When Leon handed her the lathe, it was harder than it seemed to assume just the right kind of a stance and balance. Leon corrected her many times and demonstrated practically how easy she was to get off her feet by pushing against her weak line what ever that was. It was hard to coordinate both her hands and feet at the same time and she was certain her slashes looked as awkward as they felt like. Luckily there weren’t that many of them to learn but she didn’t seem to get them just right. She had long since broken a sweat and her hands were starting to feel leaden and slightly shaky when Leon told her that she was doing decently now and showed her some basic defenses against all the cuts, the simplest being just a step off the line of opponent’s attack and responding with an attack of your own. That she could surely do but the defenses felt cumbersome and slipped off her mind and she couldn’t predict well enough which cut he was doing.

They went at slow enough speed that she didn’t even feel threatened by his weapon but she was starting to get to the point of frustration by the time he declared that it was time for the fun and she’d get to apply what she had practiced. A small water break later, once she had wiped the sweat off he face, they were ready and faced each others off in a guard stance. Outward Mina’s face was utterly blank and her eyes were slightly glazed with concentration but she could feel her pulse quickening and the fear of hurt sent adrenaline coursing through her veins. She tried to keep in mind Leon’s advice to be relaxed but she was coiled for action like an over-exerted spring. It was just a friendly little practice spar to Leon but she took it as seriously as if her life really was endangered.

She had watched Pander’s guards practice a few times and they had done dirty little tricks. As Leon lunged his first attack, she neatly sidestepped him but instead of hitting him with her lathe, she pivoted and kicked sand into his eyes. As he cried out in shock and blinked furiously trying to dig the grains out with his one hand, she descended upon him like a fury, snarling wordlessly. She directed a vicious kick on his knee and while his foot collapsed under him, she hit him on the skull with a loud crack that would leave a tender lump. She pommeled ferociously the hand that still held the blade until his grip loosened and planted a fist on his face. Blood spurted from his nose and he screamed from the pain. A hard kick on the side wheezed all breath out of him as he collapsed on the ground and she made sure he stayed there by planting her knee and her whole weight on his midrift. Grabbing the lathe with both hands she brought it to a chokehold on his throat. She looked down on him with an insane grin and whispered hoarsely “You’re dead.”

For a while the wooden blade continued to block his breath and she just stared with unseeing eyes at his bulging brown ones. Then she blinked and blinked some more and cried out. She snatched her hands off the lathe as it was a hot poker and crawled off from him staring in horror as he struggled to get as far away from her as possible. “No, no, no”, she uttered brokenly and reached out a hand at him. “Leon… I didn’t mean to… please don’t go…”

(Arette’s post)

He was alarmingly good even now. Her technique was better but he had the killer instincts of a survivor of dozens of battles. He broke her stance and Sahra was forced to stagger backwards. He gave her no pause and was instantly back on her. She couldn’t step outside the blows and keep her back to the mouth of the alley. The only way out was through him and the narrow space let him to utilize his strenght fully.

Light, dear Light, this couldn’t be the end. But she hadn’t lost yet and, wrapped in the Spring, she didn’t loose her nerve. Faster and faster they moved and she barely kept up with him. But she was painfully aware that any moment now she would hit the wall, and her manouvereability would be zero. And what had he done to her blade. It wouldn’t be of much use afterwards.

The voice calling them to halt was like a gift from the Wheel, although it was a bad sign that they were Gaebril’s men. Could these men have been following her? But the lackeys didn’t seem to care who they were, and getting arrested was not an option.

She caught his look and nodded firmly. Their personal battle would have to wait, and even enemies could unite briefly to fight a common foe. He took the right side and she took a place beside him. Blood and bloody ashes but things were really going down the drains. After killing these guards, she couldn’t stay in the city any more. Her part of the mission had already failed when she had followed the flaming bastard. She had no idea how she would explain that to Vasya. Maybe the other Tower Guards still stood a chance. She would just have to do something to draw the attention of all Gaebril’s people on her. A faint plan was starting to form but first she would have to live through this scuffle.

There were five men for both of them and it was their luck that none had crossbows. Sahra’s ideal way to die was not becoming a pincushion in a nameless Caemlynian alley. It finally dawned on the guards that the pair wouldn’t come peacefully and their leader motioned the first men onward. They moved so warily that Sahra had time to poke her personal nemesis to arm to get his attention. She nodded slightly forward and didn’t leave him a moment to protest. Roaring a battle cry, she launched herself at motion and only few eyeblinks later he followed. The impact of her block sent her opponent’s sword aside and she had a clear path to his head. With a nasty crunch, the blade fell and so did the man. She helped him on his way down with a firm shove and stepped over him to face the next man.

