It was still dark outside when she awoke, and snowing it seemed, perfect. Liitha turned over and gave Cara a firm shove. "Time to get up.." She tossed the blankets aside and turned over so she was siting on the bed, reached for her clothes and tread her shirt on before jumping into the pants. "Come on.." she turned and smiled, "..the dawn waits for no one, and if you are going to defend yourself short of that one power of yours.." she stuck her tounge out, "..then half the secret is being fit, which aquires training, so lets go we got work to do before the sun comes up...if you impress me I migth buy you breakfast afterwards" She opened the window and let the cold air in, "refreshing aint it?" she winked with her eye and ducked the pillow coming her way.

Being fit!!

    Cara slowly opened one eye and gazed at Liitha, her mind imagining all the things that she could do to get her own back for that comment. The thought was followed by swift action and Liitha had to duck, rapidly, to avoid the thrown pillow. However Cara had expected her to duck so aimed low and was satisfied to see the missile hit its target.

    Cara did realise she was not as fit as her Gaidin, but neither was she chair bound. Realising that if she did not get up post haste Liitha was liable to drag her bodily from their bed, Cara threw back the blankets and regretted doing so immediately as the frigid air pebbled her skin that was not covered by her shift. She normally would not have bothered wearing anything to bed, but it was so cold in her rooms, even in their bed, that even the heat from Liitha’s body was not enough to keep her warm.

    Quickly Cara channelled the water in the bowl warm then used it to wash herself, hurriedly drying herself on the large brown towel before almost literally jumping into her clothes. When she was suitably dressed Cara followed Liitha out of their rooms and through empty corridors, with barely a servant scurrying through them on some early morning errand. Finally they exited the Tower and made their way to the Yards where Liitha conducted her lessons when she was not at Cara’s side.

    Stamping her feet to get the circulation going, Cara attentively listened to what Liitha had to say. Cara hoped that whatever Liitha had in mind it would warm her up, she was beginning to think she had lost all feeling in her toes, and her nose was growing worryingly numb as well. Pulling her shawl tighter around her head, Cara returned her attention to Liitha’s words.

 

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

 

Liitha started the instructions on basic foot movements to follow up on her last teachings. She showed Cara various movement paterns to easily be able to change direction during a progresion in any given direction without stumbeling. In the darkness of only an oil lamp it went slowly, but it gave them time to wake up. She smiled and directed a movement by laying her hands over Cara's hips and showing her just how.

 

"Think you got it?" she smiled, "practise make habits you know" looking up the dark was slowly fading, not quite ligth, but grey enough you could somewhat see where to place your feets in the forest she figured. "However performing movements over time, while using weapon also takes fitness, and to achive that..." she smiled vickedly, "you have to move.." she quickly bent down and formed a loose ball of snow in her hand, tossing it at Cara.

 

"Your it." She didnt wait for a reaction only dove for the forests, she intended to keep the snowballfigthing going till it was to ligth for it to be any point. The dim ligth was enough so it wasnt life threathening danger of stumbeling in a bad way, but it still ment that you had to relly on your other sence when moving around. And nothing was as effective for movement as a game of tag and run.

    It did not take the pair of them to long to arrive at the outskirts of the Ogier Grove and soon they were standing in a small clearing surrounded by trees, but not yet in the grove, it seemed an appropriate place for what Liitha had in mind.

    At first Cara concentrated fully on what Liitha was showing her, allowing her Gaidin to guide her, the feel of Liitha’s firm grasp on her waste threatened to distract Cara at first, but slowly she pushed that feeling to the back of her mind, to be brought out and savoured for later. Now though she concentrated and redoubled her concentration, gradually Cara started to complete the movements without Liitha’s guidance, although there had been a couple of slip ups along the way thanks to the icy conditions under foot. However they had both managed to avoid falling on their faces.

