.o0o. .o0o.

Far Dareis Mai Ranma By Cloud Dreamer

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga sat by the koi pond fuming. He was finally in the Tendou yard and trying hard not to get lost again. Meanwhile he was 'amusing' himself by muttering imprecations against Ranma. "Why must he interfere in my life and taunt me about my curses. They're all his fault, that honorless coward. How dare he hurt sweet Akane's feelings again! I'll bet every body would be glad if he got lost and . . . got lost, humm."

What can you say, it was a new millennium and Ryouga was due for an idea. He slowly worked it out and grinned to himself as he contemplated his victory. He got up and was about to go search for his nemesis when he reconsidered. He fixed his gaze on the open door into the dining room and by watching carefully, cautiously traversed the intervening four meters successfully. There he waited for his prey.

Shortly Ranma appeared and Ryouga figuratively pounced. "Ranma! I challenge you!" He yelled into his face.

"Smells like bacon," Ranma remarked as he waved a hand in front of his face and grinned at Ryouga's sudden look of discomfort.

Grimacing in fury, Ryouga hissed, "I challenge you to a race Ranma."

"Yeah right, as if you find either the starting or finishing line, pork butt."

Ryouga grinned as he replied, "I seem to recall that I and Ukyou won the last race against you."

Ranma's face darkened as he snarled, "Ok, Ryouga you're on. Name the course and terms and count on losing 'cause it's gonna be just you and me this time. There won't be anybody else to pull your fat out of the fire."

Ryouga pointed to the Tendou dining table; "The table is the finish line. Who ever returns and touches it first wins the race. As far as the starting point, well, I'll have to show it to you. The terms are simple; loser gives up on Akane. Dare?" He snarled as he held out his hand.

If Ranma hesitated, it was too short a time for any of the observers to notice as he replied, "You're on man. Let's go." He paused and grinned as he remarked, "All I gotta do is remember the way we go and it will be a piece of cake with your sense of direction."

Ryouga snickered as he undid one of his bandannas, "Not if you're blindfolded all the way there."

Ranma paused in a rare moment of thought before answering; "I ain't wearing a blindfold if you ain't."

Ryouga hesitated at this obstacle and then smiled as he put a blindfold on himself, "Agreed" he responded happily since knowing the way wouldn't have helped him anyway.

Nabiki captured Ranma's look of dumbfoundedness for posterity just before he shrugged and tied the blindfold over his eyes. "Lead on P-chan," he said, grabbing a strap on Ryouga's ever-present backpack.

Ryouga happened to be facing the house doors at the time and the watching Tendous were amazed as he walked a straight line out of the house and then curved into the dojo.

Nabiki sighed, "There goes the blind leading the stupid."

"Oh, my, which is which?" asked Kasumi.

"I do believe they are interchangeable," groused Akane. She growled, "I can't believe those two would make a bet with me as a prize." Her face softened and she added, "I'm surprised that Ryouga would do that. Does that mean he cares for me?" She paused and laughed, "No, I see it now; he's just trying to protect me from Ranma."

Akane rose to her feet few moments later and sighed as she remarked, "I'd better go get those two idiots before they hurt themselves."

She quickly returned from the dojo, a look of confusion on her face. "I couldn't find them. We were watching the only door, yet they're not there. A look of pain crossed her face as she muttered, "Ranma? Ryouga . . ."

.o0o. .o0o. Elsewhere . . . .

After Ryouga had blindfolded himself, he had paused and then reached out with his ki senses. His were nowhere near as sharp as Ranma's and mainly used only for battle, but he thought that maybe they would help him now. Before starting out he studied what his senses were telling him. He could sort of 'see' a colored path before him. He shrugged and stepped out onto the yellow looking path. Surprisingly he didn't stumble for what seemed hours as he confidently strode along the faintly brick like trail, Ranma pacing behind Ryouga.

Ryouga stumbled to a stop as the mental image of a yellow brick road faded. He grimaced and lifted up on the blindfold. Not seeing anything familiar he shrugged and told Ranma, "Ok, we're at the starting line. You ready?"

Ranma stared in awe at the immense desert surrounding them. As Ryouga started off, Ranma made a move to follow him. Ryouga stopped and said, "Pick your own direction, Saotome."

Ranma hesitated then shrugged as he started back along the tracks they had made. He paused once to look behind him but Ryouga had quickly disappeared. Soon their earlier footprints faded on the barren rock. Ranma looked about himself, somberly studying the desolate wastes ringed with dry stony mountains on two sides. As the sun set, he huddled against a sun-warmed rock when the temperature dropped. He murmured to himself, "Idiot. Following Ryouga, real smart, yeah, world class thinking there. Now I'm so lost I don't got no idea on how to get home. Ryouga's in the same fix except that he's used to it and somehow always gets home anyway. Idiot, I can't believe he actually tricked me."

Ryouga was chuckling to himself as he strode along. His smile grew wider as the canyon he was walking down gradually became a jungle. His smile vanished when he noticed the double suns in the sky. "Ranma, this is all your fault!" he screamed in confusion.

.o0o. .o0o. Rhuidean . . . .

In the tent of the Wise Ones, Amys dreamed as did the other Wise Ones with her. The coming of 'He Who Comes With the Dawn' filled their waking and dreaming minds, but tonight seemed slightly different. She dreamed of a flame haired girl fighting a dragon.

When she arose the next morning, the dreams of the night before were still vivid in her mind. She puzzled over them briefly, but stored them in her mind to consider later instead of allowing them to distract her from her duties to her people, the 'people of the dragon', the Aiel. Today was going to be a busy day if her dreaming the previous several months had been accurate.

That evening, she sighed as she looked in the direction of Rhuidean, the ancient mystic city of the Jenn Aiel. Today the ancient laws of the Aiel had been broken thrice. It was death for an outsider to enter Rhuidean yet the Wise Ones present had allowed the young warrior Rand al'Thor, his friend Matrim Cauthon and the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred to enter there. Since Rand was Aiel by blood, technically he was permitted even though he had been brought up as an outlander. But he was not part of any clan so testing at the glass columns ter'angreal known as the 'heart' of Rhuidean for clan chief was against custom. Mat was not to do so; he was entering Rhuidean only because he had demanded the right to accompany Rand and Rand had convinced the Wise Ones to allow it. Moiraine hadn't thought of going but was accidentally told she needed to enter the ter'angreal 'rings' of the apprenticed Wise Ones in order to perceive all the alternate paths that hers and Rand's lives could tangle together in. Otherwise her death or Rand's or both would result.

She sat down to talk with the other Wise Ones; she knew that it would be at least four and no longer than nine more days before they came back, if they did. Only one out of every three men survived. Fortunately more of the women made it back since their test shattered fewer of their beliefs when it was first taken. This she knew since a woman had to also take the chief's test after her apprenticeship as a Wise One was complete though unlike the men they were not marked with a golden dragon by the columns.

As she gazed to where the city was hidden, she could not know that yet another set of outlander eyes were also looking at the city as well. Ranma had approached the valley from the deeper wastes that few survived, so this approach was not watched. He had already spent two days in the desert and was becoming somewhat desperate when he noticed the misty veil that guarded the city. Hoping for succor, he entered the mists. His guard was up and he felt the energies that attempted to lead him in circles. He resisted them and finally entered the city only to stop when he saw that it was in ruins. He reconsidered that and decided it was abandoned before it was completed.

Ranma hesitated as he noticed a naked dark haired woman jog into sight. He was too tired and thirsty to even blush when he saw her. She paused only a moment before entering into what appeared to be a piece of statuary consisting of three large interlocking rings.

Ranma was puzzled as he noticed she disappeared completely from view yet there did not seem to be anything to hide her. His curiosity aroused, he slowly started toward where he'd seen her only to pause when he noticed the wet footsteps on the ground. Panting, he started into a stumbling run, backtracking the steps until he came to a fountain. It was no longer flowing but the basin was still filled with water. Ranma dove into the water, clothes and all.

Though the water was slightly muddy, that did not prevent Ranma from drinking from it until she could hold no more. She floated in the water, soaking up the moisture, allowing it to sooth her baked flesh. Finally she sat up and looked around. There was nobody in sight. She pondered following the footsteps; she could see that they led toward what seemed a veritable forest of hundred foot tall thin glass columns. In the end her curiosity prevailed and she decided to follow the woman she'd seen earlier. Hopefully somebody could tell her where she was and how to get home.

Ranma hesitated when she was close enough to touch the rings. It was pretty obvious that while there was no place for the woman she'd seen earlier to hide, it was equally obvious that she was not there. The short redhead studied the rings for a few moments, extending her fighting ki senses. She was surprised as she sensed the energy contained in the rings. It wasn't ki and didn't seem to be magical either. She could 'see' it but that was all. She couldn't gather any more information other than it existed and was unlike anything she'd previously encountered.

Ranma thought about what she'd seen and finally decided that it was a doorway to somewhere else. Maybe a doorway home though she doubted she'd be that lucky. Ranma shrugged and walked through the ring. Anyplace was better than here, she hoped.

As she stepped into the ring and disappeared, her wet clothes fluttered to the ground on the other side of it. Not that Ranma noticed. She seemed to be floating in a void filled with slowly shifting colors. In them she saw a confusing multitude of paths before her. No matter if she looked up, down or sideways, there were hundreds of paths spread out as she looked. She noticed that they all involved her living her life as a girl. She saw herself married to Kuno or Ryouga or Mousse or . . . ewww. She shuddered and quickly turned her head. She noticed that each path actually seemed to end well for her, well except that one, ugh.

She noticed that the Nerima paths were fading out slightly, puzzled, she studied several other paths that seemed to grow brighter and saw that the Nerima paths were now contingent upon choices she made in this new world. Ranma grimaced as she realized that she would have to convince some tall, tattooed, fire-haired jerk to open a doorway to send her home. She shrugged as she popped her knuckles; 'that' shouldn't be a problem she grimly snickered to herself.

She studied the guy some more so she'd recognize him and then realized that he couldn't send her home until he had learned the technique elsewhere and she had taught him a few martial arts techniques as a 'power-up' as well. She sighed in frustration; "This ain't fair!" she snarled; "I ain't no babysitter."

In response, she noticed that her attention shifted to other paths. In these, she lived her life in this new world. In many of them she was slain by horrendous creatures. In a few of them she married and raised a family, mostly successfully, but war encroached here as well. Frequently she seemed to live her life as some sort of warrior maid.

"But I'm a GUY!" She yelled. It startled her when the scenes blanked out around her leaving her floating in darkness so complete that it momentarily frightened her. Suddenly she felt a familiar tingle pass over her as her body shifted to its male form. The multi-pathed scene once again appeared before her, but this time it showed the possibilities for Ranma's birth form.

Ranma smiled as he noticed all the different paths that lead to him and Akane being together. The smile faded as he saw that half resulted in his death. Most of the remainder ended in divorce. A few did not, but the cost to him was high. Ranma swallowed hard and wondered if he really could give up martial arts just to keep peace with Akane. Once she became the dominant martial artist in the relationship with him, then she was all smiles.

Ranma's eyes were a bit blurred as he turned away and then studied the few paths that had him married to Kodachi. He shuddered and decided that the unmentionable marriage on the girl side wasn't all that bad in comparison.

Life with Ukyou seemed to fall into two categories, either she was wildly happy or he was. In either case, they both seemed content, but which case depended on whether or not Ukyou was focused on being a wife or 'the best okonomiyaki chef in the world'. Ranma sighed as he realized that a partnership with her would be flawed for one of them.

Speaking of partnerships, him . . . married to Nabiki? No way! Ranma peered closer, yep, and pretty happy too. Seems Nabiki got a kick out of making Ranma happy. Who would have guessed? He grinned as he stored that information for further consideration though it bothered him that there were actually only a few paths for them where he and her actually got together. Not surprisingly, most of his other paths with Nabiki involved some sort of business arrangement that was not to his favor or liking.

Ranma sighed as he looked at the last of the paths that were grouped with another individual. There were a lot of seemingly random paths involving girls he'd barely or never met, those he ignored. But Shampoo was not a girl to be ignored. Ranma glanced over the paths with her, surprisingly; not a few of them showed him with multiple wives, mostly Amazons. But a few also had either Akane or Ukyou with him and Shampoo; fewer still had both. But it was a real eye opener to realize that Shampoo eliminated the negative impacts of either girl. Almost all of the time lines with Shampoo turned out ok. Unfortunately, most of them ended up with Ranma living in China and eventually taking a subservient role to Shampoo as she matured. Ranma scratched his head confused as to why his future self looked so happy though. Must be potions he concluded at first. On second thought, 'maybe it's not potions' he muttered to himself as he noticed how many kids he had in these timelines.

Once again the Nerima paths faded somewhat in intensity and revealed themselves to now be dependent on his actions in this new world he found himself in. Ranma sighed as he realized that he was in fact in another world. The rings had revealed that to him when they showed his future possibilities. Still it was hard to accept. All of the paths started to fade into a few choices. In one grouping, male Ranma lay dead in a few weeks, in a thousand different ways. In another grouping, Ranma fled back the way he came, again there were a thousand sub-strands. In one, he found Ryouga and followed him to freedom. Even as he watched, this option faded. In a few others, he escaped over the mountains to end up a slave. In almost all of those that remained, he died in the wasteland. There were a few nebulous paths where he couldn't see the start or the end but saw clips of possibilities. A few of these featured him sharing his life with . . . with his cursed form? 'Whoa, weird,' he thought to himself.

In the last major grouping of paths, Ranma saw himself become a girl and the path became those paths he'd seen for his girl side. Teach and defend somebody who was marked with some weird dual tattoos on his arms until that person was able to open a path home. At that point the path split several times. On one major path, he saw the Nerima crew and the girl/guy choices he'd already seen for home. On the other path of this initial split, the one where he did not use the gate home he saw yet another split. On one sub-path, he saw all the womanly and warrior Maiden choices again. But on the final remaining sub-path he saw nothing. Not that there was not a path, there was but it seemed to turn a corner and was no longer visible. But one of the shadows he saw on this path seemed to be male.

Ranma snared, "BULL, there ain't no way I'm gonna live as a girl!" At that moment, he tumbled to the ground. Ranma shakily looked about himself. Noticing he was naked, he hurriedly put his clothes back on barely noticing that they were now dry. He then stumbled back to the fountain to get some more water. It seemed to him that it had been days since he'd last drunk anything again. Ranma paused as he looked into the basin, over half the water he'd seen before was now gone.

He shrugged and drunk his fill, thankful that the sediment had settled and the remaining water was clear. Ranma decided that perhaps the two guys who'd made the tracks he'd first followed might have some ideas. He'd follow them and talk with them, couldn't hurt he supposed.

