Differing Powers

Chapter 2

A Ranma 1/2 - Wheel Of Time Crossover
By Louis-Philippe Giroux dragon@anime.sobhrach.com

Let me know what you think of this! C&C welcome!!!

The Wheel Of Time is a series created by Robert Jordan. Read it at any
cost (or you won't understand a lot of this)! Ranma 1/2 belongs to
Rumiko Takahashi. Suing me would be pointless, as I have no money
whatsoever. I do this for fun, not profit!

The Wheel Of Time - 8 books so far and still going! (Published by Tor
Books)

1 - The Eye of the World
2 - The Great Hunt
3 - The Dragon Reborn
4 - The Shadow Rising
5 - The Fires Of Heaven
6 - The Lord Of Chaos
7 - A Crown Of Swords
8 - The Path Of Daggers
9 - [Winter's Heart] Summer/Fall 2000

************************

  What has happened so far:

  Ranma, Ryouga, Ukyou and Akane have been accidentally transported to
Randland through the misuse of a Fox Gate. They end up in Emond's
Field the evening before the attack (where they manage to attract a
lot of attention, especially from Moiraine) and they end up protecting
the village when the Trollocs attack during Bel Tine. However, Ranma
and Ryouga are forced to kill the Trollocs, revealing their unusual
abilities.

************************

  As they were walking back to where they had left Akane and Ukyou
before going on their little rampage, Ranma and Ryouga barely noticed
the wide berth and the scared looks some of the Emond's Fielders were
giving them.

  Moving through the village, they saw that several houses had been
burned down, some of their owners staring resignedly at the remains.
Some were crying, most were not. There were even some who were
already clearing the rubble, determination in their eyes, hardly
showing any sign that the village had been invaded less than an hour
ago.

  Suddenly, Ranma spoke up. "Ryouga?"

  A grunt was his answer.

  Ranma stopped and looked at Ryouga in the eye. "Let's make a deal."

  Ryouga stopped, blinking. "A deal?" he said, frowning. "What kind of
deal?"

  "To protect Akane and Ucchan," replied Ranma calmly. "We're in a
weird world where they have seven-foot tall killer mutant goats
roaming around. If we keep fighting like we usually do, one of those
things might get 'em one day when we aren't watching out for them.  We
can't afford to beat up on each other as often as we do back in
Nerima." He watched Ryouga frown thoughtfully and and waited a few
moments. "Well?"

  "All right," said Ryouga slowly. "A deal to protect Akane-san for -
long as we're not back home..." he left the rest hanging.

  Ranma frowned. "What about Ucchan?"

  It was Ryouga's turn to frown. "Fine," he grumbled. "Ukyou, too."

  "What's with you?"

  Ryouga shrugged uncomfortably. "She's good enough to take care of
herself," he mumbled.

  Ranma looked at him silently for a few moments, the shook his head.
"Both of them, then." He spread his hands. "Once we're back in
Nerima, we can go back to challenging each other." He held his hand
out. "That sound okay for you?"

  Ryouga looked at Ranma's hand uncomfortably. The rivalry he had with
Ranma might not be as intense as it was before, but the multiple times
Ranma had played him for a fool resulted in that he almost
automatically resented almost anything Ranma said or did. But
still... they _were_ talking about Akane. He sighed and reluctantly
shook it. "Deal." He paused. "I'll still beat you up if you do
something *really* stupid, though."

  It was Ranma's turn to sigh.

  * * *

  They located Akane and Ukyou talking to a few adults, mostly women,
and children.

  "Akane! Ukyou!" shouted Ranma as they got close enough. He saw both
of them turn around in recognition.

  "What happened to you, Ranchan?" asked Ukyou, breaking off
conversation and looking over Ranma's now sooty clothes.

  Ranma shrugged. "Had to get some kids out of a burning house."  He
paused and looked at both girls. "Are you two okay?" he asked, worry
creasing his features when he saw the dented state of Ukyou's spatula.
None save Ranma noticed the wary, even frightened looks that the
children's parents were giving both of them. He frowned internally.
What was wrong with these people?

  "Yeah, we're fine. Tired, a bit bruised, but fine," answered Ukyou.
"We were just discussing all sorts of things with these children's
parents," she said, indicating the group of women near them.

  "That Moiraine woman said she healed the kid that got slashed.  Is it
true?" asked Ranma.

  Twin nods came from the smiling faces of Akane and Ukyou.

  Ranma blinked. "Um, well... where _is_ the kid, anyway?" he asked,
looking around.

  "With her parents," said Ukyou. "They picked her up a while ago."

  Ranma glanced at Ryouga. "Well, at least she didn't lie, then," he
said.

  "What do you mean, Ranchan?"

  Ryouga shrugged. "After Ranma saved the two kids, that Moiraine woman
came up and started acting as if she owned the place. She practically
ordered us to go help her dispose of the Trolloc bodies." He frowned.
"Her attitude's even worse than Ranma's."

  "Hey!" came the indignant reply.

  "It's true," Ryouga countered. "You may be an ass, but even you
wouldn't speak so lightly of a little girl's life."

  Ranma seriously considered punching Ryouga for the ass comment, but
managed to refrain himself. It just wouldn't do to smack him just
now, especially when he'd just made a deal and also because Akane was
looking at him. Not right away. Besides, there were plenty of other
ways he could needle Ryouga later.

  "Are you coming with us?" finally asked Ranma.

  The two girls looked more than a bit nauseated at the request.

  "What kind of question is that?" came the angry tones of one of the
women Akane and Ukyou had been talking with. "Have you no wits about
you to ask a question like that?"

  Ranma unwittingly took a step back in surprise. "What? What'd I say?"

  The woman put her hands on her hips and glared at him, which made
Ranma feel more than slightly nervous. "Disposing of... of Trolloc
bodies is a man's job, not a woman's!" she replied, making it sound
like Ranma was an idiot for not knowing the answer.

  "All right, all right!" he said to the woman. "No need to bite my
head off," he muttered to the side, lowering his head slightly.
"We'll help _Moiraine_ clear the bodies, then," he emphasized.  "We'll
be back in a little while."

  The two girls nodded, ignoring Ranma's jibe.

  * * *

  As the two young men left, Akane and Ukyou turned back to the knot of
women around them, only to be met by panicked or angry gazes.

  "What?" asked Akane, curious about the women's reactions.

  "Have you two girls lost all your wits?" hissed one of the
angry-looking women.

  Akane frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

  "We saw what those two did during the battle!"

  "They did lots of things," said Ukyou, also frowning now.  What was it
with these people? "What's got you so ticked off? They didn't do
anything bad!" She looked around. Maybe they were angry about the
damage. "Okay, maybe they wrecked a few things, but the Trollocs did
most of it."

  "They channeled!" retorted another woman. "They're _male_
channelers!"

  "And they're in the village!" added another woman with a frown.

  "What's with all this channeling business, anyway?" groused Akane.
"You people seem obsessed by it."

  "You saw what Moiraine Sedai did, didn't you?"

  Akane blinked. "You mean the lightning bolts, the fireballs and the
healing?"

  "Yes!" said yet another woman. "That's channeling, and your friends
can do it also. We _saw_ them throwing fireballs around during the
battle!" Several other adults nodded assent.

  "Those weren't fireballs!" protested Akane. "Those were Ki-blasts!"

  "Ki-blasts?" came the uncertain reply.

  "Yeah," said Ukyou, joining the fray. "Ranma and Ryouga can control
their Ki." She paused. "You might be able to feel this," she added,
her facial features straining. The air around Ukyou suddenly began to
shimmer as it might on hot summer day.

  The adults and the children all backed away a few steps, eyes wide.

  Ukyou relaxed and the shimmer stopped. She had forgotten just how
difficult it was to make a powerful aura appear on command - Ranma and
Ryouga made it look like the easiest thing in the world. "What?" she
asked, curious about the women's reaction. "I wasn't going to hurt
you with it."

  "But... that was channeling!" protested one woman.

  "I told you so!" shouted another woman triumphantly.

  Ukyou frowned. "That was _not_ channeling, just Ki. I'm pretty sure
it wasn't the same thing as what Moiraine did," replied the
okonomiyaki chef.

  "How can you be so sure it's different?"

  Ukyou shrugged. "I just am. I primarily use my Ki in my combat
cooking techniques." There were several odd looks that passed between
the villager women at that comment. Ukyou continued on. "I don't
have enough skill to create Ki strikes, though. One thing I can't do
is heal someone with it and I've never seen anyone make real lightning
bolts with their Ki."

  "Look," interrupted Akane, "why does it matter anyway if it's
channeling or not? What's that got to do with Ryouga and Ranma?"

  The crowd gave her incredulous looks. Then, after an uncomfortable
silence, one of the women shook her head. "Marin was right.  You
really do know nothing of the One Power."

  "Why don't you explain it to us, then?"

  The woman looked uncomfortable and fidgeted slightly before settling
down. She took a deep breath and began: "The One Power is what
drives the Wheel of Time..."

  Akane and Ukyou listened intently.

  * * *

  As Ranma left, he began noticing more and more of the odd and
sometimes scared looks people were giving him and Ryouga. "Yo,
Ryouga," he began, speaking in a low voice.

  "What?"

  "Do you see the looks people are giving us?"

  Ryouga blinked and surreptitiously looked around him. "They look like
they're scared of us," he realized incredulously. "Why? We helped
them, didn't we?"

  "Something ain't right," muttered Ranma, "and I wanna know what."

  The two martial artists finally reached the spot where Ryouga had
impaled a Trolloc with the Spring Pole. Two men were obviously trying
to move the fir trunk so that they could cart the Trolloc away, but
they did not seem to be very successful.

  Ryouga tapped one of the two men on the shoulder. "Excuse me?"

  The man turned around and blinked. "Oh, you're one of the young
outlanders, yes?" he asked, not seeming very intimidated by either of
them. Ranma and Ryouga noticed and were silently grateful for it. He
looked closely at Ranma. "You look like you got singed all right.
You okay?"

  "Sure," said Ranma nonchalantly.

  "Are you trying to get the Trolloc out?" asked Ryouga.

  "What do you think?" said the man, rolling his eyes. "I don't know
what happened here. Bloody messy, though. I wonder why the Aes Sedai
didn't just... burn it like the others instead of sticking the Pole
through it."

  The other man agreed. "Yeah. We didn't think the pole would be
_buried_, though. We're going to have to cut the through the trunk to
move it."

  Ranma and Ryouga shared an unreadable look. "We'll take care of it,"
said Ryouga. The two men blinked, but didn't move. Ryouga sighed and
pushed his way past them and put one foot on the Trolloc's back.
Straining slightly, he began pulling the Pole out the Trolloc's body,
vainly trying to ignore the disgusting slurping sounds and the stench
emanating from the corpse.

  The two men just stared at the show of strength. "Blood and ashes,"
the first one muttered. "How strong is he?"

  "Jeez, stinks like hell," commented Ranma, waving a hand in front of
his face. "No wonder Moiraine wants to get rid of 'em."

  Ryouga suddenly cleared the trunk out of the body and let it fall to
the side with a loud thump. He looked at the fatal wound and turned a
bit green. "I don't want to be disgusting, but I don't think we
should drag that one all over the ground unless everyone wants to see
and smell Trolloc guts all over the place."

  Ranma frowned. "You're the one who impaled it, you get rid of it."

  Ryouga scowled at Ranma and looked around, missing the slack-jawed
expressions of the farmers' faces. There was no way in hell he was
going to lug that thing on his shoulders, especially not with it
dripping its guts all over like that. Looking around, he brightened
slightly when he saw a cart hauling the carcasses of two other
Trollocs pass near them. He walked over to the man who was leading it
away.

  "Excuse me, do you have any place for another Trolloc on that cart?"
he asked.

  The man blinked. "Lots of place, yes, but old Bonnie here," he said,
patting the draft horse's neck, "won't be able to pull the cart then.
You'll just have to wait until I come back or until another cart comes
by."

