A Cry For Help

Novice Brileia Narelleva, Written by Katie
Posted on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 01:47 am

Thrown off balance by the abrupt change of topic, Brileia answered him before she could even think to stop herself. “Because he’s dead.” Then the blood drained from her face as she realized what she had just said, a small hand lifting to cover her mouth in shock. She couldn’t believe that she had said it so bluntly. Tears filled her teal-colored eyes as she leapt to her feet, ignoring the ache in her wrapped ankle. White skirts swirled as she turned and hurried towards the path heading back towards the Tower. The only thought in her mind was to escape and find some place to be alone for a while.

She stopped short as she suddenly found her path blocked by Sadrok, his arms outstretched to keep her from getting around him. The diminutive Novice gave him a mutinous glare, her ashen face streaked with tears. She glanced around before moving to go around the taller Novice, trying to stay out of his reach. “Just leave me alone, Sadrok. I just want to be by myself.”  But obviously he wasn’t planning on heeding her wishes; instead, he seemed to move into her way each time she tried to get around him. Brileia found herself growing more and more aggravated each time he physically stopped her from leaving. Her slight body was practically quivering with frustration and a plethora of overwhelming emotion. Delicate fingers curled into a small fist, knuckles turning white just before it connected with his stomach as hard as she could manage. It obviously wasn’t enough to make him double over in pain, but it did make him grunt…just barely.

However, Brileia was not so lucky as she somehow managed to hurt her hand just by hitting him. She had ended up jamming her thumb on his sternum, sending a white-hot pain shooting through her hand. A pained whimper almost escaped her before she viciously bit it back. Her bottom lip trembled as she struggled visibly to keep from loosing her composure completely. Cradling her hand to her chest, she glared tearfully at him, her voice breaking just a bit, “What is your problem? Why won’t you leave me alone?!”

The petite Novice just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t let her go. No one ever stopped her when she was truly determined to be alone, not even her beloved brother. Usually her family would let her be to work out her issues on her own, as long as her alone time did not interfere with their plans. Occasionally Uriel would come to her after she’d had time to calm herself down, but he never pushed her to speak or stay in his presence against her will.

Overwhelmed by thinking of her brother again, Brileia couldn’t maintain her self-control any longer. She burst into tears, her slight body swaying slightly with each sob. Tousled raven-black curls fell down like a curtain as she buried her face in her hands. Sadrok’s presence was completely forgotten in the face of her misery. That is, until he put his arms around her and held her gently to his chest, whispering in her ear. “It’s alright, Brilie… I’m sorry, I didn’t know about your brother… Here, come sit back down.”

She trembled uncontrollably in his embrace, soaking his shirt with her tears. Weeping silently, she was in no condition to protest as the man led her back towards the edge of the fountain to sit down. Just as they were sitting down, Brileia suddenly realized what was strange about his comment. She could have sworn that he had just used a nickname that only one other person had ever used for her. And that particular person happened to have been deceased for the past four years. The young girl lifted her tear-streaked face to look at him in confusion, her voice no louder than a hoarse whisper. “What did you just call me?”

“Brilie?” he asked, looking puzzled as he sat next to her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. As much as she wanted to accept the comfort he was freely offering to her, she needed answers more and just stared up at him as he spoke again. “Would you rather I gave you a different nickname?”

A look of complete confusion crossed her tear-streaked face, her misery pushed aside for the moment. She took a deep breath before speaking again, still whispering hoarsely. “I haven’t heard that nickname in over four years. Only one person has ever called me that before. H-how did you know that nickname?”

“I didn’t. I just thought of it..” He paused for a moment, looking like he was in deep thought. His answer was nearly identical to the one her brother had given her years ago when she‘d asked how he‘d come up with that nickname in the first place. If that wasn‘t enough of a slap in the face, his next words seemed to hit her like a punch to the stomach. “It was your brother who used it, wasn’t it?”

Brileia sat up straight, trembling fingers wiping blindly at the tears still falling down her pale face. Teeth dug into her bottom lip as her mind raced wildly, trying to figure out how he seemed to be so much like her dead brother. Bluish-green eyes still glittering with unshed tears lifted to his face once more. “…how do you do that? I swear it seems as though he is speaking to me through you.” She shook her head, her hand lifting to tangle in her disheveled locks. “Um…yes, it was Uriel who gave me that nickname. I think I was about two or three when he started using it. It was just something special between the two of us.”