Catching the guard’s blade with her own, she brought his sword tip the the ground and followed with a slash that sprayed his jugular vein. Deep in the Spring there was no disgust and she ignored his last feeble trashes, focusing on the her third target. This man was clearly afraid and lunged at her leaving himself far too open. Now she had the space to sidestep slightly backwards. The sweep missed her entirely, and the tip of her sword drove into his eye. He went boneless and Sahra notized that her rat bastard ally had already dealt with her fourth man. He was heading for the captain who had retreated a good bit and she was happy enough to keep the last remaining man busy. But this one she wouldn’t kill. She needed him to pass on the description of her and her companion to his boss.

They were finally off the alley and she rejoiced the freedom of movement. She parried his blade by lifting hers horizontally in front of her face and brought her pommel on his face right between the eyes. And again and again. Normally she would have finished him off but that wasn’t the purpose now. She had time to see her temporary ally run through the captain and kill him with a well-aimed strike to the heart, so obviously he didn’t need help. Fully expecting him to turn on her next, Sahra quickly grabbed the weapon of her last victim, tossing her own sword on the bloody cobble stones with a clang. He was stripping the leader of his purse but he turned to look at her. She balled her fist that wasn’t around the hilt. How she wished that she could kill him. But she hadn’t been able to before when all the advantages had been on his side.

“This is where we part ways”, she said darkly adding a mental rump-fed whoreson and a string of other colourful insults to the end. “Unless you want to make a hefty profit. As much as you can carry out of a town house of a rich noble. Once we get in, you can take everything. I just want some papers.”

———–

Running the Captain through was easier than he’d expected it to be.

Not really.

It was a bit of a challenge with a scimitar, but then he’d more sort of brought the point up underneath the man’s ribs and let inertia take care of the rest as the man sagged on his blade. Ripping his blade free as the man fell to his knees, Fakhir decided to finish it even though it was already done. A simple arc, but it sent the man’s head bouncing to the nearest wall all the same. The woman was still finishing up with her man, so he decided to loot the man he’d just killed. After all, he’d have the fattest purse, and he had no intention of sharing money with her.

As she dispatched her foe, Fakhir was still thinking about killing her. After all, she had just attacked him, the only reason she was still alive was because of the guards that had come along. The only reason he’d spared her was because she had been useful to fight alongside, but with their common enemy gone, why let her live? The only good enemy was one that was lying in a pool of their own blood, preferably no longer breathing. Turning a back on an enemy was simply inviting them to stab you in the back.

The mention of parting ways made him smile slightly, but it was the mention of money that caught his attention. He had killed guards after all, that meant that he would have to leave just to make sure he didn’t end up getting hauled away. He could put aside killing her for now, if the money was worthwhile and the danger wasn’t great. Plus, he could always kill her later.

Then again, maybe if she was still alive, the guards would follow her instead of him.

So he kept it simple.

“How much coin are we talking about?”

———–

(Arette’s post)

Sahra had no idea how much bloody nobles had money but she guessed her year’s wage. It had seemed like a satisfying sum to him and she prayed he would really find as much. After making their way through another set of guards, he might not be as eager to cause more bloodshed unless he felt really cheated. She crossed her fingers that bastard Gaebril had rewarded his closest man well – sleeping with Lord Astoril’s wife and daughter were hopefully some extra incentive.

She would better find some solid information or Vasya would have her head. She was confident of it, they all had been. None of the others just would do anything this crazy. Desperation was a powerful motivation. Her game in the city was over so the best she could do was getting some unexpected results and draw all the attention.

And then they were by the house, making a plan to get in. The Tower Guards had been keeping an eye on the place and spoken with the servants, so they knew approximately how much guards there were and how they were located. She explained the idea quickly to her pile of dung of companion and told him she would arrange the distraction at the gate. All she needed was a little authenticity and he was too happy to provide it.

“Help! Light, help me! Rape!” As expected, the ripped bodice and her heaving bare bosom inspired helpful spirits. One of the guards at the front gate came to comfort her as the other one ran to face the leering Fakhir as he emerged soon after her. A good knock on the temple with the hilt of her dagger was enough to send the man to the world of dreams and Fakhir wasted no time with his charge either.