As Ranma entered the first of the glass columns he felt a moment of disorientation. It seemed as if a message flashed across his eyes; a very strange message, yet vaguely familiar in a way. Humm, his friends Hiroshi & Daisuke had used words like it and Nabiki had named it 'techno-geek-speak'. Yeah, that was it. What did 'thread failure', 're-sequence' and 'null option override' mean anyway? Was this thing some sort of computer or what?

'Or what' he decided. He'd vaguely heard of something called virtual reality, this sure seemed to be like it, sorta. Ranma lived part of Genma's life as he trained under Happosai. For the first time he felt some sympathy for his father.

Ranma took another step forward. He then lived parts of Happosai's life as well seeing what drove him to develop his school.

Yet another step between the glass columns, then it seemed he saw the blood lines of his parents briefly flicker backwards in time before fading into a stylized dragon symbol.

Ranma shook his head, he noticed two men some small distance in front of him. One was on his knees and even as Ranma watched, he fixed a black cloth over his lower face and screamed "I am Aiel" as his mouth spewed bloody froth. His fingernails ripped his throat open; he fell over, stiffened and was still. Ranma hesitated then realizing that nothing could be done, he looked to the second man. The other had ignored them both and unsteadily took another step forward between the columns, vanishing from Ranma's sight again.

Not wanting to lose sight of him, Ranma hurriedly took another step toward him only to once again be plunged into another reality. This time he seemed to be in a weird sort of 'overview'. He wasn't anybody or anything, but he could perceive what was happening in the world. He saw a wondrous world below. It was much like home in so many ways. The technology was high and the land peaceful. Then the world broke. Ranma saw the people scattered and saw their attempts to survive and make a new world for themselves. He wondered at a feudal world that seemed to be manipulated by sorceress-like women who lived in a white tower. He saw the origins of the city he was in and the people who guarded it. He shuddered again at the harshness of their life and the fierceness of the elder women who guided them. They reminded him so much of Cologne in everything except height. They were all rather tall, he noted, and very powerful it seemed.

Ranma stumbled past the last of the glass columns and fell to his knees, dizzy. He saw the tall man he seen earlier, but this time he was with another man. They were fighting dust? No, animated dust devils he realized. Suddenly the taller man drew energy to himself and used it to disrupt all their opponents. The two fled into the mist before the creatures could reform.

Ranma marked where the two men had gone. He hesitantly started forward, but the disturbance ended before he neared the rippling dust. Cautiously Ranma once again entered the mist and made his way out of it. He paused on the other side and noted that dawn was approaching. Ranma searched for tracks and eventually located some that he hoped were those he needed.

Ranma lost the trail a few times so it was nearly mid-afternoon before he saw the tents spread out on the hillside above him. There were three groupings, two large ones with a much smaller one between them.

Mindful of the harsh images he'd been shown in the unfinished city in the valley behind him, Ranma decided to approach the smaller tent grouping first.

Ranma was barely a hundred feet from the first tent when a white-haired woman left the tent and stared at him in shock. He saw her eyes widen at something she saw on him. Puzzled, Ranma examined his clothes, stopping suddenly when he noticed the golden dragon like tattoo on his right arm. As he lifted it to his face to see better, the old crone gave voice to an undulating wail.

In moments, hundreds of armed warriors had rushed to stand about a hundred feet away in two groups on either side of Ranma

A fiery haired angry man snarled, "So Wise Ones, yet ANOTHER outlander at Rhuidean. What is your justification this time for flaunting our ancient laws?" Ranma could see that this one was aching to kill yet he was held in check by the cold eyes of the four women who were now standing together. Ranma shuddered as he sensed their auras of authority.

The one who had sounded the warning chuckled. To Ranma it sounded like the laugher of Cologne on being told that Happosai had developed a cold and needed her help, mirthless and merciless too. She looked at the man as she pointed to Ranma and said, "Twice now you have nearly broken the 'peace of Rhuidean'. To 'honor' your obedience to our laws, I now give you, Couladin and the Shaido, the task capturing this outsider. You must take him at least a full day's travel from Rhuidean before you kill him though."

"But why?" asked Ranma. "I'm a stranger, lost in the desert. I did nothing wrong in the ruined city, certainly nothing worth dying for."

Before they could answer, a tall man in the opposite group of warriors spoke. "I am Rhuarc, a clan chief as is made known by these markings," he answered as he raised his left arm to show a golden dragon tattoo. He pointed to Ranma, "You are marked as well but on the wrong arm. That shows you have entered the heart of Rhuidean which is forbidden to an outsider. By our laws you must die."

With that, the several hundred Shaido Aiel in the opposite group converged on Ranma. Ranma leapt high over them and made a run for their tents. Rhuarc's Jindo sept clansmen were soon engulfed in laughter as they watched Ranma dodge through the Shaido tents and make mockery of their skills.

Ranma didn't think it was funny though. His fists had laid nearly fifty of the men out cold before he encountered the first of the warrior Maidens. She had momentarily decked him, but her cry of triumph became short lived as he leg swept her and then tossed her into the oncoming warriors. Her hard body caught them at shin height and the entire front rank tripped and knocked those following them off balance too. The howls of laughter from the opposite Aiel camp didn't help either.

Momentarily alone, Ranma swept a water bag up and upended it over his head, triggering his curse. She quickly tossed a blanket around herself and sat down as the horde swept into the tent. She quickly pointed and said, "He went that way." They were gone in a moment. Ranma sighed until she noticed the girl she'd tossed was staring at her.

"Who are you?" The warrior Maiden asked.

Ranma gulped knowing that any version of the truth would be fatal. "Un, I . . . I'm part of that tall red-headed guy's group."

She frowned, "You mean the one who claims the title of 'he who comes with the dawn'; the outlander who was allowed to go to Rhuidean, the ones who hides with the Wise Ones now?"

"Uh, yes? I think so."

The girl snarled, "You abuse the peace of Rhuidean, get out of my tent, NOW!"

Ranma dropped the blanket and stepped out of the tent. She slowly made her way back to the small group of tents, heart in hand. She glanced at her arm and was both thankful and puzzled that the golden dragon tattoo was absent. From the paths she'd been shown, she knew that this part of the trail was precarious indeed. The suspicious eyes that regarded her only reinforced her discomfort.

As she approached the tents, the same white haired old crone she'd first seen earlier stepped out; she stopped in mid stretch and froze in place staring at Ranma.

About then Couladin came panting up and snarled, "Amys! Yet another outsider at Rhuidean?"

Before he could continue, Amys, the Wise One before them, barked, "And have you caught the last one I gave you yet? NO! Then go and do as you were told."

Face flushed with fury, Couladin stomped off but not before snarling, "She wears similar clothes. She must be in league with him. She is not to be trusted. No outsiders can be trusted."

Amys held the tent flap open and beckoned to Ranma, "Hurry girl."

"I ain't no . . . awh, never mind," she grumbled as she quickly entered the tent. Once inside she paused at the sight of the others, but Amys pushed Ranma to the floor as she entered behind her. Amys paused as she laced the tent flap closed, a signal that the Wise Ones were not to be disturbed.

Ranma glared at Amys and snarled, "You . . ." Only to be cut off as other three Wise Ones abruptly sat up in eerie unison, each glaring at her as Amys had and was.

"Unh oh," muttered Ranma as she prepared to flee once again.

The battle spell was broken as Egwene smiled and passed a water bag to Ranma. Ranma sighed and visibly relaxed as she gratefully drank the cool water.

"Girl," started Amys only to be interrupted by Ranma.

"Name's Ranma ya old hag," stated Ranma nonchalantly.

Ranma became aware that the girl and two of the older women were suddenly building up some kind of energy field. She thought to herself, "Well, I can play that game too." Ranma formed a ball of ki in her hand and held it there. Suddenly she felt the other's energy sliding over her but it seemed to be repulsed by the ki that was flooding her being.

"Amazing," one whispered.

"It's not saidar," stated Egwene. "I can't shield her."

"The flows of air that I weave just slip or flow off her," said a surprised Amys.

"Enough!" snapped Bair. "Are we Shaido to also break the peace of Rhuidean just because we are in our tents?"

The others sat back, Bair turned a harsh eye toward Ranma, "Girl, you should show some courtesy to your elders."

Ranma paused and then quietly observed, "Ya know, it's odd. There always seems to be some old woman or perverted old man demanding courtesy but somehow they never bother to follow their own advice. They demand what they refuse to show others."

Bair's stone face impossibly stiffened even more before she sighed and said, "Ranma, my apologies. My name is Bair, be welcome to my tent."

"Bair," Ranma bowed slightly and added, "thank you for your hospitality."

Bair smiled and said, "I am surprised to see you here though you were expected."

Amys looked at Bair, "You dreamed of her too?" At Bair's confirming nod, she looked to the other two Dream-walker Wise Ones. They also nodded. Amys said, "I dreamed a flame haired girl was beating on a dragon . . ."

"But the dragon became stronger the more she beat on it . . ." said Bair.

Seana continued, "But when the girl was absent the dragon became weaker and slothful and . . ."

". . . took unneeded harm because of it. The dragon was stronger when the girl beat on him," Melaine finished.

"Ranma," asked Amys. "Where do you come from?"

Ranma pointed toward Rhuidean.

"Where is your home and who are your people?" asked Egwene. "You don't look Aiel except for your hair."

Ranma hesitated, oh, well, it really couldn't get worse, she hoped anyway. "I'm not from this planet. Someone who I thought was a friend tricked me into getting lost on this world away from my own."

Egwene's brow furrowed, "You mean you are from one of those other worlds that the portal stones can take us to?"

Ranma was at her side in an instant, "Portal stone? You mean there is something that lets you go to other worlds? Can you get me home?"

Egwene was startled, but she answered. "Well, they do go to other worlds. But right now Rand is the only one that knows how to use them and only barely at that."

Ranma gently slapped her palm over the center of her face and muttered, "Let me guess. Rand is some tall, red-headed jerk with twin double tattoos."

"You've met him?" wondered Egwene.

Ranma sighed, "No, in the rings, I saw him and how my only chance to get home was by training him in my fighting styles until he learned enough and grew strong enough to be able to send me home." She paused then said thoughtfully, "Though that guy I saw in glass columns looked a lot like him."

"In the rings?" gasped Bair, eldest of the Wise Ones there.

"Did you enter the rings?" asked golden haired Melaine.

The Wise Ones sighed in unison as Ranma nodded.

"Tell me you didn't go to the glass pillars," pleaded Seana.

At Ranma's answering flush they all slumped further into the pillows they were leaning on.

"Fighting style?" Amys asked, "are you a warrior then?"

Ranma's cocky smirk spread across her face, "The BEST. I am Ranma Saotome, the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, one of the most dangerous styles in my world."

Seana snorted and stated, "That's unimportant. What are we going to do about her going to Rhuidean and not only taking the test for apprentice Wise One but the final test as well? If she were Aiel, she'd be considered one of us, a Wise One, despite having no training at all.

Melaine sighed and asked, "Ranma, you are dressed the same as another outlander who violated the laws of Rhuidean today. Is he a countryman of yours? Are there more of your people to come?"

Ranma hesitated, she was NOT going to tell about her curse until she absolutely had to, so she needed some sort of answer that wasn't truly a lie. Ranma knew she had the world's worse poker face and she also suspected that the four older women at least could tell if she actually lied outright. Ranma slowly replied, "He's a kinsman of sorts. And it's just the two of us." She smiled and added, "I can say this, he won't bother ya as long as I am around."

Seana studied the short girl for a few moments before observing, "You know, with her fiery hair and matching complexion, she could pass for Aiel except for being so short."

Bair thought for a moment and added, "That might work. But we need a plausible reason for her to be teaching fighting skills to the Car'a'carn."

"Huh?"

Seeing Ranma's confusion, Egwene volunteered, "She means Rand. That's his Aiel title; it means chief-of-chiefs."

Amys looked at Ranma and then at Bair. "There is a precedent. Rand's mother was an outsider who was adopted into the Maidens of the Spear. If she was to become a Maiden; that would allow Ranma to teach Rand."

Melaine thought for a moment and then slowly said, "There are rumors of Aiel families and holds of small almost renegade septs that live in isolation on the edge of the great waste where it is said that none can survive." She paused, noting that she had their attention, "and Ranma did say she came to Rhuidean from that direction."

Amys nodded and replied, "I will claim she is of the Taardad clan, of a previously unknown sept, the Saotome sept and hold, which has perished, leaving only herself. My husband Rhuarc is clan chief, I will ask his backing."

Ranma started to protest only to subside as she realized that strictly speaking, she was the only Saotome on the planet. She looked to Bair and asked, "What do I need to know in order for this to work?"

One or the other of the four Wise Ones spent several hours taking turns briefing Ranma on Aiel culture. Ranma surprised Egwene at how readily she absorbed some of the information. It appeared that many of the Asian honor and 'face' concepts bore a strong resemblance to the Aiel ji'e'toh. For her part Ranma explained about ki. Egwene and the four Aiel Wise Ones were very surprised to learn that it was a visible use of Ranma's own life energy.

That evening, Ranma slept in the same tent as Egwene and early the next morning was introduced to Aviendha whom Ranma learned had returned from Rhuidean only an hour after she had. Amys instructed her to teach Ranma the ways of the 'Maidens of the Spear'. The last part of this instruction was very brief. Ranma demonstrated her mastery of combat, tossing Aviendha on her tail five times in ninety seconds despite the Aiel girl using her weapons and Ranma being nominally unarmed.

Once the match was complete, a fuming Aviendha began to systematically destroy her weapons.

Ranma stood there, stunned as she watched what appeared to her to be a temper tantrum.

Egwene came and stood beside her and whispered, "It has nothing to do with her loosing those matches to you. She was ordered to leave the Maidens and become an apprentice Wise One. She is required to destroy all her weapons." She needlessly added, "She's not happy about it either."

Ranma thought about it for a few moments before snickering softly, "At least 'my weapons' can't ever be taken from me."

Amys escorted Ranma to the Jindo tents of the Aiel warrior society, the Maidens of the Spear and introduced her to Adelin, one of the older warrior Maidens.

Adelin tested her, tests that Ranma passed due to Amys and Aviendha's coaching. Soon Ranma was taking the oaths that made her a Maiden of the Spear, the Far Dareis Mai. Promising to not marry or have a family as long as she was a Far Dareis Mai was easy for Ranma to do. For the next two weeks, Far Dareis Mai Ranma was mostly sequestered until she had learned the rudiments of Maiden hand talk and some of the lore of her new society and people.

For the time being, Ranma had resigned herself to living as a warrior maid. The kill on sight orders for her male form still stood and this desert was a long way from anywhere else she could live. There were a few bright spots though.