A small melancholy smile crossed her face as the young girl looked away from him, appearing as though she were lost in recollections of the past. She wrapped her arms around herself as if for comfort as she began to speak faintly, only loud enough for the man sitting beside her to hear her clearly. “You must think me a simpering fool with the way I’ve been acting just now. I’d apologize, but I’m afraid that I really can’t help it. Uriel was the only member of my family to truly understand me. Most of my family only tolerated my presence at times, even my parents and my other siblings. But Uriel…he really wanted me around. He went out of his way to make time for me, no matter what he was doing at the time. It was like the two of us were the ones that were family, and the others were just acquaintances. And with him gone, I’ve been so…alone…even when surrounded by people.”

A sardonic chuckle escaped her as Brileia shook her head slowly, lifting her eyes to the afternoon sun. “Uriel was a member of the guards back home in Maradon. In fact, he used to tell me that when I was old enough…he and I would leave home and come to Tar Valon. He wanted to become a warder, strangely enough, and he didn’t want to leave me behind. I was only twelve when he left for his last trip into the Blight. He never returned with the rest of his unit. I was…devastated, for lack of a better word.”

She was quiet for a moment, staring off in the distance. “My family didn’t quite know what to do with me after his death. I know that I didn’t handle it well. But what child would?” Finally remembering his presence, the sixteen year old turned a numb gaze in Sadrok’s direction. “In all honesty, that’s what made this whole…betrothal arrangement hurt the most. My parents would never have done something like that for any of the others. Me…they couldn’t wait to get rid of me. But I‘ve managed to thwart that plan at least. They won‘t be getting whatever it is they sold me away for now that I‘m here in Tar Valon. And even if I hadn‘t been able to channel, I still would not have accepted their plans. I would have figured something out to keep from marrying you…and I mean no insult to you by saying such.”

Shaking her head as if to clear it, she straightened once more, at least trying to make an effort not to appear as miserable as she felt. Out of the corner of her eye, Brileia noticed a look of concern cross Sadrok’s face, but she was too focused on her thoughts to question him about it. Her hand curled into a fist, a hint of fierceness creeping into her soft voice. “I can’t let him be forgotten, and I certainly will not let his death pass without getting some measure of vengeance for him. There is no one else who can do this but me. Uriel deserves to be able to rest in peace. I will give this to him, regardless of what anyone else thinks.”

He nodded softly, then tipped her chin back to look her in the eyes again. He remained silent for a while, obviously in deep thought, but he didn’t remove his finger from her lips and when she tried to speak again he pressed it more firmly against her. “Your best chance to do that will be to focus on becoming Aes Sedai now, right? Maybe when we’re both Aes Sedai, I can help you with.. whatever it is you think you’re going to do to avenge him.”

Brileia blinked in surprise at the rather generous offer, wondering why he would offer such a thing without even knowing her plans when he barely knew her. Bluish-green eyes examined his face closely before she spoke quietly, “That’s…sweet of you to even offer, Sadrok, but you hardly know me. And you don’t even know what I have planned. If anything, you should be running in the opposite direction.” She touched his hand lightly before pulling away from him. “I have no doubt that my quest will be difficult and definitely dangerous. I cannot, in good faith, let anyone else accompany me. I couldn’t bear it if someone got hurt because of me.”

Of course what she neglected to say was that she really had a hard time hurting anyone herself, which would really make her plans that much more complicated. If she was honest with herself, she really wasn’t certain how she was even going to go about hunting Shadowspawn in the Blight. Yes, becoming an Aes Sedai would help…but not if she couldn’t hurt even a fly. Perhaps by the time she was ready to proceed, she would have gotten past that little quirk of hers.

Apparently the man could read her mind because Sadrok just shook his head and silenced her with a finger pressed against her lips. Falling quiet, she blinked in surprise and looked up at him, immediately drawn out of her thoughts once more as he spoke. “You think I’d let you go alone? Into the Blight? Brileia, I know that you are smarter than that… Sure, you‘ll be Aes Sedai before you go.. You’d better be, or I’ll make sure someone drags you back here, but I doubt even they can protect themselves entirely while in the cursed Blight. You‘ll need someone to watch your back. That‘s why they have Warders, isn‘t it?” There was something in the tone of his voice as he was talking that really made her sit up and pay attention, as if he was trying to prove some point to her. The way he said her name sent warm feelings through her, and she wasn’t quite certain why.

Brileia stared at him for a few moments before answering. “How do you do that, Sadrok? Seriously…do you have a Talent for reading minds? Because you seem to know every little thing I’m thinking. It’s rather unsettling.” Shaking her head again, she gave him a completely serious look. “Beyond that, why would I even consider that you’d want to accompany me? You don’t even know me. We’ve only just met, and not under the best circumstances either. Why do you care?” She didn’t even bother to address the point about Warders. She didn’t really think that she’d want a Warder. Why would she? She wasn’t the most social person, if she was honest with herself. 

