes, Mistress," Nanami said. The things I do for love, she thought. ******** Sayoko Sedai and Sempai Kanako drifted through the class like ghosts, watching and observing as thirty girls tried to open themselves to the Source and to work several simple weaves. Some were doing well, like Himeko and Naru, who had already grasped the Source and were now making little tongues of flame hover in the air in front of them. Some were struggling, like Shinobu, who was trying too hard to open herself and as a result was fighting the Source instead of embracing it, as if she was a man instead of a woman. And the Wondergirls (Usagi, Ukyou, and Ranma, as Sayoko had dubbed them in her mind) were playing around irresponsibly, juggling multiple tongues of flame back and forth between each other, in the delusion that she would not notice or care. Sayoko gestured to Kanako, who nodded and glided silently towards the Wondergirls. Sayoko took a moment to once again be impressed by Kanako's silent footfall trick, which rendered your movements silent, while still enabling you to speak. It was very useful for a class like this, so that she could move around without disturbing people's concentration. Usagi had two flames floating over her head and was making weird faces. "Ooooh, I am the ghost of Low Chasaline..." Kanako quickly wove a disguise weave, taking on the appearance of a rotting, floating corpse surrounded by tongues of ghost-flame. "I am the ghost who devours Kohai who don't follow the teacher's instructions." There was a moment of awful silence. And then Usagi screamed, leaped to her feet and ran howling out the door. Ukyou jumped up, a spatula in each hand. Ranma-chan stared for a moment, then said, "We got a little carried away. Sorry." "Go find Usagi before she panics anyone. Then come back here and get a mop and bucket. It's hall scrubbing time," Ghost-Kanako said. Ranma-chan sighed, got up, and went after Usagi with Ukyou in tow. ******** Hinako sat behind the counter, reading Peterson's Guide to Shadow-Induced Injuries, one of the books Hotaru had assigned her to read and report on this week. She'd learned to grab every spare moment she could for working on her reading, or she'd never keep up. This was why she was 'reading at work'. Since there weren't any new patients yet today, she didn't have anything else to do except wait for someone to get sick or injured. She did her best to ignore the scraping noises; Mimori Sedai was rearranging the furniture again; it never seemed to quite satisfy her. Being small and not very strong in her child form, Hinako was excused from the necessity of helping, for which she was grateful. Anderson was not so lucky, and she could hear him grunting as he shoved a bed across the floor; he was her designated 'battery', a duty which he was not very fond of. Hinako regretted the necessity of it, which was why she never charged up off him until she had to. Hinako turned the page and a softly glowing tangle of threads appeared several inches over the book, depicting the weave used to treat wounds from Thakandar Steel, used by the Shadow to make weapons for Lagmen. She slowly rotated the book, studying it from several angles. As she did so, Drake entered, carrying Yomiko Sedai, who had her head stuck in a bucket, which was now bent and twisted around her skull. "Can someone get this thing off her? I'm afraid to use my blade, given it's on her head." Hinako stared. "How did this happen?" "Well, we were moving some books to her quarters, and she wasn't watching where she was going and I couldn't see very well through all the books. We turned a corner and it turned out some of the Kohai were scrubbing the hallway. She slipped and managed to get her head in the bucket, tried to get up and banged her head into the wall, and then one of them tried to get it off her and made it worse." Drake shook his head. "Those friends of yours from the Two Rivers and the Daughter-Heir of Andor." Hinako sighed. "Anderson, come over here, I need to charge up." "You can use me," Drake said. "I should have been able to keep this from happening in the first place." Anderson gave a sigh of relief and Hinako hopped over the counter to the ground, then pulled a coin and drew just enough energy from Drake to charge up for a short time. She was starting to learn to be more precise in how much she took. Adult-Hinako then quickly wove flows of Earth and peeled the bucket apart with them, followed by a quick weave to help Yomiko get her senses back. "Are you alright, Sedai?" "My books! They must all be getting wet!" She took off running. "She's alright," Drake said a little weakly. "Thank you." Adult-Hinako looked over at Mimori Sedai. "How long do you think until she'll be back when she falls down on the wet floor trying to get the books?" "I'd say about fifteen minutes. Here, move that couch while you're big." "Yes, Sedai," Hinako said, sighing and going to work. ********* Class with Hanajima Sedai was always a little surreal. Her hair tended to move in non-existant breezes, and you always heard her voice RIGHT next to your ear, even if she was far across the room from you. Even if she had her back to the class and her face to the blackboard, she seemed to hear everything and see everything which happened. "We have, in past weeks, discussed the early history of the Tower up through the Fanboy Wars in broad terms. We will now be focusing for the next few weeks on a few