Tan'qui al'Taya

Tan'qui al'Taya
Created by	Sven Haster
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Ji'val
Affiliation	The Grey Tower
Nationality	Andoran

Tan'qui al'Taya is an Andoran Ji'val of the Grey Tower.

Description

Tan'qui is slim youngster of about 6'3" (six feet three inches or +/- 190 cm)with blonde hair onto his shoulders. He wears a small silver ring in his left ear and he's about sixteen years old. He ain't very muscled, he looks more wiry, but the look which sometimes comes in his eyes can make him look like a rock, unbreakable and unforgiving. Most of the time he's either very serious, or crazy like hell. He likes a good joke, and though he's a little bit of a loner he's also always willing to help someone out. As said, when he becomes furious, and he's a very patient man, he'll get a very tensed look in his eyes and you won't get any mercy anymore. Most of the time his face looks normal, some people call it a bit gruff, but that's just his normal look. His face is not expressing his feelings as much as with most people. He needs his emotions to be stronger for his face to express them, except for when he pays attention to his facial expression. It will then become crystal clear what he thinks.

Biography

Part One, life as a Soldier

Tan'qui lay in the grass under some trees, enjoying the sunshine on his face. It was a quiet day in the Sheringham Forest, a small forest which was located in the northwest of Andor. He could hear the birds sing and their songs made his mind drift away, back to his home. It was a small house on the edge of the forest, but Tan'qui has lived there with his parents for as long as he could remember. And since five years also with his twin sisters, Anna and May. His father was a hunter in the forest, and since five years Tan'qui was too. He and his father were two of the tree best hunters of Sheringham. Not that that was such a big prestation, the group of Sheringham hunters consisted only of ten men, but still...

Suddenly, a loud yell crossed his thoughts. He got up and looked around. It sounded like a man being jumped by some bandits on the road acros the forest. The last few weeks there seemed to be more bandits than ever before. He heard the sound again and was able to pinpoint its direction. He started running and in the meantime he put a string on his bow. He arrived at the road just in time to see how a man in black clothes was fighting with four bandits. The man used a doublebladed axe to fight off the attackers, and Tan'qui saw two men already laying motionless on the ground. He took aim on one of the attackers, but they were all jumping around like crazy, while the man in black looked more like he was dancing. Tan'qui focused 'till he saw nothing more than the arrows head and its target, and in his mind he saw how the arrow would fly to the bandit. When the bandit stood still for less than a second Tan'qui let go of the arrow and it hit the attacker right in his thigh. The man screamed and fell on the ground, which gave the black-clothed man a chance to hit an other with his fist, and the bandit went k.o.

The other two looked at eachother in fear, and decided to flee. Tan'qui let them go and went to the man on the road, wich he could now identify as an Asha'man, a male channeller. He had heard strange stories about Asha'man, but Tan'qui didn't believe in stories. So he just asked if the man needed help, but the Asha'man answered that he didn't need anything. "I must thank you for your help, though I didn't need it. It was a brave act." the man said. Tan'qui didn't know what to do so he didn't do anything. "Do you have some place I can rest a little bit to gather my strength?"

Tan'qui took him to his house, and though his parents weren't overjoyed to see an Asha'man, they were very tolerant by nature so they let the man in and gave hime some tea. As a favor the Asha'man, for some reason he was very reluctant to tell them his name and they just let it be, showed them some illusions. Tan'qui was very interested in his powers, as he always had been. He used to dream of channelers and the things they could do. The man noticed Tan'qui's interest, and he showed Tan'qui a flame and then told him to concentrate on the flame. Tan'qui thought it was a joke and that the guy would be turning it green or something, but he did as he was told. But to his surprise nothing happened.The man seemed surprised as well, since he suddenly got up. "Tell me, Tan'qui," he said, "did anything strange ever happen around you when you were very tensed." Tan'qui shook his head, not knowing where this would lead to. "You see boy, when you were concentrating on that flameI feelt a resonance." Tan'qui looked at the man, not knowing what to say because he didn't know what the Asha'man was getting to.

"It means you can channel boy."

Those six simple words instantly turned Tan'qui's world upside down. He, a channeler?! How could that be? And what now? Then he realised. "I mustgo to the Grey Tower," he said. The man just nodded.

