Day One (Attn: Anyone *New Player*)

[Cody]

With a face as pale as moonlight, Daven stumbled towards the two other soldiers. He was in a state of disbelief; this couldn't be happening. Even the most drunk of fellows had never taken it this far. He ran trembling hands through his hair, then abruptly bit his fingers as if attempting to wake from a dream.

But this was real.

After a few moments of deadly silence, Daven began to glare daggers at Yurin. After all, it had been this strange fool who caused this; to Daven that meant it would be him to get them out of it. "Burn your soul, you imbecile! Look what you have done" He approached the dazed Murandian and poked him harshly in the chest. "You had t'be a child and disturb us during our chores and now look!" Daven wildly gesticulated to the roof.

"You are a murderer! When the Asha'man figure out about this it will be YOU they wreak justice upon" Daven concluded with a loogie on the dazed Soldier's foot. Daven angrily moved to Valadin and offered a shoulder to steady his peer. Burn me. Burn me, burn me, burn me for being born with this... Spark. It's gotten me here with these foolish madmen. After offering one more glare to Yurin, Daven peered over to the edge. He was uneager to take the steps to look over and see the state of Morel.

[Sean]

Yurin’s limbs went slack with fear and he crumpled to the floor like a sack of grain. Valadin listened half-heartedly to Daven’s tirade, but the chilling notion that a Soldier had just died shocked him to his core.

Morel had been no friend of his. Many nights saw Val wishing misfortune upon the louts who had made it a point to harass him each day from dawn until dusk. Having his horrible fantasies met instead made him sick to his stomach as he stared blankly from Daven’s angry face to Yurin’s sickly pallor. Rising to his feet with aid from his newfound friend the recollection of the dead Soldier’s expression as he sailed over the roof’s lip into the night’s cold embrace, eyes wide with a knowing, powerless horror. Light, he didn’t even bloody scream on the way down… Somehow that made the brute’s demise all the more unsettling.

“W-wait! Wait! I didn’t mean…oh Creator! Wh-what? You could’ve caught him!” Yurin shrieked, his Murandian inflection usually touched with a melodious, pompous tone now struck the ear discordantly as the consequences of his actions set in. “You! Why didn’t you catch him?!” he demanded again this time pointing at Daven.

Like a gleeman’s fireworks Val’s anger erupted as he moved from Daven’s side and struck Yurin with a backhanded blow. The smaller Soldier crumpled to the ground his features blank as the knife clattered against the stone and bounced out of sight. For a time all of them stood speechless, their breath misting in front of them in the evening coolness. No one had bothered to look at the corpse below and Val’s thoughts were muddled. Fragmented pieces of the day’s happenings came to him in no particular order until Yurin’s sobs roused him to attention. Running a hand through his black hair he realized despite the cold his hair was matted with perspiration.

“Yurin…get up.” At first his voice came softly, lost in the shuffle of noise that was a mixture of Yurin’s wailing, Daven’s silence, and the nighttime sounds of the Tower. Soon someone would come. Valadin’s skin still prickled in memory of the burst of Saidin that he’d sensed only moments ago; punishment would fall on all of them. “Yurin—get your blasted, milk-hearted self to yer Light-forsaken feet!” Val swore as he gripped the collar of the lad’s coat and ripped him to his feet.

“Oh, Val…I’m undone; they’ll gentle me for this. You know it. Them bloody Reds want nothing more’n to catch one of us alone and…and…oh, Light!”

“You weren’t here.”

“What?!”

This time Val emphasized his point with a clout to the fool’s temple sending him sprawling back onto the hard stone. Yurin gasped as the pain washed over him in a wave. Then he jumped at Val, but the fight had left him and without a weapon Val didn’t need to be a skilled warrior; he had size and height. Overpowering his nemesis easily he stopped pummeling when he felt Yurin curl into a ball. “Go. You’ll say nothing o’ tonight. If anything you never left yer room and you don’t know nothin’ about Morel comin’ up here either. Understood?” Val instructed.

“Va-Val, what in the Light are you—?” Yurin’s sentence went uncompleted a blow with all Val’s weight behind him caught him on the chin. Even as the Murandian whimpered with both hands clutching his face a blue-black discoloration was already noticeable along the boy’s jawline. This time Valadin didn’t say anything else, only taking a step forward before Yurin raised his hands in submission. “I-I’ll—I’ll go, bu-but what will you say? Ju-just tell me…please?”

The pleading in Yurin’s voice sounded alien in Valadin’s ears after months of vile ichor spewing with each parting of the bully’s lips. Looking to Daven to see what the new recruit thought of things, he saw an indiscernible look in the other boy’s eyes; not question, but once they alone he was certain words would be had.

“Yurin. Go. I’ll…I’ll not let them gentle ya. T’was an accident n’ nothin’ more than that. Now git!”

Needing little more encourage, Yurin scampered from sight, disappearing quickly down the steps. If he was lucky he would miss any patrolling Dedicated and hopefully Ranen, the Stable Master wouldn’t pay much mind to the lone Soldier’s flight so early in the morning. Already dawn threatened on the horizon and with despair Val noted the coops still had yet to be tended to. He stood with his back to Daven, the words he was about to utter sitting heavily on his tongue. Why are you doing this? This is a fool’s errand and…Light, you could get gentled in Yurin’s place for this madness! His reservations…and curses blared in his mind until the early stages of a headache began to take hold.

Finally with a sigh he muttered, “Daven…we’re goin’ ta say Morel came up here an’ attacked us with a knife while we were tendin’ to our chores. I channeled some out of fear and blasted him off the roof.”

Before Daven’s question came he cut in, “We’re Soldiers, Daven. It’s our duty to do what’s right. This whole thing was a bloody accident. I’ll make sure none o’ this falls on you or anyone else…just do as I say, yeah? They’ll be comin’ soon.”

As he quieted more gooseflesh raised on his forearms. This time he couldn’t blame the cutting winds from the Mountain of Mists.

OOC: Hey, I was waiting for someone else to take over your One Power thread. I’ll do it. So get ready you’re going to have your work cut out for you with this posting mate. Sorry it’s been a bit slow.