Mikheel entered the classroom where he had been told to meet with Lars, looking torn between looking forward to the meeting and dreading it. He looked around the room. Lars had come to the classroom earlier, waiting for this, his first unsupervised meeting with Mikheel, he had been looking forward to it in a way, and he was also more nervous than he had been in ages, how would he help Mikheel, how could he? Mikheel made an attempt at a salute towards the Dedicated, though he didn't do it very well. He wasn't used to saluting people. Looking at Mikheel attempting the salute Lars couldn't help but smile. "T...t...that's n...not necessary Mikhe...Mikheel, p...pelase don't d...d..do that, a...and call me Lars, n...no dedicated for me please."

Mikheel frowned slightly and nodded jerkily. "All right," he said somewhat suspiciously. Standing up, Lars went to grab a chair, quickly placing it in front of his desk. "want a se...s...seat?" Eyeing Lars, Mikheel sat, mostly because he wasn't sure if that was an order or an invitation and he didn't want to be in trouble already. He continued to watch the Dedicated suspiciously. Lars nodded, thinking to himself, light Mikheel looks like he is trying to face down an enemy.

"I...i...i guess we're stuck together." he managed with a grin. "I...if s...s...so, i g...guess we should l...learn t...to know each other better?" he stuck out his hand. "A...as you know, m...my name is Lars." Mikheel looked at Lars' hand as though it were a viper. "I'm Mikheel Nuallain," he said, taking the proffered hand gingerly as though it might be scalding hot. Lars couldn't help but sigh, as Mikheel took his hand, Lars started shaking it firmly. "Lars al'Thaim." he grinned at the hand.

"D...d...don't worry i w...w..wont bite." Mikheel stared at his hand in the Dedicated's grip, and barely managed not to grimace. He jerked his hand away as quickly as he could after the handshake. "Nice to meet you...?" it sounded more a question than an assertion.

"N...nice to m...meet you too, i...i...i hope w...we can come to a...an agreement o...of some sort a...about working together, i...instead of a...against each other." he paused a second. "I...i...i will not m...make you try to do a...anything except h...h...hopefully learn." Mikheel looked down. "Can we get this over with?" he asked.

Lars took a deep breath. "I...i...i know how you feel..." he looked at the young man. "I...i...i don't particularly l...l...like teaching people who d...d..don't want to learn...b...but, y...you and i h...have something in c...common y...y..you know?" Mikheel frowned as he started talking. "Yes. We both traded our souls for... for this..." he gestured vaguely.

Nodding Lars replied. "Y...y..you...you could say that." he sighed, taking a small breath before continuing. "w...w..we were forced to give up our beliefs because of what we are...b...but i...i still walk in the light, despite of where i am." he managed knuckling his forehead.

Mikheel said nothing, and looked away from Lars. "It's h...hard to hear isn't it?....H...h...hard to face...w...what we are..." he paused a second. "The wheel weaves as the wheel wills, they say..." At that sentence Mikheel looked back at him again. "The Wheel Weaves as the Creator has set forth." He said, it seemed almost like it was a reflex, Lars sighed. "H...have you read that somewhere, o...or was it told to you? D...does the creator weave all threads, if s..s...so how c...c..can you be a Dark friend? h...how can anyone be that, i...i...if the Creator weaves it all?" he sighed. "I...i...i don't believe y...you're a darkfriend, a...and d...d...despite what i a...a...am, i know i am not one." Mikheel said nothing, and avoided looking at Lars. He was tired of everyone telling him what he knew to be true was wrong.

"I...I...i know you hate us, i...i...i know you hate everything about us, b...but you c...c..can't go t..through l...life running f...f..from yourself, y...y...you can't live l...life without th..thinking a...and just quoting s...sayings that y...you were told were true..." he looked at the ground, light this was so hard to explain, Lars himself had so much trouble believing it sometimes.

Mikheel sighed. "Can we just get on with whatever it is we're supposed to be doing?" Lars merely nodded. "Ok, i...i...i...i guess we can..." Lars Seized Saidin, he had thought about this for a while, and had decided it was time. "D...d...do you believe in the good in man Mikheel?" he had said before seizing Saidin.