The second morning since she had become a 'Maiden' started early for Ranma. Nervous from sleeping in the midst of a tent full of mostly nearly nude Maidens, Ranma woke instantly as another Maiden leant down to waken her. She had quickly become a fast friend with Enaila, a short redhead of the Jarra sept of Chareen Aiel. Enaila could have been mistaken for Ranma's twin sister, the two looked so alike. Their friendship started when the two met that morning and Enaila had noticed that she could look Ranma straight in the eyes, finally, someone who was not taller than herself. Her grin had sparked one on Ranma's face, of such trivialities are friendships born.

During these two weeks, the only time Ranma was allowed out of the Jindo Far Dareis Mai society area was for an hour just at dawn. At both Bair's and Amy's insistence, Ranma began to teach Rand some hand-to-hand skills. For the rest of her day, various Maidens taught Ranma.

Each morning as Ranma woke Rand up for training, she noticed that Aviendha was not taking her change in status very well as she sulked; reluctantly talking to Rand only when forced to while all the Aiel who had been at Rhuidean began to march toward the 'golden bowl' where the announcement that Rand was chief of chiefs would be proclaimed. Despite Aviendha's attitude, Ranma was puzzled by the glares that the other girl directed at her. 'She couldn't be jealous?' thought Ranma to herself.

It was a long boring two weeks for Ranma. There had been a brief battle of some sort the third night out or so. Ranma shuddered at the memory.

"Gah!" yelped Ranma as she saw her first ever Trolloc, dead like all the others that had attacked them. "What the hell is that thing?" she asked her friend Enaila.

"One of the Dark One's minions," responded the wary Maiden as she kept glancing about herself. Ranma studied the carcasses and decided that the 'no-killing' precept of her school did not apply to such creatures; especially after Enaila had told her some of their less savory habits such as making stew from children.

Both she and Enaila had missed the fighting. Ranma because it had ended before she'd fully awakened, much to her disgust and the irritation of her mentors. Her mentors had thereafter begun a training program of their own involving sneak attacks on her when she appeared to be sleeping too soundly. They did not expect Ranma to retaliate in kind. It turned out that Enaila had a broad mischievous streak and quickly grew to consider Ranma almost a first sister. With her guidance and Ranma's skills, a good night's sleep became somewhat rare for all in the Jindo Maidens' tents. More than once, the two of them used their uncanny similarity to each other to deceive the other Maidens as to who they were dealing with.

Ranma carefully fluffed the pillow and arranged the improvised wig to strengthen the impression that it was Ranma asleep on the pallet in the small tent she now shared with her friend Enaila. Just before the two of them left, Ranma refreshed the pool of hot chi that was trapped within the confines of the tent.

Enaila grinned at her as she also finished with her part of the bait. Both of them faded into the shadows as they prepared to wait out the attack that they had overheard being planned on them.

Ranma snickered silently to herself as she watched the approaching shadows carefully avoid the path and entrance to their tent. Only a few nights earlier she had used her ki to dig a pit in front of the tent opening and fill it with as fine a dust as her ki could sweep into the hole.

The memory of the results was delicious to say the least.

The three Maidens who had decided to startle Ranma and Enaila had jumped into the front of the tent entrance screaming out a war cry. Well, that had been their intention anyway. Their screams changed crescendo as they vanished out of sight into the dust pit.

Ranma had used her ki to encourage the resulting dust plume to fall over those Maidens who had answered the resulting shrieks. None were particularly pleased; especially when they looked into the tent to see that Ranma and Enaila were both apparently still sleeping; though it was admittedly hard for the two redheads to suppress their giggles at the time.

Ranma had later learned that those involved had tried to use the sweat tent to get clean only to end up covered in mud. That had frustrated those Maidens all the more. The laughter of the other Maidens hadn't helped the matter either.

However, tonight they planned for something else.

Ranma watched as the shadows resolved itself into a dozen Maidens who each cautiously peered into the tent to assure themselves where their quarry was positioned.

Ranma noticed that each of then carried some sort of container. Enaila later told her that each basket contained either an irritating herb or insect; nothing life threatening, but something sure to make their life miserable.

As the other maidens had advanced, Ranma had slowly circled them wrapped in her father's cloaking technique while laying down a thick layer of cold chi that was unnoticed in the cool desert night.

Ranma and Enaila grinned at each other as each of the other Maidens simultaneously stepped forward, slashed the tent in a dozen places and tossed their basket into the tent hole they had just made.

Before their adversaries could retreat, Ranma 'ignited' the hot and cold chi she'd laid down. A small tornado formed instantly and was then fueled by the other Maidens' excitement. It wasn't particularly dangerous, other than the fact that it swept the dozen Maidens into the tent and then lifted everything a few meters into the air. It also caught up another two dozen watching Maidens who responded to their shrieks. These Maidens all ended up experiencing what they had planned for Ranma and Enaila.

Ranma and Enaila could barely stand up for their laughter but this was moderated by fact that they ended up sleeping on the ground the next evening but thought it well worth it. In the following few days, 'defeated' Maidens had more than replaced the belongings that the two diminutive red heads had lost in an effort to restore their own honor. Ranma's original clothes were lost but they were replaced by a half dozen changes of the over shirt and breeches or the cadin'sor that were the normal wear for all Maidens. Ranma's fit her far tighter than her original red silk shirt and loose pants and made her really apprehensive about what would happen if hot water should find her while in them.

On the other hand, Ranma began to teach the other Maidens some of her skills as well. They were very impressed and soon there was a steady stream of Maidens eager to be introduced to this new fighting style. Ranma had been a bit reluctant at first until she'd heard that the Maidens were Rand's bodyguard. She'd changed her mind and now relished her time as a sensei, a role she filled surprisingly well.

.o0o. .o0o.

Somewhere else, Ryouga sighed happily as he looked over the terraced fields and thought to himself; 'Finally! Finally I'm getting back to civilization.' He froze in place as the huge bronze dragon soared overhead. Somehow the sight of a man sitting on the immense beast's neck did little to comfort him.

.o0o. .o0o.

Akane glared at her competitors and snarled, "Leave me alone! I don't know where that baka got himself lost. If you want him then just go and find him."

.o0o. .o0o.

Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Page.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga cursed fluently in at least four different languages as he patted out the smoking areas of his clothing. "Damned electric rodents," he mumbled, "I wish I knew why they always blasted me on sight. It's not like my name was Ranma or anything." He sighed as he looked around and wondered where he was at the moment. He set up camp and as the sun set, he glanced up at the night sky and froze. He did not see several thousand stars; he saw tens of millions. Some were close enough that they were discs instead of points. And the colors, kami it was beautiful and almost bright enough to read by. Ryouga sighed and retrieved his camera. Nobody ever believed him even when he showed them the pictures, but maybe some of the movie studios would pay him for it. He had gotten some good prices for some of his earlier 'retouched' photos. Not that he had any idea of what they were talking about.

.o0o. .o0o.

From Ranma's point of view, it was fortunate that it was her new friend who had introduced her to the Aiel custom of using sweat tents to get clean. The two were looking for a place to plan their next 'attack' on Ranma's mentors and Enaila had dragged Ranma into a small tent that was empty. Enaila had stripped and laid her folded clothing outside the tent. The two were so engrossed in talking that Ranma had followed her actions without thinking about what was going on. Somehow her mind 'saw' Enaila as equivalent to her own girl side since they looked almost identical.

It was only as Enaila paused to toss some water onto the heated stones that Ranma belatedly realized what was happening. She was too frozen in shock to flee or talk coherently at first.

Enaila hesitated, why was Ranma ignoring her? "Ranma, what's wrong? Why are you so red? Are you ill?"

Ranma blushed even deeper from head to ruddy toes and averted her head from her friend. "Sor . . . sorry, I didn't mean to peek at you."

"Peek? What do you mean? Ranma, do you mean to say you're embarrassed that we are unclothed together?" At that the Aiel Maiden began to chuckle; she cut it short when she noticed the increasing chagrin of her new friend. She'd been the butt of enough teasing about her height to become hesitant about teasing Ranma further.

She bit her lip in thought before saying, "Ranma, you've spent a lot of time alone, haven't you? How much family do you have?"

Caught off guard by the unexpected caring tone of her friend's voice, Ranma glanced into her face. Seeing the concern in her eyes as well, Ranma hesitantly replied as she looked away again. "Yeah, me and pop spent 10 years training, just the two of us." She sighed, suddenly a bit lonely. "Now I don't got nobody. It's just me here," she finished.

Enaila gently pulled her into an embrace, "Ranma that's not true anymore. You have me as a friend and you have all the other Maidens as part of your family as well." She snickered and asked, "Do you think we could get away with some of the stuff we've been pulling if the Far Dareis Mai weren't like a family?"

Ranma's answering grin was a bit forced, but it was there. Ranma hesitantly returned the hug before she swept one hand to the steaming rocks and asked, "What's with the steam? Won't it make us all sweaty?"

Enaila chuckled, guessing that water had been too scarce for Ranma to know about the sweat tents. After all Amys had said that Ranma had grown up on the edges of the waste, she was probably used to sand baths or else walking upwind of herself. Enaila then explained how the Aiel used the sweat tents and skin scrapers to get clean without wasting a lot of water like the wet-landers did.

It took a bit of effort on Ranma's part, but for the sake of her new friendship, she adjusted to this new experience as well. On the other hand, Ranma was glad to get clean and thankful that her own sweat was not hot enough to cause her to change into her birth form.

Unfortunately, the other Maidens soon caught onto Ranma's shyness and thereafter made every effort to tease her as revenge for their lost sleep. They often crowded into the sweat tents with her so close that Ranma was sure that if someone else entered or sneezed, she'd pop out the top expelled by the press of bodies and lubricated by their sweat. Nor was it uncommon for a naked Maiden to wander near Ranma as she trained or taught in the Maiden's area. The giggles and guffaws of the other Maidens as they enjoyed Ranma's frustrated embarrassment clearly said that it was not accidental.

The night they arrived at the Cold Rocks Hold would have convinced Ranma that this was really another world if nothing else had by then. She and Enaila slept very lightly now and the faint 'crooning' of the draghkar snapped them awake almost instantly. Ranma felt her danger sense screaming at her and immediately cloaked herself in the umi sen ken as she rapidly slipped toward the noise that hissed evilly to her whole being. Enaila attempted to follow but lost sight of the other redhead for a few critical moments. When she next saw Ranma, she was locked in mortal combat with a creature from the very depths of evil according to the Aiel lore.

Ranma had come upon a winged creature just as it swept its wings about one of the Wise One Dream-Walkers. Seana held a knife motionless in her hands and a look of horror on her face as she was enveloped by what Ranma perceived as a vampire. Ranma launched a brutal attack at the creature knocking it back away from the woman. Seana fell motionless to the ground and Ranma's fury went from hot rage to utterly cold anger at the older woman's senseless apparent death.

The creature turned its hypnotic attention on the intruder only to discover too late that Ranma's battle aura shielded her from its effects. Ranma had attacked it again and come close to breaking its wings off as well as breaking both arms. Furious, the creature sprang into the air, both arms hanging loosely as it searched for an easier target. Understanding the danger to others, Ranma flared her aura, condensed the energy and literally 'lased' it toward the creature hanging in the air out of physical reach. The blue-white hot beam blasted the creature into pieces in the air, instantly igniting it. To the side, Ranma saw a second creature burst into flame as Rand arrived amid the urgent sounds of alarms resounding throughout the hold.

As Rand passed by, Ranma quickly turned to Seana. Enaila was there before her and was just in the process of covering the Wise One's face. Ranma hissed, "NO, I won't accept this. She was one of the first to welcome me; I won't lose her to a worthless enemy like that."

Ranma listened for a heartbeat, none. She started CPR only to be stopped by Enaila who said, "Let her go. Those creatures eat the soul before they take the life."

Ranma paused as she thought about that statement and converted it into her terms. The creatures ate the chi or ki energy before they killed; then maybe there was another way depending on whether or not Ranma had stopped the vampire like attack in time.

Ranma once again flared her aura but this time it was a soft golden color that reflected the concern she felt for the other woman. The aura flared out then condensed back toward Ranma who directed it over Seana as well. It resisted this effort and Ranma was forced to exert additional energy and attention to doing this and so missed seeing that a portion of her aura was also affecting Enaila whose hands were placed one each on the other two women. Ranma sighed with relief as she sensed that the source of this resistance was a fragment of Seana's own 'soul' or weak aura. Ranma knew that if Seana could be stabilized, then this fragment could replace all that was lost given time. But that meant forcing some of Ranma's ki into Seana to substitute for that stolen from her.

Ranma delved deep within herself for more energy as she did this. She was not very expert at this, only having done something similar once before when she'd fought Saffron and called Akane back from near death. As a result, a lot of her memories and emotions were unintentionally pulled out of her as well. She forced the condensing aura to flow from her and fill Seana. As she did, she could feel a void in the older woman being filled. She was also relieved when the other woman suddenly convulsed and started to gasp.

Enaila's life force had not been damaged during the attack and thus partially resisted Ranma's unintentional attempt to force itself into her. Still, such was the power of Ranma's aura that some mixing of auras occurred in her. Some of Enaila's weak untrained aura also back flowed into both Seana and Ranma before Ranma finally halted her efforts.

Seana slowly opened her eyes to see that frustrating pair of redheads leaning over her. Both of them had certainly caused havoc in the Jindo Maidens tents, yet she somehow couldn't fault them for it anymore. Her mind seemed filled with confusing memories of an arrogant young male as he struggled to make sense of a chaotic world so different from this one. Some of the memories reminded her of Enaila as well. All in all, the whole thing was very reminiscent of her experience when she'd gone to the 'heart' of Rhuidean so many years ago. "I thought I died. Either I didn't or I'm else I'm in hell seeing as the two of you could hardly have ended up elsewhere."

Ranma weakly rolled her eyes heavenwards and smirked; "What! You wake up to a vision of couple of perfect angels and that's all you can say after we pulled your sorry ass back from its just punishments?"

Enaila smiled weakly at the jest. She was frankly confused at the kaleidoscope of confusing memories she'd partially received. Unlike Seana, Enaila was pretty sure that she'd gotten this weird information from Ranma. She'd need time to digest it, but she already felt an emotional link between them though the strong attachment for her that she sensed from Ranma worried her somewhat.

The two Maidens helped the weakened Wise One into her guest room in the Cold Rock hold. Ranma took the time to explain what had happened and how she'd attempted to 'fix' the problem. Seana was in deep shock at the news, but she didn't allow that to cause her to forget her honor obligations.

Ranma was surprised when instead of allowing the two Maidens to leave; Seana insisted that they remain. Growing restless Ranma hesitated long enough for Seana to do what she needed. Seana took bowl, sprinkled a little salt in it, poured a little water in the bowl and then made a small cut in her left palm. She allowed 12 drops of blood to fall in the bowl of salty water as she repeated the name of each clan in turn, ending with her own.

