Terron Togita swung his sword to meet the hissing blade of the fade, Easily the man flowed from form to form, the heron on his blade a mere blur as it repelled the eyeless strikes, never making a mistake as he struck the fade across its upper torso, allowing the lurks head to fall to the ground. The man turned to see Kcacee come into the square his sword raised to attack any other shadowspawn in his way. Kcacee seeing his father walked toward the man, noticing the fade still thrashing behind him. Abruptly three trollocs entered behind the boy, bearing their wickedly curved blades.

Not noticing, Kcacee continued toward his father, wishing to tell him of the eminent retreat of the Shadowspawn. Terron turned to see the beasts hunting the boy, he needed no other motivation. The man barreled toward his son pushing the boy out of the way as the trolloc blade fell nearly missing the the young noble, but catching the man in the shoulder.

The strain of the blow along with the impact with the floor caused the heron blade to fall from his hand, as another curved blade stabbed the man’s side. Kcacee could only watch as his father’s breathing slowed then his chest slowly cam'e to a halt. Within seconds the town guard rounded the corner of the blacksmiths building, the trollocs lasted little time against the men wielding pikes and swords, but the damage was done the Lord of Fal Sion had fallen.
It had been three years since the raid on the city and though Kcacee was but 20 winters old he had been Lord of Fal Dara since that night. The days went by slowly and the time for grieving was long past. Since that day he had made many decisions. Among them was his decision to lead the guard of Fal Sion, on their nightly patrols.

With each trolloc that fell to his blade, Kcacee gained back a piece of his father. Sometimes they met no foes and some days there were half a fist of trollocs ready to face the band of 60 guards lead by Kcacee Togita Lord of Fal Sion. They each fell one by one to sword, or pike. The blight patrol continued for half a year, before the ambush.

The group broke over the crest of the first high rise within the blight. To Kcacee's delight a small band of 25 trollocs were at the base of the hill. The guard came down on the beasts in a blind rage, unable to hear the horn sounding from behind them, the Shienarian force continued their onslaught. Braking through the forces as two entire fists topped the southern hill.

Seeing the trap setup by the shadowspawn the troop turned to encounter more horns sounding to the south, another fist no doubt. The band was now smothered between the coming onslaughts. The group split in two and curved around the young lord in hopes to protect him. The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, many casualties were had on both sides, and rage began to build within the Kcacee and his soldiers, each man fought more intense to revenge his fallen brothers. Kcacee tore his blade free from the wolf-faced trolloc as it fell. Kcacee wiped the crimson stained blade on the corpse now at his feet. As he turned his horrors were revealed, two dark shapes flowed into sight, their black cloaks not so much as twitching in the wind. The fades advanced together and struck down another six members of the royal guard.

Infuriated by the sight, the young lord reached out for something anything that could assist his allies. An unseen force pressed against his consciousness, and that was all the man needed. Immediately Kcacee felt a surge of power, the like of which he had never felt before but along with the power came an ominous vial presence, which cut seemed to turn the man’s stomach. Ignoring the vileness, the man hurled all the power he could muster at the enemies beneath him, in the valley. The very ground began to shake under the shadowspawn feet. Kcacee could feel his body being depleted of its strength, yet he continued to empty himself of all energy, at the cost of his foes, and himself. The ground began to break, dividing into a chasm and swallowing the beasts, as flames shot from the crevices. Kcacee's strength gave out along with the last quake. All went black.
The Lord of Fal Sion awoke with the sun two days from the battle in the blight. Upon his awakening Kcacee found that there were only eight survivors, five of which said saw the entire event. One soldier, Haliate was able to explain to Kcacee how the survivors were able to walk away. It was because the lord had channeled saidin, the male half of the one power.

The two men kept the secret and within a week Kcacee was off on his journey. He had to find a way to outlive the taint, and that chance did not lie in Fal Sion.