specific issues from this first period of the history of the Tower," Hanajima Sedai said. "I hope you've all done the reading." Usagi and Ranma-chan both shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Ukyou shook her head at them slightly, while Naru engaged in a quick search through the stack of papers on her desk until she found several scribbled sheets. Several pieces of chalk flew into the air and began to write things on the board while Hanajima Sedai began to lecture. "As was covered in our discussion of the period between the Breaking and the Convocation of Jennshain, the Ajah first originated as sisterhoods of Aes Sedai in the various nations which were forming after the Breaking. Today, we're going to look at how these groups shifted from being nationally based to being focused on specific purposes." Sara put her hand up; she was a short, cranky blonde from Andor. She could generally be counted on to be alternately the most disruptive person in the class and the most informed, because her father was a historian of some note. "Yes, Sara?" Hanajima Sedai asked with her usual cool tone of voice. She was mostly unflappable, even by Sara, the Kohai had learned. "But there are nine Ajah, and there were ten nations before the Fanboy Wars, right?" Sara asked. "What happened to the Tenth Ajah?" "We will get to that," Hanajima said. "In short, the tenth Ajah had to be destroyed." A ripple of whispers ran through the class at that. "To tell the full story. As you know, ten groups met at the Convocation of Jennshain to form the White Tower. However, the early years of the Tower were deeply troubled, for new Aes Sedai tended to flock to the Ajah founded by sisters from their nations, and they often competed to push the Tower to further the interests of those nations. While each of the Ajahs had taken a color for its name instead of retaining their old names, their old identities were not forgotten." "Thus it was, when Queen Mabriam of Arnor negotiated the Second and a Half Compact, also known as the Compact of the Ten Nations. She was an Aes Sedai of the Gray Ajah, which had once been the Sisterhood of Peace, founded in Arnor's earliest days and a major factor in its rise. She it was who first proposed changing the basis of the Ajahs to a model resembling the current state of affairs, although she identified twelve areas where the Tower ought to have experts. Her measure failed by a single vote." Hanajima paused for a glass of water. "The transition to the 'modern' structure didn't take place until the Fanboy Wars. The chaos of the Fanboy Wars and the collapse of the Covenant was matched by increasing tensions inside the Tower as Sister fought with Sister over where the Tower should pitch in and help. Two events were crucial in the reconfiguration of the Tower: the Fall of the Black Ajah and the near- simultaneous Betrayal of Tomobiki." More whispers ran around the class at that; they'd heard rumors of the Black Ajah, but all such rumors tended to contradict each other and be confusing. "The Black Ajah began its existence as Noir, the sisterhood of the Aes Sedai of Aridextradry. There, they worked in secret, concealing themselves among the population and rooting out the servants of the Shadow. The collapse of Aridextradry during the first century of the Fanboy Wars cut off the main source of new recruits, and apparently sent the Noir into new heights of paranoia about the Shadow. In addition, many Aes Sedai came to think little of them, for they had been unable to save their own nation from corruption. It remains unclear exactly what happened, but the leaders of the Black Ajah apparently came up with a very foolish, dangerous plan to try to redeem themselves." She paused to take a sip of water as her students watched her intently; many seemed quite nervous about what they would hear next. "They decided to try to infiltrate the army of the Fanboys from the inside and thus destroy it, to risk the darkness to save the Light. They sent a portion of their members to join the Grateful Deadlords who lead the Fanboy armies, in the hopes they would rise to positions from which they could betray those armies." Hanajima paused to sip her water again. "What they did not understand was that their plan had been betrayed and had likely been impossible, anyway. Those sent to infiltrate were turned to the Dark One's service by blackmail, compulsion, or means so dark and dreadful I will not describe them. They were then used to draw in most of the rest, so that by the time of the Betrayal of Tomobiki, most of the Black Ajah had been corrupted by the Dark One." Hanajima began to sweep her cool gaze across the classroom, meeting the gaze of each of the students in turn. "At that time, the Red Ajah was linked to Safer, an ancient rival of Tomobiki, linked to the Blue Ajah. These national rivalries led to rivalries between the Red and Blue Ajahs, which sadly continue today, long after they have ceased to make much sense. Amyrlin Ran of the Red Ajah was an old enemy of Queen Shinobu of Tomobiki, and when the Dark One put forth his full strength to destroy Tomobiki, she delayed the onset of relief forces until it was too late and Tomobiki was destroyed." "With the fall of Tomobiki, little remained to prevent Fanboy armies being able, with some effort, to raid all the way to Aesclepia and Nexus on the southern coast, and such raids soon began. Worse, the Tower teetered on the verge