Puzzled and curious, Ranma could only watch though she noticed the faint smile that appeared on Enaila's face as she recognized what was about to happen to Ranma. Seana, paused and then took Ranma's face in one hand. She looked intently at the younger girl and smiled warmly as she poured the dilute mixture of water, salt and her blood over the Maiden with her other hand. "Ranma, by the salt of the Aiel, the water that nourishes life and the blood of a clan mother, I adopt you as my child."

Ranma was stunned. Somebody actually wanted her . . . wanted to be her mother. No katana or threats but just plain acceptance. It shook Ranma in ways that she could not have anticipated even if she'd had warning that this was going to happen.

Enaila grinned and said, "Now you are no longer alone. You do have a family, a family just as if you'd been born into it."

Ranma nodded weakly; weak both from the emotional turmoil and from her efforts that evening. Perhaps that explained the resurgence of old nightmares. Or maybe it was that Ranma remembered them a bit better now. This time though, it was a bit different, just as Ranma was about to succumb to the terror of the cat-fist training like she had so many times in previous nights, somebody appeared in her mind. It looked like her cursed self but acted like someone else, someone familiar, Enaila. She scooped the frightened child out of the pit and rocked him to sleep. For the first time ever, this nightmare didn't end with Ranma screaming in terror. Ranma instead smiled slightly and dropped into a deeper healing sleep.

The journey from Cold Rocks Hold to the Alcair Dal or the 'Golden bowl' was anything but leisurely. Rand was in a hurry, to all intents, pursuing the Shaido. Ranma once again escaped the confines of the Maidens' area during the almost confrontation outside the narrow entrance to the broad bowl shaped natural formation. Ranma didn't understand the conflict but instantly responded when it suddenly turned into a brawl.

Ranma watched in confusion as the Aiel quit fighting when the rain began to fall in sheets in the huge natural bowl shaped canyon. Their wondering cries did not drown out the painful cries of the fallen though. She was puzzled both by their reaction to the rain and their reaction to Rand's statement about how their ancestors once followed the 'way of the leaf'. Neither was particularly new to her; one she'd grown up with and the other had been shown to her when she visited the 'heart' of Rhuidean.

Each clan withdrew into itself though in some cases, members went to their society in another clan rather than join their own clan. The discussions were heated but weapons were no longer being used after the Shaido retreated out of the bowl.

She shrugged and began to help the wounded. A surprising number of now naked, unarmed and passive men began to help her, each seemingly waiting for orders from her. She scratched her head in confusion as she recognized that each of the men was someone that she'd just defeated in the violent riot that had just happened.

Enaila found her shortly afterwards and a casual comment by her gave Ranma enough information that she quickly sought out one of the Dream-Walker Wise Ones. She found her foster mother Seana with a free moment and drawing her aside, asked her what had happened. Seana quickly explained away Ranma's confusion, briefly telling her about gai'shain and the honor that bound them to a year's service as well as the significance of the 'way of the leaf' revelation.

Ranma scratched her head in a bit of confusion still then asked, "I don't really get the significance of all of this, it almost seems that being gai'shain is agreeing to follow the way of the leaf thingy for a year so what's the big deal?"

Seana froze, wondering why they'd never made that connection before. The answer hit her almost immediately; before today, they almost never talked among themselves about what they saw in Rhuidean. She hesitantly replied, "I think that perhaps it has to do more with associating the way of the leaf with those called the 'tinkers' or the 'traveling people' than anything else." She then suggested that Ranma use her gai'shain to help with housekeeping; remarking, "With all the confusion that I hear is now occurring in the Jindo Maiden's tents, you could use the extra help keeping track of your belongings."

Ranma blushed as she recalled the couple of times her clothes had mysteriously vanished and she'd been momentarily naked until Enaila had helped her out. "But Seana, if I have one of them help me, what do I do with the other 37?"

Seana froze other than her head swiveling around to focus on Ranma. "Other 37? Do you mean you counted ji'e'toh on 38 warriors of the Shaido clan in one short battle?"

Ranma blanched, "I'm sorry, but they were attacking my friends. I didn't want to hurt them so I just knocked them out as quickly as possible."

Seana's face paled, as she began to understand the vision they'd seen of this girl just a bit more. She was an incredible warrior, much more than they'd had hints of from just her training sessions. If Rand's combat skills could be raised near to this level, then perhaps his safety and eventual success could become a bit less uncertain. She answered Ranma absently, "That's good, perhaps the others can be turned over to the Jindo Maiden society."

Ranma grinned with relief and quickly sought out Adelin and made the necessary arrangements. Adelin designated the oldest of these gai'shain warriors to assist Ranma personally until honor was completed. Interestingly enough, this battle marked her graduation from Maiden society training and put an end to the practical jokes that had been rampant before this. She had 'earned her spears' in the eyes of the other Maidens even if she was reluctant to use them. From that day on, her twice-daily classes were filled to overflowing and included Maidens from every clan.

One surprising aspect was the number of Maidens who forswore weapons completely in a semi-return to 'the way of the leaf'. Not completely non-violent, but unarmed nonetheless. It was an option that kept many Maidens from the 'waste'.

Many were the wondering eyes among the male gai'shain under the Maidens roof who witnessed this training in the Maidens roof in Rhuidean. Those whose term ended during this period, carried the tale of this new training that seemed to embrace the way of the leaf without ceasing to be a warrior. It was a wonder that spread like wildfire among these Aiel who appreciated a skilled warrior. Many were those men who turned from fleeing into the waste and turned instead to Rhuidean in hopes of finding something similar in their society houses there.

For several weeks now, nothing of significance had happened from Ranma's viewpoint. She spent the first hour of each day teaching Rand elements of her school. The few mediation techniques she used were extremely helpful to Rand as it gave him a method to resolve some of the turmoil in his mind. He resisted some of the training claiming a lack of time until Ranma challenged him one morning in frustration.

"Rand, I'll quit teaching ya as soon as ya can beat me!" Ranma nearly snarled.

Already sore from Ranma's training, Rand grimaced, "Yeah, right. The only way I can beat you is to channel and you don't consider that fair. But I don't care, I don't need to learn all these 'kata' or whatever you call them. I can channel. I don't have the time to spare for this stuff."

Ranma shrugged, "Actually, I don't care if you 'channel' or whatever you do. In fact, I don't care if you use a weapon either. It won't make any difference; I can still kick your ass anytime I want."

The other Maidens near them smiled in anticipation, no matter which one of them lost, they all considered it a 'win-win' as far as they were concerned.

Rand grinned at this irrepressible girl that seemed to have a talent for irritating Aviendha almost as much as he did. She also irritated him nearly as much. He grinned slightly to himself; he was going to miss her training, but not much. "Alright, a match then. No ji'e'toh nor any death or maiming attacks but 'anything goes' otherwise, alright?"

Ranma grinned at how he'd thrown the name of her school back at her. Finally! She thought; she'd be able to get his attention.

In the few minutes that it took Rand and Ranma to prepare themselves, somehow almost every Maiden in Rhuidean found out about the match and selected a ringside seat for themselves. Knowing that Rand would be channeling, the ring was very large, almost 100 meters.

Ranma pulled her aura close to herself. She waited until Rand had set himself and when she felt his 'power' sliding off her aura, she took that as the signal that the fight was on. She suddenly blazed toward him, moving faster than a desert gazelle.

She sheared off only at the last minute when Rand switched the focus of his attack from her to the ground in front of her. As the ground exploded upward in a gout of flame, blasting rocks and dust upward, Ranma frowned. Mind racing over possible tactics, Ranma chose to vanish under the cover of the dust. Cloaking herself with her father's 'silent thief' or umi sen ken technique, she cautiously circled Rand unseen by all.

Rand was worried that he had destroyed the young Maiden for there was no sign of her as the dust settled. He quit worrying when she swept his legs out from under him, kneed him in the stomach with both legs as she pounced on him and then sat cross-legged on his chest as if he were a cushion while he struggled to catch his breath.

"So, 'mighty chief-of-chiefs', now what? Let me guess' you weren't ready and want another chance," grinned Ranma.

Rand grimaced as he heard the chuckles grow to outright guffaws from the surrounding Maidens. "One match never decides an issue. At the least it should be a best of three . . ." seeing the impish grin on Ranma's face he added, ". . . three or maybe even more."

Ranma smirked, "How about best of three every morning until you win?"

Rand nodded and took Ranma's hand as she got off his chest and offered it to help him up. Snickering to himself, he kept the redhead's hand and attempted to throw her. She reversed the throw and attempted to snap kick his jaw only to dodge his practice sword. They both understood that a blow from it would count as if from a real blade in this contest. She grinned at him, the joy of battle lighting up her face and reflected from the faces of the other Maidens. Rand shook his head in wonder; these girls really did enjoy fighting!

His moment of inattention cost him as Ranma seemed to blur toward him. He desperately swung at her but she slipped under the wooden lathes he held and up to him whereupon she pounded his chest and stomach with a flurry of blows. Rand folded over briefly into unconsciousness, oddly thankful that the redhead had carefully avoided the stubborn injury that would not heal. When he awoke, Ranma was once again sitting cross-legged on his chest smirking at him. It was to become a familiar sight over the coming months.

But before that came another attack by the dark ones; a night attack in Rhuidean itself.

Ranma marveled at the deep footprints that these 'hellhounds' left in the solid rock. She started to follow them only to be held back by Enaila, "Ranma, we cannot fight these. It takes powerful weapons to kill them and for an unarmed fighter such as you there is great danger as their touch can kill you."

Ranma paused then nodded, "Alright, I won't hunt them but I will take up a guard position to see that they don't attack those weaker than us." Enaila grinned in response and then followed Ranma as she trotted off toward the building being used as a hospital.

Nearing it they split off from each other, Enaila posting herself by the front door and Ranma concealing herself by the back door. It was only a few moments before Ranma saw a shadowy figure running toward the hospital. She tensed a moment before recognizing Rand's aura. Slipping toward him, she was surprised when Rand jumped as if startled and loosed a bolt of something at her. Ranma easily dodged it by flattening herself to the ground, but the bolt smashed the fountain behind her and heated the few gallons of water in its lower portion to near boiling instantly as well.

Rand had identified Ranma by the flash of his attack and instantly apologized profusely, "Ranma, I'm sorry. These hellhounds have got me spooked and when I saw your shadow coming toward me I fired. Thank goodness it wasn't balefire I used this time. Are you OK? Ranma?" About this time Rand noticed that Ranma was male, the ruins of his tight 'Maidens' apparel showed that pretty clearly. "What the hell are you? You aren't Ranma."

Ranma sighed, "Actually this is my true form Rand. The girl form is due to magic that I have no control over. Either way, I'm still me, I'm still Ranma."

Rand backed away in a defensive stance obviously not believing a word. He paused when he noticed the golden dragon tattoo on Ranma's right forearm. "Now I remember, there was a commotion just before 'Ranma' showed up. They were hunting down another outsider that had violated Rhuidean at the same time nearly a month ago. They never did find him, which is really strange since there was no place for him to hide for that long."

Ranma answered the question by scooping out some of the cooler water from an unbroken part of the fountain. As he splashed his face, Rand could see the near instantaneous change to female that occurred. As Ranma repaired her clothing as best she could, Rand noticed that the tattoo had disappeared. "Ranma, what happened to the tattoo?"

Ranma shrugged, "Don't know; must be guy thing as none of the wise ones have them either and all of them also go to 'heart'. Well they did before you broke it when you tilted the city."

Rand sighed, "Yeah, that was unfortunate. But with the secret out I'm not sure what role the 'heart' would play anymore."

"Education," was Ranma's one word answer.

Rand sighed, "Yeah, you probably have a point there." He paused and then observed, "It may be for the best that it's not working anyway, there have been a number of warriors who've tried to get themselves marked as clan chiefs." He mumbled to himself, "I wish I knew why it keeps asking for new shoes though."

"Huh?"

Rand looked over at Ranma, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that the 'heart' keeps saying 'reboot required' and nobody is sure what it means."

Ranma scratched her head, "Ya know, that sounds sort of familiar. Anyway what are ya going to do about my secret?"

Rand nodded, "Ranma, I need to know more about this . . ."

Ranma cocked her face toward him a moment, then sighed in resignation. "Ok, tomorrow night after all this has died down; I'll come to your room. You'll have to ensure that we can be alone, as I don't want this to get out. As far as I know, the death sentence on my guy form is still in place."

Rand thought a moment before replying, "After supper then."

The following evening, Ranma made her way from her room on the second floor under the Maiden's roof and up the stairs to the upper floor where Rand's room was located. Other than the male gai'shain, Rand was the only male to ever to have been allowed under any 'Maiden's roof'. "If only they knew," Ranma sighed.

As she entered the room, Rand wove barriers of air and locked all the doors into the large room where they were. Ranma had earlier changed into some very loose clothing before coming up. She asked Rand, "Can you heat some water for me please?"

Rand instead gestured to the fireplace where a small kettle steamed slightly. Ranma nodded her thanks and then poured a bit of the hot water onto her head. Shaking the steaming water out, Ranma then sat down. He waited until Rand sat down and then began to tell his story.

"Rand, I'm from another world, a world where this one-power you and the wise ones have doesn't seem to exist. But there are other powers instead, such things as the magic that has made my life hell. Someone I once considered to be a friend tricked me into coming into this world. He wanted my fiancée for himself, so he came up with a plan to strand me on this world. He succeeded unless you help me." Seeing the questioning look on Rand's face, Ranma explained. "I not only went into the heart of Rhuidean, I also went through the rings of the wise ones. There I saw all the possible futures that I could have. The only way home for me is by me training you not only to survive better by making you a better fighter but to make your life force stronger as well by training you to use your ki. Somehow that results in you learning to use the portal stones well enough that I can finally go home."

Ranma gestured at himself, "You are the only person who knows this secret so far. The Wise One Dream-Walkers all had a vision that if my girl side taught you my fighting style, you'd be much more likely to win your final battle, so they all conspired to have her become a Maiden and your unarmed combat instructor."

"Ranma, tell me of yourself and your world." Rand asked.

So Ranma did. He told of his world in general, explaining how its history was different and how the technology was something that did not depend on the one-power. He told of his training, his cursing and the last few years of his life with all its turmoil in Nermia.

Rand's only comment was "Why would you 'want' to return to that kind of life? Here, you are respected and needed. What's the point of going back?"

Ranma softly replied, "I could be a man there at least. Here I'm most likely dead unless I live as a girl." Ranma shrugged and added quietly, "I've adapted, but still, at heart I'm a guy reluctantly living a girl's life."

Ranma demonstrated the curse a few more times before Rand was finally satisfied. After he released the wards, Ranma silently made her way back to her quarters ignoring the silently fuming stare from Aviendha.

Rand sat at the table pondering this information before he finally decided on a path that would not only help the Aiel, but also return to Ranma some of the debt he owed the girl for her training efforts.