In reply to Changing Perceptions[show]/[hide]

She caught him off guard with the kiss, and he was too surprised to kiss her back; but she had his attention, at least. Sadrok studied her silently when she was done, forced once again to reassess his opinion of her. His initial opinion of her had been the same as he made of any girl he ran into, or that quite literally ran into him - that she was not much better than Rahime Najat, the Domani novice that wouldn’t leave him alone whenever she got the chance to harass him Now he saw she was far more intelligent than he’d given her credit for, and quite attractive in her own way. He'd already come to the same conclusion she espoused - he would still have had his Bar if he hadn't - but he didn't blame himself anymore for what had happened that day. It still hurt to think about, and he missed the friends he'd lost in the fighting back then, and he would mourn that loss whenever his memories of them were brought to the surface, like when he’d caught her with Air to keep her from tripping again. She started to fidget under his gaze before he nodded his head. While the motion was almost imperceptible, he’d decided that he could afford to trust her - and maybe let her get close to him. He then raised a hand up to lightly trace the back of his fingers over her cheek. But he didn't ruin the moment by opening his mouth, as her eyes widened slightly in surprise at his reaction. He could see the surprise in her eyes clearly enough for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by another look in her eyes that it took him a moment to place. Worried that he’d upset her, he gave her his best mischievous grin as he lightly tapped her on the nose. She blinked reflexively at the gesture, a sad look entering her eyes. Eyes that often seemed so much a reflection of his own at times, now that he thought about it.. Except with that look in her eyes, their eyes were almost identical. As she tried so hard not to fidget under his gaze, she suddenly turned very pale. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Brileia. A silver for your thoughts?" "Oh, I don't know if my thoughts are worth that much, Sadrok..." That playful look in her eyes was back for a moment before it was overwhelmed by sadness - a few unshed tears pooling in her eyes as she spoke sadly. His finger crooked, he wiped the tears from both of her eyes and smiled at her, leading her over to sit next to him on the edge of a water fountain. He didn’t know what had made her so upset all of a sudden, and for some reason, he really didn’t like it... It must have been something he’d said or done to trigger some memory of  her own, perhaps? After a brief moment of thought, he decided that he was going to get to the bottom of it eventually, especially after she had dragged out his explanation a minute ago about the ambush. He was going to figure out what was upsetting her even if she still didn’t seem to have understood just what it was he had been upset about, himself. He owed her that much after the way he’d treated her before - and she’d already taken the first step - anyway.  “You think I’m going to let you get away with hiding whats wrong after what you said to me a moment ago?” A soft sigh escaped her as they sat down at the edge of the fountain. Silky black curls fell to hide her face as she tried to hide her eyes from him. Hide them she did, but if he didn’t know she was upset he would have thought she looked alluring just then. She trailed her fingers through the water slowly, creating ripples in the calm surface as she bit her bottom lip, looking anxious -so he placed his arm around her shoulders lightly in an effort to comfort her. "Probably not...but a girl can dream, can't she?" “You can dream about me all you want, Brileia... Doesn’t mean you’ll get me in the end, though.” After her question he’d given her one of his winning smiles, answering her sarcastically. Then he reached over and cupped her chin softly in one hand, raising it to lock gazes with her again, looking serious once more. “Tell me what’s bothering you, Brileia. I don’t like seeing you sad like this.  You’re much more beautiful when you smile... or even when you’re yelling at me.” Teal eyes widened as he lifted her chin, a faint blush coloring her cheeks at his comment. Her lips parted as if she was going to say something, then closed for a moment as she bit her bottom lip again, unable to look away from him. "I...well, it's just that for a moment you reminded me of my brother. When I was little, he used to do things like that...poking my nose and such." Her brother, huh? He poked her nose again gently with that mischievous grin of his. He wasn’t sure just yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he knew he would figure it out by the time he understood why she was  upset. Leaning down towards her without breaking eye contact, he let his nose brush against hers for a moment before kissing her softly on the lips again, whispering. “Would your brother do something like that?” She seemed to hesitate for a moment before responding to his kiss, a small hand lifting to touch his chest lightly. He felt comfortable with her, even if they could get in trouble doing this. Drawing back just enough that their lips were barely touching again, she whispered softly. "No...he never would have done something like that with me. Now... whether he did something like that with one of the maids back home, I couldn't say. He swore me to secrecy years ago." Sadrok laughed softly, smiling as he straightened and ran his fingers along her cheek again, his swordsman calloused fingers barely tracing