Darin woke from his slumber with dew still clinging to his coat, which he had used as a blanket for the night. The spring was generally warm in Amadicia, but the mornings and nights were always cold this far to the north of his home country. As he stood he cast his eyes about his makeshift camp. He had made a small cook fire last night to roast a rabbit he’d caught in his traps. It was the best thing he’d eaten in weeks. He had never gone hungry as a Child of the Light. Darin shuddered at thinking of his career as an Anointed of the Light as a thing of the past, the Children swore their oaths for life, but Light, how could he remain without being handed over to the Questioners considering what he had become?

 

As if on cue, They came. He wasn’t sure who or what They were, but they seemed to be able to speak to his mind, though it wasn’t with words the way he was used to speaking. They communicated with sight and scent. Some times he could make sense of what they were telling him, names here and there, or information on where there was good hunting, when he was nearing the edge of the forest, but just as often they were a jumbled mess. Some foul scent that made his nose wrinkle at just the thought, visions of twisted things Darin recognized vaguely as Trollocs. He had fought the beasts of the Dark One on several occasions as an officer in the Anointed, but he had never thought to smell them.

 

But now was no time to dwell on such things. He could swear he was being followed, even though he was deep in the forest, weeks now after fleeing into the thick trees from the villager proclaiming him a Friend of the Dark. Darin half drew his sword in the motion of buckling it onto his belt at the anger that memory brought up. That he, a Child of the Light, would be a Darkfriend! The notion was inconceivable. But then, he was not necessarily a Child anymore was he? Light what was he?

 

“I am a solder,” Darin said to himself as he looked around his camp one more time, kicking over the ashes in an attempt to cover his tracks, the sword at his left hip providing a familiar, comfortable weight. A counterbalance to the civilian clothes so unfamiliar after years of wearing the polished silver armor and snow white cloak of the Children. “The Light burn me I am a soldier !” That last was a shout, for none in particular to hear, but it felt good to raise his voice, where he had been too afraid for days to utter much more than a murmur of his own thoughts. Others come to you, brother.

 

Darin nearly jumped out of his skin when the thought came. Not a thought really, just an image of another two-leg, a person the Light burn him a person, and the scent of wolf. Darin was beginning to think that it was actually wolves speaking to him, which would be all the worse. Any voices in his head were bad enough, but all within the Children knew wolves were as much agents of the Dark One as carrion eaters and rats! Sighing, Darin walled that part of his mind off and began walking to no place in particular, stopping abruptly every now and then as a prickle on the back of his neck told him he was being watched. And followed.

 

It wasn't helping at all.  Light help her, she was beginning to think it was making things worse.  She had learned to begin taking her time to make sure the Wanderer wasn't a threat to her, but in this instance she was pretty sure that watching him was just setting herself up for more trouble.  He was getting spooked and it was the last thing she wanted.  He held his weapon like he knew how to use it and spooked and sword-trained didn't really bode well in her opinion.

 

Taking a deep breath she began moving, as fast as she could and keep it quiet.  The path before him opened into a long straight stretch the wolves had shown her and she intended to be at the far end of it so that he wasn't surprised by her appearance.  Being a woman was likely to help her out there, but she wasn't about to take that for granted.  It certainly hadn't helped her in her previous life. 

 

She pushed that thought out of her head.  Dark friends and torture, the gray windowless, doorless room still filled her mind with a queasy easiness but she was here for a reason.  She felt the raged edge of the rock she kept tied to her belt and took a deep breath, feeling more grounded as the rock bit into flesh.  She doubted even Anton knew what the rock was for, but it made her feel better anyway.  The small pain helped keep her focused on the now, not on the past life that intruded to easily.

 

She made her way to the straight away and as she reached the middle, she decided it was enough space.  He had time to see her and if he started for her, she had time to make a run for it.  There was no doubt the moment he saw her, nor the caution he felt at her sudden appearance.  The wolves had been no help of course.  They had thought it a perfect idea to let the Wanderer know she was there.  She wished sometimes they would ask before they did things, but that wasn't the nature of a wolf, even the ones you knew well.  No matter what else you might call a wolf, tame was not one of them.  Not even if you had hand fed it from a pup.  The fact that they were in Amadacia was no help either.  Though they were even less likely to move among people here, they didn't see that someone from Amadacia might have more concern about becoming one of them.  They didn't understand the teachings of the Children of the Light or their views on wolves and their kind.  She'd tried to explain it, but what did they care about the teachings of the two legged who didn't talk to them? 