The morning dawned cold as was usual for Rhuidean, but there were distant clouds that gave color to the sky, a rare event there. It seemed to herald change Rand thought to himself. That morning he sat in council with the chiefs of those Aiel clans that had declared for him so far.

As the meeting neared its normal end, Rand interjected a question. "How bad are the losses to the bleakness?"

Rhuarc answered for all, "More each day."

Rand casually asked, "I have heard rumors that the society houses here in Rhuidean have many who seek an alternative to it."

Jheran spoke up this time. "Yes, there are many who wish to learn the training that Ranma teaches. Her unarmed skills and reluctance to deal death have captured the hopes of many who otherwise are facing the bleakness." He paused then added, "Her ability to resist the power of the Wise Ones who channel also appeals to them as a link to the ancient days."

Rand asked, "What would you say to a new chief, someone to represent the Jenn Aiel and teach this new fighting style to the men as Ranma teaches it the Maidens?"

The shock on their faces told of the resistance this suggestion would meet. Rand sighed and added, "Would you rather these lose their lives needlessly to the bleakness? The Jenn Aiel did follow the 'way of the leaf' in a fashion and the man I wish to proclaim chief has passed the test for chief in the old way. Further he is a distant descendant of the Jenn Aiel for he follows the same style that Ranma follows. If we allow this, then those who would be otherwise lost to the bleakness might find a compromise that they can deal with. Trained by this new chief, they could become warriors to make a difference."

Rhuarc snorted, "You must mean that outlander that showed up the same day as Ranma. The Wise Ones declared his life forfeit." He grinned, "Assuming the Shaido ever caught him." He paused, "I would guess that you know his hiding spot."

Rand nodded, "Yes, and he is Ranma's equal in battle and style. We could say that the reason his golden dragon is on the other arm is because he is of the lost clan, the Jenn Aiel. It is a clan I am also supposed to represent, thus I also have the second tattoo."

The other chiefs sighed, Bael spoke their thoughts, "It's against custom. But it's just another change in the end. We will announce it this afternoon. It will take us that time to summon enough Wise Ones, Roof Mistresses and others of rank to hear us."

Rand nodded, "I will be there with our new chief."

Ranma shuddered as she heard the rumors of the new clan chief, the chieftain of the Jenn Aiel, marked by a chieftian's golden dragon on the opposite arm. She had a foreboding of what was about to happen but couldn't see any way to avoid it, not without giving up all she had gained this past month.

Not even the Maiden's roof was protection from Rand since he was considered an 'honorary' Maiden and could enter with impunity. Ranma was tempted to disobey Rand's summons but in the end realized that this also part of the duty she had to him in her role as an Aiel Maiden and as his friend.

She entered the building that Rand had named the 'Chief's Roof' to the disgust of the Aiel females. Holding a 'roof' was a woman's job, not a man's even if he was a chief. Well, except for the men's societies' roofs. No woman wanted that job.

Aviendha watched Ranma enter Rand's private office and subtly felt the barriers slip into place. Not that she could sense Rand's use of his power, but she could feel how the door no longer leaked air and exuded a solidness like the stone walls. She wondered how the other Maiden would respond to her warning that Rand was already spoken for. The look of disbelief on Ranma's face could be interpreted several ways.

Enaila in turn was watching Aviendha watch Ranma. Her hands flashed a sly comment about how the other girl was learning to be wary of redheads in more ways than one. The reference to Ranma's hair and Aviendha's comment as well as the allusion to Rand's hair and how he had her constantly fuming was not lost on the other Maidens who started to snicker. Aviendha turned away, her face starting to flame.

In the now sealed room, Rand was explaining the situation to Ranma. "So you see, I need you to teach the warriors from the other society's how to fight like you are teaching the Maidens. The problem is that they won't accept a Maiden as a teacher and only reluctantly accept teaching from members of other societies. If you are the Jenn Aiel clan chief then the societies of this newly resurrected clan can be distinguished by their new style that is reminiscent of the 'way of the leaf' in that it's unarmed and only slays those of the dark one. You may save hundreds or even thousands of Aiel warriors from simply turning to the waste and fleeing into what is being called the 'bleakness'. It could make a difference in this whole war as well."

Ranma sighed; it didn't leave her much choice. Not only could she save a lot of Aiel lives that might otherwise be uselessly thrown away, but she could be instrumental in affecting the outcome of the war. Then Ranma grinned, it also meant she could do it as a guy. "Ok, Rand I'll do it; you sure that the death sentence is canceled though?"

Rand nodded and laid out a set of clothing for Ranma. Ranma quickly stripped before using the hot water since she didn't want to ruin her Maiden's clothing. She didn't even notice the blush that spread over Rand's face as he stared awe struck at Ranma's beautiful female form. After transforming, Ranma quickly dressed in the new clothing. It reminded him of some of the clothing that he'd seen worn when he'd viewed this world's history in the 'heart'. He paused in thought before stating his conclusion, "This is the style of clothing worn by the last members of the Jenn Aiel, isn't it Rand?"

Rand nodded, "It's something that all the Wise Ones and Clan Chiefs will recognize. It will influence them to accept this idea. Now, what do we call you? It needs to be something different than Ranma."

Ranma sighed again, this was going to suck but it somehow appealed to him in a weird sort of way. "Call me Ranko. It means 'wild child' in the language of my ancestors."

Rand paused and then asked, "You speak a different language at home?" When Ranma nodded, he asked, "Then how is it that you speak our language so well?"

Ranma shrugged, "Just a couple of weeks before I arrived here, I got into a fight with a minor kami. I had to kill him to save this girl's life. When he died, I seemed to absorb some of his power. I heal faster and have more resistance to heat and I don't have any problems speaking and understanding another language anymore. In fact I hardly even know that I'm automatically translating as it seems so natural."

"What's a kami?" Rand asked.

Ranma thought about it for a moment, but didn't know enough about this world's belief system to put the thoughts into a tactful sentence. "Well, a kami is sort of like a god. But not quite the same as here I think. Not quite as powerful and not necessarily good either.

Rand blanched, "And you killed one?"

Ranma nodded, "Yep, just like you are supposed to go kill an evil version of one." Ranma acted nonchalant as he said this but he closely watched Rand when he did.

Rand started in shock at these words then smiled slightly, "Yeah, I guess that's right. It means that it can be done, doesn't it?"

Ranma answered with a slight grin, "Not without some more training. By the way, with 'Ranko' also teaching, I guess that means you'll get two lessons a day from now on."

Rand glared at the pigtailed man before regretfully assenting. He then said, "Come on 'Ranko', let's get you appointed chief of the Jenn Aiel. You have a lot of work to do."

Ranma and Rand strode out the door into silence. They strode into the center of Rhuidean there to be confronted by the chiefs that had declared for Rand. Behind them were the Rhuidean combat leaders from each of the various societies.

"So you claim to be a descendant of the Jenn Aiel and a fighter without peer." Bael grimly questioned. "We would test this. We see the dragon but we do not know its true significance. We heard once that it marked an outlander, now we hear that it's a sign of the lost clan so we can't really use that as a sign. But the fighting skill, now that we can test."

Ranko strode into the impromptu ring between them. "I am 'The best' when it comes to combat. Test away. How do you want to do this?"

Bael indicated the other chieftains and society combat leaders, "Defeat us and we will accept this change, otherwise we will give you over to the Shaido who shelter with us. I will go first."

Ranko held up his hand, "You are going to attack me one at a time?" At the grinning nod, Ranko shook his head, "No, that's not going to work. It will take too long." Seeing the confusion on the faces of his opponents, Ranko clarified, "Attack all together, that way we can get this over with quicker and it's a better test. Besides I have work to do instead of playing with all of you."

Angry at being 'dismissed' like this, Ranko's opponents glanced at each other and with subtle nods moved into position. They attacked at Bael's nearly unseen signal. The entire battle lasted almost 200 heart beats. Ranko dusted his hands, turned to Rand and said, well the first thing I guess I need to do is establish a Clan Roof."

"No, that is something you DO NOT do. That is a woman's function, not a man's and certainly not a chieftain's." This last was coldly stated by Seana.

Ranko paused, then nodded in understanding. "The Jenn Aiel tribe is small. So far only myself and my kinswoman Ranma are truly part of it. We had claimed Rhuarc's clan since ours was not acknowledged, but with your permission I would reverse your adoption of Ranma. Instead of her becoming part of your clan, I ask that you become part of hers. Will you accept the position of Clan Jenn Aiel Roof-mistress until such time as another is found?"

Seana paused momentarily in shock but her long years as a Wise One came to her stead and she smoothly responded, "Yes, but do not tarry long in catching the attention of a maiden willing to lay a wreath at your feet. I have other things to do than 'baby-sit' a newborn clan."

"Wreath?" stuttered Ranko.

Seana paused and then sighed, "Let me guess, you are just about as ignorant of Aiel customs as your kinswoman?"

Ranko nodded. Seana sighed, "Well, I guess that I'll have to educate you like any other fool man."

Enaila had glanced into the meeting room shortly after Rand and Ranko had left it but was surprised that Ranma was gone. The confrontation had distracted her from seeking her friend earlier but now she asked, "Where is your kinswoman?"

Ranko almost smirked as he answered with a bit of 'Maiden' lore. "She is a Maiden and accepts no man as a guardian. I don't have any idea in other words."

Enaila decided that Ranma's kinsman was a jerk and left in a huff. She got worried when Ranma never showed up at the Maiden's roof for sleep that night. She got more worried when she still hadn't found her friend three days later. The other Maidens were also apprehensive about the missed classes. Her absence also worried the Dream-Walkers who knew the adverse affect the absence of this Maiden could have on Rand's training.

Ranko on the other hand, enjoyed a long hot bath each of those evenings. There was a twinge of loneliness for the other girl, but he didn't know how to juggle both lives at this point. He got a daily class going for his classes almost immediately. For the moment he restricted it to the society clan combat instructors and two of their best students each. These he started teaching with the idea that they could in turn begin teaching the other warriors in these same lessons later in the day. It seemed to be off to a good start.

Rand was relieved to miss the early morning 'beatings' by the battling redhead. Well, at first he was. Then he recalled what Ranma had shared about the true purpose of the training and the potential level attainable as evidenced by Ranma's feats. Rand sighed, sometimes that damned mountain got awfully heavy.

The fourth morning, Ranko, well, Ranma was awakened with a face full of cold water. For a moment she lay there wondering if she was back at the Dojo before seeing a smirking Rand standing there.

Rand tossed the Maiden her normal attire and teased, "I haven't beaten you yet, so you don't get to stop teaching me either." Rand grinned and walked out, just exiting the doorway before a thrown bowl ricocheted off it.

Enaila said nothing but Ranma got the message loud and very clearly that she expected to see her each evening from now on. It was something that best friends did. The other Maidens made it clear that they expected Ranma to be on time teaching her classes in the future though they did acknowledge that she had an obligation to her kinsman Ranko to help with the newly reborn clan. Ranma on the other had also restricted her class size as well. Teaching only those who had offered significant potential and encouraging them to teach the remaining Maidens.

Ranma/Ranko had a lot of opportunity to perfect the umi sen ken technique the next few weeks as he/she used it to switch from one identity/obligation and the next.

Seana was the most difficult of them to deal with since she was the adopted mother of Ranma and the Roof-mistress for the Jenn Aiel clan chieftain Ranko. It all came to a head one morning a week later when the Wise One caught Ranma wearing Ranko's clothing and just starting to pour a cup of hot water over her head. Stunned by the change, she could only gasp slightly as Ranko sighed and said, "Hello mother. I guess you'd like an explanation?"

Ranko explained, and then demonstrated the gender change a few more times. Ranma was surprised that Seana accepted it so easily until Seana cleared it up when she said, "Now I understand the memories that I got from you. Now it makes sense. I assume that Rand also knows?" At her daughter's nod, she continued "But not Enaila?"

Ranma hung her head and softly said, "I don't know how to tell her; at least not without losing her as a friend. She'll feel betrayed even if I really didn't have much choice."

Seana hugged Ranma and said, "We'll figure something out, just don't let this go on too long with her. The two of you are too close a pair of friends for that to be a good thing." She sighed and then reached for the hot water, "Here, I believe 'Ranko' is due elsewhere soon?"

Ranko grinned, hugged Seana and then left, he had a class to teach soon. Another week passed and then things changed dramatically again as Rand set out in pursuit of the Shaido.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga almost started crying as he read the sign; 'Furinkan High School.' He ran toward the school gate and collided with some guy. Ryouga didn't spare him a glance as he kept his eyes on his goal. He skidded to a stop at the gate. Now all he had to do was find someone that he could ask to lead him to the Tendou home.

Keeping one hand on the gate he slowly turned around scanning for somebody to help him. When he was looking back over the way he'd come, he noticed the fella he'd knocked over was slowly getting to his feet. He gulped as he saw Taro empty his canteen over his head. Ryouga looked up into the minotaur's furious eyes almost a dozen feet above his own. He squeaked, "It's Ranma's fault!"

Taro didn't buy into the idea.

.o0o. .o0o.

Nabiki sighed as she finished balancing the books for this month. They were still in 'the black' but the margin was diminishing each week. She chuckled as she thought about how she'd managed to save a bundle on food costs. She'd planted a false lead that Ranma was in Korea and both her father and Genma had fallen for it and left to fetch Ranma.

.o0o. .o0o.

Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Page.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

reminder : Ranma is female Ranma (maiden of spear)

while Ranko is male Ranma (clan chief)

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga was almost into a berserker frame of mind. Taro just wouldn't let up and Ryouga was sure that they were no longer in Japan; the signs in Chinese had sort of given that away. Ryouga had gotten lucky and smashed a hot water pipe an hour into their fight. The spray had put Pantyhose back into his normal form which was unfortunate for him as Ryouga was pissed by this time.

The two young men grappled and began rolling on the ground and then over a small cliff. Ryouga blanched as he noticed the hundreds of pools with the thousands of bamboo poles sticking up in the small valley below.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranko shuddered as he looked over at the bodies hung from the outer walls of the town of Taien. This town marked the edge of the Aiel lands. The fleeing Shaido had 'decorated' the stone outer walls of this border village in the mountain pass before moving further into the so called wetlands before Rand's pursuit. Ranko had to admit that they were wet compared to the arid Aiel desert behind them, but certainly not much more so.

Ranko slowly walked to the tent that was designated as his clan 'roof' or headquarters so to speak. The old dream-walker Wise-one Seana was the clan roof-mistress and between them they were slowly getting their newly reconstituted clan organized. In many ways their new members were considered the rejects of the other clans. Not only did they have all those who had forsworn weapons in order to partially return to the 'way of the leaf' and come to grips with their newly revealed past instead of committing suicide, but they also had all those males who were starting to sense their side of the one-power. This latter group normally went on suicide missions as a way of avoiding the certainly of madness that had afflicted male channelers since the breaking of the world. But Rand had declared that since he wasn't following that custom and as he was 'chief-of-chiefs' then no other male Aiel need do so either; however Rand had declared that all such were to become part of the Jen Aiel Clan; Ranko's problem in other words. Which really sucked since he didn't know the first thing about the one-power other than how to defend against it by using ki.