  Ryouga glanced at the cart. It look very solidly built and had a
thick layer of straw at the bottom to help absorb the blood.  It could
undoubtedly handle more than two Trollocs. "Not a problem," he said
finally. He began untying the horse's harness.

  "What are you doing, boy?" demanded the first man, moving towards
Ryouga.

  The Lost Boy sighed, not pausing in his work. "Sparing your horse
some trouble is what I'm doing." When the horse was finally loose
from its harness, Ryouga began pulling the cart by himself towards the
gutted Trolloc, ignoring the farmer's astonished expression.  He
brought the cart around and looked at Ranma. "C'mon, help me load it
in."

  Ranma hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. They both
took an extremity and swung the corpse in the cart, atop the two other
bodies and promptly began moving the cart towards the edge of the
forest, past the bridges, pausing to pick up yet another Trolloc along
the way.

  The three gawking farmers were left behind, one of them holding
Bonnie's reins. They looked at each other and began moving to catch
up to the two boys when they heard someone call them from behind.

  "Darl Coplin," the first farmer muttered slowly. "What does he want
now?"

  "Bloody fool didn't even realize the village was burning when he came
in," snorted the second.

  "Where did you think you two were going?" Darl hissed, coming closer
to the three men.

  "What are you talking about, Darl?" asked the first one in a weary
tone.

  "You were about to follow them!" he accused, pointing at the departing
forms of Ranma and Ryouga.

  "What about it? We want to know how they can do that! I mean, the
kid with the yellow headband seems to be stronger than Haral!" the
first one protested.

  "Didn't you hear?" asked Darl disbelievingly. "Half the village saw
them channel along with the Moiraine woman during the fight!  They're
_channelers_! All of them!"

  The farmers' eyes widened.

  * * *

  On the other side of the bridge, Moiraine and Lan were staring at a
pile of burning Trolloc bodies, ignoring the sharp stench that
resulted from their combustion.

  "What will you do about the outlanders?" asked Lan quietly.

  Moiraine heard the question, but did not answer right away.  What to
do indeed? The two young men seemed to possess a power that was akin
to saidar, yet was not. Could it be an effect of the taint on saidin?
Unlikely, since the two boys looked too young to be able to channel,
even if they had the spark within them. Even the girls' reactions
discredited that theory. They had not seemed the least bit ruffled
about the boys' displays. That meant they were used to it, and they
had previously stated that they had no knowledge of the Power,
something she found hard to believe, considering the Ukyou girl's
condition. So it implied something else. All she had to do was
figure out exactly what.

  She was tempted to sigh. A mere week ago, she would never have
imagined anything like those outlanders. The three boys she had found
in Emond's Field, that was to be expected. Among those three was the
one she had dedicated most of her life to finding. But those
outlander children confused her. If this was the will of the Pattern,
then she had a hard road ahead of her.

  Moiraine felt Lan tense and turned around, only to meet Ranma, pulling
a cart packed with four dead Trollocs by himself. Moiraine raised an
eyebrow in surprise. *How strong _are_ these children?* she wondered.

  "We've got a few more for ya," said Ranma, pointing at the cart.
"Where do you want'em?"

  Moiraine blinked. "We?" she asked curiously. She assumed that Ranma
was referring to the other boy, Ryouga, but she could not see him
anywhere nearby.

  It was Ranma's turn to blink. He twisted around and looked behind the
cart. "Awww man!... Of all the times it had to happen!" he
complained loudly.

  The Aes Sedai was curious about the reaction. "Is there something
wrong?"

  Ranma turned to her with a disgusted look on his face. "It's Ryouga.
The stupid moron got himself lost again. I _knew_ I should've put him
in front of me..." he muttered.

  "Lost? Perhaps he just stayed in the village," commented Moiraine.
Ranma just looked at her as if she had just said something mildly
stupid. It wasn't a look she was used to see directed at her.

  "You don't know him," said the pigtailed martial artist while shaking
his head. "Ryouga can get lost _anywhere_. Ask me about the fight we
had set up in the empty lot behind his house sometime."

  Moiraine was almost amused at Ranma's dejected tone. Almost.  "What
about that fight? I think you are exaggerating a bit much."

  Ranma gave her a flat look. "It took him four days day to get to that
lot. It was _behind his house_." He ignored Moiraine's frown and
sighed. "Well, the only thing to do now is wait. Even here, he'll
probably follow his usual pattern."

  Moiraine assumed Ranma was exaggerating about Ryouga's sense of
direction. No one could possibly be that bad. "What usual...
pattern?" she inquired. *A pattern? I wonder... could the boy be
ta'varen? No, he is not the one, I know that much.*

  Ranma shrugged. " Get lost, wander for a while, then show up
screaming 'Ranma Saotome! Because of you, I've seen hell! Prepare to
die!'," he finished with a not-quite credible imitation of Ryouga's
voice.

  Moiraine blinked. *I'm not hearing this,* she thought.

  Lan narrowed his eyes.

  "Don't worry about it," Ranma said. "He's calmed down a lot since
then and we made a deal to try and be civil to each other while we're
trapped on this world."

  *This world?* thought Moiraine absently. She had to mask her
surprise, though, when Ranma turned around and simply began tossing
the Trolloc bodies that were on the cart on top of the fires that were
already crackling in the cool night air.

  Once the last Trolloc was out of the cart, Ranma turned towards
Moiraine. "So what did you _really_ wanna talk about?" he asked
bluntly.

  Moiraine gathered herself and began readying weaves of Spirit.  It
would be fairly easy to determine if he was channeling or not.  "I
wanted to ask you about the way you fought in the battle tonight.
More specifically, those... fireballs you threw. What were they made
of?" She tried to slide the shields in place while he was distracted
and was unpleasantly surprised to realize that there was nothing to
shield. Usually, even if the channeler, whether male or female, was
not touching the True Source, you could still shield him or her and
feel the shield slide in place. With him, though, the shields rolled
off the exact same way they did as if she had tried to shield a
non-channeler. This both comforted and alarmed her.

  Ranma looked around himself, frowning. *Weird,* he thought.  *I feel
like someone's gonna attack me...* He then heard Moiraine's question
and blinked. "Fireballs? No... not really. What Ryouga and I use
are called Ki-blasts. They weren't _real_ fireballs like yours."

  "Ki-blasts?" asked Moiraine, puzzled.

  "Blasts, strikes, whatever you wanna call them, they're basically all
the same thing: a projection of our Ki."

  Moiraine looked thoughtful. "A projection? Is Ki what we felt coming
from Ryouga and yourself?"

  Ranma nodded. "Yes. I'm not really surprised you both felt the power
of my aura, even though _that_ was more of a side-effect. Ki is...
it's your life force, the power of your life, of your soul."

  Moiraine frowned, not clearly understanding. "You mean to tell me
that the power you used earlier this evening is... life? That is not
possible."

  "Really?" Ranma said blandly, raising an eyebrow. "And why would that
be? Just because you ain't never seen something done a certain way,
it doesn't mean it _can't_ be done that way."

  Moiraine stood silent for a moment. The child was _very_ arrogant.
"All right, I will grant you that. I do not claim to know everything,
but if this power truly exists as you say it does, then why has no one
ever heard of it before?"

  Ranma shrugged. "Every living thing has Ki, but very few have the
skill, knowledge or the determination to manipulate it."

  Moiraine's left eye twitched. Visions of an entire people who could
channel like the boy fleeted in the back of her mind. "And how _do_
you manipulate it?"

  Ranma shrugged slightly. "You have to train your body in a way that
would make most people quit after a few weeks. Only if you persevere,
sometimes for years, can you ever hope to be able to gain conscious
control over your Ki. Some people train for decades before being able
to control it. Others like me and Ryouga are exceptionally strong and
I started training before I was even five years old."

  Moiraine blinked. *Before he was five?* she thought incredulously.
"And it is the same for women and men?"

  "Yes and no" Ranma hedged. "Yes - both guys and girls can do it
because everyone has Ki. No - it's not exactly the same for each
person because the Ki of every living thing is different. It's like a
fingerprint, no two people, not even twins, have the same Ki.  It's
unique to everyone. For two people to have the same Ki, they'd have
to share the same life energy, the same soul and experiences, and that
just ain't possible."

  Moiraine thought about the last sentence, but decided to stay silent
on that subject for now. She glanced at her fingers. *Fingerprints?*
She gave herself a mental shake. "Is this why yours and Ryouga's...
Ki-blasts were different colors?"

  Ranma nodded. "Partly. The colors are sometimes related to an
emotion you use to channel your Ki. Mine was bright blue because I
use confidence for the Mouko Takabisha and Ryouga's Shishi Houkou Dan
is dark green because he uses depression to fuel his Ki. The colors
don't always mean something, though."

  Lan watched silently as Moiraine began questioning the boy about his
power. He knew she was nervous and so was he in a small way, but he
did not let any trace of it leak out. He noticed that his Aes Sedai's
nervousness was dwarfed, however by the puzzle the boy represented.
He shrugged mentally and resumed guard. If the boy truly _was_ a
channeler, which he was beginning to doubt, they would have a lot more
work ahead of them.

  "How exactly do you draw this power?" Moiraine queried, becoming
interested.

  Ranma sighed. This might just be harder to explain than he thought.
"Well, like I said, you have to train for it, first. The more in tune
you become with your body, the more the Ki develops - kinda like a
muscle. Eventually, a stronger Ki helps develop all your senses,
especially the sixth. Now if you..."

  "Sixth?" Moiraine asked curiously. "How do you classify them?"

  Ranma looked mildly annoyed at being interrupted. "There are five
basic senses," he explained. "Sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
The sixth one has no real name because it can manifest differently in
people. Some develop an excellent sense of intuition while others,
like me, develop a danger sense. The sixth sense is..." the martial
artist trailed off, scratching his hair in thought. "It's an
awareness to things that can't be felt with your other senses," he
concluded. Looking at the Aes Sedai's expression, Ranma saw
Moiraine's next question coming. "What _my_ sixth sense does is warn
me if someone is gonna attack me, unless the other guy is extremely
good at hiding his intention."

  "I still don't quite understand _how_ this... danger sense works,"
continued Moiraine. The Aes Sedai was slowly getting more and more
interested in the subject.

  Ranma shrugged. "Usually, I can tell if I'm going to be attacked
because my danger sense reacts to the enemy's own Ki."

  "So you can sense intent?" Moiraine continued relentlessly.

  Ranma made so-so gestures. "Under certain specific circumstances,
yes," he allowed. "I can't read people's minds or anything like
that..." He sighed. "Anyway, like I was saying before you got me
off-track, someone who trains extensively usually reaches a plateau at
some point. What Ki does is help you overcome that plateau, so your
skills can keep increasing. That's why Ryouga and I can do what we
do. Once you get past that limit, you can do lots of things with your
Ki," Ranma finished. *Whew!* he mentally sighed. *I hope I didn't
mess that up too much.*

  "This... plateau," the Aes Sedai said after a while, "How do you get
past it?"

  Ranma shrugged. "_That_ depends on each individual person.  You have
to complete the harmony between your mind and your body. Once you
really manage to tap your Ki that way, it gets easier over time."
Inside, Ranma was beginning to think that the Aes Sedai would never
stop with the questions.

  The Aes Sedai nodded thoughtfully. It _would_ explain why her shield
had been insufficient - the power apparently came from inside the
body, not outside. She would have to be careful if he truly _was_
that aware of things around him. "So what exactly _can_ you do with
it aside from being more aware of things?"

  "Well, the most basic uses are enhanced endurance, speed, strength and
then Ki-blasts," Ranma said. "The more you work in manipulating your
Ki, practicing with it, the better your control over it becomes, and
ultimately, you can do more things with it. Right now, Ryoga and I
know only a few special techniques. You saw a couple of them in the
fight. I fought a guy named Herb who could do _really_ fancy moves
with his Ki. And then, there's Cologne and Happosai, two old geezers
that have plenty of tricks of their own. There are lots of legends
about what might be possible to do with the stuff, but I haven't been
able to try them so far."