Mikheel nodded, "That which the Creator made is good, unless it becomes tainted by the evil of the Dark One." Lars just nodded. "I don't believe in the good in man anymore." his voice was hard, as the void around him took all emotion out of him. "This is the void, it is what Blademasters use to perfect their skill, and it is what you need to master to learn to use the source, is the void evil?"

Mikheel looked at him. "It is just a trick of the mind?"

Lars pointed to the sword he had put on a table in front of the desk. "That is a sword, it is what a blademasters learns to become what he is, it is also a weapon a soldier uses, any soldier to kill to destroy for whatever reason they may have." he looked directly at Mikheel. "Is the sword Evil?" he hoped Mikheel would give him an answer, so he would not have to go through with this.

Mikheel shook his head. "No, but the sword is not a gift from the Dark One." Before Mikheel had a time to think about it, Lars asked his next question. "Have you heard about the Age of Legends? what were you taught about it?"

Mikheel frowned. "They turned their back on the Creator and did not acknowledge the evil that existed in their world, and their souls were too weak to counter it."

Lars nodded slowly, shaking his head slightly as he spoke. "I didn't ask what you were taught they did, tell me what you were taught about how life was, in the age of legends, before men broke the world, before the dark one was unleashed on the world." he looked at Mikheel "Tell me facts."

Mikheel looked at the floor. "They released the Dark One into the world." Lars sighed once more. "Is that all you've been told, is that all, look at me please...did they really teach you nothing else?"

Mikheel looked up at the Dedicated. "That is all that is important. They let the Dark One loose into the world, trying to increase their power." Nodding once again, Lars took a deep breath before speaking. "Yes, they let him loose in a world that had known nothing of evil, where he had been sealed since creation, think about that, how did they let him loose? what did they accomplish before he was let loose?" he stood up from his seat. "Tell me that, or did your teachers not teach you anything except that they made the mistake of unsealing what should not have been touched?"

Mikheel shook his head. "He was lying in wait, awaiting someone to give into the temptation of the Power around them." Lars shakes his head, placing his hands across his chest. "you're not answering my question Mikheel..." sighing he looked at him. "I...I care about what happens to you, i don't want anyone to be hurt, being hurt, just as i would never hurt anyone, but you, you would kill and destroy because someone had told you it was like that, would you not? you are avoiding my answers, and blaming something that like a weapon is just a tool, that was used wrongly."

Mikheel glared at him. "That *POWER* is evil. Inherently so. And all who use it are tainted by it, and are made evil as well."

"It is the driving force of the wheel Mikheel, so you are saying the wheel is evilÉ" Lars replied softly, Mikheel shook his head, replying quickly. "The Creator set the Wheel in motion." Lars nodded, as his reply came, as fast as his had, he had expected that answer. "But the power is the river that keeps it running, the creator wove the lace of ages, and set the wheel in motion, and sealed the dark one at the time of creation, he made the one power to keep the wheel running." Lars looked at the sword. "Like you are saying the wheel is evil, so is the sword and the void then..."

Mikheel simply shook his head. He didn't want to hear it. Lars spoke into the silence "you don't want to hear it do you?" he paused "You can't face it that...maybe, just maybe, it's how you use a curse or a gift or a tool, that matters not that you have it." he put his hands on the table. "Children of light, have swords, and as do Darkfriends..."

Mikheel shakes his head. "WHY are you... you people so determined to compare it to a sword? It is different! A sword is made by man, from that which is in the earth, and anyone can pick it up. This... this four evil is not. It is nothing like a sword. It is a gift from the Dark One for his followers and it is evil. And everyone who uses it is evil. And there is no redemption to be had." Mikheel frowned and looked away for a minute before continuing quietly. "And I am no different, and no less evil than you or any of the other fiends here. So can we please just get on with it now?"

"The power can do NOTHING unless FORMED by man Mikheel, it IS the same, just as deadly, and just as dangerous in the wrong hands." Lars replied, his calm voice only raised slightly, the void quivering slightly with exhasperation and pity, it felt like it was trying to break through the Void.

