Back in the Two Rivers [Repost, attn: Lwena]

[Kaylan]

The scenery that surrounded them was becoming more and more familiar, and even after so many years in the Tower Adine was overcome with the feeling of coming home. To most Sisters, the Tower was home, but the Tower was no longer her home – could no longer be her home. The political situation filled her with disdain, and the memory of Sirayn Simeone being raised as Captain-General of the Green Ajah left the taste of bile on the back of her tongue.

 

She looked to Dai, as she affectionately called her Warder whenever she wasn’t in a situation that called for formality and saw him alert as ever several paces away, his slim blade bare on the saddle in front of him, one hand on the hilt. No matter what she told him, he didn’t seem to trust anyone, even though she was insistent that Two Rivers folk weren’t going to try to hurt her, and probably wouldn’t even recognise her. She’d reconciled herself to the fact that her family would be long gone, by now, but perhaps she had some nieces and nephews in the village that she could talk to. She wanted to visit Remy’s grave, and that of the rest of her family, as soon as she could, and was struck with a pang of a now long-familiar grief. She’d never quite understood how she’d come to grieve so for a husband of only three months, but there had been an unexpected affection there, that had been growing into love as he was snatched from her. She could well remember him in her arches, begging her to stay and look after the children – Jayne and Emon. She’d had another on the way, her belly starting to grow with life, which vanished the moment she stepped out of the arches. It still pained her, but she’d known that he was gone, and no matter what she wished for, that Remy would never come back. The Remy in her arches hadn’t been real, but the grief that it had reawakened certainly had been.

 

She realised that she’d been letting it all get to her too much when Dai rode over to her and rubbed her knee in a gesture of sympathy. There had been rumours about Adine and her Warder, but they weren’t true in the least – he was her Brother to Battle, and he treated her like a little sister not long off her mother’s apron strings whenever she let him get away with it. But they had all the relationship of brother and sister – they loved each other, but it was not a romantic love. It was a love borne for a person with whom you trusted your life, but also with whom you trusted your deepest secrets and your hidden desires. He knew all about Remy, and what had happened in the Tower, and he’d followed her willingly as he’d sworn to do when she’d grasped his face and weaved the threads for the Bond those months back. He’d have followed her to Shayol Ghul itself, he said, and while they’d spent a bit of time in the Borderlands in their wanderings, they had never gone into the Blight. Addie had spent enough time in Kaylan Morin’s rooms to know the foulness that existed in the Blight, and while she’d lent her strengths to help defend Tarwin’s Gap for a time, she’d not felt the need to go into the stronghold of the Shadow.

 

The whispers had reached them, though, no doubt through someone’s eyes and ears, and she’d left rather than face the questions about deserting the Tower, about deserting her Ajah. She was Green Ajah, had been raised to the Shawl and later to the Ajah after a struggle with Battleweaves and coming to grips with the fact that she was nowhere near ready to fight the Shadow. They’d forgotten that Adine knew how to work a forge, though – she knew all about tempering a blade, and they hadn’t thought of that in all their smug analogies. It was the salt water they’d used to harden her; she could still remember the sting of their remarks on the relative wounds of her rejection when she’d faced them. But regardless of leaving them, Addie was still a Green in her heart. I stand ready. She’d pledged it and she’d meant it, and she did stand ready for the Last Battle as every member of the Battle Ajah did. She just didn’t stand in the shadow of the ridiculous traditional faction within the Ajah, and she didn’t stand as a lapdog to Sirayn. The Last Battle was going to come, and the Green Ajah would not be ready, not standing as they did alone and against the Dragon Reborn. But Addie would, and had every intention of making sure that her Sisters – former Sisters, she supposed, now – did not help to break the world again in their pride and ignorance.

 

~~~~~

 

It had been some months since she’d come back to the Two Rivers, and she’d taken up residence with her nephew – who was in his sixties, and the youngest son of her younger brother. Unfortunately none of her siblings had still been alive when she’d returned, and that had pained her, but she was glad to see that all of her family had been buried together in the same stand of beech trees. She’d spent more than a few hours out there, making the short hike easily enough. The Two Rivers folk weren’t naïve enough to think her a simple noble lady anymore – things had changed, and they’d been exposed to the outside world more than she had thought possible – but she and Daishell stayed inside most of the time, only venturing out to mingle with the townsfolk on occasions. There were some black coated Asha’man in other parts of the Two Rivers, apparently, and even though she was a supporter of the Dragon Reborn, the thought of men half-mad from touching the taint was disturbing enough to keep her from Channeling unless she had to.

