<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fd/Valdar.jpg)</div><strong>Character name:</strong>Galvren Valynar (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234819.msg11585469#msg11585469)<br/><strong>Position:</strong>Valdar (Newly Risen)<br/><strong>Bondmate:</strong>Open<br/><strong>Tag:</strong>Shayella Sedai, mentions Avalyn Sedai.<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Morning, Saven 6th, 990NE<br/><strong>Place:</strong>Infirmary, Main Ward<br/><strong>Warning:</strong><br/><hr/><br/>As odd as it may sound to some, Galvren didn't actually mind the infirmary; sure, sure, being there usually meant that you had something or other wrong with you or you were there visiting somebody<em>else</em>that had something wrong with them, but the fact that you were injured shouldn't be held against the establishment, now should it? After all, it was hardly the infirmaries fault that you had fallen and hurt yourself, or that you had missed a parry or landed awkwardly after a particularly difficult jump and needed immediate healing, was it? Well, unless said injury had occurred<em>inside</em>the infirmary, of course, but leaving that possibility to the side for one moment, really there was no real reason to dislike the place, was there? Some of the oft-cited reasons for peoples distrust and dislike of hospitals and infirmaries in general consist mainly of petty gripes; it smells funny, there's lots of noise, you see lots of injuries, it's usually quite busy, you only go there for bad reasons and never for good ones - and some people he knows would include having children in that category, somewhat amusingly - etc etc, but Galvren never understood that train of thought. Surely a place such as an infirmary should be a beacon of hope to the injured, right? You were hurt, and the hospital promised medical experts and, usually, at least one or two Aes Sedai who could tap into the single greatest power source in the world to literally knit you back together again, largely regardless of whatever wound you had sustained. You were fussed over, taken care of and kept warm, fed and safe while you recovered. What was there to dislike about<em>that?</em>Not to mention, at<em>least</em>half of the young ladies who volunteered to help at such places were both cute and, by their very natures as volunteers at a hospital, warm, kind and sweet. So to sum up: You got fed, dressed, healed, and you got to chat with cute women. Why,<em>by the Light,</em>would you ever dislike such a place? Hm? Oh, cursing's fine so long as it's only in your head, don't worry.<br/><br/>That being said, as much as Galvren enjoyed his time in the infirmary - especially since he knew a lot of the staff by sight by that point which tended to happen if you spent as much time in there over the course of a decade as Galvren had - he did have to admit that despite the fact that it should be seen as a<em>good</em>place and a beacon of hope and professionalism....it was not somewhere you ever actually<em>wanted</em>to go. You shouldn't feel scared of going and you shouldn't hate the place, but by the same token you really shouldn't want to go there since going there meant that you were injured or sick or knew somebody who was. So it kind of had that weird little dualism in that it was a place that Galvren<em>liked,</em>but never really felt a particular urge to actually<em>visit.</em>Again, perhaps that was simply due to the fact that he spent enough time within its walls as it was thanks to his constant training injuries, but still; the point stood regardless. He enjoyed chatting with the Accepted helpers, and he got on with a fair few of the Aes Sedai - Shayella Sedai in particular, he considered if not a friend then at least friend<em>ly</em>- but he also enjoyed not being injured and social calls to a busy hospital were generally frowned upon. So he didn't tend to visit unless he needed something. As it was, on this occasion Galvren did, in fact, require assistance; just the previous week, Galvren had ended up injuring his shoulder in such a way that required Aes Sedai medical assistance; in short, his shoulder and the left half of his collar bone fractured and splintered inside his body, which was...somewhat painful, to say the least. Due to the nature of Healing - as he understood it, anyway; he would never understand it as fully as somebody who actually could do it - whilst the bones were able to be knitted back together using his bodies stamina and energy, it was unable to also heal the bruises and tender areas afterwards for risk of exhausting him too thoroughly.<br/><br/>Apparently, the Aes Sedai had attempted to focus on his worst injury before trying the bruises...honestly, it was a trade off that Galvren was willing to make. In any case, he had been instructed to revisit the infirmary the following week to get his shoulder inspected to ensure that it was healing properly. The chances of a little bruise being healed by an Aes Sedai was minimal, but they wanted to watch out for possible complications, he supposed. He wasn't about to begrudge them that, though, of course; whilst his shoulder had been feeling extremely tender and sensitive over the ensuing week, it was a lot better than being wrapped in bandages, utterly bedridden because they dare not let him move his arm for fear of ruining the healing process. He would take having to be careful what he did with his left arm over not being able