Ripple Six: Aftermath: A Break
written by Kira al’Haram, Shyne and Caden Ives

Kira sat slumped next to the wall, her body near to complete exhastion after the amount of work she had put in during the morning.

After she had returned from the Citadel with the two Gaidin, she had gone and done a quick head count to see who was still missing. She had never known how many of the Drin'far'ji disobeyed rules until then. Many had been found in the corridors. They claimed to be looking for friends, but the look in their eyes and the way they avoided her gaze gave Kira the notion they were searching for bodies. Those few had been sent to their rooms, or the kitchens to scrub with the Novices. It depended on Kira's mood which went where.

A dusty wolf came around the corner, padding softly down the hall to lay next to Kira on the floor.

I missed your company sister, Kira said to the wolf, looking sad and overly tired.

You always do, Running Wind. The she-wolf looked at Kira, her eyes glowing in the midday light. But the pack had need of me, as your pack had need of you. Dust Storm said that with as much confusion as she saw necessary. The wolf never understood how Kira could belong to both her wolf pack, and the Warders.

Kira nodded, leaning her head back against the wall in weariness. So tired... Just a little break won't hurt...

Shyne didn't even notice the wolf. He didn't really notice much of anything. He just sat outside the door, mentally berating himself. A man had died today because of him. This was the second death under his belt, and it wasn't going down any easier than the first.

Why had he made such a stupid call? Why hadn't he sent the drin'far'ji to Caden's apartment instead? Shyne was fairly sure he could have handled whatever had come into that room. Only two people can fight in a doorway and there were few ji'alantin that were a match for him in single combat... not the way he'd felt this morning.

It was too late, now. Too late to save Wensa Fuon, too late to take away from Shyne's grief. This just added fuel to the fire of his self-hatred.

Kira was about to fall asleep when the thought hit her. Wolves, and Dreams. Why hadn't either of them thought of it before? Both Wolfkin, and wolves walk the dream. They could go to the Wolf Dream to find clues!

She sat bolt upright, her eyes widening and her mouth curving up into a smile. Kira looked over next to the door, her mouth widening into a grin.

"Shyne, we could check Tel'aran'rhiod for them. We could go into the Dream and try to find the guard! I mean, no one can prove he's dead, right? May be he's not! My be he is still alive and somewhere in the Tower, guarded. We can search the Dream!"

Kira was getting excited. She was starting to figet, getting up to pace the hall in front of the door. Dust Storm (the wolf) was watching her calmly, the non-blinking eyes following the girls every move.

As Kira started speaking quite excitedly, Shyne raised his head. He listened, and without the morose expression leaving his face, answered. "Wolf Dream?"

He couldn't recall hearing anything about it. He glanced from Kira to Dust Storm. The woman was fidgetting, the wolf just staring."What's the Wolf Dream? What's... Tel'aran'rhiod...?"

Kira looked at Shyne, a bit shocked. "Have you had any weird dreams since you felt the wolves? Or maybe it was waking up with hurts you took inside the Dream. That's what it was for me. Thinking I was riding a horse, took a fall, and I woke up with bruises all over the side I fell, and a broken arm. The Dream is dangerous." She smiled grimly, then took on a lecturing tone.

"The World of Dreams, also known as Tel'aran'rhiod is where wolves, dead and alive, reside during their sleep, or the long sleep if they're dead. Wolfkin can get there too. It's very similar to the real world, only in Tel'aran'rhhiod, you can go from place to place in an instant. You can make things that aren't actually there, like a chair in the middle of an Ocean. We could fly if we wanted too."

She smiled. "There is one other thing we can do there as well. We can find things, if the need is great enough."

Shyne just shrugged again. He didn't remember any of that ever happening to him. On the other hand, if what she was saying was true, it could be a useful tool. Action might even allow him some solace, a way to come to terms with what he'd done and perhaps help keep it from happening again. "If you can show me how, I will help..."

Kira sat back down, reaching into one of the leather pouches hanging fron her shoulder. "We'll need something to put us to sleep. There! Leatherleaf and heart-thorn powders mixed with a tough of mint to make the taste better... There!" She was mumbling to herself as she took out bags with the name of the herbs inside tatooing the leather. She looked up, her eyes full of concentration. "Once we are there, remember what I said earlier. A hurt taken there is still on you upon waking. Death is as final in that world as in this, even for wolves."

She took the three powders, putting them together into an unmarked leather beg and shaking it furiously. She paused, muttering to herself, "I need cups and water," before standing up and running down the corridor. She returned with two small, traveling cups filled with a mixture that smelled faintly of mint.