 

Her notebooks were reasonably full, though, from talking to her great-nieces and nephews, although she wondered if she could get more from the townsfolk. She was gathering old stories about wars, and knew all about Manetheren from the Tower. But as a Green, anything to do with fighting the Battle was of interest, and not everyone from the Two Rivers had been there forever. There had been those recent issues with Shadowspawn, too – how she wished she’d made it back to help out with that. Her attention was drawn to a dark shape off to one side of them, and she looked at Dai curiously, who merely shrugged. Not shadowspawn, then, but enough to make her curious.

 

~Adine al’Thoram Torfinn

Former Battle Sister

Bonded to Daishell Hirn

 

----------------------------------

 

Shaking her head slightly, Leila grit her teeth and leaned against a tree to allow herself to catch her breath, not smelling or hearing anything but wild animals nearby for the moment. That was good. She couldn't deal with anyone but a a friendly face right now, and wasn't wasn't sure what exactly she would do if she ran into someone who wasn't too friendly. Probably get herself killed, in worst case scenario. Perhaps they'd be so freaked out by her eyes that they'd just leave her alone, or decide that whatever she had was contagious and give her a wide birth. It wouldn't have been the first time that someone decided she was sick, and it most likely wouldn't be the last. It was easier to deal with people who thought that she was sick, anyway, and it was better than them thinking she was Shadowspawn. She'd gotten that too, of course, from her family no less. That had been long enough ago that she'd gotten over it, but it went to show that anyone could turn on her. Of course, if Leila had been in someone else's shoes and run into a woman with golden eyes, she wouldn't have been the most receptive to what they had to say either.

 

It had been odd enough running into Owen after she'd seen her own golden eyes. That might have been because he was an albino, though...

 

Shaking her head again, Leila pushed herself up and sighed, adjusting her grip on her side and wincing as her hand tugged at the gash there. It had been sheer idiocy that had gotten her into this situation in the first place, which added insult to the injury in Leila's case. She was out on one of her regular recruiting and information circuits, taking advantage of some free time to get herself out of the Stedding. After being a Watcher for however many years, she had found that it was easier for her to be outside of the Stedding than in; she felt useless in the Stedding, even though she knew that she was doing important things there too. However, outside of the Stedding she could at least deal with dangerous situations - well, she did avoid them - and feel like she was doing something by getting information. Organizing reports, while necessary, wasn't all that she'd had in mind for herself. Once she'd started wandering, she found that she couldn't stop. That was why she'd leapt at the chance to get out of the Stedding.

 

Unfortunately, she'd been a little careless, and her reflexes had been a little rusty. Taking a shortcut between farms, she'd stumbled into the middle of a group of young men - younger than her, but still old enough to be considered adult. They had taken one look at her golden eyes and, jumpy from the rumors of shadowspawn and Asha'men, had decided that she was from the Dark One. She wasn't especially good in close combat, though she could manage against a bunch of half trained boys long enough to get away. Her quarterstaff had been lost in the process, however, which was why she was reluctant to run into anyone else. However, she needed to get help from a healer, or a Sage, or whoever she could get it from. She'd set off in the direction of Emond's Field since she knew it was close and knew that there was a woman there who she could trust. The hard part would be getting in. That, combined with the rumors of a visiting noblewoman made her a little leery, but there was no helping it. They were just rumors, anyway, and several weeks old. The woman could have been gone by this point.