  Moiraine looked at Ranma for a few seconds while staying silent.  It
was odd how his behavior, even his vocabulary could change at a
moment's notice, depending on what he was talking about. "Can you
heal with it?" she then added.

  Ranma blinked. "Well, I've been tapping my Ki for so long that I
naturally heal faster than normal people do, but I can't do anything
instantaneous."

  Moiraine tilted her head slightly. "But can you heal others with it?"

  Ranma frowned in thought. "I suppose you can share your Ki with
someone else, but _I've_ never done it. There's a doc... I mean
healer back home, his name is Tofu, he probably knows how to do it,
along with that shiatsu of his."

  "Shiatsu?" Moiraine asked, intrigued. "What is that?"

  "Pressure point techniques," Ranma explained. "Some healers use 'em
to make their patients feel better for the most part, but there are
some other ones that can be used for combat too. Very useful, but I
don't know too many of 'em."

  The Aes Sedai nodded thoughtfully. *So, this... Ki also appears to be
less flexible than the Power in its external uses. It also seems to
center more on the user than on a target.* She thought a bit more
about it and looked Ranma in the eye. "Can you draw Ki again?  I
would like to look at something."

  Ranma looked at her for a moment, expressionless, then shrugged.  The
air around him suddenly shimmered and broiled as tends to do on a hot
summer day. Moiraine suddenly steeled herself against the sense of
power rolling off Ranma. Her normal senses were sharp enough, but the
fact that she was holding the Source was making things worse, like a
sharp smell that just wouldn't go away. The light from the fires was
just enough for Moiraine to also see a faint bluish tinge around
Ranma. The final effect was like faint blue smoke, surrounding him,
curling up at his sides and twisting around his body.

  Moiraine observed Ranma intently. He was not flinching, nor was he
showing any sign of discomfort. Odd. The odd aura effect was almost
mesmerizing, actually. She gave herself a slight mental shake.

  Upon feeling the weak buzz she had experienced earlier, Moiraine tried
to shield him again, but the attempt met with the same lack of results
as the previous one, save for Ranma looking over his shoulder at
something. Trying again, she noticed that the flows were... slipping,
for lack of a better word. It was like trying to do needlework with
greasy hands: the flows simply did not focus correctly and she could
clearly tell that the effect was confined to the aura's range.  This
both puzzled and worried her greatly. Moiraine decided to go about it
another way. Instead of using a shield, she began weaving probes of
Spirit. She used them to gently brush the air around Ranma.

  She was not ready for the feelings she felt. Arrogance enough for a
dozen men. Utter confidence in one's skills. She quickly cut the
flows and stared at Ranma before she caught herself and schooled her
features once more. She had not expected this to happen when she had
used Spirit. Emotions indeed. The boy was _reeking_ arrogance.
Ranma had said that he used confidence to fuel his Ki and Ryouga used
its opposite - depression. Moiraine suddenly realized that if Ranma's
confidence, or rather, arrogance, was this strong, she wasn't sure she
wanted to feel Ryouga's depression.

  She suddenly became aware that Lan was holding back from attacking,
but not by much. This meant that there was one other thing she had to
confirm, something that had slipped her mind until now.

  "Lan?" she asked mildly. "What do you see?"

  The Warder replied in a flat voice, not a single trace of the
uneasiness he felt making it through. "I see a faint blue shimmer
around the boy. I _feel_ it more than I see it, though."

  *So,* the Aes Sedai thought, *Lan can feel and see it as well.*  That
was a small point in the boy's favor, as Lan was incapable of seeing
someone touch the Source, whether male or female, although it was
inconclusive. It could have been a visual effect, after all.  The
failed shield meant it was not saidar or saidin. But what about that
echo she felt, then? It certainly wasn't the tingling she got when
another woman channeled saidar, but it was _something_. Lan said he
felt something, too. One more mystery.

  Ranma snorted, breaking her concentration. "Why wouldn't he feel it?
Nearly anyone would be able to at least _sense_ an aura like this."
He paused, his aura fading out. "And the name's Ranma."

  Moiraine gave an imperceptible sigh of relief when the sense of power
faded. She cocked her head slightly, ignoring the last remark.
"Anyone? You do not need any training whatsoever to see it?"

  The pig-tailed martial artist shook his head. "Not when you flare it
as much as I just did. You only need your eyes. A really good
martial artist would be able to tell my Ki level without my needing to
raise my aura. I wouldn't even need to flare it. A variant on the
danger sense if you will." He indicated Lan with a shake of his head.
"I can tell he's got more Ki than a normal person, for example."  He
looked at Moiraine, cocking his head. "So do you, actually."  He
blinked in confusion. "Just how old _are_ you, anyway?"

  Moiraine glared at him and he flinched back slightly. "What'd I say?"

  Moiraine shook her head. *Tactless boy,* thought the Aes Sedai.  She
grimaced. This 'Ki' power was quickly becoming more irritating than
fascinating.

  "Any living thing has Ki," Ranma continued. "People, trees, bugs...
Heck, the planet itself has a Ki field. Everyone and a lot of things
have it, but you need a strong will and a lot of skill to consciously
use it." He stopped and remembered something. "What's so bad about
being able to tap your Ki, anyway? You sound worried about it and
most of the villagers wouldn't look at us in the eye after we began
using it."

  Moiraine almost frowned. Her Aes Sedai mask must have slipped further
than she thought if the boy had realized she had been worried.  She
thought about what to answer the boy. "The villagers fear you for a
simple reason. They think you and Ryouga are channelers."

  "You mentioned that word before. What _is_ a channeler?"

  Moiraine was forcibly reminded that none of these children seemed to
know anything about the One Power. Another strange fact. "A
channeler is an individual who can touch the True Source and channel
the One Power, as I can."

  "You mean those fireballs and the lightning, that was the... One
Power?" said Ranma curiously.

  Moiraine nodded. "And the Healing as well."

  If anything, that seemed to puzzle Ranma even more. "So why are they
scared of _us_? I mean, you did worse stuff than we did, so why?"

  "You truly know nothing, do you?" the Aes Sedai murmured, looking at
him intently.

  Ranma was a bit disturbed by the gaze. "I already told you, we ain't
from around here!"

  "I can see that now," she said dryly. She continued before Ranma
could interrupt again. "I will try to make this brief, so listen
carefully. The One Power is what drives the Wheel of Time. It is
divided in two different parts: saidar, which can only be used by
women, and saidin, which can only be used by men. In the Age of
Legends, which ended over 3,000 years ago, men and women could use
their respective sides of the Power without any problems and perform
great wonders with it. But then came the War of Power when men
accidentally released the Dark One from where he had been bound by the
Creator. In short, the war ended when Lews Therin Telamon led a
hundred male channelers on an assault on Shayol Ghul, in an effort to
reseal the Dark One."

  Ranma listened intently. "What's that got to do with people being
afraid of us?"

  "I am not finished," Moiraine calmly replied. "Lews Therin, then
called the Dragon, and the Hundred Companions succeeded, but at a
cost. Before being resealed, the Dark One's counterstroke tainted
saidin, forever dooming any man who could channel to go mad with no
hope of a cure." She paused. "That is why they fear you. They are
persuaded you will go mad as every man has since the Breaking of the
World."

  "But that's stupid," protested Ranma. *Breaking of the World?* he
thought briefly. *I wonder if that's what Master al'Dai was talking
about.* Aloud, he said: "No one I know has ever gone _mad_ from using
Ki, it'd be like going mad because you drink water!" He tried to
ignore the sudden image of Happosai on a panty raid that surfaced in
his mind. No sense giving the Aes Sedai ammunition, however flawed,
for her theory, he reasoned.

  "Perhaps it is so," the Aes Sedai said, "but you are going to have a
hard time to convince _them_ of it." She paused for a moment, looking
at the pile of burning Trollocs. "Come, we must return to the
village." As the group walked back, Moiraine turned her head slightly
towards Ranma. "I have another question. When we met for the first
time, you talked about curses. What did you mean?"

  Ranma's mouth curved in a grimace. "They're exactly that.  Curses.
I'm not going to say more about it, so you can forget asking me."

  "Don't talk to her that way, boy!" Lan growled.

  Ranma looked at the Warder and frowned. "Who asked you?" he said
belligerently.

  The Warder's frown deepened and he began fingering his sword.

  "Lan," Moiraine said mildly. "Do not bother. He did not insult me."
That was true. Ranma had not _insulted_ her, but it _was_ annoying to
realize that the boy showed absolutely no fear whatsoever of Aes
Sedai. He did not seem to know much about respect either.

  Ranma looked at Moiraine oddly, then mentally shrugged. "So what
_can_ you do with this One Power everyone is so scared of? And just
what _is_ it?"

  Moiraine almost sighed. The tables had turned, it seemed.  This could
take a while.

  * * *

  A bit earlier in the evening in a completely different part of the
woods, Rand al'Thor had been carrying his feverish father on a litter
when he heard someone shouting at the top of his lungs: "WHERE ON
EARTH AM I NOW?!?"

  At the moment he head the great cry, Rand's heart almost stopped
completely. *What is that bloody fool doing?! There might still be
Trollocs around!* he thought frantically. He peered in the darkness
in an effort to find the source of the noise and quickly found it. A
young man, wearing outlandish clothes and a some kind of club in his
left hand was wandering aimlessly towards the Westwood. Rand stared
in confusion for a few moments before he realized that the outlander
was about to shout again.

  "Be quiet!!!" he hissed as loud as he could without shouting.  He
sighed with relief when the outlander blinked and looked around him.
"Over here!" he hissed again, blinking internally at the same time.
*Why am I doing this?" he thought in confusion. *I should be getting
away from him, not attracting his attention!* Another part of his
mind idly wondered what yet _another_ outlander was doing this close
to Westwood at this time of night.

  Ryouga wandered over to where a tall youth was crouching in the
bushes, obviously trying to conceal himself. He approached him,
walking unconcernedly through the dry bushes. After his bellow, a few
broken twigs would not make much of a difference in the noise level.
As he got closer, he noticed that the youth was wearing a sword.
*Strange,* Ryouga thought. *He doesn't look like a swordsman.*

  Rand did not share that particular feeling at the moment.  As soon as
Ryouga got near enough, Rand got up and glared at him, the expression
visible even in the moonlight. "Look, I don't know who you are, but
there are Trollocs not far from here! Do you mean to bring them all
on our heads?" As soon as he said the words left his mouth, he wished
he could get them back. He could not expect an outlander to believe
in Trollocs so easily.

  "Here too?" Ryouga wondered out loud. "Damn. Those things are
everywhere."

  Rand stared at Ryouga. "What do you mean, 'here too'?" He frowned.
"And just who _are_ you? You're definitely not from Emond's Field."
And he was also obviously younger and shorter than him, Rand realized
with surprise. The early morning darkness hid much of the details,
but he could make that much out.

  Ryouga paused only a moment before answering. "My name is Ryouga
Hibiki and I said that because several dozen of those creatures just
attacked the village near here."

  "They attacked Emond's Field, too?" said Rand, horrified.  "Is
everyone all right?" he asked quickly, thinking of Egwene.

  Ryouga nodded. "I think so. We... killed most of the Trollocs.  I
was helping to dispose of them when I got lost..."

..."  Rand shook his head. He had many questions for the outlander, but too
little time. Tam was running a very severe fever, but he was still
alive and he would have to be brought to the village as fast as
possible if he was going to stay that way. "You can follow me.  I
have to get my father back to Emond's Field before the fever kills
him."

  Ryouga blinked and looked over Rand's shoulder to see a litter with a
man laying on it. "Is he wounded?" he asked.

  Rand looked miserable. "A Trolloc wounded him. It isn't very
serious, but the fever seems to be burning him up anyway."

  Ryouga leaned over Tam, putting a hand on his forehead. "Was the
weapon poisoned?" he asked after a moment.

  That was not something Rand wished to contemplate. "I don't know. I
guess it just means I have to move even more quickly," he said in a
determined voice.