The next events happened very fast, at least so it seemed to Tan'qui. His parents didn't like him going away, but after much talking by the Asha'man they agreed. Tan'qui sat at the window the whole time, looking outside 'til he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his father. "Son," he said, "we don't like you going away, but we understand that you have to. You could kill yourself otherwise. Do you understand that?" Tan'qui nodded, and his father continued: "Besides, you always dreamed to be a hero when you were younger, this is your big chance. Now get yourself upstairs and pack your stuff." Tan'qui went upstairs and packed a small backpack full of clothes. He took the green and brown cloak his mother made last winter and put it on, and after some doubt he hung his quiver on his belt and his longbow on his back. He felt more confident for some reason wearing his weapons.

He went downstairs to hug his mother and give his little sisters a goodbye kiss. As little as they were they felt enough from the mood to start crying when he stepped out the door. His father was talking with the Asha'man, but turned around when Tan'qui stepped outside. "Here son,this is for you," he said while giving him a few coins. "Maybe it will proof to be convenient. I also want you to have this." His father handed him a dagger with a silver haft in a beautiful dark-blue-and-silver sheath. "It was a gift from a merchant I got for saving his life one time, and it could be useful to you." Then he shook his hand one last time, and went inside. The Asha'man made some sort of portal in the sky, and told him to step through it. After the Asha'man went through the portal closed and they were in a the mountains.

Tan'qui walked the road with his silent companion. Every time he tried to start a conversation with the man it failed, so now they both were lost in their own thoughts. And suddenly, after a turn, Tan'qui saw the Grey Tower right in front of him. It was amazing. He couldn't estimate how tall it must be, but as they came closer the tower seems to grow taller. As they approach the gate, he saw more people walking across the area. Tan'qui grew a little afraid when he had to cross the gate, after that everything would be different. Don't be a fool, he saids to himself, and he stepped through the gate... .

Part Two, burned and trying

When the Asha'man who first brought him to the Tower, Sagone Asha'man, asks Tan'qui to go to the Warder Yards and select some Gaidin or Gaidar for the Asha'man whom he might possibly bond, the young man is surprised, but he obeys. After spending half a day in the Yards, he he notices the body of a young Drin as it is being removed by some Gaidin. The Drin had hung himself, and this was the beginning of the Ripples of Shadow, as it would be called later.

He asks a Sa'ji'alantin wat was going on, but instead of answering, the man, who turned out to be a Darkfriend later, intructed him to go to Eya Sedai's room to bring her a message. Inside that room, he finds the Green Sedai, but also a friend of his, a Novice called Drelle Tai'shar. He wonders what she was doing there, but she turns around the question, and he did learn only later. As they depart, he hurries himself back to Sagone Asha'man's quarters to tell him the news. Hidden in the bedroom next to the office, he overhears Eya Sedai and her three Promised Sa'ji'alantin as they meet the Dawn of Blood, the man who intended to destroy the Grey Tower. More, he also learns that Drelle has truly turned to the Dark Side. After the four of them have gone, he tries to sneek out, but is surprised by a search team consisting of Gaidin and Tower Guards, who take him with them after hearing his story.

When they meet up with another group, consisting of an Asha'man, a Dedicated, a Drin and a prisoner, they are attacked by two Dark Asha'man Sitters, who are trying to kill the other Sitters. During that battle, Tan'qui falls through the floor when it is turned to sand, and because he is hurt and unable to return to the floor above him in time, he decides to go look for Drelle. Instead he finds an Aielman carrying the Amyrlin!

After taking a long time trying to pick the lock and break into the room silently, he blasts through the door and walks in, surprised when he finds out the Aielman is replaced by ... Drelle! He has kept her true alliance hidden from the search team, for her betrayal was his responsibility, as he felt. A battle starts out between them, and almost at the beginning his rage gets the better of him, and he goes berserk. With a giant blast, he burns himself out, and by going hand-to-hand, he eventually manages to take her out of action, but he gets hurt so badly, that he falls unconscious as well.

His faint cries for help, which he made after taking his control back, just before his rage-filled body was about to kill Drelle, are heard by the Dawn of Blood. He takes Drelle with him, and leaves Tan to be tortured and killed by two Drin under his command.

His lover and Promised, Myshella, shows up in time to rescue him, but his trust in himself is heavily damaged. He considers himself a threat to everyone with his berserking, and decides he don't want to be Healed from his burn out. Instead, he starts to train as a WiT, to be able to protect his beloved little Aiel...

Career History

• Drin
• Ji'val