 

As the man came a little closer she smiled.  Slowing her speech so that her words were understandable through her accent she waved.  "Hello friend.  I think you have been expecting me?"  Light, it didn't seem like the first few moments ever got less nerve wrecking for her.  Her accent was foreign in this time and place and she was always afraid her words wouldn't be understood.  And if her words were understood ... well what happened after that was more than enough to worry anyone.  Still, she waited, smile on her face, the same as someone had done for her not so long ago.

 

Timewalker

(If you want to read more about her, you can find her bio here: http://taeadawn.wordpress.com/about/anabel/)

Darin grew more and more wary the further into the forest he got. The wolves continued sending him images, and he couldn't figure out how to wall them off this time, they were far too persistent. And vaguely he sensed another. A human like him, but that wasn't the exact image the wolves sent him. As always it was a variety of sights and scents, leaves on a tree changing rapidly from green to gold to brown, then falling off. A two-leg, a human the Light blind me a bloody flaming human walking untouched through countless seasons. Timewalker. He didn't know what it meant, but it felt like a name. Abruptly the forest in front of him opened up into a long corridor lined with trees. Immediately his right hand went to the hilt of his blade, slightly caressing the golden sun pommel as it passed to grip the rawhide wrapped hilt.

 

He immediately became more cautious, crouching low, his eyes flashing around to the trees. Once, he thought he saw a gangly red wolf that could have almost passed as a very large fox dart from view, deeper into the forest. Abruptly he heard a twig crack, something he couldn't have done before whatever change he was going through had start, and his head snapped back ahead of him. A woman stood there in the middle, wearing no weapon that he could see, though there was a rough rock tied to her belt. While he was certainly wary of any woman who could apparently show up out of nowhere before he heard or saw her, he had no doubt that she had let that twig snap to get his attention, how dangerous could a woman, an unarmed woman at that, possibly be?

 

Darin straightened as he neared her, though his right hand never left the hilt of his blade. The woman smiled and spoke. ["Hello friend.  I think you have been expecting me?"]

 

Darin gave a start at the word "friend," his entire manner suddenly becoming defensive. "I stand firm in the Light, and take shelter in the palm of the Creator's hand. I am an anointed Child of the Light, and fight the Dark One until the last breath is gone from my  body." The oaths came automatically, instinctively at the perceived accusation. Then his sharpened eyes focused on something on her face he hadn't noticed before. Her eyes. They were a burnished gold, like he knew his would be if he ever brought himself to look in a mirror, or even a calm pool of water again. His voice grew soft, almost awe struck. "You...you are like me. How did you find me?"

At first she thought she was going to have a fight on her hands.  She didn't understand why he was talking about fighting the Dark One but it didn't bode well for her.  But then, as quickly as those words had come, another set came.  The eyes gave them away to others, but it was those same eyes that let them know their own kind when they saw it as well.  She took a deep breath and nodded at his question. 

 

"Yes I am like you.  And I found you because of the wolves.  They let me know that you were here and as they have told me, they let you know that I would be here as well."  She took a deep breath, then walked closer.  He had a sword and wasn't afraid to pull it, she was certain, but she needed to show trust.  Needed to show it as much as he probably needed to see it actually.  So she moved a few steps towards him so that he could see her more easily.  Light blond hair flew freely in the wind and golden eyes moved over him, eyes that had once been ice blue, regarding him in a friendly manner.  Her clothes were blue, simple in design, trousers and tunic that were good for her work and yet soft.  She had even let them talk her into putting a little embroidery where the seamstress could just to prove she was a woman.  She had laughed at the time, but she had caught someone looking at her more than once and appreciated the small feminine touches now.  Her pack was off the road along with her walking stick that could double as a weapon if need be.  She hadn't wanted to worry her new friend with such thoughts and as a man of weapons, he would surely have seen the walking stick for what it could be.