"When you take this, it will be seconds before you fall alseep, so fix in your mind the image of somewhere, your bedroom or here for instance. Once you are asleep, you should be in that place, so think of here, and I will be here waiting. If that doesn't work, you will just dream as normal." She handed the cup to him, careful not to spill the potent mixture.

"Whenever you are ready."

"I do just have one question first. Shouldn't someone stay here to... actually guard the door?" He paused for a second, and looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed in thought. "Then again... maybe not. I can't really imagine someone would try to get in..." He paused again, and shifted his head, balancing the options. "On the other hand, I'm in enough trouble as it is for not leaving things properly guarded."

He sighed. "Peace, I don't know what to do. I can't even trust my own decisions anymore..."

I hadn't thought of that. Kira looked suprised, her hand going to her ashanderei. Maybe he was right, and someone should stay.

"You know, I hadn't actually thought that far ahead. But you're right, someone should stay. how about, i go, you stay, since I have more expereince in the Dream. And, I think you are more skilled in weaponry than I." She smiled, her eyes glowing as they regarded her fellow Ji.

She put one of the cups down carefully. Then, she just as carefully set down the other. "You know, we might get in trouble just for venturing into Tel'aran'rhiod. perhaps we should consult the council first?"

Shyne just nodded, not getting up. "I think as long as one of us is here to guard, they should be fine with it. You could probably do a lot more good there than here at the moment, and besides, I wouldn't advise walking in there right now." He paused and looked down into his lap again. "Then again, I seem to have a tendency to make the wrong decision..."

Kira looked at Shyne in a puzzled matter, her eyes narrowing to mere slits. She moved slightly, positioning herself to see the other Ji' better.

"What do you mean, a tendency to make the wrong decision? If you're talking about that boy we set to guard the body, it was as much my fault as yours, was it not? We were both there, not just you. So if blame is being taken, I will accept my full share as well."

Shyne simply nodded. He didn't really feel like arguing about it and he knew that her attempt to take the blame wasn't going to make him feel any better anyway...

"You probably should go," he said, changing the subject. "It really is a lot more help than either of us is doing here..."

Kira sighed, silently agreeing, but still wondering why her peer seemed to try to put the blame on himself. "I guess you're right. I will go, but if that door opens, wake me, even if it takes pounding my head in the ground." She smiled, picking up one of the two cups. She soon had downed it, and began yawning almost instantly.

"i'll be back soon, I hope."

As Kira dozed off, Shyne decided he needed to learn more herbology... he couldn't think of an herb that did that.

Shaking his head slightly, he went back to the task at hand. He sat crosslegged on the floor outside the door, head down and eyes closed, listening... He'd discovered as a child that when you're sitting in a hallway, you tend to hear people before you see them.

He just waited, silently, for Kira to awaken or the the door behind him to open.

Kira's eyes closed, feeling the potion she had mixed take effect just like it was supposed to. It was tasteless, odorless, and completely untraceable. Put to much in, and you would live the dream, not just sleep. Forever live the Dream.

Sleep came, and she took herself from her body into the place where wolves existed on some level. First thing she noticed, was the smell of tension. It was the hall she and Shyne had been sitting in, and she knew for a fact that she lay just beside the door, and Shyne was on the other side.

Feeling a breeze, Kira looked down, and noticed suddenly she was wearing a dress she had seen woman wear during that scandulous dance. her eyes widened as she quickly thought of herself in her trainee's uniform. If anyone saw her, she would take herself back to her rooms hurriedly, and hope they thought she was just dreaming.

Dreaming in the middle of the day? I wish. She smiled, startng to jog down the corridor to the Warder Yard.

The Yards were empty, but that smell still was there, as if the whole Tower exterted some tension. She looked at the window, where the body had been seen that morning. Nothing was there, but Kira almost expected... she didn't know what she had expected.

Suddenly, her clothes became heavy, and they began clanking oddly. Sighing, Kira changed them back to her uniform from the plate-mail they had become. This was only her seventh or so time in the dream, and she still had little control. She really needed to take a class on it, or else teach one. Students were bound to figure out more than she sooner or later.

Anyways, back to searching. She would search the Yards Frist, then the rooms of all the Sa'Ji'alantin. Then, maybe the Tower too. Time to start.

Kira left the yards, unsatisfaction clear on her face. She had hoped something would be left for her to find, whether or not it was usefull... *sigh*

She was to check the barracks next, while she was near them, then she would move on to the Tower rooms. That would be the longest search of all, if it was to be completed. This visit to the Dream was already getting thined out in Kira's mind, and thought she may have to wait until nightfall to make a search of the Tower, or the un-sheilded dreams.

The flight of stairs she was on was empty, as were all the others she had visited duing this trip. This one, however smelled different, less substantial. She hurried on, afraid something would happen while she was on a stair. Kira rounded the corner, and flet a cloak whip behind her. Glancing back, she realized with a start that a Fancloak lay down her back. With a sad smile, she made it disapear. She had not earned it, yet.