to use it or move whatsoever for a week. That would decidedly<em>not</em>be a good way to begin his hopefully long and dull career of Warder-ing. Oh? What's that? He was just a lowly Vardar, yet to pass the final exam? Well, funny story; you know that injury that he'd just gotten done thinking about? Well, as it turns out, he actually received that injury<em>passing</em>his Warder exam! That's right, he was now a fully-qualified Gaidin, only seeking an Aes Sedai to bond him as her bodyguard. The dream of every Trainee and Vardar in the White Tower, and Galvren was finally counted amongst the elites that managed to graduate, finally being recognised as skilled and devoted enough to be trusted with the life of one of The White Towers Sisters, the most powerful, useful and devoted servants of The Light in existence. A higher honour, Galvren couldn't honestly imagine; yes, Kings and Queens were politically just as important as The White Tower, but how often had the Queen in Caemlyn actually paid much attention to the hamlets around the cities? Not very. Where was the Queen when Harlons Bridge was attacked? Nowhere. Her men were several days behind and of no use to anybody...but The White Tower? She was present, and her Servant single handedly saved the entire town. For him, at least, it was that simple; The Tower saved him, so now he defends The Tower. Not the most complex of motives, but Galvren was at heart an uncomplicated man.<br/><br/>The test itself was really nothing to write home about, though; he and Avalyn Sedai, a friendly acquaintance amongst the Aes Sedai, had arranged to have one of their friendly duels. She and Galvren had a casual, friendly rivalry where they would duel each other in order to stay sharp and practice. It was really nothing of much note, but Galvren enjoyed it and Avalyn Sedai seemed to value the relationship, so it was a net win for both of them; though of the Aes Sedai and therefore stereotypically not expected to carry a weapon, she was also of the Green Ajah and apparently took her Ajah's "purpose" extremely seriously, which Galvren respected and liked about her. He didn't know much about her personally, and it really wasn't his business to, but she seemed like a genuinely caring person and she was definitely an accomplished weaponswoman so was certainly somebody to respect and show deference to. Besides, being on good terms with as many Aes Sedai as he could was certainly an excellent idea; he was going to be working for them and even<em>if</em>he didn't particularly desire their respect - which he really, really did - it was just pragmatic since having an Aes Sedai as an enemy could be very, very detrimental to your long term health. So, he and his friend/rival Avalyn Sedai ended up squaring off across the small circle of the duelling arena...and then everything moved so fast. He saw a glint out of the corner of his eye, the sun reflecting off of a piece of metal being unsheathed, a piece of equipment that shouldn't have been in the training grounds and as he turned his head to look he saw the rest of it, the wooden frame that the metal was attached to, the drawn string, the steady arm holding the weapon in front of the hooded figure.<br/><br/>And then he was off across the sand towards its intended target, practically tackling Avalyn Sedai out of the way as the bolt was let loose from the crossbow, hurtling towards where its intended target had just been...unfortunately, it ended up hitting Galvren instead, shattering the bones in his shoulder. He dropped to the ground in immense levels of pain, of course, but it turned out that the bolt that had been fired was in fact only a weighted "training" bolt. Not lethal, but still dangerous in close range...obviously. It wasn't until afterwards, when he awoke groggily in an Infirmary bed with a Yellow Sister that he didn't know as well - Carella Sedai, he thought - that he was told that he had passed his "test" and that Avalyn was never in any real danger. It took a while for it to sink in as he stared at the letter in his hands, but there was no mistaking it...it had the Master of Arms seal on it, along with his signature, confirming his rise to the rank of "Unbonded Gaidin." The feeling of joy and relief was almost enough to blot out the throbbing tenderness in his shoulder. Almost. As he mentioned earlier, it turned out that healing the bones took too much out of him to also heal the bruises and tenderness up properly. So, instead of being treated again for the bruises - he believed their exact words were "you can handle a few bruises, move along," - he was dismissed with a series of ointments and bandaging to apply daily in order to help soothe the bruised muscles and skin, along with instructions to only move the arm slowly and carefully in order to facilitate a full recovery. It did mean that he had to skip exercising and practice for a week - which, contrary to what you may think, he actually<em>didn't</em>want to miss -<em>but</em>if a broken shoulder was the price for earning his place as a Gaidin...so be it. He would have happily broken the other shoulder, too, if that's what was necessary. He supposed, in a way, that was the kind of mentality they wanted but in regards to saving the Aes Sedai's life if it came to it...and he knew that he had that. When he saw the crossbow, he wasn't thinking "this is my test," he was thinking "That Aes Sedai is in danger." That's the point of the test, he supposed; seeing how far you were willing to go to safeguard an Aes Sedai's safety. If you weren't willing or able to do it, why would they have you as a Warder? Answer: They wouldn't.