over her soft skin. “Sounds like he and I might have made good friends. You’ll make him proud as an Aes Sedai one day, I believe.” She shivered lightly at the touch. A wistful smile curved her lips at some thought crossing her mind. Blinking, she drew herself out of her memories. "I think you two would have been good friends. He had the same dream..." A sigh escaped her. "I hope you're right about that.” “Look where you are, Brileia. Look where we are... In Tar Valon! Sitting on a fountain in the gardens of the White Tower, both of us wearing novice whites. Light! Whoever thought they would see the day men were admitted to the Tower as novices? They’re not going to let either of us go until we are Aes Sedai, you know.” He smiled, running a finger lightly over her lips as if to silence her. “Maybe  when we’re both Aes Sedai, you could show me Maradon? I’d offer to show you Far Madding, but I doubt you’d want to go there.” Her lips parted slightly beneath his finger as she drew in a ragged breath. Then she smiled back at him, soft laughter spilling from her. "Of course I will, if that's what you want. I'll even show you all the secret paths and hidden spots I managed to find." Silky black curls tumbled over her shoulder as she tilted her head slightly, peering at him in blatant curiosity. "Why wouldn't I want to go to Far Madding?  I've never been there before. Well, truthfully...before leaving to come here, I'd never been anywhere but Maradon." “I’ll hold you to that. As for Far Madding, there is a ter’angreal there that stops anyone near the city from channeling.. It has some other ability too, but I never could find out what it was. I don’t really relish the idea of going home, myself.” He smirked playfully at her at the mention of the hiding places she’d found, then kissed her lightly on the lips again - the barest brush of his lips over hers. He scooted back from her after a moment so anyone who came buy would just see them talking quietly. “Yes, learning all the ins and outs of Maradon does sound interesting... You’re not much less traveled than I am, though.. Aside from the trip here, I’d only left Far Madding the one time I told you about already.” The tension seemed to dissipate from her slight body, a small smile curving her lips. Her fingertips idly traced patterns over the edge of the fountain as she turned her head slightly, gazing around the gardens. “Perhaps when we are Aes Sedai, we can travel together and see all the sights we’ve missed so far, in between assignments from the Tower, of course.” “Or even during our assignments from the Tower? Maybe we’ll find a way to work together more often than not?” He smiled, leaning back from her on the fountains edge, one ankle resting on his other knee as he propped himself up on his hands and looked up at the midday sky above, occasionally glancing down to study her figure appreciatively. “For a while I’d thought this was turning out to be a very droll Sunday... Thanks for turning that around for me, Brileia.” Bluish-green eyes turned in his direction, a soft laugh escaping her. She shook her head, an amused grin on her face. “Oh, well…you’re welcome, Sadrok. Glad to have been of some amusement to you today. You know, the first thing I thought of today was finding someone to run into, just to make his day that much better.” He laughed softly at the facetious tone in her voice, shaking his head. Just when he was beginning to think he had her pegged as having little to no sense of humor... She surprised him. He hadn’t forgotten about how she’d gotten depressed earlier when she was thinking about her brother, he just wanted to change the topic for a moment so he could catch her off guard when he did ask about it. “What were you doing alone in the male novice well, anyway?” Laughing softly, he thought was glad to see she had the decency to look embarrassed about her one girl invasion of the male novice well. It only made her look cuter when she looked away, tangling her fingers in a strand of her hair. “Um... Well, truthfully... I was really, really lost. I got distracted by the tapestries while trying to get from the dining hall to the library. And... well, I panicked a little.” She turned back to him a moment later, at least trying to look apologetic for knocking him over and landing on top of his chest. “I really am sorry about running into you.” He smirked at her, still taking his ease and only glancing at her occasionally, most of his attention on the sky above. Wanting to rattle her a little more, he suddenly sat up and looked her in the eye, his face dead serious. “You should try to watch what’s ahead of you a little better, Brileia... You trip a lot, you ran headlong into me.. you’re going to get hurt one of these days.. Did you at least enjoy pinning me down?” Her mouth dropped open in shock at his question, a bright blush coloring her face. She stared at him wide-eyed before even making an attempt to answer him. “What…oh…um…” Tongue-tied, she couldn’t even think of a response, much less say it without stammering. He laughed for a moment, smirking at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking - who knows? maybe he did... Then he completely switched topics on her to catch her off guard. He felt kind of heavy handed distracting her like this, but he really didn’t know any other way to get her to let it slip. “Maybe someday I’ll let you pin me again, then... Maybe not. So why is it that my reminding you of your brother makes you sad?”

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Replies to A Cry For Help

  • Long Term Goals — Novice Sadrok Rachin, Thu, Aug 26, 2010 14:30 pm