Kcacee descended the staircase leading to the foyer of the Silver Swan. His still resembled the make of Shienar, and his sword still hung at his side. Anyone seeing the lord would instantly know where he had come from. If his clothes didn’t help, it would be the Shienarian top-knot tied with an ornate piece of black leather, on top of his head. Kcacee had only been in Caemlyn for a two years, but it felt like an eternity since he had left the gates of Fal Sion, and he still felt no closer to find a way to live with the vileness of the taintdrowning him whenever he attempted to touch the one power.


In his time since leaving Shienar he had been able to gain
at least some control over this ability he had been given. He now understood that in order to control the life flow of saidin he had to be in full control of his emotions, to the point where the two were almost separate entities. The feeling was much like that of the ko’di or oneness used in order to concentrate during battle. Kcacee had decided that since there was no way around channeling (he had always learned that any man that could channel, would) he had better learn to control its strength.


The young noble walked from the inn and turned down the road leading away from the Royal Palace. Kcacee could remember traveling to the palace with his father when he was young. Just as he did each day Kcacee exited the city from the east after a brief stop at the stables to retrieve ashan’sorei.



The horse was a beautiful black stallion with tight and
flowing muscles. Roark had already prepared ashan’sorei for the upcoming ride. The horse had been his father’s before his death, and so he now belonged to Kcacee. Time and time again he had proved himself in battle, and had earned his name, meaning “Sword Runner”.


After exiting the city Kcacee took a path leading to the
north into a small forest. Continuing down the trail Kcacee came upon a large fallen tree which seemed scorched toward the base. That tree had been the result of one of Kcacee’s first mishaps with the power.


The blade seemed to whirl in the hands of the man as he struck out at enemies who were not there. Blade performed Arc of the Moon which flowed easily into Ribbon in the Air as he allowed his blade to complete a horizontal slash weaving its way around unseen defenses, before finally ending with Striking the Sparks. Within the oneness Kcacee could feel the one Power easing up against the void always building in pressure. He had attempted to keep from touching the One Power before but it had never pushed this hard, had never attempted control like this, fearing that he would become overwhelmed by the sheer power invading his body, the lord did the only thing he could think of and grasped the force. Kcacee became filled with power and life, but he could feel the filth of the taint bubbling trough the filling sensation of saidin. Immediately remembering the results of taking too much of the source, Kcacee stopped the flow into his body and began to channel a small portion of the power releasing it before him. He could feel something familiar about the tiny flow.

“Fire” The thought past through his head but oddly he could not tell where the thought came from, but for some reason it seemed to fit, he could tell this flow was fire. Drawing the weave forcing it to form to his will, Kcacee was able to construct a ball with the weave. After allowing the weave to “snap” into place, Kcacee was amazed to see a small flame hovering above his hand. Intrigued by the ball of fire and fed another flow of fire into the ball encouraging the sphere to grow, until the weave was as large as a melon. Though he still harbored more than a little fear of the One Power, the shear awe inspired by the now the wagon wheel sized flame, was enough to empower anyone. Looking at the surrounding area, Kcacee chose a tree that was isolated from the rest of the wood line. After taking careful aim Kcacee released the fireball and watched it connect with the trunk of the tree. Upon connection the tree toppled and in surprise Kcacee released his hold on saidin.


Kcacee had come far since that day. Most of the time he
could call on saidin at will, and he could do a little more than create a fancy torch. As he had each day before, Kcacee
went through each weave first fire, then earth, followed by air, then spirit and finally water. The last two were always the hardest to form in the way he wished. Kcacee had found that the easiest way to train was with a simple stone. He set the rock ablaze, creating a break in the ground beneath it, lifted it into the air, created a field around it with spirit adjusting it along the contours of the stone, then ending the training by drawing water into it.

After this Kcacee allowed himself two hours working the blade before walking ashan’sorei, back to the city. He knew he could not give in and if he could control the power then maybe he could keep the madness at bay for a little longer.

The road back to Caemlyn seemed longer today as Kcacee walked ashan’sorei back to the inn after another morning of training in the

glade east of the city. Shienar was so far away and he had never been away from the borderlands so long. Kcacee began growing restless, within the walls here.