 

Shaking her head slightly, Leila grimaced and checked her wound again, wishing that it would stop bleeding. She thought that it wasn't as bad as it looked (in any case, none of her ribs were broken), but if she kept losing blood at this rate it would become a problem. Her constant movement probably wasn't helping either. Shaking her head and blowing some stray strands of hair out her face, Leila came to the edge of the wood and hesitated. Blood and Ashes - she was having the worst streak of luck that she'd had in a very long time. Biting her lip, she shrank back into the shadows momentarily before she realized that she'd already been seen. She was dressed in comfortable traveling clothes, but they weren't meant to blend in with the trees, or anything of that sort. Eyeing them for a few seconds, she made a split second decision. Perhaps, if she was careful, neither would notice her eyes. That was far from likely, but she could try. Tilting her head slightly, she moved away from the trees but remained in the shadows of the branches above, making it hard for the sun to glint off of her eyes - that was what always gave them away.

 

"I'm sorry to intrude," She spoke politely, intent on simply getting directions (not that she needed them) and continuing on her way as though she'd been lost. Leila wasn't trusting enough to accept help from a stranger. Eyeing the man a little warily, she continued, "I believe I've gotten myself a little lost. Do you, by chance, know the way to Emond's Field?" It was close enough to where she was heading, in any case. She was still holding onto her side, loosely, but in a manner that disguised her injury; she couldn't drop her hand to one side since her shirt was light coloured and the blood stain would be obvious to a blind man. Besides, she didn't want to take pressure off of it. Offering the man and woman a weak smile, she shifted slightly and hoped that she could get herself away from them without making them curious.

 

Leila Thatcher

Snowbreeze

Watcher Leader

 

--------------------------------------------

 

There were several things about the woman who stood in front of them that made Adine curious, not least of which that she was walking in the woods of the Two Rivers and asking for directions. Obviously not a local, then, so why was she wandering around? The woman stood in shadow, her head tilted slightly, and one arm held by her side with a little more tension than was normal. Not a reaction that they were unused to, although around these parts her face didn't tend to be quite the same marker as it was in larger cities.

 

Dai was tense and ready for action, but wasn't wearing his sword on her instruction - it attracted too much attention. Instead he had a belt knife at his hip and more than a few about his person, and she could tell from the Bond that he was ready to use them at any provocation, but she shot him a quick look as she stepped closer to the woman. They’d not made eye contact yet, or at least Adine couldn’t really tell since her face was shadowed, and the Aes Sedai wondered what it was that would make a stranger in the Two Rivers avoid eye contact.

 

“Emond’s Field is that way.†Adine pointed without having to look to check, this was her home and she always knew where she was in relation to everything else. Or, well, things had obviously changed some, but she could still point to every house around the place as it had been when she was a child. That was something she’d avoided doing, so far, even the family that she was staying with didn’t know her true identity.

 

“But how is it that you have managed to get lost here in the Two Rivers? Not many strangers come here, or not many used to.†She was trying to guard her words, not give away more than she had to. She certainly didn’t look her age, not at first glance. And strangers were the most likely to tell her for what she truly was, yet here she was peering into one’s eyes. There was… an abnormality about them, but the full impact was hidden by the shadows of the branches. Still, unusual eyes were… discussed, but not with very much seriousness. Rumours, more than anything, darkfriends who called wolves to fight for them, some connection to the Dragon Reborn, but without any certainty about who they were and what they did, Adine wasn’t going to make a judgement. The darkfriend thing sounded like the same propaganda about the White Tower – difference was always seen as evil. It made her want to tear her hair out sometimes.

 

“Are you hurt?†There was a dark stain on the woman’s shirt, the side that she was so casually holding onto. “I can help.†She blurted it out before she could help it, but Adine had always used her ability to Heal as just as much of a tool for battle as her ability to harm. She was never going to be a Yellow, she didn’t have that sort of Talent, but the Green could take care of most wounds, if not the most serious. That always bothered her. Too many lay dead and dying around her in the battles she’d fought for her Talent to be of any use or comfort, but she still tried.

 

Holding herself as tall as she could manage, she assumed the Aes Sedai serenity that was a second skin to everyone who earned the Shawl. Her Ajah Sisters might have declared her a betrayer by now, for all she knew, but she’d still earned the shawl with her blood, sweat and tears, and they could never take that knowledge away from her.

 

~Adine

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Blood and bloody ashes.