<br/><br/>And now, a week on, he was revisiting the infirmary as per Carella Sedai's instructions to come back in for a reevaluation, just in case of any complications. Thankfully, if he was remembering the general pattern of the shifts correctly, Shayella Sedai - long-time confidante and probably the closest thing he had to a friend amongst the infirmary's Yellow Ajah - was in and would likely be the one seeing to him; he knew that Shayella Sedai actively enjoyed being very hands on with her patients, and he hoped that that day would be no different. Not only would he honestly prefer a familiar, friendly face to the somewhat dour-looking Carella Sedai - oh calm down, it wasn't like Aes Sedai could read minds, right? - but he couldn't wait to hear Shayella Sedai's congratulations on making the rank of Gaidin. Seven long, hard years of work and he had finally made it! And honestly, he had known Shayella Sedai throughout most of that time....the first time he walked away from training with a relatively serious injury - a sprained wrist, he thought - it was Shayella Sedai who treated him, and they ended up getting along surprisingly well, even past what would be considered the "minimum" in terms of patient/healer relationships. Shayella Sedai was friendly, patient and actively took an interest in her patients and genuinely wanted to help no matter what...Galvren liked and respected that, and on his good days, he even liked to consider Shayella Sedai an unlikely but welcome friend. As he walked into the Infirmary proper, dressed in a relatively casual set of Valdar-issue britches-and-tunic - designed to be simple, pragmatic and easy to repair in the event of damages - that he had been issued just a few weeks ago as a replacement to his last set which he had grown out of in the last year, he was quickly greeted by a smiling Accepted who - he had noticed from the corner of his eye - had changed direction sharply to come and meet him just inside the door. He had to resist the urge to smile a little; most of the Accepted tended to fawn just a little bit over the Valdar and the Warders, but Malene in particular seemed to always be in "flirt mode" with them. He'd met her a few times when coming into the infirmary over the previous year, and each time she had taken a fairly keen interest in greeting the Valdar's coming through the door personally. Not that he minded; she was an attractive young lady, and having a cute girl say hello to you was not a bad thing...even if he knew that nothing would ever happen between the two of them; forget what Malene may or may not desire, if Shayella Sedai found out that he had "seduced" Malene, well...he didn't doubt she would disapprove. And honestly, anybody who wasn't scared of an Aes Sedai's disapproval was<em>not</em>in possession of all of their mental faculties.<br/><br/>"Good afternoon, Valdar Galvren," she practically chirped, smiling at him warmly. "It's a<em>pleasure</em>to see you again! May I offer you some assistance?" The way she looked at him was obviously reserved for Warders and Warders in training. How many Valdar and Gaidin had been treated to that warm, flirtatious smile, he wondered? He was under no illusion that he was somehow unique; that would be the height of arrogance, especially considering just how much more 'masculine' some of the other Gaidin and Valdars were. Still, she was a nice enough young lady, and there was absolutely no reason to be hostile or rude. He offered her a return smile, and a slight inclination of his head.<br/>"It's a pleasure to see you again too, Accepted Malene." he said warmly, earning another smile from her. She was really rather pretty, he had to admit. "I was instructed to report here today by Carella Sedai last week; I'm supposed to have my shoulder inspected...a formality, really, but when an Aes Sedai says 'jump,' you say-"<br/>"-'how high and how far, Aes Sedai?'" Malene finished with a smile. "I understand. I'll request an Aes Sedai's presence for you, Valdar Galvren, please wait here." She moved to leave, then half-turned as she walked away. "And I hope your shoulder is ok; I'd hate it if you got hurt at all!" Galvren just smiled; she was around the corner and out of sight before he could respond, in any case.<br/><br/>It wasn't long before he saw Malene return from around the corner, but she didn't approach him again, most probably because of the very familiar looking woman striding after her into the main area of the infirmary; tanned, almost olive-skinned, dark of hair and with a confident stride borne of years - perhaps decades; he wasn't really all that sure...you never asked an Aes Sedai her age if you wanted an easy life - of experience, Shayella Sedai was a striking woman to look at in any sense of the word. But despite her obvious ageless good looks - really, you would be hard pressed to find an<em>un</em>attractive Aes Sedai in his experience, though it could have been that he was just lucky in knowing so many attractive females (if you could call it lucky; every one of them had strong personalities, and he lived in perpetual terror of being given conflicting orders by them whilst still unbonded...how would you resolve that issue? Aes Sedai dictate rank by strength in the power, but Gaidin have practically