Giving him an angry glare, she spat blood on the ground. At least none of her teeth had come loose. “You didn’t have to hit me so bloody hard. Quick now, drag him inside.” She grabbed the shoulders of her fellow and pulled him into the yard of the town house.

———–

Smiling as he heard the woman complain about having hit her so hard, the only thing Fakhir was sorry for was the fact that he didn’t cleanly knock out any of her teeth while he was at it. Instead, he reached down with one hand and clamped it on the man’s hair, easiest thing to pull him by. Dragging the corpse along the cobblestones, Fakhir couldn’t help curse the fact that men became many times heavier when they died. It made little sense, if anything they should have been lighter after their guts were spilled, but there was little arguing with reality, even if it made no sense whatsoever.

It was going well as far as he was concerned, two guards dead and only about another ten roaming about the grounds. Good enough odds considering they weren’t all stacked together, he’d just have to kill them all before they all got together. But, first of all they were going to close the gates to the plot of land that they’d built the town manor on, no need for just anyone to stray in and see what was going on. Besides, people tended to gloss over shut doors.

It wasn’t the first time he’d done this.

Of course, he’d done it with more help than one woman who knew her way around a sword. But, first of all was the chore of cleaning the grounds. Splitting up seemed easier, mainly because if she got herself killed, she’d cause enough of a distraction for him to be able to slip inside while they were fussing over her corpse.

A couple of guards and half a dozen gardeners later Fakhir was at the servant’s entrance. It might have been wiser to wait for her to circle around the building, but he didn’t really plan on sharing any loot with the woman, even if she said that wasn’t what she was really interested in. Besides, the hard part was over with now with no alarm having been given. If he was in the building itself without there being any problems, then clearly he was meant to be there. After all, it wasn’t as if he’d be sneaking about.

Fakhir was quite certain that that was perhaps the quickest slaying he had ever performed. The bottom floor had been cleaned in two minutes, just walking into rooms and killing servants before they could call for help, and with his black garb the pair of guards on the inner side of the front doors hadn’t noticed the blood on his clothes until it was too late. As a rule, people saw what they wanted to see, and it made the job so much easier.

Menacing the Lord upstairs was easy enough after killing his wife, finding them both in a study or somesuch had been fortuitous. The lord was even nice enough to take him to a room he’d already cleaned out, a manservant was lying on the floor at an awkward angle from where he’d snapped the man’s neck. The same fate that was dealt to the Lord whatever his name was once he produced the coin. Five pouches in all, heavy too, but thankfully there was a satchel nearby. He could chuck it all in that to carry, out.

———–

(Arette’s post)

The bodies of the gate guards were hidden in the bushes and the gates were closed. No alarm had been sounded yet, so all that was left were the wandering guards. There were ten of them all in all and since they were scattered, it seemed like a wise idea to go their own ways. Sahra and Fakhir had agreed to meet at the study at the second floor. That was where the papers and likely some money would also be.

Sahra got eight more guards, all knocked unconscious and caught before they hit the ground. She didn’t have time to hide most of them but she dragged the senseless men beside the manor wall. It would be bad if anyone looked out and saw the bodies laying around. She went in from the back door and methodically walked through all the rooms in her part of the house.

She got the people in the kitchen, the butler, the maids and some manservants. Light, almost fifteen people altogether. She was fairly certain that none of them had got a good sight of her. The last thing they needed was her being wanted in Andor. She wouldn’t survive Vasya’s shouting, especially when he found out why she had deviated from the plan in the first place. The only thing that she took was a shawl to cover her upper body.

It took her so long that she was certain her ‘partner’ was already done with his looting. Hopefully he had left the study untouched since she really needed the papers. And preferably some answers from Lord Andoril himself. Thanks to the earlier talks with the servants, she had some idea where the study was. The west wing of the second floor.

Sneaking through the corridors, there was no sight of Fakhir so she opened the doors carefully and peaked inside. When she finally found what was clearly the library, she gasped in horror at the well-clad corpse. This had to be lady Astoril. Why in the Light’s name had the bastard killed her? Surely he could have just given her a good night tap on the head.

Supremely angry, she tore open the rest of the doors she hadn’t checked and found Fakhir with two more bodies. A servant and the Lord Astoril. Burn him in the Pit of Doom! There went her information unless she could somehow find the papers on her own. Light, if there even were any papers and it wasn’t all in Andoril’s head. Fakhir was looting and wasn’t the least bothered by all the blood. She had a sneaking suspicion that a similar method had allowed him to get here so soon. But he couldn’t have!