    Liitha called a halt to Cara and after a moments respite continued talking to Cara, but when she finished talking the outcome was not exactly as Cara had expected as a snowball whizzed past her ear, smashing into a tree behind her right shoulder. Ducking to the ground Cara quickly made a snowball of her own and started hunting Liitha through the forest. At first the only sign Cara got that Liitha was near was when another snowball crashed in to some part of her body.

    Cara had had enough of this and so changed tactics on Liitha and soon the two women were scoring hits on each other regularly. This lasted until there was more than enough light to see by and then Liitha took to her heels, running through the forest and calling for Cara to follow her.

    Breathing hard, Cara tried to keep her feet in Liitha’s footsteps, using that to focus on instead of the growing pain in her calves. They had completed three turns of the course Liitha had thought up and now were halfway through the fourth lap and Cara was tiring, badly. However she was not going to fail in front of her Gaidin, come what may she would keep up, and gritting her teeth this is what she was determined to do.

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

Liitha waited till she was sure Cara had enough then stoped, turning to her Aes Sedai she smiled. "So how about breakfast before we do a workout on other muscles then the ones needed for speed" She handed her a waterbottle while waiting for the response, it was important when trainng to refil your body's storages of liquid and energy with water and food. Shaking loose some limbs she encuraged Cara to do the same so she wouldnt stiffen, before leading the way into the streets of Tar Valon, the walk would keep the muscles somewhat warm untill they came back to the yard.

 

She stoped by a vendors booth and bougth two hot pies, "Lets walk by the harbour while we eat, its best we keep moving and dont sit down less we will get a problem" she smiled allowing some of her affection to shine through her eyes for a moment. As they came down to the riverside she drew in the smell of water and fish.

 

ooc we need 10 posts for this i think, so figure a meal and then a strength or balance work out or something ;)

    Having drunk her fill, Cara handed the water skin back to Liitha and then followed her back into the city and the pair of them paused to buy something to eat. The meat pit was not greasy, much to Cara’s thanks, but it did contain a lot of gravy and Cara more than once had to wipe her chin with her fingers to remove the gravy drips.

    As usual, the harbour was a hive of activity, and everywhere there was large piles of cleared snow, some of which were being fought over by groups of street kids. Cara smiled at the sight of their innocent fun and for a moment her and Liitha paused to watch the outcome of the fights

    Walking along one of the long harbour walls, Cara and Liitha started talking about the different sights they could see and speculated on what each ship could carry and where it was going and which one was the fastest. Eventually though, Cara realised that it was time to resume the training and said so to Liitha.

    “So where left my Gaidin, what devilish trick do you have to tease and torment me now that I am under your tutelage?” Cara batted her eyelashes and glanced through them at Liitha, her head tilted up slightly to fully take in her lovers form.

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

Liitha smiled secretivly and lead the way towards the stables. "Well Cara, balance can determind a lot of outcome in a battle, when you have to move fast, sometimes in odd angles, its important to keep your feet even at difficult grounding. Slip, trip, or any other mistace grounding you, and your at serious disadvantage."

 

She stoped by one of the fences, "no ice but the snow and wet may still make it slippery, and its narrow so got to tread carefull" she climbed up and found her balance by seting her feet leveled, then reatched a hand down in offer to Cara "come on up and we will do a little handwrestling, shouldnt catch us too many bruises since the snow is soft, to a few is to be expected." She smiled, "also another important lesson, stay clear of the fence when falling, if you got no option but falling in battle, then always try to control the outcome of the fall so you damage yourself as little as posible, and preferably still manage to keep your oponent in sigth, that and dont loose your weapon, but make sure to not hurt yourself on it either." She unhooked her waterbottle, then handed it over to Cara's empty hand "for now this will do just as a practise to not let go of anything, keep that in your free hand, and give me the other hand" she smiled and waited, "whenever you are ready"

    Cara listened attentively to Liitha’s instructions and when Liitha offered Cara her hand she quickly grasped it and climbed up on top of the fence. Keeping her grip on the top rail was not going to be easy as Cara had quite sturdy boots on, the soles of which were not as flexible as they could be for this sort of work.