of all-out war, for many in the Tower condemned the Amyrlin for her failure to send aid in time. She struck back viciously. Then the Black Ajah, at the Dark One's command, began to murder key figures on both sides, to provoke the Ajahs into all out war." "Unfortunately for them, Serenity, the head of the Blue Ajah, survived the attempt to murder her and captured the assassin. She led the purge which captured and stilled most of the Black Ajah. Those who had not been corrupted, few as they were, posed a problem as to what to do with them. She proposed a reworking of the Ajah system, turning the Ajahs from national groupings into teams of experts in various areas. The fact that this would necessitate a massive reshuffling, combined with various vested interests meant that this quite logical proposal faced far more difficulty than it should have. Her opposition to it, however, was the final seal of Amyrlin Ran's doom. She was deposed and stilled and Serenity elected in her place, becoming Amyrlin Serenity I. Under her rule, the Tower recovered and began to work to end the Fanboy Wars more effectively, but we'll get to that later." Hanajima paused for breath now, then said, "Does that answer your question, Sara?" "But what about the rumors it exists now?" Sara asked. "There have been many efforts to create a secret society of Aes Sedai sworn to the Dark One over the centuries. Many such have taken the name of 'Black Ajah' to mock us. Such groups flourished most between the Fanboy Wars and the War of a Hundred Years. Inevitably, their members make a mistake within a few years of their foundation and they are exposed and rooted out. So long as the Dark One exists, some foolish souls will turn to him, but you can rest assured that they cannot hide for long among our ranks before they are caught." Sara seemed relieved. "Thank you, Sedai." "You're welcome," she said. "Now, we will turn to discussing the rise of the Second and a Half Covenant and Queen Mabriam Sedai in more detail..." ******** "That wasn't too bad," Ranma-chan said as she and Usagi headed for the library. Three days a week they both spent several hours helping the librarians shelve books as part of their chores. "I thought it was pretty neat," Usagi said. "Mabriam's day is coming up, so learning more about Queen Mabriam was pretty neat." "It isn't for several weeks, isn't it?" Ranma-chan asked. "Well, I never really got to do much for it because Mother hated it and would have Sousuke spy on me and Nuriko to ruin all our pranks," Usagi said. "She thought it was undignified." "Oh man, Nuriko's going to prank Kurz, I bet," Ranma-chan said. Usagi giggled. "I haven't seen Nuriko have it this bad for someone in quite a while." Ranma-chan shook her head. "Too bad Nuriko isn't really a woman; Kurz has no interest in men." "So, who are you going to prank, hmm?" Usagi asked. "I, uhh...I dunno. Never done it before." "Really?" Usagi asked in surprise. "Yeah, we, uh..." Usagi didn't know about the curse, and Ranma- chan wasn't quite ready to tell her. "Just haven't." "Well, we'll have to see what we can cook up," Usagi said. They reached the library, and found Yomiko and a not very happy Drake waiting for them and the four other girls who had the same duty. "Hi there!" Yomiko said cheerfully, removing some of Ranma-chan's worries, although Usagi froze like a deer in headlights and remained frozen. Drake said, "Ahh, there you two are. I've got work for you." "You two will be nice and help Drake out, won't you?" Yomiko asked. A request was as good as a command, unfortunately, so they followed him deeper into the library. Ranma-chan had to drag Usagi, who was vibrating like a fault-line in mid-quake. "So what are we going to do?" Ranma-chan asked. They rounded a corner and came to where six bookcases had fallen down, spilling books everywhere. "There was a little accident here a few days ago, and they've been saving cleaning up this mess for someone who really deserved it. Like you." "I don't think we can do all this in just two hours," Ranma-chan said. "That's fine," Drake said. "Miss Haruna already approved for you to come and do this instead of coming to Basics of Research I today. So you can work until you're done." "..." Drake smiled. "I'll bring you lunch, too, so you won't have to leave for that." Usagi paled. "Noooooooooo!!!!!!" "Yes," Drake said. "See you later." Ranma-chan sighed. "Right, let's get to work. You stack the books while I get the bookcases set up." Usagi began piling the books into stacks, while Ranma-chan quickly got the bookcases set up. "Now we can just start putting the books in them," Ranma-chan said. "But we have to put them in alphabetical order," Usagi said. "Sorted by topic." Ranma-chan looked at the masses of books. "How are the topics organized? Are the topics in alphabetical order?" "I seem to dimly remember Haruna Sedai said something about the books being sorted by Ajah relevance, then by sub-topics," Usagi said. "Most of these look like geography books, so this must be the Purple section, and I guess maybe...by country?" "Sounds good to me," Ranma-chan said. "Which means...Arad Doman is first, right?" "_Andor_ is first," Usagi said. "No, wait, Altara is, but Andor still comes before Arad Doman." "And Amadicia before Andor too. Maybe we should put up one book from each country at intervals, so we don't get them in the wrong order." "Good idea," Usagi said, rooting through the