 

"Would you like to sit and talk?  The wolves say you have been restless.  We could rest a little while together, and talk about this thing, if you would like?" She gave him a warm smile, one that lit her eyes and had sent many a boy to lust before the wolf had become a part of her.  "My name is Timewalker."

 

Timewalker

Darin tensed slightly as the woman stepped forward, then relaxed completely as she spoke. She was obviously no threat, and any thing he could learn about this curse that had been placed upon him would be helpful. He may even be able to puzzle out a way to cure it, the Light willing. He listened to her words with rapt attention, his eyes flicking every now and then to the woods, widening as he saw more and more wolves gathering around. Against his will he felt a spark of interest in them. He wished he could feel nothing from them at all, they were creatures of the Dark One, the Father of Lies, and the enemy of the Creator, who Darin was pledged to serve until death. And this woman, she accepted it so easily, talking of speaking with wolves as though it were an every day thing. Well, maybe it was for her, but anyone who could talk so freely of such matters was surely a Darkfriend. Darin would have to be on his guard, he didn't know if she was able to set these beasts on him, but he didn't want to take that chance.

 

"So the wolves are the ones I've felt watching me this whole time. And all this time I thought it was my own company hunting me. Yes, let us sit, and I will explain why I've been so...restless, as our mutual friends put it." He was all compliance and cooperation now, no need to anger a woman who could set wolves on her, what need of anyone of weapons when one commanded beasts? He waited for her to sit first, keeping out of arms reach, but close enough that his blade would strike home in an instant should he need to do so. When she was seated, Darin lowered himself to the ground, in a cross-legged position that was easy to stand up from quickly, making sure his sword was easily accessible. Low Wind Rising would quickly neutralize any threat she might pose, and could be used from most any position, even sitting down.

 

"Timewalker? That is not the name you were born with I'll wager. Do all of those...like us...take new names when they are taken by this curse?" He sighed, "I'm sorry, let me explain. My name is Darin Morviro Saine, and I am, or perhaps 'was' is a better word, a First Lieutenant of the Children of the Light, what the ignorant and Darkfriends call Whitecloaks," his voice held a certain amount of contempt for that particular word, almost as much as for the word 'Darkfriends.'

 

"I was out on a simple patrol when this...this curse took me. I began seeing things much sooner than even the sharpest of my sentries could, and I from the middle of camp while they were at the outside. I could hear things no normal man could hear, conversations between men in their tents, five tents over from mine. I began smelling things, I think they might have been emotions perhaps, on all the men, all the time. It was constant, and slowly it began driving me mad, and my men sensed it. I began hearing talk of my being a Darkfriend raging through the camp," he muttered a few curses vile enough to make a sailor gasp before continuing, "and about two weeks past, I took it upon myself to leave.

 

"I left my armor and cloak with the Children, but kept this sword, as a reminder of what I am. Now I don't know what to do. Touched by the Dark One, and an oathbreaker besides, I can never go back to the Children, but how can I possibly live connected to the Father of Lies through his creatures? Do you walk in the Light? How can you stand it?" His voice was fervent and desperate, and he knew it and hated it, but he needed answers. Light help him he needed answers.

She hadn't come across it on her own yet, but she had always known it was bound to happen.  Someone coming from a life that would make it almost impossible to accept what they were.  Someone that would hate themselves just for being.  She had nothing to fight that, except the truth and her own fervent belief that she was blessed with this, not cursed.  She just had to hope that over time they would find a way to give this man peace if her own words couldn't.

 

She shook her head slightly.  "This is no thing of the Dark One.  I have followed the Light as long as I have lived and I have felt the torture of Darkfriends to betray those that followed the Light.  Tortured and threatened worse if I did not betray my fellows and their location so the Darkfriends could kill them."  Her accent became a little thicker with her emotion so she took a deep breath, trying to calm the pain of the memory.  No history books told of her capture by Darkfriends after Manetheren had fallen, or of the Wolfkin who had escaped it's fall because of their missions as messengers, but for her the long ago past was not so far distant and the pain still remained fresh to be picked upon.  She hadn't talked much about it, not even to Anton who knew her best. 

 

"I was not always called TimeWalker.  The way of the wolf's language is not the same as our own.  TimeWalker is what they see me as.  The woman I was before this, she is long gone.  I would rather be remembered as TimeWalker than to let that name live on.  It is ... a choice we all make at some point.  You cast aside your armor and cloak, I a name.  We are not so different I think."