  Ryouga looked Rand over for a moment. The youth was obviously getting
tired, although he tried not to show it. "I'll carry your father.
You just lead the way so I don't lose sight of you."

  Rand blinked. "What? But you won't be able to..." he trailed off
when he saw Ryouga lifting the litter in his arms with no more seeming
effort than he would if he was carrying a log. He stared for a moment
before he looked around and pointed in a specific direction.  "This
way," he said, and promptly began walking at a quick pace in that
direction, occasionally glancing behind him to make sure Ryouga was
keeping up. A part of him wondered how someone that much smaller than
him could possibly be so strong, while another told him not to
question his good fortune and make the most of it.

  Eventually, Rand found the silence oppressive and began making
conversation with Ryouga. "So when did you get to Emond's Field?  I
don't recall seeing you before. Did you come for Bel Tine?"

  "We came to your village because we were lost," answered Ryouga
truthfully. He did not elaborate further, not wanting to repeat
everything about their arrival once again.

  Rand found the answer to be missing... something, but did not inquire
further. "You said Trollocs attacked Emond's Field. What happened
exactly?"

  "I'm not too sure," said Ryouga, frowning. "Everyone was talking and
having a good time when the Moiraine woman and her bodyguard burst
into the village, yelling about Trollocs. Next thing I know, it was
complete chaos in the village. We managed to kill most of them and
drive the rest out after a while."

  "You took part in the fighting?" Rand asked incredulously.  "How old
_are_ you, anyway?"

  Ryouga's reply sounded offended. "Of course I fought! I'm a martial
artist!" The was a short pause. "And I've just turned seventeen
years old."

  *Two years younger than me?* Even more questions began piling up in
Rand's mind. "What's a martial artist?"

  Ryouga shrugged, though Rand did not see it because of his position.
"Don't you people know anything? A martial artist is a warrior, above
all. We helped your village because it was our duty. That's what we
do."

  Rand looked at Ryouga over his shoulder, unsure of how to react to the
statement. A warrior? This Hibiki fellow seemed awfully young to be
a warrior or soldier, or even a merchant's guard. His musings ended
when he saw that they were now at the outskirts of the village.  His
eyes widened in surprise when he realized that he had been running the
last of the distance and that Ryouga had kept up with him, not showing
much in the way of exhaustion, even though he had been carrying
someone who was obviously heavier than him. He gave himself a mental
shake. That didn't matter right now. "Come on, we have to see the
Wisdom," he said in a rush.

  "Lead the way," was all Ryouga said.

  * * *

  On the other side of the village, Ranma, Moiraine and Lan were coming
back into the village, most of the villagers making way for them.
Ranma, now understanding a part of why they were scared of him, tried
to look as harmless as possible, or at least until he, Ryouga and the
girls could leave the village without provoking a riot. *If Ryouga
can be found,* a part of his mind amended.

  He quickly made his way towards Ukyou and Akane, who were apparently
still talking with a few women in front of the inn, amidst a knot of
people. As he approached, Moiraine still following behind him, he
noticed that the women who were talking with the girls were looking at
him oddly and others were fingering their braids and scowling at him,
but most of them did not look quite as fearful as before. Some of the
men on the other hand were staring at him _and_ the Aes Sedai, and he
could read a myriad of feelings on their faces. Incredulity,
fascination, fear, hate and more. *Nothing I can do about that yet,*
Ranma thought glumly.

  Akane saw him approach first. "Ranma!" she said, moving towards him,
closely followed by Ukyou. "We've got some things to tell you..."
she suddenly trailed off. "Where's Ryouga-kun? I thought he was with
you."

  Ranma affected an annoyed look, which wasn't very hard when Ryouga was
the subject of discussion. "The baka got lost again. One minute he
was behind me, the next one he was lost."

  Ukyou frowned. "The idiot. How could he get lost at a time like
this!"

  Akane scowled at Ukyou. "It's not Ryouga-kun's fault he has a few
problems with directions!"

  "A few?" said Ranma disbelievingly. "The guy gets lost in a straight
corridor!"

  "I DO NOT!!!" thundered a voice behind them.

  The crowd around the inn suddenly parted to reveal a flustered Rand
and a somewhat angry Ryouga making their way towards the inn.  Ryouga
was carrying someone in a litter, the other Nerimans noticed.

  "Where the hell were you, Ryouga?" asked Ranma. "This ain't the time
to explore the countryside!"

  Ryouga steamed. "I. Was. Not. Exploring. The. Countryside," he
said, biting off each word. "I'd just stopped to redo my laces and
when I got back up, you were gone!"

  Rand decided to intervene before things could escalate. The
outlanders could kill each other if they wanted to, but he wanted the
Wisdom to see to Tam before things got worse. "Excuse me, has anyone
seen the Wisdom?"

  Ukyou pointed at the inn with a finger. "I saw her go in a minute or
two ago."

  Rand blinked at Ukyou's attire, then shook his head. No time for that
right now - he could goggle later. "Thank you," he said. He then
motioned Ryouga to follow him.

  The other Nerimians, having nothing better to do, followed Rand and
Ryouga towards the inn.

  "So what did she want to talk about?" asked Ukyou.

  Ranma shrugged. "Basically, she wanted to make sure that Ryouga and I
weren't channeling that One Power thing. She asked me a lot of
questions, that's for sure."

  "Yes, about that..." began Akane.

  Ranma raised his hand. "I managed to get some explanations out of her
on the way back. I know about the Taint and all that. She did some
tests and she said she was satisfied on the way back. Back in the
woods, I ended up giving her the mother of all lectures on Ki.  I
think I managed to convince her that we aren't an immediate threat."
He frowned. "Apparently, it's the villagers we have to convince,
now."

  They followed the others as they entered the inn. The main room of
the establishment was packed with people. The innkeeper and his
family, the Wisdom and the gleeman were among those present in the
room. The others were mostly coming and going. Ranma leaned on a
wall, masking his presence as much as he could as to be unobtrusive.
He saw, more than he heard over the din, the Wisdom and Rand talking.
The Wisdom stood over Tam, checked his fever, Ranma guessed, then
sadly shook her head.

  Ranma sighed sadly when he heard Rand blabber excuses about how he had
tried his best to get to the village as fast as possible. He had seen
the look on Rand's face elsewhere before when he had wandered the
world with his father. A refusal to accept fate.

  When the Wisdom signaled the innkeeper's daughter and made their way
towards the exit, Rand tried to go after them, but Ryouga grabbed his
shoulder and shook his head when Rand told him to let go. Ranma
thought about something and silently moved towards the pair.  Out of
the corner of his eye, he saw Mistress al'Vere hustling Akane and
Ukyou upstairs, talking about something. Since the two were obviously
not fighting it, Ranma chose to ignore it for the moment.

  "What happened to him?" asked Ranma when he got close enough to Rand
and Ryouga.

  Rand gave a start and whirled around. "Where did you?..."  he
stammered. "I didn't even see you!" Rand took a second to look at
Ranma's rather disheveled and sooty figure.

  "A trick," Ranma answered. "Can't the Wisdom do anything?" he asked,
nodding towards Tam.

  Rand's expression turned from puzzlement to anguish. "I got here as
fast as I could!" he whispered, obviously trying to convince himself.
"I got here even faster with his help," he said in a stronger voice,
pointing at Ryouga.

  Ranma blinked and looked at Ryouga, who glared back at him.

  "I told you I hadn't been wandering around," Ryouga grumbled.

  Ranma looked at the man who was still laid out on the litter.  "What
about the Aes Sedai?" he said out loud. "She was able to heal pretty
serious injuries tonight."

  "Aes Sedai?" asked Rand, his eyes wide. "There's an Aes Sedai in the
village?!"

  Master al'Vere, who had been watching both Ryouga and Ranma warily
until now, shook his head in surprise. "Of course!" he said loudly.
He turned to the gleeman, who had been observing the whole thing until
then. "Why didn't you say anything, gleeman? The stories are full of
them!"

  The gleeman shrugged, lighting his pipe. "I am an outsider.  Such a
suggestion might have sounded suspicious coming from me, as most
reasonable people know the cost of an Aes Sedai's help."

  "Would you have left him there to die then?" asked Ranma, slightly
annoyed. He ignored Rand's quick discussion with Master al'Vere.
"Master al'Dai told us that an Aes Sedai's gift always has a hook in
it, but what do you think is best? A hook, or slow death?"

  The gleeman looked at him cynically. "When Aes Sedai are concerned,
some people would consider that as being much the same, boy."

  Ranma stared at the gleeman for a moment. "Don't you think it should
be _their_ choice to make and not yours?"

  Thom rolled his eyes. "May I remind you, then, that I am under no
order to supply any information if I do not wish to? I have no great
love for Aes Sedai, boy. If I choose not to mention them, it is my
choice and mine alone."

  Ranma stared at the gleeman for a while longer, then shook his head,
chuckling.

  The gleeman raised a white, bushy eyebrow in surprise. "Did I say
something amusing, boy?"

  It was Ranma's turn to look at the gleeman with a cynical expression.
"Nothing. I just realized that you're one of the few people aside
from the Aes Sedai and brick-face who hasn't shown any fear about
talking to me or Ryouga without looking as if I was going to kill
them, ne Ryouga?" he said, turning towards the other martial artist.

  Who wasn't there.

  Ranma cursed under his breath. "If the baka's gotten lost again,
we're leavin' without him!"

  Master al'Vere looked at Ranma uneasily. "If you're looking for the
other lad, he helped Rand get Tam upstairs. The Aes Sedai is upstairs
as well."

  Ranma nodded, then looked inquisitively at the innkeeper who seemed to
be, unlike the gleeman, fairly nervous. "Do you think I channel,
Master al'Vere?" asked Ranma, honestly curious.

  "I'm... I'm not sure," the stout man shook his head. "You probably
saved my life and my daughter's but I also saw what you did
afterwards, and..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.

  "For what it's worth, Master innkeeper," said the gleeman suddenly, "I
also saw what he did and I am not inclined to believe that what he did
was true channeling."

  Ranma looked back at the gleeman in surprise. "Not that I mind the
opinion, but what makes you think that?"

  The gleeman smiled tightly. "I watched, boy. I watched.  You
protected people you could have left to die. That at least shows you
have some character and that aren't mad yet, but you also left with
the Aes Sedai and her Warder at the end of the battle. A while later,
you come back none the worse for wear. If you _were_ a channeler, I
don't think that Moiraine Sedai would have left you wandering around
freely, no matter what her motives might be."

  Ranma blinked. "If I had been a channeler, what would have changed?
Moiraine told me about the taint that affects male channelers, but
what does that have to do with... " he trailed off. "You mean she
would have tried to attack me?" he said incredulously.

  Thom nodded. "Or shield you, at the very least."

  "She did try to shield me," Ranma said, shaking his head.  "She said
it didn't work, that I had no channeling ability at all that she could
tell."

  Thom's eyes widened in surprise. "She _told_ you? Were those her
exact words?"

  Ranma nodded.

  The gleeman looked at his pipe pensively, then looked at Ranma once
more. "Does that mean that you are a normal person?" he asked, one
eyebrow raised.

  Ranma barked a laugh. "Normal? I suppose that depends on your
definition of the word. The power I use is called Ki and the only way
she could stop me from using it would be to kill me." He sobered and
grinned nastily. "And I would be _very_ hard to kill."

  "Ki?" Thom said inquisitively.

  Ranma nodded and briefly flared his aura, the shimmering effect more
visible in a well-lit room. As he was looking at Thom, he didn't see
the innkeeper back away slightly. He did notice the tightening of the
gleeman's features, though. He relaxed the aura and smiled at the
gleeman. "Yup, Ki," Ranma confirmed. "It comes from inside me, not
from an outside source. That's why her shields didn't work."  He was
about to say more when he heard someone come down the staircase.  He
turned around, expecting Ryouga, and his eyes widened.