pile. "Here we go." ******** Ukyou's early afternoon class was full of somewhat older Kohai than most of her other classes. Her financial background (such as it was, from being an innkeeper's daughter) had gotten her, along with the fact that her advisor was teaching it, into Accounting II. She found it to be only slightly more interesting than bashing herself in the face with her giant spatula, although Sarasa Sedai was a reasonably good teacher. About half of the other students seemed interested, the other half looked ready to fall asleep. Ukyou listened to the lecture, feigning interest as best she could. After what seemed like three thousand years, the class was finally over, and she headed off to Introduction to Ethics, taught by Afura Mann. Naru was there, but not Usagi or Ranma-chan. She sat down by Naru. "Have you seen Ranma and Usagi? They weren't at lunch." "I hear Drake dragged them off into the depths of the library, never to be seen again," Naru said. "After they got Yomiko Sedai's head stuck in a bucket." Ukyou sighed. "I was there for the bucket." Afura Mann entered. "Good afternoon, students." She looked around. "Ranma and Usagi will not be joining us today, as they are doing special duty in the library. But everyone else is here, so we can begin." There was the sound of running feet, and then Ranma-chan and Usagi came sprinting in. "We're not late, are we?" Ranma-chan asked. "Only slightly, and I was not expecting you to be coming, as I had the understanding you were being punished." There was the sound of heavy lumbering feet. "Umino stumbled on us while getting a book on Illian, and he helped us get the books picked up," Usagi said. "You don't mind if he sits in, do you? He likes ethnics." "Ethics," Afura Mann said. "While it is unusual, I do not mind if the Builder joins us. He may have some interesting perspectives, and it is not necessary to channel in order to have ethics, thankfully." "More like, it's necessary not to channel in order to have ethics, far as I can tell," Sara whispered a little too loudly. "To address Sara's point," Afura Mann said, "Before she is sent out to clean the hallway for being snide in class..." The whole class laughed at that, except for Sara, who grumbled. "Those with greater power are far more tempted to violate the dictates of ethics. After all, the weak can neither do as much damage nor have as much power to do evil as the strong. This makes ethics much more essential for us, the most powerful beings who do not serve the Shadow. If we fall to temptation, if we cannot resist the blandishments of the Shadow, how can we expect anyone else to?" Umino now came in and looked for a suitable chair. The desks were not well designed for one of his height, unfortunately, so he simply lumbered to the back wall and leaned against it. "Sara, go get the Builder a chair from the Storehouse. And get yourself the supplies to start scrubbing the hallway." Sara grumbled, got up, and left. "These last few weeks, we've been looking at two broad traditions of ethics, deontological and utilitarian. As we've seen, they often conflict with each other; aspects of each are embedded into the life of every Aes Sedai. If you persevere in your studies, one day you all will be Aes Sedai and will have to make daily ethical decisions. Next week, we will be starting to study the works of some of the great Aes Sedai and Warder philosophers, but this week we're going to pause and examine some common ethical dilemnas in the light of what we've studied already, so that you can keep these examples in mind as we delve into various philosophers." Umino flipped open his notebook and began scribbling; the other students had started scribbling from word one. "Let us take a hypothetical situation. Let's say that Murandy has been raiding Andor." Usagi nodded in a manner indicating this wasn't all that hypothetical. "So the Queen of Andor decides to invade Murandy and conquer it in order to stop the raids," Afura Mann continued. "Mother would never invade and conquer another country!" Usagi protested. "No Queen of Andor would!" "Such, as, say, Queen Morrigan II of Andor, who tried to conquer Murandy in the years 188-203 NE," Afura Mann said. Usagi fell silent and stared at her notes. "Or any of a dozen or more other queens of Andor who tried to deal with Murandy in that matter. But we'll call this queen 'Serena' for convenience's sake, and name the King of Murandy 'Darien', just so as to avoid anyone getting too tied up in real people." Afura Mann paused and wrote the names on the board, then continued. "We could debate the ethics of war here, but we'll move on to the central issue. Due to the usual round of Murandian anarchy, the Murandians are defeated in the first battle. King Darien now appeals to the White Tower for help. Imagine you are the Amyrlin...what would you do? Should the Tower help? If so, how and why? If not, why not?" "Andor has always been a staunch ally of the White Tower," Usagi said. "If I was Amyrlin, I'd turn down the request and tell them they should have stopped raiding Andor if they didn't want to be attacked." "And the fact that you're the heir to the Andoran throne doesn't bias your thinking at all," a dark-haired Arafellin girl named Kari Thalassas said with just a little bitterness in her voice. Ukyou had noticed she didn't seem to like Usagi at all. "If I was Amyrlin, I'd send emmisaries to both sides, reminding them