    During the next couple of hours there were many moments of sheer terror as Cara got to the point of no return and would have tumbled to the ground if it had not been for Liitha steadying her. However even this extra help was not enough to prevent all the possible tumbles and it was a slight bruised and battered Cara who climbed up to the rail to go solo as Liitha so charmingly put it.

    Cara steadied herself, keeping her arms stretched out wide to help with her balance, then started to walk across the beam. When she got halfway across, Liitha told her to stop and turn around in a complete circle. Standing just below Cara she smiled up at her and offered her words of encouragement, these meant a lot to Cara and it helped to focus her concentration knowing that Liitha was there for her.

    Cara completed the full turn and started to walk towards the end of the beam as instructed, a growing smile of confidence growing on her face. It could have been this over confidence, or just sheer bad luck, but just as she thought she was going to complete this task without mishap, her boot got caught on a nail that had been exposed above the fence rail by all their walking to and fro. This was enough to momentarily cause Cara to lose her balance and because it happened so quickly she had no time to recover and fell off the railing.

    Although Cara ached, and knew she would have another bruise from this recent fall, she could not help but smile as she stared into Liitha’s eyes. Liitha had seen Cara start to fall and without thinking had thrown herself under Cara to try and break her fall. Brushing her lips against Liitha’s Cara picked herself up and helped Liitha to her feet.

    “Thank you Liitha, that was quick thinking on your part, are you hurt at all?”

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

 

Liitha shook her head and laughed, "no I am fine, fine warder I'd be if I could get broken by a twig"  One thing her Aes Sedai wasnt was heavy, Cara was more of the ligth build, and rigth now she looked pristine with flackes of white snow all over her blonde locks.

 

After they both managed to get their feet under them and shaken off some snow, Liitha lead the way towards another padock. "I hope you have tick socks on, and that you gained a feel for placing your feet to regain balance now though, cause the next one if not is going to get worse and quite cold if not." She whistled and looked at the white snow spruting around the daple grey stallion which was her last collection out of her breeding experiment back on the farm, he had been in training up in Saldea before she had him lately brougth back down here, he had arived 2 days ago and she hadnt had the chanse yet to show him to Cara. "What do you think, a beauty aint he?" She grabed his grim after climbing in, "come on in and lets get you up on his back so you can get a feel for his movements" she smiled to Cara.

 

"I figure the real test would be wheter you can stand on his back while I walk him around, you can do that and I'll let you have him if you want" she winked teasingly to Cara. Horsemanship was one of Liitha's favourite hobbies, and curently she had replaced her last loss of horse by bringing in one of her breeding stallions who had previous training, she had bougth him fully trained to reduced price due to a battle damage which would take months to heal a couple years back. His wounds was fully healed long go though but as he was of fine maners she had kept him on the farm to be used in breeding instead of riding him, while he was trained back up to his old strengths again, she had yet to introduce him to this one though, but hoped they would get along.

 

She slowly lead the daple around the paddoc so Cara could gain a feel for the motion before trying to stand up, when she felt she had waited long enough she stoped. "Let me help you off with those boots and lets see if you can handle standing on unstable ground" She grined playefully up to Cara as she put the boots on the fence, "ready?"

    Cara smiled to herself, at least Liitha was asking her to do something that she knew she could do, and do well. Cara’s father had taught her not only to ride, but to perform tricks as well. One such trick had been balancing on a horses back in bare feet, all the better to help Cara learn to trust the horse and fine tune her ability to balance. However, the snow did add an element to this that Cara had not faced before but she did not think it would be too onerous a task.

    When Liitha called her over, Cara removed the stout pair of boots she had been wearing and leapt up onto the horses back. Quickly, but without haste, Cara got to her feet, her arms stretched out to the sides to help with her balance and than when she was ready she nodded to Liitha to start leading the horse around.