  When he saw Akane and Ukyou come down. The reason for their absence
was now obvious in that Mistress al'Vere had lent them a change of
clothes. Akane was now wearing a dark gray wool skirt with a white
blouse, a colored scarf wrapped around her neck. Instead of
downplaying her looks, though, her outfit seemed to emphasize her
natural beauty. Ukyou was wearing the same, except that her skirt was
dark green. Her combat spatula was now a marked contrast to her mode
of dress, which Ranma found a bit disturbing. Ukyou in a dress was
not something he was used to seeing. Ryouga and Mistress al'Vere
followed them down the stairs.

  Ranma blinked a couple of times. He didn't know why, but seeing Akane
dressed like that... *Kawaii* the thought flitted in the back of his
mind.

  "Ranma?" a slightly blushing Akane said, waving her hand in front of
the pig-tailed martial artist's vacant face. She had seen Ranma look
at her from the moment she had come down the stairs. Mistress al'Vere
had been quite adamant about getting her and Ukyou out of their torn
and slightly bloody clothes and into what she termed "proper wear for
young girls." Ukyou had protested far more than she had, but it had
all been in vain in the end. The okonomiyaki chef had, however, drawn
the line at leaving her "giant shovel" (as Marin had called the
object) behind.

  Ranma suddenly came back to life. "Oh... Err... Hi, Akane... You
look... um..." he fumbled for the correct words, his own face
slightly reddening.

  Akane blushed a bit more. *Is he going to say it?* she wondered
excitedly.

  "I knew they were attracted to each other," Marin's satisfied voice
said from behind them.

  Ranma and Akane's red faces both snapped towards the innkeeper's wife.
While Akane was trying to get something out of her mouth, Ranma was
quicker. "I'm not attracted to that clumsy tomboy!" he said
instinctively, only to regret it as the common room suddenly became
quiet. *Ooops.*

  The silence was broken by the sound of strong blow from Ukyou's combat
spatula impacting Ranma's head.

  Ukyou, who had been frowning at the whole thing, blinked when she saw
her spatula in Akane's hands. She reached behind her and realized
that her weapon had been snitched. "Give that back!" she snapped,
grabbing the giant cooking utensil back. She quickly kneeled down to
Ranma's level, who was just now picking himself off the floor.
"Ranchan!? Are you all right?"

  "Yeah," Ranma groaned, rubbing his head. "I'm used to it.  Tomboy
hits like a sledgehammer." As he was about to get up, Scratch, the
Winespring Inn's resident feline, chose that time to examine the
floor's newest addition.

  Ranma froze, making small, whimpering noises.

  Scratch took this as a sign to lick his face.

  Ryouga was about to try and choke Ranma as an object lesson when the
target of his anger suddenly screamed as if all the hordes of Hell
were after him.

  Ranma did the only thing he could: he backflipped to his feet, sending
Ukyou tumbling back, and ran for the door, only to fall into
oblivion's sudden embrace.

  Everyone in the inn was staring at Ryouga, who had clotheslined Ranma,
almost reflexively, before he could flee the inn. Well, all except
Akane who had realized the source of Ranma's scream and quickly
grabbed Scratch, only to unceremoniously toss him out of the inn
through one of the windows, ignoring the cat's irritated yowls.

  She sighed in relief once the feline was outside. *Kami-sama protect
us,* she thought. *I don't know what would have happened if that
stupid cat had activated the Neko-ken.* As she turned back towards
the crowd, she noticed that Mistress al'Vere was scowling at her.  The
others in the room were just looking at her oddly. Between Ranma's
scream and her behavior, she guessed they had a right to.

  No one took notice of Mat and Perrin bursting in through the inn's
door, both looking fairly frazzled.

  "What happened?" Mat said breathlessly, "We heard a scream and Perrin
got Scratch thrown at him!"

  Perrin merely scowled. His nerves had been shot to hell for the
evening. First the Trolloc attacks on the forge, then all that talk
about outsider channelers (he had put that off as Coplin talk,
though), and then, just as he and Mat were coming alongside the
Winespring Inn, that horrible scream. They had only had time to stare
at the inn in shock when the blacksmith apprentice had received a face
full of angry cat thrown at him from one of the windows. Scratch had
taken the time to properly express his displeasure on his face before
leaving. Perrin now bore several bright red scratches on his cheeks
and forehead.

  Both young men, however, stopped when they realized no one was paying
any attention to them.

  "Akane!" the older woman said in a clipped tone. "Please explain why
you just threw our cat out the window like a bucket of wash water?"

  Perrin frowned. _She_ was the one who had thrown Scratch?

  Akane was about to answer when they heard people stampeding down the
stairs. Everyone turned in time to see Lan jump the last few steps,
Rand closely behind him and both with their swords drawn. The effect
was much dramatic on Lan, of course.

  Lan immediately scanned the common room and frowned, the only thing he
could find amiss being Ranma laid out on the ground at the Hibiki
boy's feet. "Who screamed and what just happened?" he snapped.

  Everyone turned to look at Akane, who felt just a tiny little bit
intimidated by all the attention directed towards her. "Um..  It's a
long story..." she hedged.

  "Tell it anyway!" snapped Ukyou, who was being helped to her feet by
Bran. "Since when does Ranchan freak out like that?"

  Akane sighed. "Ah... well... Let's just say Ranma had a training
accident involving cats when he was young. All you need to know is
that leaving Ranma and a cat alone together is... dangerous *and
embarrassing for me,* she added silently. "Ask Ranma if you really
want more details."

  The room was silent for a moment.

  Until Ukyou spoke. She knew Akane well enough to know that she was
hiding a lot of details and that only served to make her angrier.
"I'll find out what this is about, Akane, make no mistake about that."

  Akane shrugged, uncomfortable. "Like I said, ask Ranma, not me."

  Ryouga, on the other hand, was quite satisfied at having knocked out
Ranma. A cheap victory, perhaps, but considering the way Ranma
sometimes won _his_ matches, he wasn't going to be picky.

  Mat looked uncertainly at Ranma. "Leaving him alone with a _cat_ is
dangerous? How?"

  "You don't really want to find out," Akane hedged. This caused a few
eyebrows to raise, but no one said anything more, seeing as how Akane
didn't seem to want to explain further.

  Perrin fingered the scratches on his face. *Tossing a cat through a
window is already dangerous enough,* he thought grumpily.

  The Warder grunted and resheathed his sword. He frowned at Ranma,
eyes narrowed and went back upstairs.

  "Certainly an unusual reaction to cats, considering how the lad can
easily dispatch a Trolloc," said Thom after a while.

  "Hey! He's only that good because he trained for it," Ukyou huffed.
"The same goes for his Ki abilities, which have _nothing_ to do with
that One Power you people fear so much!"

  "I am no Aes Sedai, child," answered Thom calmly, "but I do know
enough of the One Power to agree with you on that."

  "I came to the very same conclusion, Master Merrilin, but I am curious
and would like to hear how _you_ came to it," came a tired voice from
the stairs.

  Rand whipped around and saw Moiraine slowly coming down the steps.
Lan was already going to her. "Moiraine Sedai! My father... Is
he...?"

  The Aes Sedai gave a tired smile. "He will live without any problems.
I removed the taint from his body. It was a close thing, though.
It's a good thing your father is such a strong man. He will need rest
for the next week," she said, looking at Marin when she said so.  The
woman nodded, almost eagerly. Moiraine turned back towards Thom
Merrilin, darting a quick glance at Mat and Perrin. She took a slow,
deep breath. "I await your answer, Master Merrilin."

  The gleeman shrugged, his multicolored patched cloak sliding over his
shoulders as he did so. "I was outside when the fighting happened.  I
saw the two boys use this 'Ki' they call it, before they saved these
two girls," he said, pointing his pipe at Akane and Ukyou. "I will
admit that my eyes are not what they used to be, but young Ranma made
a small demonstration of his Ki just a moment ago and I will swear
that I saw _something_ around the boy, like clear smoke. Others did,
too." He gave a wary glance to Moiraine. "As I said, I make no
pretense to know as much about the Power as you do, Moiraine Sedai,
but I do seem to recall for a fact that if the two boys truly _had_
been channeling the Power, or at least saidin, neither I, nor anyone
else, would have seen anything, save perhaps for some effects."  He
paused, then smiled thinly. "That and the fact that he says you tried
to shield him and failed. That would be proof for any but the Red
Ajah, I suppose."

  Moiraine looked at him for a moment, then smiled faintly.  "Mostly
correct. If it had been saidin, only another male channeler could
have sensed, or seen it. And since most of us here we all saw or felt
it at some degree... Well, I repeatedly tried to shield the boy
without success and while I am no Red, I can perform a shield as well
as any of them and all my tests indicate that he cannot draw saidin
anymore than Lan could. Besides, the boy is too young to channel,
even if he _did_ have the spark inside him. I believe his
explanations, even though I am not particularly happy to know about
this 'Ki' power. I do believe that it is a separate entity from the
One Power, however."

  Mat and Perrin suddenly became nervous, watching Ryouga warily.

  "It's not _that_ mysterious," groused Ryouga. "Just because you
people haven't learned how to fully tap your Ki doesn't make it
evil..." he trailed off when he heard Ranma groaning. Everyone else
also paused as they watched the young man rise.

  "Oww..." he said, rubbing his head. "What the hell happened?"  He
looked up to see that there were a whole lot of people watching him,
some warily, some with curiousity?

  "Ranchan, what's the last thing you remember?" asked Ukyou, helping
him to his feet.

  "Akane belting me, and then..." he bowed his head upon remembrance.
"The c-c... the thing," He sighed disgustedly. "Damn Neko-Ken."

  Ukyou frowned momentarily. *Neko-Ken?* She would get to the bottom
of this, one way or another.

  "We won't hold it against you," Mat said carefully. *Neko-Ken?  What
does _that_ mean?* A safer part of Mat's mind was telling him that if
Ranma _was_ capable of doing things similar to channeling (he still
didn't completely trust Moiraine's declarations), laughing at him
would probably not be a _good_ thing to do. He wanted to live.

  A somewhat embarrassed silence pervaded the room for a while.

  "I think you all need to get some sleep if you four are going to leave
for Tar Valon tomorrow," suddenly announced Marin, changing the
subject.

  Rand started as if he had just been reminded of something and quietly
went upstairs. Mat and Perrin both took that as their cue to leave
the inn, which they did, but not without casting worried looks at the
Nerimians.

  The Nerimians all looked at one another and shrugged.

  "I'll show you the rooms where you can stay for the night," said Bran,
already walking upstairs.

  "Master al'Vere," called out Ranma. "Not that I mind the hospitality,
but why are you doing all this? I was under the impression that most
people in the village would want us gone as soon as possible."

  Bran stopped in the stairs and looked at Ranma. "Whoever you may be
and whatever you may be able to do, you did save several lives
tonight, mine and my daughter Egwene's among them. It would be
downright insulting of me to toss you out after all that."

  "What will you do if the villagers become restless during the day?"
asked Ryouga, who had been oddly silent until now.

  Bran's features hardened. "I'm the mayor, boy. If they get upset,
I'll... _talk_ some sense into them." He paused, as if considering
something. "Of course, a man can only hope that the Women's Circle
will stay out of this whole affair," he murmured.

  As everyone shuffled upstairs, Moiraine looked at Lan through tired
eyes. "Come, my old friend. We have new plans to make."

  * * *

  Ranma was rudely awakened by Lan later that evening.

  "Get moving, boy!" the Warder said gruffly. He moved away from the
young martial artist and immediately began waking the other Nerimians
up.

  "What's wrong?" Ranma asked, quickly coming to his senses.

  "The villagers are getting restless," Lan said. "Moiraine managed to
stall most of the troublemakers during the day with the help of the
villagers who are on your side, but it's all becoming undone.  Best we
leave as soon as possible."

  As everyone was getting ready, Ranma noticed a pile of clothes which
had been left near his pack. "What are those?" he asked the Warder.

  "Your new clothes," Lan said gruffly. "Your clothes, or what's left
of them, attract too much attention and that's precisely what we want
to avoid."