that the war against the Shadow is far more important than their petty bickering, and that they ought to learn from the example of the Borderlands, where we don't raid each other and we don't fight each other, because if we did, the Shadow would destroy us all. The southern countries can only afford to bicker because we risk our lives protecting them from the Shadow that some of them try to pretend doesn't even exist." Kari paused for breath and Usagi cut in, "We can't just sit back and let them raid us! I know war is bad, but they started it! And Murandy is such a hell-hole, they'd be better off if someone came in and taught them some manners." Ukyou tried to figure out how this was congruent with 'Andor would never invade another country'. "Murandy is not a hell-hole!" Himeko cut in. She was Murandian. "It may get a little violent, but that's only because we refuse to knuckle under to oppression by people who think they ought to be in charge!" "Calm down," Afura said, though she seemed a little pleased to have successfully engaged her students. "We're not here to decide whose country is 'better'. You are to be Aes Sedai. The Tower, not the land of your birth, is your home now. There are no Murandians, Kandori, Altarans, or whatever here. Now, would anyone else like to express an opinion on this issue? Once we've hit the major options, we'll start analyzing them." "Isn't this exactly the sort of thing the Gray Ajah is for? Going into wars and ending them and so on?" Ranma-chan asked. Afura Mann nodded. "Yes, exactly." "I would offer to help the King of Murandy if he would agree to swear fealty to the Tower and pay tribute. Then I'd let the war last long enough to get my people into place so as to ensure he doesn't renege as soon as the war ends. I'd also use the most rebellious of his nobles in the van of all combat, so as to ensure they get killed off. Once the war was over, I'd then make sure Murandy stayed in my pocket," Lillith Ivori said, a red-haired Altaran girl from a minor noble family. Everyone stared at her, some in surprise, others thoughtfully. "What, turn it into something like Amadicia is to the SubNazis?" Ukyou asked. "Exactly," Lillith said. "And if he wouldn't pay up, then I'd go to Andor and threaten to help him anyway if they didn't make appropriate concessions. Say, ceding part of their conquests to the control of the Tower." "That's all pretty selfish," Ukyou said. "We're supposed to be better than that." Lillith began to laugh, then said, "That's politics, farmgirl. You have to be willing to swim in the deep waters if you want to struggle with the sharks." "Any other opinions?" Afura asked. "I would help the Murandians drive the Andorans back to their own lands." Kari said. "I would help Andor because it has always been friendly to the Tower, while Murandy is a chaotic pit, which would be better off if someone restored order," Naru said. "I'd send the Gray Ajah in to negotiate, but I would mostly stay out of it unless the Andorans or the Murandians started asking the Dark One for help," Ranma-chan said. "Never get in the middle of someone else's fight if you can help it." More people chimed in, some for Murandy, others for Andor, and a fair number for sending in the Gray Ajah to negotiate a peace. Shinobu, a usually shy girl from Cairhien, finally said, "So the war is because of Murandy raiding Andor?" "The usual round of raids across the border," Afura Mann said. "But don't the Andoran lords also raid into Murandy?" Shinobu asked. "Only in retaliation for Murandian raids!" Usagi said a little heatedly. "We can assume the usual level of raiding by both sides is in place." "Why is the Queen invading NOW?" Shinobu asked nervously. "I mean, it goes on all the time, so..." Afura Mann said, "A very good question. We'll say for this exercise that Queen Serena has been consolidating her rule the last six years after a somewhat disputed Succession, so she wasn't free to address the issue, and one of her major lords who had opposed her succession requested her help in dealing with the raids. She is hoping to both solve the raiding problem and build support among the nobles who had previously opposed her, to restore Andoran unity." "Alright. I would say the Tower should stay neutral and send in the Gray Ajah, then," Shinobu said. "Since neither side's done anything really unusually bad." Afura looked across the room at Umino. "Would you like to offer any comments, Builder?" He blinked, then slowly scratched his chin, then tried to put his notebook down and couldn't find anything to put it on. He then stuffed it into a coat pocket and said, "Well, it might be noted that the Tower has not intervened in any wars between just two nations since the War of a Hundred Years. All of the Tower's interventions to support one side of a conflict or another have all been in response to the request of at least two nations, such as the assistance given during the SubNazi War thirty years ago. The Tower has not initiated a war itself since the war with Tenchi Hawkwing." "Secondly, the record of nations and conquests these last thousand years is not good. Past Andoran efforts to conquer Murandy have all failed. In general, all the major attempts at conquest have failed. Even nations which were far further into anarchy than Murandy generally couldn't be successfully conquered; within a generation or two, they just slipped away like sand between fingers. Cairhien