Through the years prior to his departure, Kcacee Togita had not only been the Lord of Fal Sion, but he had also lead the Guard of

Shienar into the blight for regular patrols against shadowshawn. Throughout this time the bond between himself and his troops had

grown into friendship and then into more of a brotherhood. Many memories flooded through the young man's mind as he entered the

gates and continued on to the stables. Once within the barn, Kcacee handed ashan’sorei's reigns to the young boy, and after giving

his horse a pat on its head, Kcacee exited the stable and took the road west toward the palace.

As he made his way down the street he passed many people including one group of children who were arguing about which person from the age of legends was the best, he heard the names of Brigitte, and that of Gaidal Cain. Kcacee payed no mind to the small children, and continued to walk down the street.

A sound caught Kcacee's attention, as he neared the inn, and instead of continuing into the common room Kcacee decided to follow the noise. As he got closer the clatter became more distinguishable, like metal upon metal. The young Shienarian Lord found himself at the side of the practice fields of the Queen's Guard, but the sound seemed to be coming from the southern side of the yards. kcacee made his way around the corner to see group of men wearing red undercoats and cloaks and gleaming white collars and cuffs. Kcacee had seen member's of the queen's guard before but he did not recognize the men before him. Upon closer examination he was told by some of the members of the crowd, that this was a blade tournament, held every so often by a few members of the guard. Kcacee saw many small groups, a few with real swords and some with practice ones.

The small groups were apparently displaying a variety of the forms for the audience. one group closest to Kcacee had two member's of the queen's guard present with practice blades twirling, their hands. The men each looked totally different, the guardsman closest to the Lord had dark hair and was very athletic in build. Kcacee came to find out that his name was Gaunt, while his opponent, Larke had light colored hair and was much younger and more slender in build. It was obvious that Gaunt had many years of practice with that blade, while Larke had only just got down the basic forms.

"How about we give these people a sparring match, Larke?" the Guard asked as he came into an offensive stance, feet apart and practice blade at a sloping horizontal, point down across his body. "We can show these people what two blades-men can do." he added with a smile on her face.

The nerve of this man, only wanting to show the crowd that he was the better out of the two, he wanted to embarrass the younger guard.

"Should we not wait for the tournament Sir?" He asked, of course not wanting to face Gaunt unless he had to.

"Come on its just for a little bit of fun," Gaunt explained as he took up the pose once more, "We will take it easy and just run through the forms." The man was lying and Kcacee knew it.

The young guard nodded, and assumed a similar version of the other man's pose. With a gesture from Gaunt the two began to dance, Apple Blossoms in the Wind meets Low Wind Rising, then flowing into Hummingbird Kisses the Honeyrose meeting Red Hawk takes a Dove, but only just barely. Gaunt was good and fast and the muscled guard knew it.

Gaunt was toying with the man, was holding back... but not any more. Larke attempted with Striking the Spark, but Gaunt knocked it away with a slice and connected hard with the boys stomach using Twisting the Wind. The guard barreled over, attempting to catch his breath. The crowd cheered Gaunt and the man bowed to their applause. As the crowd subsided, Gaunt had one last thing to say.

"There is still one open slot in the tournament, if anyone feels up to the challenge. Please step forward," He said.

That was the only thing Kcacee needed, he stepped from the crowd and nodded to the muscular guard. "I'll step in the slot I have had a bit of training with the sword," He said as he removed his Hawk in-laid cloak, and draped it over a bench on the right. kcacee removed his black gloves and let them overhang the brim of his pants. Another member of the queen's guard came to collect his things, so as to secure them with the other competitors.

"May we have a name for our new swords-man, my lord?" Gaunt asked with another sly smile. Kcacee knew he was thinking that he would be an easy opponent just like Larke had been.

"I am Kcacee Togita of House Togita in Shienar." The young lord said as he saw horror come upon the guard's face.

"Lord Togita," Gaunt said with a low bow, "Forgive me sir, we had no idea that the Lord of Fal Sion was in Caemlyn, are you sure you want to participate in the tournament? It would pain the queen if anything were to happen to you." the man added.