  Ranma frowned. True, his favorite red silk shirt looked like an
enthusiastic five-year-old had taken a pair of scissors to it, not to
mention the soot and blood stains, but still... He gave a mental
shrug. *Oh well, I still have a spare in my pack.* Years on the road
had taught him to appreciate gifts when they were given freely.

  Soon, he was dressed in dark brown breeches and pale shirt, complete
with dark cloak. He had almost passed over the boots, but realized
that his slippers would not be adequate if he was going to be walking
for the next few days or even weeks and while he was used to walking
barefoot, it would probably draw too much attention.

  Akane and Ukyou were waiting for him in the common room. Their eyes
widened at his new, rugged look.

  "Wow, Ranchan, you look..." Ukyou began, but was interrupted when the
blacksmith, Haral Luhhan, burst inside the inn, looking slightly
anxious.

  "Bran," he said, "You'd better get yourself outside quickly.  There
are a bunch of Coplins stirring up trouble in your yard."

  Indeed, those present inside the inn could hear rallying cries that
were steadily picking up strength.

  "Get those channelers out of here!"

  "No Aes Sedai in Emond's Fields!"

  "It's their fault the Trollocs attacked!"

  Bran forgot all about the crowd inside the inn as he remembered what
he had been about to do before Ranma woke up. "I'll go settle this
nonsense," he grumbled, heading outside, pausing along the way to pick
up a wooden maul leaning against a wall.

  Moiraine looked at Rand, who was just now coming down the stairs, at
Mat and Perrin and frowned slightly. They would have to move fast.
She motioned Lan to instruct the boys into making last minute
preparations. When the Warder moved away, she looked at the
Nerimians. "We will have to leave tonight. Gather your things and
meet us at the stable behind this inn. Lan will find horses for you."
And almost immediately afterwards, she moved towards the door through
which Bran had left.

  The four Nerimians just looked at one another.

  "Damn she's bossy," commented Ranma, shaking his head.

  "Yeah," said Ryouga, nodding.

  "Oh well, maybe we can ditch her once we're well on our way to Tar
Valon," Ranma said with more hope than he really felt. He turned to
the two girls. "You didn't happen to bring anything valuable when we
went through that portal, did you?"

  They both shook their heads. "No," they chorused.

  "Then go ask Mistress al'Vere if she could spare some food for the
road. Ryouga and I will go get our packs."

  As they moved towards the kitchen, Ukyou began mumbling about
okonomiyaki ingredients. The Nerimians then heard a commotion
outside.

  "Is that Moiraine shouting?" asked Akane uncertainly.

  Ranma blinked. "If it is, I wanna know why. She doesn't seem to be
the type to lose her cool." The four moved towards the inn yard
entrance where Moiraine caught their attention with her story of
Manetheren. They stood bespelled, just like the other villagers who
were present. All four found themselves rather impressed by ancient
kingdom's history. Later, when the story ended, the villagers were
about to leave when a Coplin saw Ranma near the door.

  "Hey! No matter what we were before, it doesn't matter if there are
male channelers like _him_ and the other one in the village!" he
cried, pointing at Ranma.

  "Get rid of 'em!" another cry came up.

  "False Dragons!" another cry was heard.

  Instead of going back inside, Ranma came outside and stood on the
porch, looking at the mob with a curious expression. He looked
straight at the person who had started all this. "First of all," he
said in a perfectly level tone, "I don't even look remotely like a
dragon." This received a couple of confused stares, but no more than
that as he plowed on. "Second, what I do, what we all do, isn't
channeling, it's Ki." This received an even greater of confused
stares, but the crowd still didn't seem any more swayed than when he
had begun. Ranma threw up his arms in frustration, "Ah, screw it."
He turned to Moraine, lowering his voice. "They look like they
believe things when you say them. Why don't you tell'em I ain't no
channeler, and neither is Ryouga."

  "Don't lie to us!" came a shout from the crowd, before Moiraine could
reply. "We all saw you throw fire around the village during the
battle! You were probably helping the Trollocs!"

  Before Ranma could respond to the accusation, another voice piped up
from behind the mob. "Don't be any more stupid than you already are,
Hari!"

  The villagers in front looked at each other curiously and parted to
reveal Teven al'Dai, his wife and his children, all scowling at Hari.

  "What are you talking about, Teven?" demanded Hari. "He's a channeler
- a... a Darkfriend! If he stays, he'll destroy us all!"

  Teven snorted. "You're a bloody fool, Hari. Like I told almost
everyone during the day, _I_ don't care if he channels or not, because
if it hadn't been for his help, my two children would be dead!  He
went inside my house while it was burning and found my Nel and Daysa.
Does that sound like something a Darkfriend would do?" Teven accused
the other man. "Well does it?"

  Hari was momentarily quiet, but Teven did not stop there.

  "Besides, from what I heard, both of them only fought to protect
others or kill Trollocs. They didn't hurt anyone from the village!
Even the Aes Sedai flatly said that what they did wasn't channeling.
She can't twist _that_ around, no matter how good she is."

  Hari spluttered for a moment. "But Teven, you know as well as anyone
that all male channelers go mad! They broke the world!" he insisted.

  "But that's just it," Ranma interrupted in a slightly irritated tone
of voice. He was grateful for Teven's intervention, but things were
back to him now. "What we did isn't related to your fancy One Power
at all!"

  Cenn Buie, who was standing at the edge of the crowd, waved a fist.
"I still think you channel the Power! Some of us even saw a sort of
glow around you!" he crowed triumphantly.

  "Really?" interrupted Moiraine loudly. "Do you really believe he
channels the Power?" she asked, staring straight at Cenn.

  Cenn, now under the spotlight, could only manage a feeble nod.

  The Aes Sedai put on a thoughtful expression. "Were you aware that no
channeler from one gender can tell with their eyes when one from the
other gender is channeling? A woman can tell if another woman is
channeling, but only a man can tell if another man is channeling."

  The crowd was now mostly silent.

  "That," the Aes Sedai continued, "would imply that all of you who saw
or even felt anything are channelers as well."

  _That_ produced a reaction. Indeed, several people were now leaving
the crowd, while Cenn was futilely trying to pull back inside the mass
of people.

  "If you can't tell they use the Power, how do you shield False
Dragons, then?" someone shouted.

  Moiarine raised an eyebrow. "Just because we cannot tell if men can
channel does _not_ mean that we do not know how to shield them when
they _do_," she coolly replied. After a pause, she continued:  "What
Ranma says is accurate. Neither of the two boys uses the One Power.
I tried several tests and they all failed. Shields do not work and
they are both too young to channel even if they _had_ the spark.  They
wield _a_ power but it is not _the_ Power." She paused to let that
sink in. "And any of you who think I would let just any male channeler
run loose are fools indeed," she said icily.

  There were some angry mutters, but Cenn directed one last question at
Ranma, who was looking fairly annoyed by now. "All right boy," he
said, "let's suppose what you say is true. I have one last question.
Why did you come to Emond's Field? There are only four of you and you
all look too young to be traveling alone, not to mention that despite
everything, your arrival still coincides with that of the Trollocs."

  Ranma sounded tired. "We... misused an artifact back where we come
from and next thing we knew, we'd woken up in the forest about an hour
away from here. If we could have gotten back the same way we came, we
never would have bothered you. That's why we're going to Tar Valon.
We're hoping they'll know how to send us back home. As for the
Trollocs..." he shrugged. "_That_ was complete coincidence, no
matter what you may think. Hell, they don't even exist where we come
from. We helped your village because that's what we martial artists
do: we protect those who cannot protect themselves." He paused then
glared at Cenn. "Even if they're old, cranky bakas like you!"

  Bran decided it was a good time to stop before any more questions
could arise, not that he knew what a 'baka' was, anyway. Most
probably an insult. "Well, that's good enough an explanation for me,"
he said, looking sternly at Cenn. He then turned to Ranma. "Besides,
you helped save me and my daughter, so I owe you for that at the
least."

  Ranma nodded and went back inside the inn to get his pack, Ryouga
behind him. Apparently, the Lost Boy had already retrieved his own
huge pack. When they got inside, the Aes Sedai followed them almost
immediately.

  Moiraine looked at Ranma for a moment, then at the three Emond's
Fielders who were being herded into the stable by Lan. *Coincidence?*
she thought speculatively. She was beginning to have doubts.  She had
repeatedly told villagers the same thing as often as she could when
she had not been sleeping, but they had only pulled back after Ranma
himself had made an appearance. *Fools,* she thought. *They know
what a male channeler can do and they were aggravating someone whom
they believed was one. No sense at all.*

  Further musings were interrupted when Master al'Dai entered the inn.
Walking to Ranma and Ryouga, he smiled slightly. "I'm sorry about
Cenn and the others outside. There are a lot of us in the village who
believe you aren't channelers, considering all the help you gave when
the Trollocs attacked. Of course, the fact that if Moiraine Sedai is
willing to back you like this helps, too," he said, knuckling his
forehead at Moiraine in passing. He looked at his hands, flexed them
and chuckled. "A power that isn't the Power, eh? The land you come
from must be strange indeed."

  Ranma smiled. "Stranger than you might think, sometimes."

  Teven smiled. "I can imagine." He paused, as if choosing his words,
then looked at Ranma in the eye. "How will you make your way to Tar
Valon? You do not have any horses."

  Ranma shook his head. "We haven't covered that yet."

  The farmer took a deep breath. "Maybe I can help. I thought about it
during the day and I have two horses I'm willing to give for
repayment..."

  "Whoa... Wait!" protested Ranma, a bit embarrassed. "Are you really
sure you wanna do that?"

  "You and your friend saved my children's lives," answered Master
al'Dai simply.

  "Don't you need those horses for something? I don't know..."

  "In that case," the Aes Sedai's smooth voice interrupted them, "I have
the perfect solution."

  Ranma and Teven just looked at Moiraine curiously.

  The Aes Sedai turned to the farmer. "Are they good, fast horses?"

  Teven nodded. "Of course, they're among the best stock in the
village. I use them to go to Watch Hill sometimes and they never even
tire from that."

  Moiraine nodded. She took a pouch from her belt and removed a gold
coin and a silver one. "Will this be sufficient?" she asked, holding
the two coins in her hand.

  Teven goggled. "More than enough! This is too much..."

  Moiraine shrugged. "Then use the rest to help you rebuild your house.
Or if you need another reason, consider the rest a payment for helping
to convince the crowd."

  Teven blinked and numbly took the coins. He looked at Ranma, who gave
a helpless shrug.

  "They're _your_ horses," the martial artist replied.

  Moiraine left no more time for further discussion. "Come, Ranma, we
have other things to do," she said, dragging Ranma towards the
stables.

  "The Light shine on you!" Teven called out.

  "On you too!" Ranma called back after a moment.

  * * *

  Moiraine and Ranma made their way to the stable where they met up with
the rest of the group. The other Nerimians, Ranma understood, but he
didn't know why there were all these others present as well.

  "What are _they_ doing here?" he asked Ryouga, pointing at the others.

  Mat and Perrin were saddling horses and all looked ready to leave
while the innkeeper's daughter was alternating between arguing with
Rand about her right to come as well and talking animatedly with Akane
and Ukyou. The gleeman was looking at the two in amusement and the
Warder looked pretty irritated with the whole lot of them. Moiraine
walked over to him and quietly spoke to him. He nodded sharply and
left the stable at a run.

  "Apparently," Ryouga said, "they're all coming." They watched the Aes
Sedai give the Warder a few orders which ended with him leaving the
stable in a hurry. "Apparently, Moiraine insists on the three guys
coming along for some reason and the girl, Egwene, I think her name
is, wants to come along. The gleeman decided to tag along because his
job here is over and he doesn't want to travel alone."

  Ranma shrugged. "Their problem, I guess." He walked over to Akane
and Ukyou. "Did you get packs or provisions?"

  Akane nodded, pointing at two traveling packs sitting against the barn
door. "The only thing we don't have are horses, though," she said.she said.

  Ranma shook his head. "Won't be a problem."