could not hold Hardon. Tear could not hold Mar Haddon, nor Illian Maredo. And so forth. Such a war is likely to only weaken both sides." "And finally, the Last Battle is coming. At such a time, we can't afford to fight with each other." He paused for breath, then said, "So, knowing that, I would say that it is probably best the Tower keep its neutrality and send the Gray Ajah to negotiate a peace settlement." "Very well put, Builder," Afura Mann said. "In general, the Tower would be unlikely to intervene directly in such a struggle as this, for a variety of reasons. We remain neutral in most conflicts to preserve our moral authority. If we became imbedded in political conflicts, the Tower would soon seem just another state, rather than the unique body it is. However, we're looking at this as an ethical question rather than a political one. So..." She paused for a breath, then said, "Alright, now, let's get into our philosophical analysis..." ********* After ethics came Fundamentals of Healing. Ukyou had quickly decided that this class was basically an excuse to draft the Kohai to help put all the Warder Trainees back together again after a hard day of practice. As usual, the class trooped down to the infirmary and got a brief lecture on some particular health problem, followed by hordes of battered Trainees limping in and having to be put back together again. The Kohai darted about, alternately healing what they knew and being shown by Hotaru and Hinako how to heal what they did not. Nuriko was here; Nuriko always seemed to be here when Ukyou had this class. Usually for the same reason. "You really need to stop hitting on Kurz before he kills you," Ukyou said as she knelt down by him and started washing away his pain. Nuriko sighed. "He draws me like a moth to a flame." "And like a moth, you get burnt," she said. He convulsed briefly, then relaxed. "Thank you, Ukyou." "If you're really grateful, you'll stop getting yourself pointlessly pounded flat by Kurz. Find yourself someone who, well, wants a man." "Not as easy as you would think," Nuriko said, sighing. Ukyou glanced across the room at Ranma-chan, who was busy treating Kurz. "I suppose not." "Sousuke didn't pound him too hard," Nuriko said. "I stopped him." "He beat up Kurz?" Ukyou asked. "Sousuke takes it as his duty to protect Usagi and I, even when we can take care of ourselves." There was a strong note of affection in Nuriko's voice. "Usagi doesn't get along with him well because he's such a stick in the mud and he's always turning her in for being naughty, but she just doesn't seem to realize he'd lay down his life for ours in a second, without hesitation. Even though we're only half-siblings." "Who else was your Mother married to? Before Megane Bryne?" Nuriko shook his head. "Before Mother was Queen, Asuka of house Mizunokoji was Queen of Andor. She married Shutaro Damodred, nephew of the famous idiot King Ramen of Cairhien. Queen Asuka gave birth to Sousuke, then shortly afterwards, basically vanished. There's some reason to believe she just...ran away for some reason. Anyway, once everyone was sure she was gone, there was a disputed succession and Mother ended up on the throne. She married Shutaro Damodred and they had Usagi and I. Then Father was murdered when we were very little and Mother hasn't married again since. She and Lord Bryne are just lovers." "Oh," Ukyou said. "I'm afraid we don't know much about Andor back in the Two Rivers." "Well, you should; the Two Rivers is part of Andor," Nuriko said. "Maybe technically, but we haven't seen anyone from the Queen in generations if that recently," Ukyou said. "Alright, I think your wounds should be alright now." Nuriko took Ukyou's hand and kissed it; she blushed a little. "Thank you, kind lady." "You...you flatter me," she said. It was very strange to her; she knew Nuriko was a man, but he dressed and looked like a woman, and it was like being kissed by another woman. But she was suddenly very intensely aware that he was in fact male. "You are a lovely and gracious woman," Nuriko said. "I think you will make a very good Aes Sedai one day. My sister will have need of friends such as you, when the time comes for her to take the throne. It has been a long time since any Aes Sedai ruled openly in a nation." "Hasn't Andor always sent the heir to the Tower, though?" Ukyou asked. "Mother was the first Queen who could channel at all, and she was too weak to even become a Sempai, let alone a full Sister. But Usagi...she will go far. If she doesn't convince everyone around her to kill her first." He sighed. "She is kind and gentle, but she is also a little too aware of being a princess, if you know what I mean. And I have noticed that the great strength of you and your companions has made some envy you. And my sister as well, for she matches your strength." Ukyou nodded. "I think even some of the full sisters are jealous." Hotaru came up to them. "You can flirt with Prince Nuriko later, Ukyou. There's more people who need you." She hustled Ukyou off as Nuriko waved farewell. ********* "C'mon, you can sneak out just this once," Kurz said to Ranma- chan. "We've got a hot game going down tonight." "I can't afford any more trouble today," Ranma-chan said, picking at her dinner. "Meiko Sedai doesn't get as pissed when we miss Study Hall as Shayla Sedai does on her days, but I've spent most of today in trouble." Kurz looked hopefully at Ukyou, who shook her