Chapter 4 is go!
(I yet live, though the dissertation eats most of my time these days. That
and waiting for co-authors :))
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.
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