The problem was compounded by the fact that when an Aiel joined him, oftentimes his or her immediate family also elected to come as well. Ranko had brought the 'warriors' of the clan with him so that he could teach them and had left the rest of his new clan in Rhuidean with the task of making it a home for all of the clan. By the time Ranko had left, the bony ridges encircling the lake Rand had released were beginning to blossom with homes and the flatter lands between the ridges and the lake were being slowly sculpted into farming terraces. Some of the ruins in Rhuidean were providing building materials both for the homes on the ridges and new structures in the city itself.

Rand came into the tent shortly after Ranko entered. He glanced around and seeing both Seana and Ranko seated on a carpet talking together in one corner, went over and sat on the carpet facing them both.

Ranko gave a tired smile before asking, "Yes, 'o-fearless-leader', what can this one do to you . . . I mean, for you?"

Rand grimaced, "Don't you 'do' enough to me during your twice daily beatings of me?"

Ranko only grinned mischievously. Rand sighed and asked, "How are your classes coming. Are any of your clan members up to fighting form yet?"

Ranko sighed and regretfully shook his head negatively. "Not yet. It's been too soon since most of them gave up weapons. They all have good basic skills but it will take a few more months before I can begin to teach them the basic ki skills that I've started teaching you and the various clan senseis." Ranko paused a moment and then thoughtfully added, "As far as teaching you and the other clan sensei anymore skills from my school, well, it's not needed for the moment. I've already taught you more than you can master for the next half year or so." He shrugged his shoulders expressively, "For now you and the others just need to work on what I've given you. You need to master using your ki to increase your speed and strength. Until you actually buildup your ki reserves and start to master it, I can't really teach you all that much more other than a few more advanced straight unarmed martial arts techniques." He added with a half smile, "You do need to practice that too, but the various clan sensei can teach you their skills instead. Since they tend to merge unarmed and armed into a seamless school, you might be better off with them now that I've taught you the basics."

Rand nodded; this merely confirmed what he garnered by talking with the various clan sensei that Ranko had been teaching. Ranko's school was based on ki mastery to make their techniques not only faster and more powerful but it was needed for the advanced techniques to even be done in the first place. He sighed both in relief and frustration.

"Ranko," Rand decided, "I want you to take the rest of your clan back to Rhuidean. Take the time to get the clan setup but also focus on training your people to your standards." He hesitated as he needed to word this carefully; "Almost all of your clan's warriors are made up from people saved from a nearly certain death mostly from despair. I don't think that they will do all that well in battle until you've had a chance to give them back some sort of faith in themselves to replace that which they have lost."

Ranko sighed, he hated to admit it but Rand was dead on in that assessment. He nodded and the three of them rose and walked out of the tent together. A gleam of reflected light caught Ranko's eyes and he glanced up at the mountain towering behind them on one edge of the high dessert pass. He was puzzled to see . . . a city on the mountain?

Rand noticed his inattention and looked upward also. Seeing the ruins of the city well below the snow line on the snow covered mountain; the first and shortest on this end of a series of linked mountains forming an imposing local range, Rand softly said, "I heard that that could be a city from before the world was broken." He paused and wistfully added, "I wonder if there remains anything of value there?"

He tuned to Seana; she shrugged and said, "As far as I know, none of the Aiel have ever visited it, certainly no outsider as we would have killed trespassers."

Ranko studied the mountain, a devilish smile growing on his face as he evaluated the difficulty that it presented. "We will see," he declared. "Just climbing the mountain will be great training for the whole clan."

Seana massaged her temples as she slowly shook her head, 'that idiot' she thought. Aloud she said, "I . . ."

Rand cut her off by interjecting, "Will of course go." Seeing the defiant look of disbelief on the older woman's face, he added, "You are the clan's only wise-one, who else would recognize any items of the one-power that might be found there?"

She sighed in resignation, her bones already aching just in anticipated pain. "I cannot." She did clarify though, "While I have not the power, there are a few other Wise-ones who can and have now allied themselves with our clan. Actually, our clan does have fourteen apprentices and thirty future candidates as well." She added, "Most are with the eight hundred craftsmen, farmers and their families that fled to our clan but remained in Rhuidean to change it into a true home for themselves now that the Car'a'carn has caused a lake to appear."

Rand hesitated a moment, then asked, "How are the Aiel male channelers doing? I haven't had much time to train them, especially since I know so little theory myself."

Ranko shrugged and waved for Seana to answer. She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts, "It's hard to say since male and female channeling is so different and neither can even sense the other sex's use of the power; but it seems to be making some headway. At least they are no longer terrified of it." She sighed, "I'm not happy with the high suicide rate though." She glanced sideways at Rand and then asked, "Is the poison on the male power really that bad? So bad that strong warriors, tested in battle, would prefer death after just experiencing it a few times?"

Rand nodded, "Yes," he softly replied.

Ranko put a hand on Rand's arm as he started to turn to leave, "Rand, I don't have any problems killing Trollocs and stuff like that; but I have to admit that I'm glad I won't be facing people like us in battle."

Rand softly laughed, "I think almost everybody knows that." He chuckled, "Just how many gai'shain have you 'recruited' for your clan in our few skirmishes?"

Ranko chuckled nervously, the jib was all too true but he'd much rather put up with the problems of having too many servants to provide for instead of killing people.

Seana glanced to the side and saw one of the other three Wise-one Dream-walkers off to the side. Amys gave her a sign which she acknowledged. She sighed as she remembered the conversation which had started this particular process.

She recalled when Ranma and Enaila had approached her together almost a week ago and asked to go through the ceremony to become 'first-sisters'. It was pretty obvious to her that Enaila was the one pushing it as there was no way that Ranma could have any idea of what being first sisters meant. Unfortunately, every part of the description of first sisters (well, except sharing the same husband) appealed to the lonely child and she was now even more eager than Enaila to go through the ceremony.

Seana had dutifully made the necessary arrangements. Given Ranma's other planet origin, the four dream-walkers had decided to limit participation to just the four dream-walkers and the two candidates; it was the minimum allowed. Seana had felt it necessary to insist that the traditional questions be modified as well. There was no way that Enaila could survive Ranma's full power slap, yet the ceremony called for just that at one point. It was meaningless to set them up for failure. A new and different question had been substituted for that part.

Seana grinned to herself; she was the only one who knew what Ranma's answer had to be to the question 'what is your greatest secret that you fear your sister discovering?' She confidently expected everything to basically go to the dark one when that question was answered. She had to admit it but she was really looking forward to jerking the rug out from under her friends. She sighed and wondered if the prankster attitude of the short redheaded pair was affecting her.

She turned back to Ranko, "Clan chief, I need to speak to you privately," seeing him hesitate, she added, "Immediately."

Ranko and Rand studied her briefly, then Rand made a final point, "Ranko, do consider setting up a tower for men and women to study the one power in Rhuidean." He then turned and strode off.

Ranko nodded to him then turned to follow Seana into his tent. Seana closed the tent flap, ensuring it was completely closed. She paused a moment and studied the young man before her. She then asked, "Are you sure you want to become Enaila's first sister?"

Ranko nodded, "Yeah," He hesitated and then added softly, "She means a lot to me. She's really the closest thing to family that I've ever really had in both worlds."

Seana nodded in understanding and then said as she handed him a small water bag. "If that is truly your choice, then you are summoned, summoned now."

Ranko gulped. He looked at the bag and asked with a quaver in his voice, "You mean I have to 'go' there . . . I thought that I'd change and 'stuff' where . . ." He saw the sternness in the Wise-ones eyes and he recalled that any hesitantly was equivalent to rejecting the ceremony. This particular ceremony was a one-time only chance as well.

Ranko sighed, upended the bag over his head and then began to strip. Once naked, Seana lead Ranma through the length of the camp to a medium sized tent set up among the rear guard of Rand's Aiel army. Many were the admiring glances that the short redhead received along the way. A few careless males even made a few unwise comments. Somehow a maiden was always nearby to kick him in the family jewels to the laughter of his friends. Ranma was blushing too hard to notice much though.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranma struggled back to consciousness. Somehow she was a newborn baby again, weak, formless and missing somebody. She suckled on the dry teat a few more times before looking up into Seana's sweat soaked face and hesitantly smiling at her mother. She weakly turned her head and saw who she was missing. There was her twin sister Enaila suckling at their mother's other teat. They weakly struggled toward each other and embraced, holding each other desperately, uncaring that they were naked and not alone.

Ranma was acting on impulse at the moment. It seemed somehow that she'd had this weird but totally overwhelming dream of just being born anew. She also recalled how she and Enaila had earlier basically bared their souls to each other, both the good and bad. She grimaced at the memory of the last question; the other three Wise-one dream-walkers had jointly performed this planet's first face-faults while Enaila had looked on stunned before embracing her and sighing, "So that is what those memories meant that I got from you." After demonstrating the curse, they had then been psychologically reborn as twin sisters, first sisters via use of the one-power by the Wise-ones.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranko studied the upper approaches on the mountain that he and his clan had already scaled half way. He nodded as he verified that it was doable for the weakest of the clan and then returned to where the six hundred members of the Jenn Aiel with him instead of in Rhuidean were setting up camp for the evening. It had taken three days of cautious climbing to get this far with today's climb being the worse. Twice Ranko had cautiously used the breaking point to create paths past otherwise insurmountable obstacles. He might not have Ryouga's hide but he did have an excess of ki to shield himself from the worst of the damage. Not that that did his clothes all that much good. Fortunately he had learned to carry spare clothing.

Ranko conferred with the various society leaders and senior roof-mistresses of the clan and ensured that everything was going per his plans and was acceptable to them. They were cautious in their agreement that it might only take another two or three days to finish scaling the mountain. As a desert people, climbing mountains was not one of their more practiced skills.

Ranko's tent was shared by three other people nominally, Seana, Jenn Clan roof-mistress and the first sisters Ranma and Enaila. Few realized that Ranko never slept there.

The next morning, Seana stretched as she awoke and then softly guided to where Ranma and Enaila peacefully slept in each other's embrace, nose almost touching nose. She sighed as she enjoyed the sight and then leaned forward and gently woke them up. "Come, it is time to start the day."

By mid-afternoon of their sixth day on the mountain, they had reached the ruins of the city. It was devastated, showing signs of having endured both a tsunami and an earthquake. Yet it was so well built that only the minor buildings were damaged beyond recognition. All the major buildings were, to some extent, still intact; it made their searching a bit easier. It was a bit disturbing to see how the stone of some of the buildings had actually 'flowed' during the breaking of the world though. In many ways that had caused more damage than the natural disasters that had followed.

Ranko was grinning from ear to ear; he'd found an armory. Of course it had been looted but some weapons remained. Not that any of the few high tech weapons were of any use anymore since their 'conventional' power sources were long gone, but there was a lot of power forged armor for his clan and even some power forged blades of all sizes and types and other weapons that Rand would appreciate (not that the Aiel would stoop to using the few swords). But even more valuable to him were the teaching simulators that he'd found. He'd tested one and discovered that they did teach unarmed combat and even more surprising, they also taught some thing reminiscent of his own ki techniques. He was dancing with excitement and would have cheerfully decided to base his clan on this mountain top despite the chilling cold, when one of the apprentice wise-ones made the discovery that most of the teaching units were modular and could be moved to a new location without affecting their operation. They used direct brain stimulation to get the lesson across the first time without error and then had something like virtual reality where the student could build the muscle memory of dangerous techniques without actual danger to themselves.

Seana sat in the inner doorway of the ancient one-power training hall of the ancient port town of Shorelle and gazed over the library area. The books had all fallen during the earthquake of course, but they were intact nonetheless; the synthetic material they were printed on immune to decay; a veritable treasure trove of ancient knowledge. She shuddered as she looked toward the second floor of the building. The first floor had a very high domed ceiling, but the stairways to the second floor were blocked by what looked like flowing stone. The external evidence of the building indicated that there had been at least three floors to the building, now only the first floor remained intact.

Seana wept, her grey streaked dark tresses covering her face. Of the nine Wise-ones that had decided to join the Jenn clan, only one other was like herself and unable to channel. The others had had to force open the door to the building and after entering she'd found evidence of over a hundred people had battled and died after barricading the door. What she had found within made her fear for her people. She recalled . . .

She had walked into another room taking up most of the first sub-floor. She then looked in wonder at all the artifacts sealed in row after row upon the shelves. Idly she had turned the pages of a massive tome set on a pedestal in one corner and read the index description of each pictured one-power artifact. She had wanted to seal this whole building and hope that its presence would once again be lost in time but knew that once discovered; it could never be hidden again.

Finally she had drifted downward into the next sub-level and stopped in amazement as she read the notices on the walls. It was a means of teaching students how to use the power, and . . . and it was automated and still functioning!

Whether used for good or bad, either way it meant drastic changes to the old ways of the Aiel; perhaps of the world as well.

Midday of their second day there, Ranko met with the leaders of the societies and hammered out a series of tasks for their members to do for the clan. The Maidens and the Walkers were tasked with exploring and inventorying the town. The other societies had protested at first until Ranko mandated that any 'treasure' found was to be equally split among the whole clan irrespective of who discovered it. The remaining societies were tasked with exploring the region behind the city after the remains of several roads were found leading from the city and back into the mountains and passes towering behind the city and the sloping plateau it rested on that jutted out from the mountain like the shoulder of a resting stone giant.

On the fourth evening in the city; she and Ranko sat and talked as they tried to make their plans. She chuckled at his enthusiasm as he told of the movable teaching modules that could be used by most of the clan to become accomplished in the unarmed skills this new clan espoused.

In the end though, it was her plans that would cause the most difficulty. "Ranko, I also found some teaching units for those that channel. Unfortunately, except for only a few of the most basic units, mainly those used for testing, none of them can be moved." She sighed, "We have to make a choice, obviously those that can be relocated, we do relocate to Rhuidean, but as for the rest; well, we either need to guard them or destroy them to keep them out of anybody else's hands."

"There is a third choice," Ranko said softly as he watched Enaila approach with a change of maiden's clothing. Ranko hesitated a moment but then shrugged as he knew that neither female would give him privacy. Sometimes he thought that they took a sort of perverse pleasure in making him blush. He stripped and then quickly poured a large cup of water over his head, catching it in a towel which Ranma then used to quickly towel clean her body before donning the shirt and breeches of the cadin'sor worn by all Far Dareis Mai.