head. "Hmm, I can't stay the whole time as I have reading to do," Hinako said. "But I think I could spare an hour or two." "Sweet. Maybe Soun will come after all if you do," Kurz said. "He needs to gamble more. It would be good for him." "I don't think humans need to gamble to be healthy," Ryouga said. Nanami laughed. "Well, have fun in study hall, then." "Oh yeah, more fun than I can survive," Ranma-chan grumbled, then set upon her food with a will. ********** Soun was both a great and a terrible poker player. He was great in the sense that it was nearly impossible to tell what he was thinking. He was terrible in that he lacked experience in the game, and thus was in a constant state of surprise as to how well he was doing or not doing. "Why did you raise fifty crowns on just three fives?" Hinako asked. "Everyone seemed to be bidding more conservatively than last time," Soun said. "Three people were bluffing last time," Woodchuck said. "Normally, I'd be happy to let you lose all your money to me, but it makes me sad to see a grown man play poker so badly." Ehto nodded. "Even I am better than that." Soun frowned. "If I am that bad, I can leave." "No, no, stay, stay," Kurz said. "Only way to get better is to play. Watch and learn from the master." "The cards do seem to turn your way a lot," Gim observed. "So, how long are you guys staying?" Ryouga asked. "Setsuna Sedai asked us to stay, saying she would need our help with something soon," Gim said. "But she's being mysterious about it." "You need not concern yourself with it yet; just be ready to leave at any time," Soun said, shuffling the deck. "Don't be concerned, but be ready to leave at any time?" Woodchuck asked. "That sounds contradictory to me." "Not at all," Soun said, beginning to deal. "The wise man is always prepared for danger or to suddenly leave." "Will you be gone long?" Hinako asked. "Weeks at minimum," Soun said. "I am not sure if we are going to go somewhere and stay a while or just go and return." Ryouga looked over at Nanami, who said, "Don't worry, Hinako, he'll make it back alright." "Are you sure?" Hinako asked, a little worried. "He's unlikely to be putting a crown on your head before he leaves, so..." Nanami said. The whole table fell into silence and stared at Hinako, then at Soun. There was the sound of thoughts clicking into place in many heads, and then the Shienarians all grinned. Ryouga said, "Hmm, that could be tricky, since her head changes sizes, and a crown can't stretch like cloth or leather." Soun stared at Nanami for a moment, then said, "There are things perhaps best not announced before many people." Etoh began quietly humming a tune to himself. "Going to deal anytime this year, Soun?" Woodchuck asked. Soun began to deal. Nanami said, "I'll...sorry. I just wanted to reassure her." "With an ability like yours, I would have thought you would have learned discretion already." Soun's voice was tense. Nanami sighed. "Next time, I'll just let her fret herself to death, then." Kurz looked at his cards. "Woo hoo!" Hinako was staring at Soun instead of her cards. Gim looked at his cards and sighed. "I have to open with this?" "Yes." "One Silver shield, then." "Garbage?" Kurz asked. "I'd rather have a handful of Fanboys, who at least I could kill," Gim muttered. "Yep, garbage," Kurz said. "I'll see your one silver shield and raise you eight." And the game went on into the night. ********** Study hall went quietly, for which Ranma-chan was grateful beyond measure. At nine, Chloe Sedai showed up and took Ranma-chan back to her quarters for their nightly lessons, which usually involved weapons fighting. Unlike most Aes Sedai, Chloe was not willing to entirely rely on her Warders to handle that end of things. Neither was Ranma-chan, who wanted to be able to protect herself in situations where she couldn't channel for some reason. Often, Nanami would come and spar with them, but she was in the middle of a poker game right now, so Ranma-chan got stuck doing drills while Chloe and her warders Miriya and Kirika observed her and made commentary. Still, it was kind of soothing to do something where she was unlike to end up out in the hallway. And the exercise helped her sleep. "I understand you had a bit of a run-in with Drake," Miriya said. "You could say that," Ranma-chan said as she tried the sword kata again. "If he and Yomiko Sedai had been looking where they were going, it would have been fine." "I heard you didn't warn them," Miriya said. "I assumed they weren't blind and could see the floor was wet without me having to tell them," Ranma-chan said. "Best never to assume," Chloe said. "You can rarely count on others to do the wise thing." "Sure seems so," Ranma-chan said, sighing. "Well, did I do it right this time or did I just distract you with talking?" Miriya said, "You did it right. Now do it ten more times." Ranma-chan groaned and went to work. ********* Asuka shook her head sadly as Usagi poured them both tea. "Your performance today has been, to say the least, pathetic. You got sent out in the hallway for irresponsible channeling, setting a bad example for the others in the process. You then got Yomiko Sedai injured while serving your first punishment. You called in outside help to deal with your punishment for that. Then you made an ass of yourself in ethics class, engaging in the sort of blatant favoritism to your own nation which will both antagonize your fellow Kohai