    As the horse started to move off, Cara focused her mind, concentrating on one thing, the movement of the horse. At first Cara looked a little unsteady, but really all she was doing was learning how the horse moved so that she could gauge what it was likely to do. All horse moved differently, even if in only small ways, but Cara soon managed to stand fully upright and held herself still. Liitha continued to walk the horse and as her confidence soared Cara started to show off, first by standing on her left leg only, then her right, all the time smiling as she started to really enjoy this part of the lesson.

    Liitha soon realised that Cara was more than capable of holding her balance and so she brought the horse to a stop and went to help Cara down only to find that Cara did not need any help. “Well, it seems you are a natural Cara, not many can complete that lesson so easily.”

    “I have been riding since I was old enough to walk my love, and tricks like that were something my father taught me. So it is not that I am a natural, I just have been trained well from an early age.”

    Cara bent down and grabbed a handful of clean snow, moulding it into a ball. “This is something that I am a natural at though Liitha.” Before Liitha could respond or even move, Car thrust the snowball into her lovers face and then ran off, giggling at the sound of Liitha’s spluttering as she cleaned the snow from her eyes and mouth.

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

Liitha nodded at the explanation, the next action she was not prepared for. And as she brushed snow out of her face she descided it was time to end the days training lesson. Scooping up snow she jumped onto the horseback, seting the stallion into a gallop in Caras trail untill she could dump the snow load over her when the stallion passed. She stoped him and made him rear a few feet later. "You forgot something my dear, never leave your horse behind." Liitha jumped down and walked him over to Cara handing her the reins.

 

"I dont know about you, but I think its time for lunch, so how about we hand this big boy over to the stableboys and get inside to change before we catch a cold, and then order some lunch from the kitchan?"

    Once the two women had returned the horse to the stables, Liitha and Cara made their way through the still falling snow, crossing the courtyard before the main door to the Tower. Once inside they shook the snow from their clothes and quickly made their way to their rooms. It seemed so natural to call them their rooms now that Cara hardly gave it a second thought, but it did bring a glow of satisfaction to Cara one that she knew was mirrored by Liitha.

    Once they were in their rooms Cara quickly made her way to the bathroom and soon after a trail of Novices appeared laden down with water buckets. Cara had come across the Novices standing on the main stairs chatting as if they had nothing better to do in the whole world, Cara had soon changed that. Once the copper tub was three quarters full of water, Cara channelled, briefly, and heated the temperature of the water until faint tendrils of steam could be seen rising from the waters surface.

    However Liitha had been undressing while the Novices had been filling the tub and it was she who was first into the water. “You could have waited until I had put some bath salts in.” Cara stuck her tongue out at Liitha in mock indignation and then emptied nearly a full carton of salts into the water, wasting no time Cara leapt into the water and soon the water covered her up to her chin.

    For a while she lay there, her eyes closed luxuriating in the warmth of the water and the proximity of Liitha’s body. However Cara knew the warmth of the water would not last long so she opened her eyes and told Liitha to turn around so she could wash her back.

    While Cara washed Liitha, possible lingering a few moments longer than she should in certain places, Cara enquired about where Liitha was going to take her that evening and whether or not she needed to wear her best.

Cara Sedai

 

Bonded to Liitha

 

Brown Ajah

Liitha laughed "you and your fancy scents" she stuck her tounge out at Cara in return. She let the heat soak into her bones, and sighed contently. She twisted around in the tub, it had taken some practise, but over time she had found the best way to achive turning in the tub without needing to get up. "Well I thougth we could check out the prison" she smirked and instinctly ducked from the flying sponge, reacing over she picked it up from the floor and twisted again, "my turn nosy one", she winked at Cara.

 

"Actualy there is a new place down at the harbour, an old shack was torn down, and has been replaced by a brand new building, I think they called it the after one of those famous book fairytales, cant remember which."

 

She droped the sponge and started massaging Cara's shoulders, "its high class, so if you want to dress up, then I am sure that would be ok" she lent forward kissing the base of Cara's neck. "So what do you say?"