 

Leila couldn't help but swear silently as the woman changed her stance slightly, holding herself in such a way that was unmistakably Aes Sedai. Of all the people she could have run into, she had to run into an Aes Sedai and her Warder, indicating that she was definitely down on her luck. She hadn't ever met an Aes Sedai in person, and had never wanted to meet an Aes Sedai in person; her golden eyes had made her cautious of strangers, and she had grown up hearing stories of Aes Sedai. While they were more than welcome in Caemlyn, only a fool would treat a woman of the Tower lightly, and she knew that with her golden eyes they were bound to think that something was amiss. She could hope that they wouldn't think her shadowspawn, but instead just think that she was ill, but people were unpredictable. If there was one thing she knew, it was that. She wasn't willing to risk her life on people she didn't know if she could trust.

 

They were curious, though; she could smell it. She supposed it made sense; a random woman holding her side in the middle of the Two Rivers? That wasn't a common sight anywhere. Besides, she wasn't about to let them see her eyes, which would make anyone suspicious. A plain traveller, maybe not, but definitely someone who at least knew the basics of the Great Game. Leila hadn't ever been good at that, even though she'd tried to learn how it was played while she'd been in Cairhien with a member of her network. All she'd learned was that it was rooted deeply in mistrust, the twisting of words, and coming out the most powerful.

 

"I'm fine," She said after a few seconds, doing her best not to make it seem like she was rushing the words out. "Thank you for your offer, though." Make it sound as though she thought they were nobles with access to a healer, or something of that sort. Shaking her head without realizing it - and thus letting the sun fall briefly on her eyes - she added quickly,

 

"I simply took a wrong turn somewhere back there-" There was indicated by a waving of her free hand, "-and got myself turned around. Thank you again, and I'll be on my way." Of course, it was at that moment that her side decided to throb again, and she drew her breath in sharply as she half staggered in her turn; clearly she was hurt, and now it was going to be impossible to hide. Besides, it was coming to her attention that she really did need a healer soon, and if she didn't find one, she'd probably end up passing out somewhere in the forest, and bleeding to death. The wound was more serious than she'd thought, and then she'd been willing to let herself believe. She was still reluctant to let them see her eyes, but hoped that maybe she could avoid any awkward questions. Turning slightly, she admitted in a strained voice,

 

"Perhaps I'm not as fine as I thought. I don't suppose you have some healall on her your person?" Blood and bloody ashes, She thought again.

 

---------------------------------------------

 

The woman's reassurance that she was fine wasn't particularly reassuring, especially since the toss of her head made golden eyes glint in the sun. Cocking her head to one side, Adine didn't say anything, but she was sure now that the woman was one of those she'd heard about, the ones with a connection to wolves. Darkfriends, it was said, but she didn't give that any creedence - there was no one group that was all good or all evil, most people alone were shades of grey.

 

The woman was vague about where she'd come from, but the intake of breath was an unmistakable sign that she wasn't as well as she was claiming, and Adine readied herself to talk sense into the woman no matter what. No sense in her dying just because she was being a stubborn fool, though the Aes Sedai had told her Warder on more than one occasion that she'd let him. Still, this woman wasn't Dai, and Addie realised that she didn't even know the woman's name yet. Finally, the stranger admitted that she might need help and asked if they had any healall, but Addie just snorted and raised her hands, gently grasping the woman's cheeks and embracing the Source. The wound was discovered quickly enough, not so serious that she couldn't Heal it, but definately bad enough that the woman wouldn't have made it to town. Addie wove the flows easily enough, Water and Air and Spirit in a complex pattern that some couldn't even begin to replicate, yet her Healing seemed clumsy in comparison to that of some of the Yellows. When it was done, she let go of the Source, but not of the woman's face, tilting it up slightly to get another view of her eyes in the sunlight. The Aes Sedai had never seen eyes like it - not on a human, anyway, and she hadn't seen wolves very often after leaving for the Tower.