 

She smiled again, but it was sad.  "We are something old, our kindred.  Not of the One Power, but something else.  You are not touched by the Dark One, nor is this a curse unless you believe it to be.  I cannot speak for the Children of the Light, but I say a man's actions, not his eyes, make him a good person.  Do you judge me to be evil because of my eyes?  Or will you see me as a good person, because I have come a long way to try to help you through this difficult time?"

 

She reached a hand to him, not enough to touch, but in compassion.  "And it is always a difficult time.  None of us chose this, but you are not alone.  We can help you learn to control the urges, to learn to harness the abilities you gain, and to accept it before it can hurt you."

 

Timewalker

Darin, for the first time in his life, felt his ties to the reality he knew weaken. While he didn't want to believe it, he knew  she spoke truth. Maybe it was the wolves staring somberly at him, or perhaps it was the pure emotion in her voice when she spoke of being tortured, but something told him she wasn't lying. Maybe he had it all wrong, he certainly was no Darkfriend, and yet he was still one of these, wolfkin. His mind was reeling with shock. Everything he had held firm to in his mind was rocking back and forth as if on a giant pendulum. His sword was his only tie to reality, and he gripped it desperately as he tried to sort things out with his mind, though nothing else physically changed about him.

 

If she was right, and he believed she was, then that meant the Children had been wrong, at least on the point of wolves and those who consorted with them. And if the Children had been wrong on that point, Light, where else could they have erred? The One Power was evil of course, it went without saying that any man or woman with the power to break the world anew could not be trusted to not use it, oaths or no. But Darin thought of all those people he had been convinced were Darkfriends and handed over to the Questioners. What if he had been wrong? For as he had held so firmly to the Children's teachings, as those teachings were flawed, then so must he be. How many innocent people had he given over to torture? How many true followers of the Light had he sentenced to a fate nearly worse than death? It was more than he could handle, his brain felt as though it would explode.

 

And then, just as he was on the brink of passing out, black fading in to the edges of his vision, they were there in his mind. The wolves, comforting him as though they would comfort a cub. They knew, somehow they knew what he was feeling, part of it anyway. He shook his head before turning his golden eyes up to Timewalker's. "I- I don't think I'll ever be able to like this...gift you call it." A faint smile touched his lips, "But maybe, maybe there is a chance I could learn to live with it, tolerate it." He shook his head again, looking at the ground in regret, "But my life is a soldier, an Anointed of the Light. I can never go back to them, not like this. And what army would take a soldier with golden eyes? There is nowhere for me to go, how can I live like that? Alone except for wolves, who do not even truly speak? I'm sure they're good enough company, but nothing to match that of other human beings yes?" He hoped she had answers for him, for the first time in his life, he was completely unsure of what to do, where to go. Light if ever there was a time he needed help, this was most certainly it.

She closed the gap between them, slowly and only enough to touch his hand, but it was a gesture.  A comfort if he wanted it as he spoke.  She could feel the pain from him, could remember her own too easily.  The first howling had come far easier than what had happened when she had found herself in this place, alone outside the world she had always known. Anton had been there and guided her down the path to finding herself again.  It was time for her to do the same now.

 

"You are not alone, and you will never have to be again.  Most people fear us because they don't understand.  They don't know and don't want to.  Because of that, we gather those like us, the wolfkin, and we live in peace together.  There is a place I can take you.  It is far from here, but there are others of our kind there and we will help you learn to live with this.  And I hope, in time, to accept it as a gift.  I know it may seem impossible now, but every day reveals something new to us.  That is the blessing of the Creator if there ever was one.  Come with me, and I will try to show this blessing to you as I see it."