There weren't many Ji'alantin rooms, and far less of the sa'Ji'alantin rooms to search. Her nose would tell her which contained a Darkfriend. Shadow-Hearted Ones her wolf side yelled at her. Any mention of a Darkfrined would have her "other side" screaming of death. She shut the thoughts off, hoping that she wasn't going insane yet.

She walked past doors, opening some that had a wiff of something... odd. Most she recognized, for by now she knew most of the others at her rank, but one or two had to be searched physically before Kira could leave.

The sa'Ji'alantin rooms were much bigger, even if there were less of them. Thre had the smell of those of teh Shadow-Hearted Ones... Darkfriends, so Kira went in immediately to search them as carefully as possible.

Kira stepped into one of the three rooms cautiously, sniffing as she lowered herself into a semi-crouch. Who knows what to expect from the Darkfriends in the World of Dreams.

A box was on the table, a vase next to it filled with ever changing flowers. The box, however, remained stationary,so Kira assumed there must be some permanencew to it's placement in the Waking World.

She strode over to it, making sure to keep her nose alert, and opened a lid carefully.

The paper she pulled out looked normal, until she read the name's of multiple Drin'far'ji, and a plan that Caden Gaidin needed to see. The paper vanished, but the next one she pulled out was about the same, if not worse for the content.

She widened her eyes in shock, looking up into the odd light that shown throught the windows. "Light help us," she said, fading from the dream.

Kira woke from the dream, her mind having to push itself awake. She was lucky the dosage of Leatherleaf had been small, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to wake for another two or three hours.

She looked at Shyne, who seemed to be dozing off in Kira's opinion, but it might just be her eyes playing tricks on her as she woke.

"Shyne, we hae to get the council into Tel'aran'rhiod, now."

Her eyes took on the nervousness she had felt in the dream. "I found them, and proof."

Shyne didn't react to Kira's waking. He didn't even seem to notice, even when she spoke. From his almost-meditative state, he answered her. "No one has come out yet. No one has passed anywhere near us. Still, it's probably not a good idea to rush in there right now."

He did look up then, first at her, then at the door. "They could be in there all night, for all we know. Perhaps if they do take that long we could both go and maybe find more proof." He did want to do something... wanted to do anything at the moment. But he knew his duty and he couldn't afford any more mistakes.

The panick that Tel'aran'rhiod had instilled in her was beginning to fade, though some partical remained lodged deep in her core. The eyes were always watching there.

"You are right," she said, reconsidering what she had said upon waking. "It can wait until the Council is ready to sleep, not rushing in..." She sighed, looking at the other Ji'alantin. "Tel'aran'rhiod is... different than I remember. More dangerous it seems."

You feel that you are being watched, watched by unseen eyes. Not unlike the dream. The feeling linger, yet much more real.

A movement down the end of the corridor? But no sound reveal if you saw it or not. The silence is so thick you can feel it pressing against your skin, and your position and purpouse now weighs heavier on your shoudlers. You are the last frontier between the Shadow and the power over the Yards. A power others may seek...

Now hushed conversation reach yoru ears from the same direction. And then utter silence.

Question is, what to do?

Shyne glanced around, making sure everything was still where it had been when he had previously put down his head and closed his eyes. It was then that he thought he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A movement down the end of the corridor?

He glanced at Kira, but didn't hear anything. He listened, closing his eyes again, waiting for something to make a sound. He could here his own breathing, barely hear Kira's breathing. Was that... speech, coming from that same direction?

Shyne raised an eyebrow, pulled his head up and looked around. There wasn't much to be scene, just the wall on one side and the door on the other. He glanced at Kira again, motioned down the hallway, put one finger in front of his lips, and stood up as silently as he could. He got up next to the wall and, as quietly as possible, eased his swords in their sheaths.

Kira stood at a motion from Shyne. No sounds were heard from her, but the beating of her heart made the emptiness seem unbearable. She leaned over carefully to pick up her ashanderei, looking at her sister as she did so.

Dust Storm, she thought hesitantly, as she went with Shyne down the hall. Sister, it may be a shadow-hearted one.

She glanced at Shyne, then moved carefully to the wall. If she was on the side, it would less likely be noticed.

The voices were growing louder now, so it was more than likely that whomever was there was getting closer. And it was more than one.

Kira crouched at a corner where she expected the voices to come out, readying her weapon. She glanced at Shyne, and nodded.

He stood now, on the verge of the act, running a hand through hsi dark hair.

They were prepared, and the opposition was merely two ji'alantin posted outside the door. The wait gave no reason, so the Asha'man took a deep breath and signalled to the five young men to move forward.