"I would like to think that Queen Morgase, knows more of Shienar than to pain over my safety." Kcacee answered as he drew his blade, and returned it to it's sheath It was no normal blade and it marked him as a Shienarian Lord.

The handle was made of polished ebony, wrapped in leather, bound with leather twine. The hand guard was made of steel dyed, the darkest blue, and the blade consisted of hardened curved steel with a
groove down either side. The most unique characteristic of the sword was branded onto either side of the hilt was the black hawk of Shienar.

"Yes I am sure I wish to compete, and I expect the best in Caemlyn to prove that they deserve that title." Kcacee nodded at the man as he removed his sword belt, and gave it to the guard.

"As you say my lord, the first round will commence within the next few minutes please have a seat until it is your turn." Gaunt said as he walked into the small clearing where his opponent was waiting. A large man who was easily overcome by Gaunt's speed. The match lasted until a either challenger landed three hits, this match lasted a total of two minutes before Gaunt connected with Hummingbird Kisses the Honeyrose, causing the large brute to fall to his knees, clenching at his side.

"The winner is Guardsman Gaunt Balethe" This happened each round for Gaunt, the matches never taking very long.

"Next match, Lord Kcacee Togita and Dramien Solaris," The announcer called as the two competitors entered the clearing. Dramien was slender and quick but unfortunately he was not quick enough. They danced the forms as if they were born to do so, Lightning of Three Prongs met Folding the Fan, Kcacee could tell the man was no novice, but The Lord had been studying the blade as far back as he could remember. Quickly Kcacee drew his blade up, attacking with Whirlwind on the Mountain, Dramien readied Arc of the Moon, and as the two were about to hit, Kcacee altered his strike into Threading the Needle. Dramien was in awe as the three strikes struck flesh repetitively, in blows that could have killed had he held an iron blade.

Kcacee moved through the ranks easily enough until it came time for the final match. The announcer began, "The best in all of Caemlyn have shown up today in order to prove themselves as the champion of Blades. It comes to an end with this match, The challenger Lord Kcacee Togita of Shienar versus Last year's Champion of Blades Guardsman Gaunt Balethe" The crowd erupted at both names. As The Lord and Gaunt entered the clearing.

The practice swords seemed to become a blur in the men's hands, as they danced striking and counter-striking equally, neither was willing to give an inch, they moved from side to side throughout the clearing in an attempt to cause the other to falter, after two minutes the two were still going as strong as they were in the beginning, Kcacee was able to connect with Ribbon in the Air, while at the same time Gaunt caught the Shienarian in the ribs with Swallow Rides the Air. Both swordsman backed away to gain a better look on the field. Anger swept over the guard as he felt the stinging sensation across his gut where Kcacee's blow caught him. Quickly Gaunt slid his hand along his practice hilt, and flowed into Water Flows Downhill. Kcacee could see the man's rage, like himself Gaunt had not been struck in any of the other matches, Kcacee could imagine the void slipping away from the guard as struck. Kcacee was easily able to side step the falling blade before kicking it to the side and striking Gaunt's kidney with Two Hares Leaping. The man was pushed away by the force of the blow.

He turned to attack Kcacee a second once again and this time his blade almost struck home, Kcacee was just able to defend against the stroke as his blade locked with Gaunt's weapon, Gaunt executed the Grapevine Twines, and sent Kcacee's sword off to the left. Gaunt brought his blade around tapping Kcacee's back with almost no force. The two of them were tied now two all and if Kcacee wanted to win the match he would have to focus even more. He enveloped himself in the void and pushed all thoughts away, including the essence of saidin, pressing against his mind. The two attacked and defended each one tiring but not moving any slower. Kcacee ducked a horizontal slash and was met with the other man's boot in his chest, knocking the air out of the lord. Immediately after hitting the ground Kcacee rolled out from underneath Stones Falling from the Cliff, the lathes connected with the ground, and Kcacee found his footing. Seeing the opening Kcacee vaulted from his kneeling position, and caught the other man in the ribs. Kcacee landed and with a roll faced back toward Gaunt in a defensive pose.