  Ukyou blinked. "What do you mean, Ranchan?"

  The barn doors suddenly swung open to reveal Lan with two fine-looking
horses in tow, saddled and all. He approached the Nerimians and
handed Ranma and Ryouga the reins to one each. "Here. These are your
horses now. Take care of them." He frowned slightly and looked at
Moiraine. "If they have to ride two on each horse, that will slow us
down considerably."

  "Not a problem," interrupted Ranma. "Ryouga and I won't need them -
we can keep up with the horses on foot." Ryouga frowned at the
statement, but did not reply. Akane and Ukyou looked a bit worried.

  Perrin turned his horse around, looking at them. "You really think
you can outrun a horse on foot?" he asked incredulously.

  "Outrun? Maybe. Run down? Hell yes!" Ranma laughed. "You wouldn't
believe how easy that can be when you're in proper shape. Horses
don't have as much stamina as a _really_ fit person. Besides, Ryouga
wanders on foot all the time and I'm sure a little run is nothing to
him, ne, Ryouga?" he said jovially, elbowing the other martial artist.

  Ryouga merely frowned at Ranma. "I can keep up with horses, I've done
it before," he said slowly. He suddenly smirked. "Ranma's a lot
weaker than me, though. He'll probably get tired after the first mile
or so."

  Ranma frowned. "I swam the whole way between Japan and China, piggy.
Don't underestimate me." He grinned. "Besides, I'm the wild horse in
this group, remember?"

  Akane and Ukyou giggled at that.

  "What's so funny?" Mat asked curiously. He was still very wary of the
two, even if he had heard some of the explanations and Moiraine's
statement about none of them being channelers. He didn't really
believe either of the two could run down a horse, though.

  "It's just that in our language, 'Ranma' more or less translates as
'wild horse'," Ukyou explained.

  Mat nodded uncertainly. "Ah, I see..." He didn't, of course, but Mat
had a certain talent for faking things like that.

  "Do the girls have any previous riding experience?" Lan asked quickly.
He was sitting on top of his own horse, a large, black stallion.

  Akane and Ukyou both shifted uncomfortably while Ranma and Ryouga tied
the girls' packs to their horses' saddles.

  "I rode a horse a couple of times when I was younger," Akane offered.
Actually, most of those times had been pony rides, but she didn't want
to lose face in front of Ranma or Ukyou.

  Ukyou winced. "I rode twice before." She didn't add that she had
been thrown off one of those times and that she wasn't all that happy
at the prospect of riding another horse.

  The Aes Sedai spoke swiftly: "Then you will have learn again quickly."
She turned to Ranma and Ryouga. "Can you really keep up? We will be
moving at a gallop at times." Behind her, Akane and Ukyou winced.

  Ranma smirked. "We'll see, won't we?"

  Moiraine nodded. "We shall."

  Surprisingly, both Akane and Ukyou managed to get on their horses
without falling or otherwise attract undue attention to them, though
Ukyou had to attach the spatula on her horse's side harness, since it
would not fit right on her back. A few minutes later, the whole group
was well on its way out of Emond's Field and into the waiting
darkness.

  * * *

  The ride out of the village was at full gallop, pressing Ranma and
Ryouga hard. After making sure that Ukyou and Akane were all right
and could ride without falling, the two martial artists sped up and
were soon running at full speed in order to keep up with the lead
horses. Ranma was hanging just behind Ryouga to make sure that the
Lost Boy did not live up to his name.

  Moiraine in particular was impressed. Ranma and Ryouga were both
wearing packs, and yet were able to keep up with horses at full
gallop. At this distance, she could still feel that annoying
echo-like buzz which accompanied their increase in Ki levels.  A
thought suddenly came to her. "Ranma!" she called out.

  "Yeah?" asked Ranma, adjusting his speed so that he would be running
at the same speed as Aldieb.

  "You must remember to be very discreet in your use of Ki.  Most people
will not be nearly as understanding as those villagers were and we
cannot afford for you or your friends to attract too much attention,"
she said warningly.

  Ranma almost shrugged. *She calls what happened back there
'understanding?* he wondered. "If you say so..."

  "Another thing," the Aes Sedai said, almost as an afterthought.  "Why
are you afraid of cats?"

  Ranma started. "What? How did you... Nevermind. I don't wanna talk
about it."

  "I'm afraid I must insist," Moiraine said, her voice becoming harder.
"Such a weakness is not normal at all in a fighter like you.  Why must
you not be left alone with a cat?"

  "Who told you that, anyway?" Ranma demanded.

  "It was all Akane would tell us after Ryouga rendered you unconscious.
To not leave you alone with a cat. She did not elaborate. You
yourself said something about a 'Neko-Ken' when you woke up, whatever
that means."

  *She won't give up!* Ranma thought grumpily. *At this rate, I
wouldn't put it past her to try and cover me with _them_ just to see
what happens.* He tried to choose his words. "The closest
translation of 'Neko-Ken' is 'Cat-Fist'. It's a very dangerous
fighting technique. At least it's supposed to be. Cats freak me out
because my father botched the training."

  "Cat-Fist?" Moiraine asked, frowning. "There is more to this, I
believe. Why did you learn this technique in the first place if it's
too dangerous? And in what way is the technique 'botched'?"

  Ranma grimaced. "I never _asked_ to learn it. It was forced on me
when I was ten. Since then, it's caused me almost nothing but grief.
If I have anything to do about it, you'll never see the technique.
I'd give almost _anything_ to be rid of it." Ranma looked at Moiraine
and saw that she was about to ask another question. "Look, the
technique itself could be _very_ deadly under certain circumstances
and I have no almost no control over it. The only way I can access it
is if I'm in contact with a c-cat for too long."

  Moiraine frowned, but stayed silent. *He's dancing around the
subject. Hiding things. Why? Is the technique that dangerous or is
it something else?* she wondered. *If the technique is indeed so
dangerous, why teach it to a child?* Oh well, she would get the
details from the boy eventually. At least, the boy didn't seem to
relish using this technique, which was probably a good thing.

  "If you don't mind, _I've_ got a couple of questions," Ranma suddenly
said.

  Moiraine looked at him. "Which are?"

  "Why are we running off like this? And why did you bring those other
villagers with us? I thought they just wanted to come, but the way
they're all grumbling, I don't think they wanted to come in the first
place."

  Moiraine looked at him for a moment. *He will find out from the other
boys anyway,* she thought. "We are running away because I do not want
to give the Shadowspawn that are probably following us a chance to
catch us," she said carefully. "And I brought the boys because _they_
were the true targets of the Trolloc attacks. I am bringing them to
Tar Valon for their own safety."

  Ranma frowned. "As much as I hate killing, if there are more
Trollocs, why don't we just stop and take care of them? Between me,
Ryouga, you and your Warder, we could probably take care of the whole
lot."

  "It is not that simple," Moiraine countered. "There are types of
Shadowspawn other than Trollocs, each far more dangerous than Trollocs
in its own way."

  "And those are...?" asked Ranma.

  "There are at least one Myrddraal and one Draghkar following us, along
with more Trollocs."

  "Okaayyy, but what do they look like?" Ranma insisted. "If they're
that dangerous, I wanna know what I might end up fighting."

  "I'm not sure even _you_ would be able to take on a Myrddraal or a
Draghkar barehanded," said Lan suddenly from his saddle. "They are
powerful opponents."

  Ranma sped up until he was running alongside Mandarb. "Whaddya mean?
What's so special about them?" He remembered Thom's comments about
'Halfman' meaning the same thing as Myrddraal. What? Did those
things change sex or something?

  "Even though Halfmen have no eyes, they see better than most men and
their eyeless gaze can strike fear in the bravest man's heart if you
look at them. If you're not prepared, a Myrddraal can take your life
in an instant - they are quick as a viper and a hundred times more
dangerous. Their swords can cause death from a single scratch if the
wound is not healed quickly enough."

  Ranma blinked and shook his head. "You got damn weird monsters around
here. Thanks for the warning, though. What about the Draghkar?
What's it do?"

  Lan frowned. "Draghkars are flying creatures, but unlike Myrddraal,
they won't attack you directly. At least, not the way Trollocs or
Myrddraal would."

  "What do they do, then?" asked Ranma, puzzled.

  "They croon," answered the Warder. "They put you into a trance and
then devour your soul."

  Ranma stared at Lan, nearly tripping over his own two feet.  "They
_what?_"

  "You heard me, boy. Draghkars drink the souls of their victims before
they kill them. Even if the attack is only partially successful, the
victim is never the same afterwards, so watch out and stay as far away
from them as you can."

  "Why doesn't Moiraine simply fry them with a fireball from a
distance?"

  "Because," came the voice from the Aes Sedai behind them, "I cannot
channel precisely enough while sitting on a galloping horse.
Especially not that far away."

  "I could go into the trees and Ki-blast it from a distance," offered
Ranma.

  Moiraine shook her head. "It would not work. You told me your Ki
strikes are like great fists of solid air, did you not?"

  "Well, most of them are. Why?"

  *_Most_ of them?* wondered Moiraine. "The Draghkar would have to be
killed instantly. If not, you will lose your life. Draghkar do not
give second chances."

  Ranma's expression darkened. "I like this place better and better all
the time," he said sarcastically. "The Hiryuu Shouten Ha probably
doesn't even work on 'em either," he mused.

  Moiraine glanced at him curiously. "The what?" she asked.

  "Another one of my techniques," Ranma said. Before the Aes Sedai
could ask anymore questions, Ranma slowed down just a bit until he was
level with Akane and Ukyou's horses. The only ones behind them were
the gleeman and Rand.

  "Are you two okay?" he asked them.

  "Sure," said Akane, muttering through clenched teeth. She would not
admit that she barely had any control over the horse. This was
definitely different than with a pony. The only thing that did not
make her annoyed was that the horse was very well-behaved, a fact she
was tremendously happy about.

  Ukyou was not really having an easier time, but she seemed to be
learning quite fast. Aside from a tendency to hug the reins a bit too
much, that is.

  The group crested the top of a hill and suddenly found themselves near
another village. Lan motioned for everyone to stop, something for
which Ranma and Ryouga were silently grateful for.

  "Are we stopping here?" asked Ranma, suddenly noticing the cold around
them.

  "No," answered Moiraine. "We will be leaving again in a few moments."

  "But what about the horses, Moiraine Sedai?" protested Rand.  "We'll
run them to death if we keep going like this!"

  "What about us?" muttered Ryouga from behind Perrin.

  "I will do something about that," answered Moiraine, moving from horse
to horse.

  While Moiraine was tending to the horses, Ranma turned to Mat,
smirking. "Told you we could keep up."

  Mat looked uncomfortable. "Well, you did, but..." he trailed off.

  "But you still think I channel, don't you?" said Ranma, shaking his
head. He tried to ignore the sweat that was freezing on his skin.  He
suddenly stiffened. Sweat? Cold air? *Oh, man! I hope it doesn't
trigger the curse!* he thought frantically. The tingle that
accompanied the curse did not make its presence known, so Ranma calmed
down.

  All of a sudden, Moiraine was besides him, putting her hands on his
shoulders. "Hey! What are you doing!" he protested.

  "Be quiet," the Aes Sedai said softly.

  Ranma felt all his tiredness and aches drain out of him like water out
of faucet. His eyes widened. "What... did you just do?" he asked
uncertainly, flexing his hands. It was as if he'd just woken up, all
rested and fine.

  "I took what little weariness you had away, just as I took the
horses'. We still have hard riding ahead," she said, sounding a bit
tired herself. *Both of the boys have amazing endurance,* she
thought. *They very nearly did not need my touch.* Moiraine then
looked at Akane, who seemed to be in a bit of daze and muttered to
herself softly. Ranma only heard a small bit: "...not right at
all..."

  Ranma was about to ask something else when his danger sense flared.
"Something's approaching!" he hissed loudly.