“Light blind you, you flaming stonebrain. Why did you kill them?”

(*groans* I swear that I didn’t come up with those ‘insults’. They were straight from the source material as this story was set in a world created by Robert Jordan. The text is pretty groan worthy otherwise too. So much ‘she said’ and ‘she did’ and totally unimaginative verbs. Shameful even for a first draft)

(My thanks if you persevered through all this. I’m really curious to hear your feedback.)

There wasn’t much point in eating along but Mina had to pay for two meals so she had tried to eat as much as she could get down. But her appetite had gone with Leon. She would have to apologize. It would be easier if only she knew what she had done wrong. Her street urchins had given her a much needed distraction when they had stopped her as she exited the fancier part of the city and got to the narrow alleys. Anton and Jean had been on a knife fight again, those little idiots, and they needed Healing. Mina had been more than happy to give it alongside with a blistering lecture. She wasn’t there to fix them every day after all and her kids were dear to her. They wouldn’t leave the streets even though she had offered them a chance to come live with her in the countryside. So she did what she could for them. She had bought a decayed and abandoned house where the children lived now and she bought them tools, blankets and food.

She never gave them money again after finding out that one of the older kids had used it on some kind of drugs. They had also gotten robbed by the adult hobos, but their things hadn’t been touched again after she had made a messy example of one scrupulous thief. Since then she had taught them basic self-defense and offered to teach them to read and write and count. Everyone were interested on the last one but not so much of the booksy skills which could have been a way out.

Every time she visited them, she raged against the fact that they wouldn’t leave this miserable life behind but it was their choice. And she couldn’t just kidnap them. They would have to come to the point she had reached with Pander Wilkes, may he burn in the Pit of Doom eternally. It would have to be their own decision to move to something better. All she could do was give them love and make sure that they survived a few days longer and wouldn’t have to prostitute themselves.

They couldn’t offer her much in return but they gave what they could: information. They had many pairs of eyes around the city and pretty much everyone disregarded bunch of children in rags. That added to her better connected eyes and ears, and Mina had a pretty good idea of what was going on among the middle and lower classes of Cairhien. She gladly left the nobility to her mother as maintaining such a network required too much useless socialising which wasn’t her forte. And besides, red heads weren’t the most popular breed in this part of the world. It had been only fifteen years since the Aiel war.

Her little ragamuffins had given her the hint that she was following now. Someone was asking after Sansa Alina Covenry, a name Mina didn’t want to ever hear again. It might be a tad reckless to go to the inn in person and without disguising herself but she wanted to get to the bottom of the matter quickly. Her real looks might loosen tongues and if there would be trouble, she could handle herself. Adjusting her hood, she entered The Bunch of Grapes. It was a middle class joint so she had met before the innkeeper, master Domon. It seriously irked her that someone dared to come into her home turf and spread pictures of her that connected her looks and her old life. They had no bloody connection and it would stop tonight, one way or another. Now she begun to regret the lack of illusion but the dice had been cast. Showing the picture earned her a studying look but finally the man nodded ever so slightly toward a table where a single man sat.

Mina eyed him covertly from the corner of her eye. He was young and good-looking but from the way he carried himself, it was evident that he knew how to handle the quarterstaff resting beside his chair. Definately not locals by his looks. Why the in Great Lord’s name was he looking for her or was he just a lackey? Well, there was only one way to find out. As she approached the table and got closer, he noticed that he was coming toward him. He sought her face and there was a shock and recognition there. Blood and bloody ashes. She should have just used the flaming Mirror of Mask. Too late now.

She took a seat opposite to him and slid the image toward him. “You are looking for this Covenry woman”, she said calmly, her mouth twisting with distaste. “What do you want from her?”

——

He knew. There was no way this could be anything but her. She looked too much like Sahra to dismiss it. Especially after he’d been asking questions. He’d never thought to get an answer though. He asked because it was what Sahra wanted, but he’d never believed they’d be able to pick up the trail that late in the game. Light, he’d been wrong. he wasn’t too sure if that was good or bad though the way she had come to him.

“I just want to find her.” He said, not wanting to push since she had avoided the name. “I want to talk to her about someone. My name is Sana. You would be?”

——-

The way the man was looking at Mina was disturbing, not with lust or anything but like he knew her. It made her wonder how in bloody ashes they had been able to make the picture so accurate. But she couldn’t be too curious about that since it would be something Sansa would be interested in, not Mina. Still, it was her face on the poster so it involved her.