"It is dangerous period, and the danger is to the world. You won't convince me otherwise. If that is the point of this, then you might as well give up. That is one lesson I will not learn. Lars nodded. "yes, it is dangerous to the world, very much so...I want to show you something...something that i was shown once..." with a grimace he tore a hole in the fabric, a hole to a place he only knew, even though he'd been there once. "Come with me Mikheel..." Mikheel stared at the hole, frowning. "What is that?" He asked a, from the sound of it, quite nervously. "It's a gateway" Lars replied, motioning towards it again, Mikheel looked at it, obviously frightened. "What does it do?" he asked again, and LarsÕ reply was although calm, said faster than he normally spoke. "I'm close enough as it is to sicking up, so please hurry through, it takes you from one place to another." Mikheel looked at him again, and stepped through, still wary, and wishing he was asleep.

Lars stepped through after him, into the cold chilly air of Kandor, he'd been here once some time ago, and he didn't really want to think about it. "this is Kandor Mikheel, if you know what Kandor is?"

Mikheel turned his eyes to the Dedicated. "As much as you people seem to like to believe otherwise, Amadicia is not a boil on the Dark One's arse, nor is it at the bottom of a pit. Of course I bloody know what Kandor is. What does it have to do with anything?" Lars inclined the land just in front of them. "we are fifteen minutes from the blight border, fifteen minutes from the land you say we belong in." he looked at Mikheel. "Trollocs raid here daily, nightly..." he sighed. "Innocents die, and are destroyed here every day by the sword the tooth and worse, children, men women who walk in the light of the creator, by fiends who are just as bad as anyone, murderers, shadowspawn, it's all the same to me, to me, a murder is never solved by another...do you understand what IÕm saying?"

Mikheel shook his head, staring north towards the Blight and wishing they could leave. It was bloody cold, but he didn't think all his chills were from the temperature. "I didn't think you did." Lars took his sword and unbuckled it, placing it in Mikheels hands. "Take this...Take this and look at it." Mikheel stared at the weapon, and then took it, holding it in his hands. "And do what with it?" he asked. "Look at it" Mikheel looked at it.

Lars nodded softly. "What is that used for." Mikheel stared blankly for a minute. "Fighting...?" he asked. Lars nodded softly as he asked again. "Fighting, is it for Defending? killing? be more specific, when you look at a sword WHAT do you see?"

Mikheel looked at the Dedicated, wondering if he was feeling all right. "It's for fighting. Defending, attacking, killing, protecting, it's all the same. It's sharpened steel, and you can use it for bloody near anything. What's your point?"

Lars took a deep breath, and calmed his stomach as a weave formed in his hand, a weave set of fire spirit and earth, that of a sword of fire. "what is this?" he asks, looking straight at the young boy.

Mikheel frowns. "That is evil."

Lars shrugs. "It's a sword Mikheel...just like what you're holding." Mikheel stares at him, his lips curling up in a snarl before he replies in an anger tight voice. "It is *not* a sword. This," he brandishes the weapon, "is steel! It came from the earth, it is natural, forged of metal that the Creator put in the ground. That," he gestured with the point of the sword, "is evil, wrought of a Power which was a gift from the Dark One to those who would do his bidding. THEY ARE DIFFERENT!" He all but screamed the last part.

Lars merely nodded, a sad look passing across his face, before he replied, his voice soft despite the lack of emotions. "If that is what you see, then strike me down Mikheel, IÕm not a servant of the Dark one, i walk in the light, but according to you i don't...strike me down." the sword blinked out of existence. "No one will find me, and you will be free."

Mikheel stared at him, considering. He hefted the sword in his hands, holding it high above his head. Lars just stood there, looking into Mikheels eyes, maybe now he could be free, when Mikheel began to swing the sword in an arch towards Lars, Lars didn't move as the sword fell towards him, he merely looked at Mikheel, his eyes emotionless, and softly opened his mouth. "How does it feel?" he asks his voice expressionless.

Mikheel stopped the sword when it just touched the other's neck. "It doesn't matter if I kill you. It makes me no less what I am, and it means I cannot..." Lowering the blade from LarsÕ neck, all that happened was a small sigh from the lips of the other man, and a regretful look as his eyes passed over the blade before he spoke softly. "Y...you made the choice Mikheel, not to kill...and that makes you Human..." he looked down at the blade. "It makes you HUMAN Mikheel, and that is what you have to know, you are a human being, you have your choices, no matter what curse there is on you, no matter what skills you have, you are human...something that is a part of you is a tool, but your mind, that is what makes you human."

Mikheel looked at the blade in his hands. "No," he said quietly. "That is what makes me a coward." He tossed the sword on the ground and looked to the Blight again. "Can we go now?"