no way of figuring out who is in charge unless they're already familiar with the hierarchy of the individuals involved, which in and of itself was very difficult to ascertain as an outsider looking in) - it was really the constantly warm, friendly, welcoming expression and the genuine warmth that radiated from her smile that was really the biggest draw. So many Aes Sedai seemed to adopt a permanent cool, detached mask, but Shayella Sedai was - as far as Galvren could tell - usually more than happy to wear her warmth and compassion out in the open...important traits for a healer, Galvren thought. The patient needed to feel like the healer cared if he was going to feel comfortable in the infirmary, and Shayella Sedai was extremely adept at making them feel just that. Hell, Galvren should know; he'd been in there often enough to have a first had account of pretty much exactly how the infirmary worked...but he'd rather not get into that.<br/><br/>He smiled broadly as Shayella approached, and gave her a respectful bow of his head and shoulders, both facing down towards the ground in a show of respectful deference, before straightening again. He didn't particularly mind the use of the "Valdar" honorific; for a short while after being raised, new Gaidin were still referred to as Valdar until they found a Bondmate by most Aes Sedai, so he was more than happy to carry the label for a while longer. There was no shame in being a Valdar, after all, and it let everybody know - Aes Sedai and laymen alike - that he was a trained Warder only in need of an Aes Sedai. It was a badge of honour second only to the label of "Gaidin," in Galvren's mind. And Light, even if he<em>did</em>want to take offence, he would still keep it to himself; nobody talked back to an Aes Sedai if they knew what was good for them. Everybody knew that. He lifted his eyes up to meet hers, and offered her a warm, friendly but respectful smile. "Good morning to you, too, Shayella Sedai; it's a pleasure to see you again. It's been far too long." His smile widened a little; it had been a good few weeks since their last meeting, and despite him not really wanting to have to come by the infirmary (see prior thoughts on the matter), he did miss speaking to Shayella Sedai whenever they didn't see each other for a while. As he noted; he liked to consider them friends, and what person didn't miss their friends when they didn't get to see them? He continued, "Unfortunately, this isn't just a social visit. When I was discharged last week, Carella Sedai instructed me to report here today to get my shoulder inspected to make sure that it's healing properly...just to make sure that there are no complications, as I understand it." No need to elaborate; he didn't doubt that everybody in the infirmary knew about his rather...dramatic entry into the ward. News travelled fast around The White Tower, after all, and a Valdar being raised to Gaidin didn't happen every day, not to mention the Valdar being raised with a broken collarbone and shoulder. He just hoped that people would remember the Gaidin part longer than the shoulder part.<br/><br/>He lifted up his left arm slowly as if in demonstration, his mouth pulling a little tightly as the skin around the bruise shifted and sent a minor shock of dull, throbbing ache through his chest. Not painful, just....tender and uncomfortable. It could easily turn<em>into</em>pain, however, which was exactly why he did it slowly. "It still feels a little tender and there's a fair amount of bruising under the bandaging, but it doesn't ache as much or feel as tender as it did last week. I know I'm not a medical expert, Shayella Sedai, but am I correct in believing that that's a good thing? Or will I have to lose my arm?" He offered her a small smile. Despite the fact that he needed to remain respectful and courteous...well, he and Shayella Sedai had known each other for years, and she was never one to discourage a joke and some appropriate levity. It's why he preferred her over, say, Carella Sedai; Carella Sedai was a skilled healer, but Shayella Sedai's bedside manner was far superior, in Galvren's humble opinion. Not that he would ever say as such out loud; you never know who could hear you, and if his opinions reached Carella Sedai's ears...well, that could be bad, depending on how much offence she took. So better to keep his mouth shut, just in case; he'd learned that the hard way more than a few times during his years in The White Tower. There was that one time where he noted that an Accepted's baking wasn't as good as his mothers back home, only to hear said Accepted run off crying from where she had heard him as she walked into the courtyard. It wasn't all that serious and he sought the Accepted out to apologise and explain himself to her properly - after calming down a little, she seemed to be fine and their relationship didn't seem to suffer any ill effects - but still...the whole thing could have been avoided if he'd just not said anything. So...he kept his opinion to himself on that occasion. It's just not worth the risk, and the last thing he wants to do is show disrespect to an Aes Sedai. He had his preferences, but Carella Sedai wasn't a<em>nasty</em>individual, and she was still a Sister of the Yellow Ajah and so still deserved respect and deference. So why in the world would he risk offending her? Answer: He wouldn't. Always show respect to Aes Sedai; it was no more than they deserved.