"Rand wants us to establish a place for teaching the one-power much like the White Tower does only it is to be for all Aiel, both male and female and it is to be only a part of becoming a Wise-one instead of an end for that." Ranma held up a hand to forestall Seana's objections. "Not all Wise-ones channel and not all women who can channel are suited to the position of leadership that a Wise-one endures. This new tower, this . . . this desert tower could fill that need and also do much to help Rand succeed."

Seana hesitated; this argument was one that she wasn't sure she wanted to win all of a sudden. She recalled the ancient prophesies that said only a remnant of the Aiel would be saved. It was possible that this 'desert tower' might ensure that this remnant might be even larger.

In the end she nodded in agreement. She added, "I think that perhaps we should remain long enough to test all these devices, both the ones you've discovered and those in the training hall . . . the Desert Tower now."

Ranma nodded as well. Enaila cut the conversation short as she reached out to her sister and pulled her to her feet. "Come, there is an old Aiel custom that I want to teach you about."

"Oh?" asked the other redhead, "what's this one about?"

She grinned mischievously, "Yes, I want to teach you how to make a wreath, a very special kind of . . . ah, wreath."

She glared over Ranma's shoulder at Seana who was choking on some inhaled tea. The Wise-one stared at her a moment before literally falling on her face giggling. Puzzled, Ranma looked at the older woman who couldn't look her in the face without giggling again and then at her first sister before asking, "What's going on?"

Enaila didn't answer but pulled her outside into the cold air on the mountain. The sun was several hours yet from setting as she led the way to a large meadow that had been discovered below the city. The meadow was partially formed by the remains of a huge ancient cargo vessel that seemingly teetered on the edge of a cliff. A small stream was backed up into a broad pond that nourished the flat terrace that had formed behind the dam made by the ship. Ranma whistled in appreciation of the size of the ship. She estimated that it was almost 500 meters long and despite being on the brink of the cliff, it was in fact firmly wedged in place almost upright, just slightly tilted away from the brink of the cliff it rested near. Ranma noticed that the remains of a dozen cargo booms littered the deck, she paused as she realized that several might still be useable or useful for parts if noting else.

Enaila smiled as gazed over the multitudes of blossoms laid out before them; many of them rare elsewhere. She picked up a few strands of ivy and began to weave the dark emerald green vines into a circular wreath while she picked out blossoms that were either scarlet or dark in color. She wanted black but dark would have to do. She deftly began to weave the blossoms into the ivy creating bands of color.

Ranma looked at what she was doing and whined, "Ahhh, do I gotta help? You know I ain't no good at girly stuff like this."

Enaila giggled and simply said, "First sisters are expected to help each other when making these kinds of wreaths."

Ranma sighed, sat down cross legged before the other redhead and began to help, displaying a not unexpected deftness. They finished just as the sun was barely starting to set, "Well, are ya gonna tell me what it's for yet?" Ranma asked.

"Nope," giggled Enaila, "but I promise to tell you what it's for tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Ranma woke up alone as Enaila had already left. Using the hot water provided by Seana (they permitted no gai'shain in that tent to protect the secret of the curse); Ranko began his day.

This particular midmorning was odd Ranko decided. It was odd in that almost every Maiden of the Spears accompanying them had gathered at the armory and was waiting there as Ranko stepped into the main hall.

He noticed Enaila by herself in the center of the huge room holding the wreath they'd made together the day before. Suddenly wary and totally clueless as to the reason why, Ranko slowly walked over until he was almost facing Enaila. As he approached she gave him a subtle signal to stop.

She then closed the remaining distance between them. Several feet away she stopped and whispered so that no one else could hear. "Among our people, the woman is the one to propose. She does so by laying a marriage wreath at her hopeful's feet." She knelt on one knee and laid the wreath at Ranko's feet and asked, "Will you accept me as your bride by picking up this wreath?"

Ranko blushed brightly and suddenly recalled some of the fading visions he'd seen in the rings at Rhuidean. It wasn't his cursed side he was married to it was . . . thought ceased as he also knelt, picked up the wreath, and for lack of a better place to put it, placed it on top of his head as he embraced Enaila. He whispered to her, "That was ornery of you. But I loved it and I love you."

The other maidens began to cheer at first, and then on an unseen signal, they began a dirge. Enaila leaned into Ranko's ear and quickly whispered, "We need Ranma here in a hurry. You have to leave anyway since this next part is a maiden's ceremony. Take the wreath with you."

Ranko nodded and quickly left, retreating into the basement of the armory. A few minutes later Ranma appeared. Enaila briefly wondered where she'd found a set of Maiden's wear and then frowned as she noticed the piece of ivy in Ranma's still damp hair; she hoped no one else noticed.

The dirge was to mark the 'death' of two maidens. Enaila and Ranma stripped and changed into robes given them by friends among the maidens. Enaila broke two of her spears but gave the other two to Ranma so that she could break them in order to complete the ceremony since Ranma carried no spears. Enaila was allowed to keep her other weapons as she was not giving up being a warrior, the two redheads were just no longer maidens of the spears anymore.

After that, well, it was party time. Too bad neither redhead could hold their liquor very well.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga sat there despondently glaring at his newest nemesis. Taro had just displaced Ranma as his most hated rival. Taro was glaring back at him just as bitterly.

The Jusenkyo guide shook his head as he glanced between the two copies of Akane Tendou. He sighed as he tried once again to explain why he wouldn't tell them where the springs they wanted were located at. Besides, at least half the springs were still flooded, including the ones they wanted.

"Honored customers no understand; must wait year before being cursed again if no want curses to mix. If you," he pointed at Ryouga, "go in spring of drowned boy now, then curses mix, also curses always mix if go in while in cursed form. Either become like 'barbie' doll or no need anybody else to have fun." Taro snickered while Ryouga merely looked puzzled. Well, at least until she figured it out, then she just fainted.

Taro sighed and then said, "That means I can't get my old cursed form back for at least a year unless I want to be a 'schoolgirl yeti riding a bull, and so forth. Right?" The guide nodded, happy that Taro had understood.

Taro went with the guide to get some hot water. By the time he returned, Ryouga had wandered off. This was rather fortunate for her as Taro had decided that he was going to see just how many curses he could mix together using the Lost girl as his guinea pig.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranma and Enaila blearily woke up, matching hangover headaches making them squint their eyes with pain from the bright light. They both sighed in unison as they realized their friends had pulled off one last (?) prank on them. Both of them were naked and lying side by side on a narrow rock in the middle of the pond in the large meadow where they had picked the flowers for the bridal wreath. Apparently someone had spotted them doing so that day despite the lateness of the day when they had begun weaving the wreath. Enaila was painted green and had red flowers braided into the pair of pigtails she now sported. Ranma wasn't much better off other than she was painted purple instead.

Ranma sighed as she looked toward the meadow shoreline. "Crud," she said, "It's too far to jump." Enaila had been making good progress in mastering her ki to increase her physical speed, strength and endurance but if Ranma couldn't make it, she certainly had no chance.

Enaila experimentally stuck a hand in the water and yelped, "Cold!" She yelped again as she frantically shook her hand to dislodge the leech she found there.

Hearing distant laughter, both redheads glanced up at the remains of the city docks almost a hundred meters above them. Neither was really surprised to note that most if not all of the 'clan' with them just happened to be out on the docks as well that morning.

Ranma turned speculative eyes toward the shipwreck and its narrow beach that formed the final side of their prison pond. She grinned as she realized that this was doable. She picked up Enaila and ignoring her scream of surprise, took two quick steps and jumped to the side of the ship. That is when things went bad, well, rather worse. Both she and Enaila grabbed the vines partially covering the side of the ship, but the vines broke and both girls slipped downward to 'splat' into the cold mud below. Now completely covered by cold mud, both girls shrieked and jumped to the top of the ship less than ten meters above them and then began slapping leeches off frantically.

Now thoroughly pissed, Enaila 'flipped-off' the watchers on the docks many of whom could no longer stand. Odd the way some insults were almost universal.

The two redheads gingerly made their way across the small hillocks of windblown dust that covered the upper deck. They made their way to the tall structure at the ship's stern hoping to find someplace to clean up; neither had much hope of finding any clothing on the ancient wreck.

Ranma was pleasantly surprised that all the doors on the superstructure were still secured, well, until she tried to find a way to enter. Closed doors meant everything inside might still be preserved, especially at this altitude. Just as she was about to use the breaking point on one of the smaller doors on one of the upper decks, Enaila placed a hand on hers and motioned for Ranma to give her a chance.

Ranma watched Enaila as she scraped off the dirt caking some writing next to the door. She heard her first sister mutter, "I think I recall this. How did that go?" Enaila then placed her palm flat against the plate with the writing and both were stunned when the door slowly began to open with a screech of tortured metal bearings.

Seeing Ranma's puzzled expression, Enaila grinned and offered this explanation; "Remember a couple of days ago when you were testing all the combat training modules and not even lunch could distract you?" At Ranma's nod, she continued, "Our mother called me to test some of the Desert Tower teaching modules." She gestured to the door, "Opening doors was one of the basic lessons that I learned that day."

Ranma grinned, "So that means you can channel!" she started off excitedly then hesitantly added, "Then that means you'll become one of the Wise-Ones and we . . ." Ranma was afraid to finish.

Enaila could see the fear, the lonely fear in Ranma's eyes. She grinned impishly and finished Ranma's sentence, "And we will always be together. You have your ki and I have saidar, between us we are a match for anybody."

Ranma grinned in relief and impulsively hugged her. They looked at the mud they had just re-spread on each other and jointly giggled, "Ewww."

Enaila could see that Ranma was still bothered so she asked her point blank, "First sister, speak to me of what troubles you."

Ranma nodded, the two physic joinings they had endured made this both necessary and easily doable now for the neo girl. "I saw how Aviendha was treated. I don't want that to happen to you."

"Then be glad your 'kinsman' Ranko picked up the marriage wreath," she snickered as Ranma stumbled momentarily as they entered the ship. "Aviendha was a Far Dareis Mai when she was called." She grinned at the other redhead, "Mother gave me warning that I was to be called in fifty days. It gave me time to change my status to Clan roof-mistress."

Ranma actually did stumble completely to the floor at this point before looking up at Enaila with incredulous eyes before laughing at the 'point' she'd scored over the Wise-ones.

"The Wise-ones dare not treat us so casually now," she paused and then added almost daringly, "Especially since my first sister is also a Wise-one by the customs and laws of our people."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," slowly drawled Ranma as she regained her feet.

Suddenly very serious, Enaila placed both hands on the opposite shoulders of her friend, sister and soul mate. Waiting until Ranma's eyes were captured by her own she softly said, "You were led by the light when you came to our land beloved. Everything to enable you to lead our people and save as many of them as possible while helping the Car'a'carn to fulfill his destiny was put in your path; that much and no more."

She hesitantly drew a deep breath which did very interesting things to her bare breasts. She sighed and waited for 'Ranma' to return. Ranma blushed while Enaila just giggled a bit before continuing. "You were the last to go through the Heart of Rhuidean before it stopped working. That means you were both the last clan chief and last Wise-one to take the old tests. That is an omen that will weigh heavily with all Aiel; especially since you both (Ranma & Ranko) are the only 'true' survivors of the lost clan, the Jenn Aiel." She wryly added, "It will seem as if the end of the old ways was marked by not only by Rand's presence but by the way the Jenn Aiel clan was reborn."

Enaila stepped a careful distance away from Ranma and then gushed, "Oh, it will be so great! I can hardly wait for us to share our husband together."

Ranma painfully groaned from the floor where her face-fault had actually bent the ancient deck plates.

Enaila just giggled and walked further down the sun brightened hallway, stopping at each door to open it and peer inside before moving on.

.o0o. .o0o.

Seana chuckled as she watched the two redheads slip into the mud before gaining the wreck's dune covered deck and then disappearing from view. The various members of the clan began to disperse to their assigned tasks.

She joined the other nine Wise-ones as they made their way into the newly christened Desert Tower. With Enaila preparing to assume the role of Jenn Aiel Clan Roof-mistress, that left her free to take the position of Desert Tower roof-mistress. She had been tempted to refuse the position but there were a number of reasons driving it that direction that she could not ignore. The fact that she could not channel was actually considered an asset by the other Wise-ones it seemed as was her closeness to both Rand and Ranko.

The Wise-ones agreed that her rare dream-walker talents would lend direction to her leadership in creating the Desert Tower at this point. The teaching modules had been a surprise the first time that someone capable of channeling had used them. It seemed that they drew the user in against her (or his) will and trapped them in a realistic dream world that seemed to last two months while only ten hours passed otherwise.

Because she couldn't channel, Seana was able to access each device and index its function without 'fear' of it sucking her into its preprogrammed function. But it was only because of her training as a Wise-one that she able to do the indexing at all. She shook her head in admiration of the simplistic deviousness that arrangement entailed. The teaching units could only be used by those who could channel but the controls for the units were accessible only to those who could not channel but only if they had sufficient mental training.

As a result, Seana was Desert Tower roof-mistress while, Kala, the only other Wise-one in their chan who also could not channel shared overview of the teaching units with her. The remaining eight Wise-ones with them were forming the new instructors' cadre of the new Tower. They were studying using the teaching modules but only as they were given permission from Seana or Kala after they had both studied each unit's teaching indexes.

It was discovered that there were actually seven teaching halls (or large rooms subdivided into four to six teaching cubicles) of sorts. There were three female usable only halls, one basic, another advanced and the third for specialized skills. The male side also had three similar halls. The seventh hall taught advanced linked skills that required both genders for their use. As far as indexing and control functions, it did not seem to matter what gender the non-channeling user was.

'Tomorrow', Seana thought to herself, 'tomorrow, we will set the preliminary teaching schedule for the men. We should know enough to be able to start planning by then.' She sighed; it was time to get back to work. 'At least clan moral was very high,' she chuckled to herself.

.o0o. .o0o.

The two redheads spent the rest of the day exploring the ship together. It was toward noon when they happened onto the ship's dispensary. Ranma glanced in the door and then entered. "Clinic," she murmured. Seeing the confusion on Enaila's face, Ranma clarified, "a place for healing."

"Ah," Enaila responded, face brightening, "Perhaps we can find a way to get clean or something to wear here." She reached out and touched one of the beds. Both stepped back as the non-metallic parts of the bed dissolved into dust at her touch and the dust slowly cascaded to the floor in a lazy stream. "Or maybe not," she added softly.

Ranma reached out and touched one of the hanging curtains that were used to give privacy. She grinned when it remained solid and announced, "Well, we could always make a sort of robe out of these couldn't we?"

Enaila reluctantly nodded as she touched the curtains. "I suppose so. They don't 'feel' all that good though," she added. She paused as she fingered the curtain a bit more; growing more puzzled the longer she studied the material. Finally she asked, "From what kind of creature or plant does such a fabric come I wonder?"