Lars shook his head. "A coward would run Mikheel, pick up that sword and look at it, tell me what you see now."

Mikheel breathed deeply, and looked away. "Can we please go now?"

Lars shook his head again. "Do you see a sword that you almost killed another human with? or a tool still, do you blame yourself for raising a weapon, thinking about killing me?" he pauses a second. "I wont push you Mikheel, because i care about you...you are a human."

Mikheel squeezed his eyes shut. "Please can we go?" he rasped, trying hard not to cry.

Lars shook his head. "listen Mikheel...I will help you, in any way i can, help you do what you feel you need to do, but you have to accept one thing, you are still you, you are still Mikheel Nuallain, still the same person, you still walk in the light, you're still a human, and don't you ever forget that, no matter how hard they push you, remember that you are human, remember your name..."

Mikheel felt the tears spilling warmly down his face and swallowed hard. "Please..." Lars gently puts a hand on Mikheels shoulder, letting Saidin go, and the void as well. "Mikheel, follow me...w...w...we'll go home soon, I...i...want to s...s..show you something." The boy jerked away from his touch nodding jerkily, Lars sighed, as he turned around away from the blight, facing the remnants of a small village about one hundred paces down the road.

Mikheel followed along, frowning and trying to re-gather his composure. Lars walks the short walk, talking softly. "T...this Village was attacked in the night, by trollocs and Myrdralls two winters ago..." he says softly. Mikheel looks around, his frown deepening. Lars takes in the town, with a gesture. "I...it is empty...you see...Trollocs rarely l..l...leave anything behind them." he looks to what was once the Inn. "B...b...but c...come with me this way."

Mikheel follows, wishing they could go ho- no. He had not been about to call that place home. He wished they could go back to the Tower though. He wanted away from here. Slowly Lars slid his hands into the door handle and opened the door to the building, knowing what he would see in the center of the common room, the black spot still there from where they had done it.

"T...this is the room, w...where those w...who died, were...g..g...gotten rid off." he says looking around. Mikheel looked around, and felt his stomach lurching. He did not ask which ones that died.

Lars turned around facing Mikheel. "C..children, men w...who fought and women...Trollocs as well, a..a...a...all as one they were put into the pots, and cooked and eaten." he looked at him, his eyes watering, those poor people. "I...is that what you are? I...is that what i am?"

Mikheel drew a ragged breath. "Can we please leave," he whispered, pleading this time, barely holding on to his emotions.

Lars looked at Mikheel, his eyes no watering, but the red in his eyes showing how hard he was trying to fight back the tears, as he stared around the room. "I will not kill, Mikheel not because IÕm afraid, but because i don't choose to, because...because i will not be like them, i will not be a weapon, i will be me, but part of me, something i never asked for is Saidin, and i will learn to use that to help, to protect and to care, i will not stop myself from using it and hurt others, like you are on the path to doing."

Mikheel drew a ragged breath and looked pleadingly at Lars, unable to speak. The tears streamed freely down his face, and he wished he were anywhere else in the world. He opened his mouth and shut it again when no words came out. Lars looked at him, tears falling from his eyes. "Look at y..y..your hands Mikheel....Look at them." he seizes Saidin and tears a hole back to the class room. "Look at them and come with me..."

Mikheel looked at his hands, as instructed, and stepped back into the classroom, sinking into a chair immediately, and buried his face in his hands, the heels of his palms pressing against his eyes.

Lars looked at him, and wiped his eyes carefully, talking while still holding the source. "Do you understand what we fight now? do you understand why they want you to fight?" he said. Mikheel didn't move, or speak, as he wished fervently that Lars would leave him be.

Lars sighed, deciding it was time to give the boy a breath, a breath to think and to let things sink in. "I see you do, i see you do, i hope you don't hate me...i really do, i hope you will be here first thing tomorrow for our class, you may go now Mikheel." he says his voice almost breaking with the void as he says that.

Mikheel spent a moment gathering his dignity around him again, then sighed quietly, and stood. He saluted sloppily on his way out the door, wishing he'd not come. Whatever punishment they could come up with would be better than this.

Lars looked after Mikheel, letting the door close softly he went to his desk, before he gently put his head in his hands, and breaking out in sobs, light, what had he done...