1-6 qps, depending on length and quality.
Potential +1 qp: if part of a series: o/x <--- kind of iffy because the other was Atlan, different poster
Total: 2 qps
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Marshall pressed his ring into the hot wax, sealing the envelope. He had heard stories of Gaidin Theid since coming to the tower, a hard man who had built a reputation in the borderlands and beyond. He had trained with hard men before, but knew this would be something more. He stood and made his way to the training yard, letter in hand.
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Lord Gaidin Theid,
I am usually not a man for many words or to relish in tales of my past, remember, frank and honest. However, I am sure it is crucial to know a man's past if you are to mold his future so I will be as open and honest as I am able.
I was raised by my brother, Atlan, or perhaps more appropriately, we raised each other. My earliest memories are of the orphanage in Lugard. I'm unsure if that was our mother's homeland, or if we were left there in passing. The owner was a drunk and we learned to move quietly and duck a punch at a young age.
Eventually we realized we could survive without the drunkard and took to the streets. We soon found that one old drunk was easier to deal with than the homeless of the city, but we refused to go back. We survived by fishing the river Storn that runs through the city, catching enough to survive and occasionally a few extra to sell to the inns.
Lugard being the capital and center of trade within Murandy, we watched the merchants and nobles of different nations come and go from the wealthier inns and estates in the city. We became inspired that life could be better elsewhere and departed. We struck north for Caemlyn, enticed by tales of a Queen who loved and sheltered her subjects. The road present its own challenges for two youths used to scavenging the city and fishing the river.
I was no stranger to hunger, but starvation can crack the noblest of men and my adolescent self was no match for its cruelty. Atlan always warned that the light shelters those who keep honest and true, and those who didn’t would be punished accordingly. I begged desperately at each home we passed, they wouldn’t notice a missing chicken, they had plenty of food, but he remained stoic in his resolve.
One night, we made our beds in a small copse of leatherleafs off the Lugard road, not far past a small orchard. Sleep would not come as the hollow pit in my stomach twisted and stabbed. Once I was convinced my elder brother was asleep, I slipped back to the road and down to the orchard. I barely remember being on the property but I left at a full sprint, terrified, with a stalk of grapes in each hand.
I awoke the next morning feeling weak and covered in a slick sweat. As we continued our journey north my health deteriorated rapidly. By late morning Atlan had to support me as we walked, everything seemed distant and the ground swayed beneath my feet. That night, I remember Atlan screaming for help as I lay sprawled on the ground, vomit dotted with grapes wet the dirt next to my face. As I closed my eyes, I knew the lights punishment had come.
I awoke several days later to a brilliant light. As my vision adjusted, white clouds dotting a blue sky came into focus. I was in the back of a farmer's wagon, Atlan sat beside me as we bumped down the rutted road.
I was so relieved to be alive. My brother explained what had happened as I devoured a loaf of hard bread, a chunk of stale cheese, and some browned apples. I have never had a meal taste sweeter.
After I had passed out, Atlan had continued to scream for help but when none came he sprinted down the road for the orchard. When he arrived they released their dogs without hesitation. He continued south seeking someone, anyone, until he collapsed from exhaustion. In that moment he was sure I would die and he looked to the creator. He begged for my life, and vowed we would both serve the light til our dying breaths if I was spared from whatever sickness had stricken me. When he returned, I was as he'd left me, still breathing.
He constructed a makeshift litter and was dragging me north when a farmer had stopped to offer assistance. By then my fever had broken and my color had returned to normal. He had hitched a ride to Four Kings, and from there found another farmer to take us east.
Atlan said I would not have lived if I was not meant for something more. That day, I swore my life to the Light, whatever it asked I would pay. We set our sights on the one place we knew the Light needed men, the border. The Light had spared my life and we had a debt to pay.
Our dreams of a easy life in Caemlyn as the subjects of a kind queen were abandoned. We traveled through the city, but immediately left through the north gate along the Tar Valon road.
Our journey was filled with long, cold, hungry nights, but we had one another and through sheer will found ourselves crossing the border into Kandor and eventually to the city of Canluum. We immediately sought out the recruiting office and signed on as footmen in the Red Horse’s army.
We were placed under the command of Commander Hayden Rodril. Given our young age and foreign status, our first assignment was as mail carriers. At first we delivered within the city itself, speed was expected and armor was always worn while on duty. It was brutal work under the weight of the iron and our bodies responded in kind, we grew from willowy starving youths with sunken eyes into powerful recruits with endurance to match. Discipline was strict but it was the first time in my life that food was accessible every day, I took to the soldier's life gladly.
Years later, Commander Rodril promoted us to mounted couriers and we carried letters of import from city to city within Kandor and throughout the borderland nations. The horse proved a new challenge for a young man who had grown up poor in a capital city. We were assigned a single mount and charged with its care. In time I grew to love the animal, it was fiercely loyal and intelligent.
Once we had mastered riding, we were assigned to our first border patrol. Battle proved more mentally and physically challenging than anything I had experienced to this point, however, like our bodies responded to the grueling tasks of our early enlistment, our minds responded in kind to combat.
My first fray was a blur of confusion. Violent and brutal swings of my sword at any trolloc I encountered, followed by crippling exhaustion when the battle ended and my adrenaline dropped. We drilled incessantly on quiet nights, and each skirmish taught me something new. Our assignment lasted two years, and by the end I had become a skilled swordsmen. Gone was the wasted energy of frantic strikes, my balance improved and I used the brute power of the shadowspawn against them to preserve my strength for when I needed it most.
While I was skilled in the sword, my area of expertise became scouting. My history of sneaking around the orphanage and streets of Lugard lent itself better than expected to the hilly, tree covered terrain of Kandor as well as the mountains along the northern border. In our final months in Kandor, the trolloc raids were increasing in frequency, and Commander Hayden dispatched several units throughout the blighted mountains.
The Commander rode with our unit along with an Aes Sedai who had been visiting Canluum. When she took her leave the Commander assigned my brother and I to escort her back to Tar Valon. We were used to taking orders without question by this time and rode out at once.
Upon arriving in Tar Valon she left us with a letter from the Commander dispatching us from service with a final order, to seek apprenticeship among the Gaidin. While I have a great deal of respect for the Commander, I also know this choice is mine alone to make. I considered my scenario and how I found myself to be here.
The light had spared me for something more, and while serving it I had found strength, courage and a purpose. To what greater end could a man serve the light than through service to the White Tower. I made my choice and pursued this same end. Which brings me to you, what will come I do not know, but I will meet it with the the light as my armor and strengthening my sword.
Marshall Ruhier