"The new Champion of Blades is Kcacee Togita, Lord of Fal Sion." The announcer said as Kcacee rose from his position. One of the guardsmen brought the prize over to him. A silver ring bearing the white lion of Andor. Kcacee bowed and took the ring. Many people stayed in order to meet the new Champion of Blades. After greeting the crowd Kcacee retrieved his gear and put his sword belt and cloak back on, before sliding the Andoran ring on. As he turned to head back to the Silver Swan Kcacee felt a hand grasp his wrist, upon turning around he was facing Gaunt Balethe.

"It has been a long time since I have been bested at the sword, and I accept defeat to you as the better of the two of us. You have a grasp on your emotions and on that blade of yours, Master," The man extended his hand and Kcacee grabbed it.

"I thank you, you are a great a swordsman as I have ever seen, and I look forward to the next time we spar." Kcacee said in reply.

The man gave a swift bow and turned to leave after picking up his sword belt. He pull the sword out of the sheath as if inspecting it, then re-inserted it, slow enough that Kcacee could glance at the bird engraved on the side of the blade. Kcacee had challenged a bladesmaster... and he had won.

Twirling through the air, an iron broadsword landed six feet
from the red clad guard. His opponent's blade was a blur, as it stopped inches
from his throat. Kcacee's blade was steady as it hovered about the guard's
neck. The groups of men around him looked in awe at the beaten guard.


"You have to maintain a balanced stance at all times,
Tsuina you cannot expect to make the same mistakes over and over again and not
find yourself dazed, flat on your back... or worse," Kcacee said as he
sheathed his blade once more after a day of working with the queen's guard. The
men had began using actual swords with blunted edges during practice with the
blades. This was enabling the guard's to gain understanding of how the weight
affects the movement of the blade. It
had been four months since he had beaten Gaunt in the Champion of Blades
tournament. After hearing that he had won, Morgase had met with him and after
wondering why he did not see her sooner, the queen asked (if that’s what you
could call it) if he would remain in Caemlyn for a bit in order to teach them
as she said, "not to cut off their foot". Kcacee could not simply
tell the queen of Andor "no", and besides maybe what he was searching
for was here in Caemlyn. Plus it was nice being able to practice with others.


Morgase was a hard woman, who seemed to always to get her
way, knowing the entire time that she would. Kcacee had met the woman once,
before his father had died. He was 12 winters old the last time he had been in
the city. He had come with both his Father and his cousin King Togita. During
that visit Kcacee had stayed in the palace. He could remember traveling the
city, and watching his father train with the Queen's Guard. Watching as he
flowed through the forms, as he himself had so many times, Terron had moved
even more fluidly. Kcacee could picture the heron on his father's blade, could
see it dance as he moved. Terron Togita had been a blademaster and arguably,
the best swordsman in all of Shienar.


Kcacee worked forms with Gaunt each day for at least two
hours, The man was as good with a sword as anyone Kcacee had ever seen, easily
as great as his father. Kcacee had defeated Gaunt in the tournament, only
because the man let his anger get the best of him. Many in the city now
recognized Kcacee as a bladesmaster, and even addressed him as so, but Kcacee
refused to acknowledge the role, there was still much he had to learn, and
before he took the heron he would be sure that he deserved it. Running forms
was also one way to take his focus off the taint.


The Lord continued his trips to the clearing, working with
saidin. Each morning Kcacee traveled to the forest and worked with the power.
Kcacee had grown in strength, he was now able to hold much more of the power,
double the amount he could grasp at his first touching. Kcacee had learned many
ways to weave the flows he had come to know, of the most interesting was a way
of combining fire and earth , in a twisting weave that when snapped into place
caused an explosion. Instead of a ball of fire, earth added explosive
properties to weaves, or it did if it was added the right way. Weaving the One
power had strange affects, and sometimes even the most advanced weaves seemed
to do nothing.


Kcacee had begun to think, he knew that he was not the only
one given this gift, there had to be more men in the world. In the Age of
Legends, there had been many men who had been able to wield saidin, these were
the male Aes Sedai. Kcacee could only imagine touching the source without
feeling the slime of the taint. These men they will be looking for the same
thing the he himself was looking for... a chance at survival, a way around the
taint. Saidin was clean at one time, before the dark one's counterstroke. There
has to be a way to make it clean again, a way to dissolve the taint. If only Kcacee
could find these men he could help teach them help them not to kill themselves,
or burn themselves out.