"Huh," Ranma focused back on her first sister, "None actually, I think that it must be an artificial fabric. That's probably why it hasn't decayed at all." Seeing the look of confusion on Enaila's face, Ranma said, "Think of it as being woven from thread taken from the earth itself, a mixture of stone and metal. It will weather but not rot."

Enaila nodded in partial understanding, "So it remains good even now since it has been protected from the weather." She started opening up the various cabinets and added, "Perhaps there might be clothing of similar material then?"

Ranma looked down at her purple body, "Won't make much difference unless we can find some way to get clean first."

Leaving Enaila to her task, Ranma started exploring the rest of the clinic. She grinned as she found the pair of large bathrooms and noticed the extra large shower enclosures. She deduced that they were oversized to accommodate a nurse helping a patient. "Alright!" she yelped as she opened the glass door and entered. She paused in consternation as she noticed that there were no nozzles or other plumbing controls.

Enaila entered and looked about, "What is this for? Why were you excited?"

Ranma sighed and answered, "I thought that perhaps this was something that we could use to get clean. I shoulda realized that even if it was what I thought, there was no way the water would still be working anyway. Sorry, got all excited over nothing I guess."

As Ranma had been talking, Enaila had noticed a palm pad on the wall similar to those used to open some of the larger doors. She placed her palm on it and used a little saidar as her single experience with a teaching machine had taught her. Both redheads were surprised as their teeth began to rattle briefly before the mud, debris, and everything else began to cascade off them in gentle waves.

The two stared blankly at each other for a few shocked moments before realizing that they were cleaner than they had been in a very long time. Enaila grinned and said, "Great, now let's find some clothes and we're set to start planning our revenge."

"Enaila?" Ranma hesitantly asked, "I've got some clothes with me if you'd like them." With that Ranma reached into 'hidden-weapons' space and carefully removed the bridal wreath and the change of clothes that Ranko had been wearing. She offered them to Enaila.

Enaila just stood there stunned for a moment before asking, "How did you do that?"

"Huh," Ranma paused and then explained, "It's a way of creating a hidden pocket of sorts using my ki. I'm not very good at it yet as this is about the most that I can store so far."

At the use of the word 'ki' Enaila just sighed. As far as she was concerned, that almost put it in the same category as this 'magic' Ranma talked about.

Enaila studied the offered male clothing before selecting the shorts and shirt. The pants and inner-shirt she handed back to Ranma who donned them.

The Aiel girl studied the wreath a few moments before saying; "You know, this prank the rest of them pulled on us might turn out well for us."

Both now partially dressed, they continued their exploration, hoping to find a kitchen to quell their rumbling stomachs.

"How so?" asked Ranma.

"Well, normally there would be a wedding ceremony wherein Ranko and his 'first-brothers' or close friends would 'abduct' me and Ranma from our family and friends." Enaila paused and finished, "After a mock fight, Ranko would carry us to the door of our 'roof' where he would set us down before asking permission to enter. When we allow him to enter, he hangs the marriage wreath over the doorway, then the ceremony is complete and we three are wed."

Ranma had paled as she'd heard how the details of the ceremony, "But . . . but there ain't no way we can do all of that!"

Enaila grinned, "But there is an alternative way, a way not quite as approved of as that, but it would be in keeping with the idea of retaliation." Her grin broadened into a smile and she said, "What we will do is become married without that part of the ceremony. We will just hang the wreath over the doorway of the clan-roof to announce the wedding is done and they missed it. They will be a little 'ticked' but after what they did to us, they will accept it."

Ranma thought about it for a moment and then said, "Oh, you mean 'elope'."

A few minutes explanation and they were agreed on the idea. Ranma had had a few problems at first with the concept that all homes whether they be caves, buildings or tents were properly only owned by a females among the Aiel (with the obvious exception of the male warrior society roofs or the rare case of a widower without female relatives).

They were exploring the kitchen and had finally found some hermetically sealed foodstuffs that seemed edible. Nearly all the foodstuffs in the galley had either turned to dust or mutated into something unrecognizable but there were a dozen sealed glass containers that had something unchanged and safe. Ranma munched on it absently noting that it somewhat resembled something called a 'Twinkie' from her home world. As they sat together; Ranma hesitantly asked a question. "Enaila, do I have a roof?"

The other redhead paused and then considered the question and perhaps why it was asked as well. She lightly embraced Ranma and said, "Everything I have is also yours, by custom you alone need never ask permission to enter under my roof. But at the same time, I alone am clan roof-mistress since I alone asked though the marriage wreath was from both of us since we are first sisters." She sighed and reluctantly confessed, "No, first-sister, unless you are gifted with a roof or build one, you do not have a roof of your own."

Ranma looked about the kitchen where they were sitting together while eating. She brightened and asked, "Can I claim this ship as my roof?"

Stunned at the concept, Enaila sat in silence a few moments before a wide grin almost split her face. "Come on, let's find some paints. We'll paint your personal clan signature on one of those curtains from the healing room and then put it on the side of the ship's tower for everyone to see." She chuckled and added, "Then we'll find some way of heating some water and let everyone see Ranko hang the wreath over it."

Ranma ended up using her ki to heat a small amount of water in a pan from the galley. Ranko and Enaila waved gaily to the few people still watching for them from the docks as he carefully hung the wreath over Ranma's banner proclaiming her ownership of the landed vessel. Most of those still on the docks were their former companions from the Far Dareis Mai who rattled their spears on their shields in irritation as they perceived what the 'three' had done in retaliation for their prank against the redheaded pair.

The newly married couple made their way below again, relieved at how things were turning out to their advantage. Enaila pulled Ranko into a passionate embrace and well . . . well a couple of hours later they resumed their explorations of the ship. She was walking a little awkwardly and he had this immense ear to ear grin.

Enaila powered open the cargo hatch personnel door and they stepped into the huge shadowed space. Most of their earlier explorations had been in rooms that had light from windows or reflected light from the hallways and their windows. A few had been dim enough that either Ranma or Enaila had created their own light using either a ki ball or a saidar illumination.

This last room was so dark that both created their own light sources as they entered it. Their breath was momentarily taken from them as they realized just how immense the open space before them really was. It was shorter than the length of the vessel by a hundred meters but that meant it was four hundred meters to the distantly and mostly unseen end. It was almost a full hundred meters wide and nearly eighty meters tall Ranko estimated. He couldn't tell the dimensions for sure because of the dimness and the fact that much of the space was concealed by the cargo and cargo racks; or in some places, the huge piles of dust that was formerly cargo.

"I'm amazed," softly whispered Ranko, "I don't think this ship actually sank. It doesn't seem to have any holes in the hull. It must have been caught near port by the breaking of the world and lodged in place as the tidal wave receded." He paused and added, "The impact probably killed everyone on board, but I'm still amazed that it didn't result in snapping the ship in half.

Enaila thought about what her husband had said a moment before offering, "That rock we woke up on may mean that the middle of the cliff top is nearer the ship bottom than we assumed. Perhaps the ship is actually resting on its bottom all across the top of the cliff?"

Ranko nodded in agreement, "Makes more sense than assuming the ship is hanging from both ends while making a debris dam beneath and behind it." Ranko ran a hand over the inside of the outer hull. "You don't suppose this is some more of that 'power wrought' metal do you?" he asked Enaila.

She experimentally ran her hand over the metal testing it with her fledging one-power senses. "No, I don't think so. It feels different than those knives we found in the armory." She paused and then added, "I can sort of 'see' the weaves in it though. It's similar to them but looser." She added, "Maybe because the ship is so big, they couldn't make it full power wrought. It seems that what ever they did to the ship was almost as good except that it's starting to fade." She shrugged, "If I had to guess I'd say that in a couple more generations, whatever they did will unweave itself and the ship's metal will finally start to fail."

Ranko nodded and added, "Yeah, that sort of makes sense. They probably did it to the whole ship. That would explain why not much is actually broken yet it sort of seems to be barely starting to fall to pieces in just a few areas."

Enaila ginned mischievously and asked as she gestured to the cargo, "I wonder what kind of treasure your other wife has laid claim to."

Ranko grinned and replied, "Don't know, let's find out."

.o0o. .o0o.

Seana frowned as she listened to the complaints from the rest of the Wise-ones, the Maidens and numerous others from within the clan. It was rather unanimous that they thought Ranko, Ranma and Enaila had gone too far to rob them of participating in their marriage ceremony. Inwardly she sighed with relief that the 'three' had found a solution to the marriage ceremony problem.

She chuckled as a fragment of conversation caught her attention. It seems that there had been a number of other plans afoot intended to wreak a little confusion on the anticipated ceremony. That the trio had eloped had ruined those plans.

In the end she started guffawing as she learned of just how many potential pranks the elopement had fouled up. Regaining her composure, Seana observed aloud, "Well, it's your own fault for doing what you did to Ranma and Enaila. It appears to me that perhaps they must have had an idea of your plans in general and pulled the blanket out from under all of you and left you sitting on your rears wondering what happened."

This idea was grudging accepted and they gradually dispersed into their tents for the evening meal; their irritation at the redheaded pair gradually turning into admiration that they could turn the tables on the entire clan so thoroughly.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga dazedly staggered through the woods until she stumbled across a massive backpack lying in a trashed meadow. She absently glanced about before her eyes actually noticed what she had literally stumbled across. Ryouga was not particularly surprised by this as it happened rather frequently to him, her. She strained to lift the huge backpack, then sighed and opened it up. She kept removing gear until she got to the bottom of the pack. Once there, she removed 300 pounds of lead weights before experimentally hefting the almost empty pack again. Her shoulders slumped and she upended the pack and dumped the remaining 200 pounds of training weights out as well before packing up the actual camping gear again.

Straining a bit as she shouldered the pack in the misting rain, the muscular blue haired girl with the black and gold bandana trod off down the path looking for camping spot not too far from a source of water.

She absently noticed that she was on that idiotic 'invisible' bridge again. She glanced over the side and spotted Stanly 'steaming' along far below her. She thought to herself, 'Damned dragon almost ate me the last time I was here.'

.o0o. .o0o.

The three Tendou sisters were sunbathing together in the back yard enjoying the newfound peace and quiet. Happosai had taken the 'fathers' on a training trip to the USA after Nabiki had planted another false lead revealing that Ranma was a participant in the Miss America beauty pageant. Cologne had been a little suspicious and had used some magic in an attempt to locate Ranma only to discover that he was either dead or in another universe. Either way meant that Shampoo's quest was over. The three Amazon's had left a week ago. The sisters had decided that they could definitely get used to this.

.o0o. .o0o.

Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Page.

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The pair of teen Hobbit girls peered at the 'large' person slumped sideways against the tree trunk while sitting on a large root. One turned to the other and asked "What is she doing just sitting outside like that? Doesn't she realize it's going to rain again?" She peered closer, "She seems to be asleep!" she added in surprise.

The other snickered and said, "Well, her pants are down around her ankles and she has a roll of cleansing paper in her hand so I think it's pretty obvious what she was DOING." She laughed softly, "Come on let's leave her alone."

The first Halfling glanced one last time at the unconscious girl next to the immense backpack and then followed her friend across the fields to their home. They ran in an effort to beat both the storm and nightfall. Both girls would have been surprised if someone had told them the human girl was not sleeping but had merely fainted, repeatedly.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranko looked at the racked equipment before him. He truly did not expect to ever see something like this here.

"What are those?" asked Enaila.

"Trucks, I think," responded Ranko. He considered again and then added, "Well, sort of anyway. I don't see no engines so I'm not really sure."

"Trucks, engines? What are those?" Enaila asked again as she jumped across space separating her from the top one.

"Humm, it's a kind of a wagon that doesn't need an animal to pull it. It can go really fast and doesn't need to eat or sleep. It just needs some type of fuel." Ranko paused and then added, "Well, the ones on my world were like that and these really do sort of look like them." He also jumped from the walkway onto the flat truck bed. He leaned over and gingerly touched the tire. He was pleased when the tire failed to dissolve into dust. As the vehicles were racked so that the tires were suspended, he was able to slowly spin the wheel. It started off with the sound of almost frozen bearings. But that sound had rapidly diminished into silence as the turning of the wheel re-spread the lubricant and restored the sealed bearings to almost normal use.

Enaila watched as Ranko seated himself in one of the seats behind a large window in one end of the 'truck'. She grinned as he experimentally turned the wheel and pushed buttons and pulled and opened and twisted everything movable. She wondered about what she'd seen as her lover moved to another one of these 'whatevers' with a sigh of audible disgust and disappointment on his part. She cocked her head in thought and then sat in the seat as she seen Ranko do.

She placed both hands on the wheel noticing the broad pads that marked where each hand was intended to be placed. A flash of intuitive understanding came to her and she slowly released a little of her fledging saidar abilities into the pads. She yelped as the 'truck' lurched under her, the wheels spinning rapidly in free space.

Ranko was at her side in moments a silly grin on his face. "You did it! You made it move, right?"

Enaila ginned broadly, "I think there might be a teaching on this. If so, then we can find out what it can do and how to make it do it right."

Ranko's grin was marred by the pair of tears that traced their way down his tense cheeks. "Finally, finally we might have a chance of perhaps making this actually work in time to make a difference."

Enaila sat back in stunned silence; actually a little shocked to realize that she had not perceived this part of her life mate. He was intent on his efforts to help and preserve his adopted family. So much so that the overwhelming problems he had been struggling against were something he was taking very personally.

The duo continued to explore the ship but found little else of value. While there was little evidence that the ship had been looted, most of what remained of the cargo had not survived the long cold millennia despite the cargo hold being sealed.

At best there were a few dozen more power wrought blades amid the dust of their crating as well as large piles of miscellaneous glassware that appeared to be vases, glasses, dishes and similar items. Perhaps more would be found when everything in the hull was finally cleared of debris, but there was little chance of anything of significance.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranko met with those who had been sent out to explore the region behind the city. Enaila and Seana were part of the meeting since they were clan roof-mistress and desert-tower roof-mistress respectively.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Akane glared at Taro as the brief storm drenched the remaining members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew pretty much shutting down the present argument. Not that she cared whether or not any of the other fiancées believed her about where Ranma had gone.

"You pervert," Akane snarled at her damp look-alike body double as Taro's new cursed form was revealed.

Taro glared at her, wondering what her problem was. An evil thought occurred to Taro and after a moment of very deliberate consideration, she acted on it. Taro turned slightly away from Akane and slowly slid her hand over her own rear. "Wow, Akane, you sure have a nice ass," she purred.

The youngest Tendou daughter froze in disbelief while the others watched the happenings with some confusion.

Taro then pulled the top of her own now loose pants open and thrust her hand into them, "Oh, still a virgin too!" she cooed. "This will be so much fun to play with myself," she added.

Akane fainted while the others just face-faulted in unison. Taro grinned as she walked away. "Damn, that was fun. Maybe fem-boy was onto something after all."

.o0o. .o0o.

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Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Page.

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