  His warning was too late as a scream that could have frozen molten
lava ripped the silent night apart. All the horses, save Lan's and
Moiraine's, buckled and tried to throw their riders. Ranma took a
step back as a bat-winged _something_ flew down to their level, coming
far too close for comfort. A soon as 'it' had passed overhead, Ranma
and Ryouga cursed in unison, spun around, each with a rock in his
hand. They threw it in the darkness and were rewarded by a pained
shriek.

  Lan raised an eyebrow.

  "What the HELL was that?!" snarled Ranma.

  "_That_ was the Draghkar," said Moiraine, her composure a bit less
sure. "It has probably already reported our position to the
Myrddraal. We must reach the Taren quickly now! We must go!"

  After making sure that both Akane and Ukyou were all right, Ranma went
to see Ryouga.

  "Hey, man, you okay?" Ranma asked his fellow martial artist.

  Ryouga' eyes were tight. "Akane-san is all right, yes?"

  Ranma nodded affirmatively. "They both managed to hold onto their
horses. She and Ucchan were a bit scared and rattled, but then again,
everyone was... except maybe Moiraine and Lan. And me, of course," he
finished with a smirk.

  Ryouga didn't smile. "Next time I see the thing, I'm taking it
apart," he growled.

  Ranma sighed. "You might wanna know some details about it first..."

  * * *

  A few moments later, everyone was once again riding towards Taren
Ferry. They finally reached it without encountering the Draghkar
again. Ranma hoped it had given up after being injured, but did not
want to bet any money on that. When they reached the ferry itself,
Ranma noticed that Lan was signing the other ones to show their
weapons, but not to be too obvious about it.

  Ranma smirked. Intimidation? When he saw Master Hightower's shifty
attitude, Ranma decided that the Warder had judged the man's attitude
accurately - he didn't trust the man either. Ranma then decided to
try something. He used the cloak to cover his entire body, leaving
only the head uncovered. When Hightower looked at him, he merely
smirked and tried to radiate as much confidence as he could without
showing an aura. He smirked mentally when he saw Hightower hesitate
when he looked at him. When Hightower had left to rouse his helpers,
Ranma turned to Ryouga.

  "We'll have to try and put ourselves in the middle of the ferry," he
whispered to Ryouga. "I don't think you're any more eager than I am
to show your curse, eh?"

  Ryouga only scowled at him.

  Ranma shook his head.

  * * *

  A while later, the gang was on the other side of the river, staring at
the spot where the Aes Sedai had unofficially admitted to sinking the
ferry. The rope that was used to guide the ferry across was still
intact, however. As a surprise twist of fate, both Jusenkyou victims
had made it across without getting wet.

  Looking one last time at the river, Ranma shook his head.  *Geez...
Moiraine must be damn worried if she's willing to go that far.*  He
looked in the direction Hightower and his men had fled and shook his
head again. Suddenly, just as they were about to resume their ride,
the Draghkar and its agonizing cry made their presence known.

  "We must leave before the Draghkar finds us!" Moiraine urged.

  Ranma only scowled. "Not happening," he said curtly.

  "Ranma!"

  "Ranchan!"

  Moiraine looked at him coolly. "Are you so eager to see how deadly a
Draghkar really is?"

  "Why don't we just get rid of it instead of lettin' it follow us
around like this? I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill it yourself
yet."

  "Eager to kill again, boy?" asked Lan dryly.

  Ranma shot him a venomous look. "Shut up! That thing definitely
_ain't_ human and it's already tried to kill us. I'm willing to make
a deal with my conscience this time," he finished sarcastically.
*Especially if it means protecting Akane and Ucchan!*

  "Disposing of a Draghkar is considerably more dangerous than you
believe. I will not confront it directly if I can help it," Moiraine
replied evenly. "Besides," she added, "the fog I created over the
river will fool it long enough for us to leave it behind. It will
think we have escaped downriver"

  The Draghkar's cry was heard again, almost as if to contradict the Aes
Sedai.

  Moiraine's eyes widened in surprise. "It's coming back this way?
Why?"

  *Probably coming after for me for revenge, just like everyone else in
my life,* thought Ranma morosely.

  "We must leave, now!" the Warder said warningly.

  As the others began to line up their horses, Ranma frowned, thinking
about what Moiraine had told him about the Draghkar. *What if...?* he
wondered, then it hit him. "I'm staying here to get rid of it," he
announced. "It's going to follow us to hell and back and I think I
know why, now."

  Moiraine looked at him angrily. "Your Ki projectiles are not
sufficient and killing it on this side of the river will only serve to
lead the Myrddraal to us!"

  Ranma looked at the rope which hung over the river. "Then we get rid
of it _over_ the river," he said flatly. "The current'll take care of
the body."

  "Ah, Ranma, the ferry's... gone," said Rand, worry in his voice.  "We
can't go back across the river."

  Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about needing the ferry?"
He then picked up a few large rocks, and despite the protests, headed
towards the river.

  "Ranma!" Akane protested. "You'll get killed!"

  "Ranchan!" Ukyou pleaded. "Don't do anything stupid! Let's just go!"

  Ranma turned to both girls. "Don't you get it? I'm doing this to
protect _you_!"

  Both girls blushed a little, each thinking that the comment had been
meant for her alone.

  Ranma used the time to jump on the the ferry's rope. He ignored the
gasps of surprise that came from the small group when he began running
until he was in the middle of the river. *Have to be careful!* he
thought. *Stupid rope's so damp it's getting slippery and these damn
boots I'm wearing aren't helping either.* The last thing he wanted to
do was take a swim in the river right now...

  He looked at the sky, trying to find the Draghkar and couldn't.  But
if his theory was right, however... He let his Ki flare brightly, the
aura pushing the fog around him. The Draghkar's shrill cry pierced
the night almost immediately. Ranma smiled. *I was right!* he
thought triumphantly, trying not to make the rope he was standing on
wiggle so much. Soon, Ranma could hear the sound of wings flapping in
the dark. Ranma steadied himself and took one of the rocks he was
carrying. He wasn't about to try and wrestle the thing into
submission. If its cry was that bad at a distance, he had _no_
intention to try and hear it at point-blank range. A wandering part
of his mind wondered why the Warder called that inhuman shriek
'crooning'...

  As soon as he felt that the Draghkar was under a hundred paces away,
Ranma threw one of the rocks at it as fast as he could. Nothing.
*Must've missed,* he mused. He was about to throw a second rock when
the Draghkar shrieked again. Ranma nearly lost his balance from the
shock. That had frozen the blood in his veins. He shook it off and
snarled in defiance, throwing a second rock in the direction of the
shriek at full strength. This time, there was a faint popping sound
and the faint moonlight was enough for him to see the Draghkar's body
jerk and fall into the river like... a rock.

  Ranma grimaced as he let his aura dissipate. *Well, that's over, at
least.* he thought. He was walking back to the edge of the river when
he heard a splintering sound coming from the other side of the river
and felt the rope under him slacken. He shot a quick look behind him
and confirmed the origin of the sound. For some reason, the wooden
post that held the rope on the other side was splintering apart.
Ranma's reaction was almost instantaneous. He looked up and saw some
branches overlooking the river and jumped for them, barely making it
before the rope fell in the river. Looking at the raging waters
below, he sighed in relief. *Almost took a dip,* he thought.  He took
a breath and swung himself back up on the branch, which began
cracking. Ranma's eyes widened in shock and he barely managed to jump
back to the shore before the branch fell in the river.

  Ranma stared at the river. *I don't get it,* he wondered, puzzled.
*In Nerima, I would have fallen in the river... Hell, I would have
been splashed a dozen times by now, but I haven't gotten wet a single
time since we got here.* He smiled to himself. *Might as well enjoy
this while it lasts. I don't wanna have to explain the curse to these
people.*

  * * *

  A few minutes before that, everyone except the Nerimans on the river
bank had watched in slack-jawed surprise as Ranma simply jumped on the
rope and nearly ran until he was halfway across the river, his cloak
flapping behind him.

  "Light!" exclaimed Perrin. "How can he possibly _run_ on that rope?"

  "Burn me!" whispered Mat.

  Rand and Egwene just stared.

  Thom was thinking that with an acrobat like that boy, he wouldn't have
to work nearly so hard to make his way... then promptly berated
himself for thinking so.

  Moiraine sniffed in vexation. The boy was going to give them all to
the Draghkar. She thought about just burning the rope, let the boy
fall into the river and allow him to drown (she did not believe he
could swim back with this current), but she remembered how the two
boys and the girls had fought in the village. They might resent her
actions and prove to be dangerous.

  When Ranma raised his aura, Moiraine felt the faint "echo" of saidar
return. "What is he doing?!" she nearly hissed. "He will lead the
Draghkar right to us!"

  "I think I know _why_ he's doing it, but I'm not absolutely sure,"
said Ryouga from where he was standing. He wanted a piece of that
thing, but there was no way he was going to try and fight on a
tightrope over a river in the dark. Let Ranma take the risks for that
one.

  Moiraine turned to him. "What do you mean?" she demanded, missing
Ranma's first throw. Besides her, the Two Rivers boys were discussing
the sight with rare intensity.

  Ryouga was about to reply when the Draghkar shrieked again, this time
very close.

  Moiraine's eyes snapped back to Ranma instantly. She saw him wobble
on the rope, almost losing his footing, only to get it back and throw
a rock at the approaching shape. *Does he think he can slay a
Draghkar that way? Fool boy!*

  She hid her surprise when she saw the Draghkar's broken body fall into
the river. And the boy hadn't used his Ki for projectiles, either.
He had only raised his aura. *So that is what he meant by increased
strength. It would appear that the boy is more resourceful than I
thought. I underestimated him,* she thought self-recriminatingly.  *I
must not make the mistake again.* She was not too surprised when she
saw the boy grab the branch with a jump that should be impossible for
most people and then jump back to shore. "Now that we are finished
here," she announced calmly, "let us see what Lan has for us."

  * * *

  Soon, the group was riding again, but at a much milder pace this time,
Ranma easily keeping up with Moiraine's mare, with Ryouga on the other
side. Ranma tried to read Moiraine's intentions, but discovered that
the Aes Sedai had one of the best poker faces he had ever seen.  He
could, however, sense the stares of all the others behind him.  Oddly
enough, it was only a few short minutes before Lan made a stopping
gesture.

  They were now at the base of group of tall trees, some of them
collapsed, which made for an excellent natural shelter for the night.
Moiraine waited until Lan checked if everything was safe, then
motioned Ranma and Ryouga to enter the shelter. There was already a
small fire burning inside. As Moiraine settled herself, Ranma heard
the voices outside pick up strength, only for the Warder to tell them
to settle the horses and go inside the shelter. Egwene was the first
to enter, followed by Akane and Ukyou, who made sure that everyone
knew they were so sore that they would never ride a horse again if
their lives depended on it. Lan almost cracked a smile when he told
them it would get easier after a month or so, to which Akane and Ukyou
groaned defeatedly. Once everyone was inside the shelter, they found
Ranma having a staring match with the Aes Sedai while Ryouga was
warming himself to the fire. When everyone settled down inside, Ranma
broke the silence.

  "You're good," he said, smirking.

  The Aes Sedai raised an eyebrow. "If you are willing to make jokes,
then perhaps you would not mind explaining why you felt the need to
confront the Draghkar the way you did?"

  Ranma grimaced. "I got rid of it because it would have followed us no
matter what you did."

  "Oh? And how do you know that?" the Aes Sedai asked coolly.

  Ranma shrugged. "Simple. You and Lan gave me the answer."

  Moiraine's eyes tightened slightly. "What do you mean?"

  "You said Draghkars eat people's souls, right?" asked Ranma.  When he
received a nod from the Aes Sedai, he continued: "So what if they can,
I dunno, 'smell' souls? Remember what I said about Ki? It's an
extension of the soul. I'd bet almost anything that the Draghkar was
homing on either me or Ryouga, because our Ki is so much greater than
any of the others'. When I flared my aura at the river, the Draghkar
homed in on me almost instantly."

  "Why did you choose to use rocks instead of using your Ki?" inquired
the Aes Sedai.

  "You said