Usually the only men known to the world as channelers were
those who chose to declare themselves as the Dragon Reborn. These false dragons
are in search of power and glory. Kcacee only wished to control the power, and
to help others, the chances of him succeeding were low, especially when any Aes
Sedai that heard of his gift would want to take it from him, they would want to
gentle him, just as horrible a fate as going mad from the taint. A man cut off
from the source could still sense the power but could never touch it. Kcacee
could not even imagine never feeling the life flow of saidin again. Even
through the vileness of the taint, anytime a male channeler grasped the one
power he felt more alive than any other time in his life, and the more of the
power one pulled the greater the ecstasy he receives, the taint was also
amplified along with a channeler's grasp on saidin.


"That is all for the day, you can retire once you run
through Bundling Straw then Leopard in the High Grass, one hundred repetitions.
No slacking I will be watching from the palace." Kcacee said to the men,
as he watched them disperse to cover the practice field.


"You cannot say that you are done for the day Lord
Togita?" a voice called from the entrance of the practice yard. Kcacee did
not have to turn to look at the man to tell who he was. After all, most of his
time had been spent with Gaunt. The man was the person who trained the rest of
the Queen's Guard, while Kcacee taught the new recruits. The man was a
marvelous teacher, he had a way with words, a way to explain things so that
people could understand.


Kcacee made his movements quick as he reached for one of
many practice swords lying against the weapon's rack. The blade was a little
lighter than a normal word, and it was made of bundled lathes. The practice
blade fell as Kcacee turned around to meet Gaunt's rising blade. The lathes
clashed and reversed their directions before clashing again in rapid
succession. the two men danced around the practice yard, as all of Kcacee's
students gathered from where they were training in order to watch the two
swordsman work the forms. Gaunt struck Creeper Embraces the Oak, then into
Parting the Silk. With each strike Kcacee stood to repel and then
counter-strike, the Rose Unfolds, flowed into Threading the Needle. The two
warriors were masters in their own right. The two men moved matching each other
strike for strike. Each man moved with the quickness of a cat. The fight went
on for what seemed like an eternity, and neither man gave an inch, Striking the
spark collided with Swallow Rides the Air. Kcacee could not find a way around
the man's defenses, but then he was able to notice one flaw in the man's foot
work. When he back stepped with his left foot, the man had a slight gimp, completely
unnoticeable during the normal course of everyday life, but in that one
movement Kcacee saw weakness and he reacted, sidestepping Water Flows Downhill,then a kick to the back of the knee brought Gaunt down to his knees. Kcacee
tightened his grip on the lathes as his body turned. His practice blade twisted
around and stopped a hairs width from the guardsman's head.


"You are a true master, Lord Togita" the downed guard
said before yelling to one of the men wathcing, "Julius, bring me the
sword." A young guard ran up out of the crowd carrying a silk package,
long and slender and tied at the center m=with black lace. Kcacee allowed his
blade to fall down to his side as he watched the man still on his knees.


"We have trained alongside each other for a time now
and... to be quite frankly there is nothing more for you to learn from me.
Twice now you have bested me and it is time for you to accept what is
yours." Gaunt said as he untied the lace, allowing the crimson silk to
fall away revealing a sword... Kcacee's sword. He had removed it before he
began training with the guards. He had not noticed that it had been taken.
Gaunt gave the blade over to Kcacee, the hand grip of the sword was made of
polished ivory the hand guard was composed of steel that was somehow dyed a
bark blue, and on both sides of the hilt a black hawk was branded. Kcacee
pulled the blade from the sheath, exposing two matching herons one on either
side o the blade, each overlying the blood groove which ran the length of the
blade.


"Kcacee, it is time for you to acknowledge that you are
a bladesmaster." Gaunt said as he rose to his feet. "My friend you
have earned the heron."