Two of them held longswords, another two a Pudao each - a full-sized sword blade whose handle was of roughly the same length as the blade; technically a polearm rather than a type of sword. The four drin'far'ji feel out in the corridor and ran forward. And the last remained there at the end of the corridor, with a longbow poised to draw. The Asha'man remained beside him, readying weaves of Air to aid the slaughter.

The Executive Council's meetings was to take an unexpected end.

As the four men rushed into the hallway, Osan'gar and Aran'gar were out. All four of the boys looked vaguely familiar, in so much as Shyne was well aware they were drin'far'ji. Four rushed forward, armed with melee weapons. A fifth waited at the end of the hall, drawing his longbow.

It occured to Shyne that there must be someone else. Much like trollocs, Drin'far'ji needed someone to herd them in battle, especially in fighting someone above thier rank. They needed someone more powerful than Shyne and Kira were on thier side. That meant an Aes Sedai, Asha'man, or Warder. Or perhaps a Sa'ji'alantin...

Sighing, Shyne stood ready in the hall. Careful, he called out to Running Wind and Dust Storm, there's probably still someone around the corner. Someone more powerful than we are. Not letting his warning play out on his face, he simply shifted around the floor, attemting to keep one of the men rushing forward between himself and the bowman.

Kira sprung from where she had crouched, taking the first Drin'far'ji she saw and putting him on the floor, unconcious. She didn't want to kill, but sometimes, it was necessary to the cause. The blood.

She shut her mind off from thoughts of blood and meat, concentrating on the here and now, the Drin'far'ji's, Shyne, and Dust Storm taking the most of her attention.

She put another down, carefull to just unarm him and use her skill in healing to know which nerves to use to send him unconcious while not killing him.

As soon as she heard the warning in her head, she prepared herself for an assault from the area. She stayed in the general area she had planted herself, making sure no one from around the corner could see her without first coming into her sight.

She sighted the longbow just as the Drin loosed an arrow, and she sent out a scream for Twin Fang and Dust Storm, warning of the impending danger, and asking Dust Storm to destroy the threat. Once she was assured that the wolf was on her way, Kira turned back to the battle at hand.

Seeing Kira rush into action, Shyne decided it was his turn to act as well. He quickly spun his swords around, so that the blunt side faced forward. As two of the Drin'far'ji came at him, he ducked under the first's horizontal slash and clubbed him in the stomach, dropping him. The other one he took with a blow to the back of the neck as he was dropping the first.

They stood there, four drin' on the floor. Dust Storm was headed for a fifth. He glanced at the Ji'alantar. It only occured to him then that this might have been enough of a problem to warrant intruding on the meeting.

Kira stood there, calming herself mentally from the thrill of the hunt. The thought still lingered though; what about the last? She sniffed the air cautiosly, sneaking her nose forward towards the corner. No smell reached her, meaning the person was either gone, or somehow totally blocked off from her scenting capabilities.

She backed up carefully, keeping her leather soled boots from making sound as she retreated from the corner, guesturing Shyne to drop back also. If the person, whomever it was, expected them gone, they might yet suprise them.

Dust Storm was coming back, the boy dead. Kira was sorry that one had died, but the wolf had no other way, and two Wolfkin were in danger, as was the wolf herself. The Council was in danger as well, but the wolf didn't care too much about them.

Think we should intrude politely upon the COuncil? she asked Twin Fang, still backing quietly.

The Asha'man sneered. The ji'alantin and ji'alantar had proved to be too good for the five trainees he had sent. His intention had been to kill the two and enter the meeting in full force. Now, as the five were down, he would have to use a more cowardly way to succeed.

Using Fire, he applied the weave to the wooden corridor and made the flames engulf floor as well as walls and roof. Pushing more of saidin into the weave, he made the inferno scream down the corridor. Arms folded, he waited for the Council to the coutermeasuers. He did not care if the young trainees and the wolf survived or not, all that mattered was that the Aes Sedai came out to fight him. And there he would be, ready for her and the three Warders.

Kira becamse wide eyed at the sight of flame hurtling at them, crying out breifly as the wolf barely jumped into a connecting corridor, her tail singed.

That left them. Kira grabbed Shyne's coat sleeve, and heedless of anything else she flung herself and him towards the COuncil door, hoping their combined weight would make it through...

Return to "Aftermath"

Chapter Two: The Martyr's Letter
~Ripple One: All But Pride Mended
~Ripple Two: Serpent in Shawl
~Ripple Three: A Shadow in a Black Robe
~Ripple Four: Seekings
~Ripple Five: The Twin Archers
~Ripple Six: Aftermath
~The Final Ripple

Return