 

"Interesting." She breathed the word, and raised her voice to call for Dai. "Get the lunch, and some water, please." Taking another look and thinking, Beautiful, she finally removed her hands, but stayed close to the stranger in case she was weak from the wound and then the Healing. They hadn't ridden today, and Adine cursed inwardly, because it would have been much easier to get the woman somewhere to recuperate, but instead she got Dai to lay out the picnic that they were going to have and ushered the woman onto the blanket. Sitting down herself, Addie offered the woman a loaf of bread and a chunk of cheese. "Eat, it will help to bring back your strength. I am Adine." She didn't add her other names, nor her title, even though she had revealed herself for Aes Sedai as surely as a glowing sign over her head would have. She didn't ask for the woman's name, but looked at her with an expectation that many would have been hard pressed to deny.

 

~Adine

Aes Sedai type lady

[Lwena]

ooc: Lol. I was about to repost this when I saw you'd beat me to it.

 

ic:

 

Leila's reflexes were slow, though she wasn't sure if it was because of blood loss or if it was because she was caught off guard when the Aes Sedai suddenly reached up and grasped her cheeks firmly. She didn't even have a chance to jerk her head away before a wash of cold swept over her, chilling her to her very bones. Almost against her will she gasped and shuddered, not expecting the sensation and not liking it one bit. There was no doubt in her mind what the woman had done, and while she was grateful deep down she wasn't about to admit that right yet. She was still trying to recover without shaking or shivering, which was proving to be very difficult; it was an uncomfortable feeling, and her body seemed to be reacting to the forced healing on its own accord. She was suddenly starving and a touch dizzy, as well as exhausted, but her side no longer hurt. In fact, when she touched it gently with her hand, it was no longer injured.

 

Frowning a bit and meeting the Aes Sedai's gaze squarely, she sighed mentally. The woman had obviously seen the gold - even if Leila's actions hadn't made it obvious - and was clearly fascinated by it. I suppose that's better than being horrified, Leila thought with a bit of a sigh. That might create some issues. She didn't stand a chance against an Aes Sedai or her Warder, so if the Aes Sedai had taken poorly to her eyes, Leila would have had a larger problem than bleeding to death on her hands.

 

"Interesting."

 

Leila frowned a bit, resisting the urge to respond sarcastically. This entire situation was rubbing her the wrong way, most likely because she was very tired and had been having a rather terrible day. However, she kept her mouth shut, her years of training kicking in. She knew when to speak and when not to, and this was one of those moments when it was best not to speak.

 

"Get the lunch, and some water, please."

 

Leila relaxed slightly when the Aes Sedai removed her hands. She wasn't comfortable with being around an Aes Sedai at all, but at least the woman wasn't holding onto her, or anything like that. For a fleeting moment, the temptation to run nearly overwhelmed Leila, her wolf instincts kicking in. She supressed the urge quickly, knowing perfectly well that it was futile. She was far too tired to make it far without passing out, and the woman was Aes Sedai, for Light's sake! Besides, that wasn't any sort of thanks - and Leila was grateful that the woman had healed her. Now that her bad mood was fading slightly, because she was becoming more and more certain that the woman didn't have any ill intentions toward Leila, she did realize that she was feeling grateful. A few moments later, almost before she realized it, Leila found herself seated on a blanket across from the Aes Sedai, the Warder looming nearby. He knew how to be intimidating, that was for certain.

 

"Eat, it will help to bring back your strength. I am Adine."

 

"Thank you," Leila said after a moment, accepting the food delicately and forcing off another urge - this time to simply inhale it. She was starving, from the Healing, and it took a great deal of self-control to stop herself from simply eating and not responding. Not missing the hint, she continued, "I am Leila. I'm sorry for my earlier abruptness. I've had a... rough day." That was was an understatement.

 

Now that she was eating, and no longer so hungry that that was all she could think about, Leila found herself eyeing Adine and wondering why there was an Aes Sedai in the Two Rivers. Leila did not think that it was a common place for someone from the White Tower to visit, since it was so quiet and laid back. Well, quiet and laid back until recently. The presence of Asha'men and shadowspawn made things different. Things like Trollocs were not regularily seen in the Two Rivers - or anywhere else in Andor, for that matter. It was a sign of things to come, Leila thought, but didn't want to voice her concerns to a stranger, particularily an Aes Sedai. She didn't even know why Adine was there. After a brief moment of hesitation, as she tried to decide whether or not it was safe for her to ask, Leila said conversationally,

 

"This seems to be an odd place for one such as yourself," She smiled slightly, silently admitting that this was an odd place for someone like her, too. "The Two Rivers is not accustomed to many visitors."