 

Timewalker 

Darin listened with awe as she explained to him that there were not only others like them, but that they even had a gathering place where they would be safe. It was everything he could have wished for and more at this moment. "Very well. This place, how far away is it? How many others like us are there?" He wanted to know, he would never be able to return to the Children, not with golden eyes such as his, he would be named a Darkfriend and handed to the Questioners before he could give his name, if he was not killed on sight by whoever found him. But maybe, if there truly was a place where others like him lived and could be safe, then perhaps he could forge a new life and learn to live with this curse that was a gift. He rose, feeling much better, though still not exactly comfortable with what he could do, and nodded. He looked to the sky, the sun had just passed its noonday peak. Light, he had been here for hours, it had just been dawn when he left his camp this morning. "Wherever we are going, we could get several miles in before dark takes us, and with our...abilities I suppose we'll be able to travel a bit even in the dark. We are wasting daylight standing here." No matter how much he may have opened up to her only moments before, he was still a soldier, and his first and foremost priority now was getting to this place they were headed as soon as possible, with as little interference as he could.

She smiled at his words.  Not that there was anything funny about them, but just at the way he was ready to move on.  A man of action, someone that needed to move and have something to focus on.  She could understand that.  She had been much the same way when she had first come to the Stedding.  Too much time to think about her past had only led her to letting more and more of the wolf take over her emotions.  And now she had to keep the palm sized rock tied to her belt and put up with people's curious stares about it, knowing that they would never really understand why she needed it or how it helped her.  It didn't matter.  As long as Anton didn't ask, she could brush it aside.  When Anton made an issue of it, then she was likely to be in trouble. 

 

She nodded as she stood up.  "It will be a long journey, close to the Mountains of Mist, but it should go quick enough.  You seem in fine shape and we can move into the night as you say.  So long as we don't exhaust ourselves.  There are safe paths that I will take you by and we can get to know one another while we travel.  If you have any more questions, i'm willing to answer what I can.  What I can't ... well the Sages should be able to answer anything else." She said with a smile as she got up and grabbed her pack that was still hidden just off the path.  Her walking stick was there too and she grabbed it as well, welcoming the feel of the smooth wood under her fingers. 

 

Timewalker

 

 

Darin nodded as she gathered her belongings, and they set off. The Mountains of Mist.... Depending on where in the mountain range they were going, that could be anywhere from where they were now to Saldaea, and since she had said it was a long way off, he assumed it was probably closer to the latter, a long journey indeed. A month at least on horseback to Saldaea from their present location, on foot it would be even longer, unless.... "This...gift, we have. Are we able to move faster or go for longer than other humans? Because depending on how far we're going, that would come in handy indeed." He blushed slightly at thinking only of what could get him there faster, rather than what might actually be useful in the long term, when a sudden though struck him.

 

His eyes suddenly blazed with such a hatred that his voice strained to conceal it. "This place we are going, there will not be any channelers there yes? Or is that particular breed of Shadowspawn included in the recipients of this gift? Having it in the first place is bad enough, but sharing it with Aes Sedai, I would sooner die." He nearly spat the title and all the words after it, but then his voice became immediately apologetic. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't vent my anger out on you. You are not a Tar Valon witch, and as such not a subject of my hatred. How far exactly are we going into the mountains? A man could get lost easily in that range without proper directions, not that I doubt your abilities at all, you managed to find me easily enough, though granted with some help from our friends." The last part of his sentence came with a wry smile, his voice as close to touched with happiness as it had ever been since he joined the Children of the Light. Light! He felt like a newborn babe, completely ignorant of the world around him. In retrospect, perhaps it was better he had been an Anointed when this gift came upon him, few others that he knew of would have had the faith to cope with it. As he saw it, unless they were convinced, as he had been, that it was not a thing of the Shadow, those who truly walked in the Light would take their own lives without the proper discipline and faith instilled by the Children of the Light.

Oh light.  Just what she really needed was someone with the amount of hate that this one showed already.  If he ever came to understand the truth of how she had come to be here now he might hate her as well.  But she would do her duty and hope to avoid anything of the sort. 

 

She shook her head.  "It doesn't seem to run in those who control the One Power." She said.  "If it's just because of it's rarity or something about the Power keeps them from touching them, I don't know.  I don't know that anyone knows.  So for now you don't need to be worried.  What you do need to worry about, is that we don't move quicker.  We might be able to move a little longer each day but that is the most we'll get.  Well.  That and I have a horse stabled in the last village.  A few hours walk, but we can get there before night fall.  Maybe you fancy sleeping under the stars to get there, but I prefer a pillow under my head when I can get it." She said, giving him another smile.  "There will be plenty of hard stone beds between here and the Stedding for you."

 

Anabel/Timewalker