and which no Aes Sedai can afford to indulge." Usagi was trembling, her cup of tea shaking in her hand. "Fortunately, Afura decided to defeat you with logic instead of sending you for a good switching, as she might have," Asuka said. "And now you are responding to my summary of your mistakes by preparing to cry like a five year old." Usagi burst into tears at that, then spilled her tea on herself and howled. Asuka sighed and wove a flow of Water and pulled the tea out of Usagi's clothing, then shoved it into a bowl for later disposal. "Fatora warned me you were childish and proud, but it is only now really sinking in how much this is the case. Do you think Ranma-chan is blubbering to Chloe Sedai right now?" "N...no," Usagi said, trying to pull herself together. "You will never make Sempai, let alone a full sister, so long as you cry like a little weakling baby all the time," Asuka said. "The Tower does not tolerate weakness; we cannot afford it. When the Shadow comes, those who run away or break down crying are useless. Those who cannot do what must be done, to cause a little pain to avoid a greater, are useless. You will become stronger, or else I will throw you away. Do you understand?" "Yes, Sedai," Usagi said, finally managing to make herself stop crying. "Good. Now, today, we are going to begin our study of the wars caused by the False Ronin Turin Turambar, who was a truly tragic figure, and a major influence in the rise to power of Tenchi Hawkwing, a second thing for which he can be condemned." "Tenchi Hawkwing was a good and just king," Usagi said, a little shocked. "He was a madman who sought to wipe out the Aes Sedai. If he had succeeded in his war against us, there would be no more Aes Sedai, and the world would be doomed to another Breaking. Now, the story of Turin Turambar begins in Darmovan in 939 FY..." ********* "Why can't you tell me?" Hinako said angrily to Setsuna Sedai. "Because it is not your business," Setsuna Sedai said. "You are a student here, and you should not stick your nose into the business of a full Sister without invited. Go home, go to bed, and do not bother me further on this." "But he..." "He will be fine," Setsuna Sedai said. "Your place is here now, until you finish your training. Do not tell anyone of this; it is not their business either. Goodnight, Sempai Hinako." Hinako clenched her fists, then stormed out. No violence, Setsuna Sedai thought. She's learning. ********* Ranma-chan ambled down the hallway, eagerly looking forward to sliding into her bed and sleeping deeply. Instead, she opened the door and heard Usagi sobbing on the bottom bunk. Ranma-chan's face twisted into a frown; this happened far too often after one of Usagi's sessions with her advisor. Of course, it didn't help that Usagi cried far too easily, but... "What happened this time?" Ranma-chan asked, coming in, closing the door, and starting to change into her nightclothes. Usagi sat up and managed to stop sobbing. "Asuka Sedai was really mad at me for how much trouble I got into today." "Yeah, we did kinda have a lousy day," Ranma-chan said, pulling on the long shirt she usually wore to bed. "Getting to hang out with Umino wasn't too bad, though." "He was a lot of help," Usagi said. "I learned more from him than I have from Haruna Sedai in weeks." She flopped back down on her bed. "Sayoko Sedai hates me. Haruna Sedai hates me. Afura Sedai thinks I'm an idiot. Half the other students hate me. What am I doing wrong? Why does everyone get mad at me all the time?" Ranma-chan came over and sat down by her. "It would probably help if you didn't cry so much. It makes them think you're a little kid or something. And some of them are just jealous. Sayoko Sedai doesn't like me or Ucchan either. And, well, Afura Sedai doesn't normally think you're an idiot. She just kind of hit one of your weak points." Usagi sighed. "Maybe I should just leave like Mother did once I can channel reasonably well. It's starting to look like it's going to be hard to be Aes Sedai and a Queen." "Don't give up," Ranma-chan said. "No one's asking you to leave, and I'd miss you if you left." Usagi sat back up and hugged Ranma-chan. "You're such a good friend," she said. Ranma-chan felt a little embarrassed, and a little aroused. Usagi was pretty cute and very female and it was very obvious when they touched like that. She was pretty sure Usagi didn't think of it that way, though. "You too," he said. "I never thought I'd get to be good friends with a princess." "I was hoping to make friends, here at the Tower. Real friends," Usagi said. "Who would like me for me. Like you and Naru and Ukyou do." She leaned her head on Ranma-chan's shoulder. "Now I wonder if a lot of people hate me back home, but won't say anything because I'm the heir." "Probably," Ranma-chan said. Usagi winced at that. "Everyone's afraid to be honest with nobles and royalty because they might get mad and have you punished or killed." "I wouldn't punish someone for being honest with me," Usagi said firmly. "Well, that makes you pretty unusual," Ranma-chan said, sighing. "Lot of people would." "I don't want to be like that," Usagi said. "Me neither," Ranma-chan said. "You feeling better?" "Yeah," Usagi said. She leaned over and kissed Ranma-chan on the cheek. "Thank you." Ranma-chan blushed a little and got up. "You're welcome." "Goodnight, Ranma." "G'nite, Usagi." Ukyou -- Sarasa Ranma – Chloe Hinako -- Hotaru Usagi – Asuka