 

-Leila Thatcher

[Kaylan]

Leila. So they finally had names, at least, though there was nothing to say that Leila was telling the truth. And in many people's minds, regardless of the Three Oaths, nothing to guarantee that Adine was telling the truth either. The whole truth was not a part of that Oath, and many Aes Sedai had made a life's work out of sliding around the meaning of 'no word untrue.'

 

"This seems to be an odd place for one such as yourself," Leila spoke once more, nor that she'd eaten at least a bit, "The Two Rivers is not accustomed to many visitors." Adine smiled at the woman's words.

 

"I could say the same about yourself. I can't imagine that your eyes are native to the area." Adine made the first direct mention of the woman's golden irises, though she didn't say anything more. "And the Two Rivers is not so odd a place to come to collect old stories of battle and victory. Have you heard of Manetheren?" Before Leila could eat the entire meal, though Adine had no doubt that she would be able to after the Healing, the Aes Sedai took a piece of bread and tore off a piece to give herself something to do. It often made people uncomfortable to be eating by themselves while being scrutinised by an ageless face, and it let her put a break in the conversation, before she said too much. Skirting around the oath indeed. Not her favourite passtime, but even her relatives that still lived in the area were unaware of her true purpose in the Two Rivers, and unaware of her true identity. Adine Sedai, she'd replied, when they'd asked her identity, and while her nephew looked at her with narrowed eyes, he hadn't said anything to reveal that he knew just why she'd picked their house and not the inn to stay in. She was sure that he knew, though - or there was a hope there, at any rate, that her brothers hadn't entirely forgotten her, that she'd been mentioned at least once to her relatives as the sister who'd gone off and become Aes Sedai. Then again, the attitude to Aes Sedai in the Two Rivers hadn't been the most ... informed back when she'd left for the Tower, and she still didn't know exactly how much that had changed during the long years of her absence.

 

~Adine al'Thoram Torfinn

[Lwena]

"I could say the same about yourself. I can't imagine that your eyes are native to the area."

 

"True," Leila agreed, a hint of a smile on her face. Still no negative reaction. Good. She wasn't relaxing, exactly, but knowing that she wasn't about to get a sword to the head did make her feel better, for obvious reasons. She found herself eating quickly despite her best efforts to stop herself, and managed to slow down once more. It had been a long time since she'd been this hungry - she'd never been hungry as a child, and after her Howling she'd still managed to keep herself fed wiht the help of the wolves. Really, that was the closest she could come to being this hungry; it was insane! She didn't like the unexpected, and this was definitely unexpected. Besides, she didn't want to eat all that Adine had; that would just be rude, and she needed to eat too. The Aes Sedai seemed to be thinking something along the same lines as she took some bread and said,

 

"And the Two Rivers is not so odd a place to come to collect old stories of battle and victory. Have you heard of Manetheren?"

 

Leila nearly choked, but managed to swallow with minimal difficulty. Coughing a bit, she lifted an eyebrow slightly and asked,

 

"Of course. What do you know of it?" What she knew of it was probably different than what Leila knew of it - which was that the banner was to be raised again. Adine had probably only heard the old stories. Yes, Leila thought uneasily, Just the stories. She supposed that rumors had been going around, but those were just rumors for the most part. Leila was curious about how much the Aes Sedai knew, and how far she could be trusted. She was curious about why she was really in the Two Rivers... And couldn't help but wonder vaguely if Owen or another council member was in the area. There were matters to be discussed, especially if an Aes Sedai knew their plans...

[Kaylan]

The cough and question was an interesting response to a simple question, and though Adine raised an eyebrow for a moment she didn't comment on Leila's response.

 

"What most people know, I expect, though it never used to be a story well known in this place. Still, there is something about being in the actual place that brings a new dimension to every story, and some people have a memory of it." All true, once more, and Addie wondered what Leila knew of it.

 

"Manetheren is a story particularly interesting to me because of Eldrene's ... status, but also for the bravery of the city and her people. To be a thorn in the Dark One's foot and the bramble to his hand - oh, if only the sword truly could not be broken." Adine realised that she was gushing, but finding out the history of her home had been a great motivator in her ajah choice - Queen Eldrene had done what Adine would do, should the choice ever come, and she desperately hoped that if the Last Battle was to come soon, as she thought it was, that she would live to fight.

 

"Carai an Caldazar. Carai an Ellisande." It was a low murmur only. Memories long forgotten by most, and a women long dead. But still an Aes Sedai who inspired others, and those of the Green Ajahin particular. Manetheren had been betrayed and left to its doom, and the city that lived to fight the shadow had been shattered, the sword had been broken.

 

"Long gone, of course, there is virtually nothing left of the nation but the people who remain." Adine smiled and gestured toward Emond's field, the site of a great battle but now nothing more than a few houses. Addie was curious about the woman in front of her, but said no more, simply taking a drink of water and looking at Leila, wondering if there was any more conversation to be had.

 

~Adine al'Thoram

[Lwena]

Leila nodded slightly at Adine's response to her question, relieved that it sounded like nothing more than what everyone else knew - though she obviously held Eldrene in high esteem, which was something Leila could appreciate. She nodded slightly, and nibbled on the bread she held in her hand absently, considering Emond's Field and nearly shrugging. It was what was currently left of Mantheren, but from the way things were developing, Mantheren's banner would fly once more, and soon. While it was being kept quiet, Leila was rather paranoid, thus her reaction. She must have been exausted, as she normally wouldn't have made such an obvious sign of her startlement at Adine's question on a dead country.

 

She could smell the woman's curiosity, but chose to ignore it, firstly because she didn't think that it was any of her business to ask about it, and secondly because she really didn't want to enlighten the woman. After all, if she was curious enough she'd ask, though Leila's answer depended on the question. She bit her lip slightly, and then finished the piece of bread before hesitating. She needed to keep moving if she was to reach her destination at a decent hour, and did not want to impose on the Aes Sedai more than she already had. Standing gracefully, much revived after the food, she gave the warder a wary grin before turning her gaze back to the Aes Sedai.

 

"Thank you very much for your kindness, Adine," She absently tucked some hair behind her ear. "But I really must be going - I hope perhaps to meet you again someday." She nodded slightly and turned to head back into the forest; she most likely would run into the Aes Sedai at some point - depending on what Owen had to say once she'd contacted him that night.

 

-Leila Thatcher

Watcher Leader

[Kaylan]

It seemed that they'd both looked to the sky to see how much of the day was gone at the same time, because just as Adine was about to make a comment about heading back to town, Leila spoke.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, Adine," The woman absently tucked some hair behind her ear. "But I really must be going - I hope perhaps to meet you again someday." She nodded slightly and turned to head back into the forest.

 

"You are very welcome, Leila - I hope that we will be able to speak again soon." As the woman disappeared into the forest, Adine watched after her curiously for a moment then turned to Dai.

"We'd best be off, too... My nephew will be wondering where we have gotten to." She picked up her things, mounting her steed, and pointed back to the Two Rivers as surely as a compass.

 

Leila and her eyes occupied her thoughts most of the way back to the town, and Adine wondered if she'd ever get a chance to speak to her again. The Aes Sedai was hoping that she would - it was not every day you got to meet someone like that, and she would like dearly to find out a bit more about the woman. Still, there was no use thinking on her now - unless Leila chose to appear again, Adine had no doubts that she'd never be able to find her.

 

With a smile for her nephew's youngest grandchild, who was sitting on the doorstep as they arrived back at his house, Adine walked inside and found the family in the kitchen. Pushing her sleeves up, she started peeling a potato to help with dinner, despite the protests, and her thoughts turned back to the conversation she'd had earlier in the day.

 

"Would any of you like to hear the story of Eldrene, the great Queen of Manetheren? Pure of heart and fair of face, she was loved all through the land..."