And he worked for someone. She would have to find out who it was and stop the search. She hated the idea that she might go to her mother and ask for help with something like this, but she would try to solve it on her own first. Nyssa’s solution might be a bit more permanent, peaceful deaths in their sleep.

Sana with no last name and origin. The name could have been from anywhere too and she couldn’t place his looks. In Cairhien she was known as Selena but thinking her real name brought a faint smile into her eyes. Adalmina after a girl in a fairytale who had a beautiful pearl. She had been a horribly spoiled princess but in the end she had grown and changed. Mina wasn’t going to share the story with a complete stranger, though.

“I’m Selena. And someone put you up to this, Sana. Who is it and why would she” Mina tapped the picture of the woman in the poster with a nail “be interested to hear you out?”

——–

Sana smiled, but even though he seemed laid back, he wasn’t. He was more aware than most men that just because it was a woman didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous. Withstanding Sahra and the training in the yards, his quick entanglement with Karli in Cairhein, and the Mistress of Trainees who had taken him in, he was Sana Tahn Sakhr. Little brother to one of the most deadly people on the planet. His big sister. It made it hard to forget that women were just as likely a danger as men. And less likely to need a real excuse to poke steal in you as well.

He didn’t like this situation at all and even though his smile showed only warmth and humor, he wasn’t lazy or relaxed at all. “I’m hoping she’d like to talk about a family matter.” He said. “But i’m not likely to discuss it with just anyone. It’s private you see, and if I were to meet her I wouldn’t want her thinking i’m the type to lose my head over a few pints and spill any secrets.”

He ignored the first question outright. There was no way he was going to bring up Sahra’s name in all of this. He wouldn’t betray her like that.

“So, you know where I can find her or not?” He asked, waiting to see what she would say.

———

When you lived with an insane and sadistic parent who could turn into a hurtful monster all the sudden, you learned to read the subtle signs very well. Outwardly this Sana appeared very friendly but he was on his guard and there was tenseness. Mina hadn’t voiced a word of menace but he was smart enough to realize that she wasn’t exactly pleased by the turn of events. He was nicely loyal to who ever he worked for but she could always find out his employer in other ways.

“You are dancing around the issue”, she said bluntly. “Cautiousness is good when you are dealing with an unknown contact but sometimes you have to put some cards on the table to proceed. Or maybe you would like to take it to more private.” Now reservation crept into her manner. The idea of going alone to a closed quarters with a strange man wasn’t a pleasent one, even though she knew that she could defend herself more than adeptly.

“As for the family matter, there actually is family?” Mina wasn’t certain whether the matter really interested her that much. It shouldn’t have because she had her own family back in Tear and they were all that she needed. “I thought that they all died in the fire or had already passed away.” That was at least what Pander had ranted about. How he was all that she had left in the world, and how she should be greatful that he had taken her with him, and not let him burn with the rest of her family. The memory twisted her stomach. He could have lied for all that she knew, but she didn’t like to examine the mixed emotions brought up by the knowledge that the past her might have some connections left.

“I know where she is but depending on what you tell me, I will decide what I will do. So you need to spill something or we are at impasse. You have already committed yourself, so whether you want it or not, this will continue. If you don’t co-operate, it just might continue without you…” She realized after the words were out of her mouth that they could take entirely wrongly and lifted her hands in an appeasing gesture. “I didn’t mean terminally. Just that, well, it will go around you and you won’t be able to affect the outcome.” Of course, the addition meant that he knew now that she thought she could finish him off like that.

———-

Sana hated this whole thing, but she was right about one thing. He was committed to this just because if was Sahra and he’d do just about anything for her. Well … if he was being honest it was that he’d do everything she asked as long as he didn’t think it would hurt her. He looked the other woman over, wondering what sort of person she was, who she could be that she would throw out the death card without thought so easy. It made him even more uneasy than this whole business already had him and he hated that even more.

Taking a drink from his mug to quench his unease, he smiled at her as he sat it back down. “The truth is that I won’t tell you who i’m working for, but I do know about the family connection. The woman i’m looking for has a sister. My employer wants her found so that he can reunite them.”

He didn’t know if that was enough, but he wasn’t going to say that the sister was his employer. It might clear the way for him, or if things went bad, and he had already faced too much to think it might go otherwise, he didn’t want it traced back to Sahra. Either way, it was in this woman’s hands now.

———

Loyalty was something Mina appreciated. She would never reveal Duram’s name to anyone, no matter what they did to her. And her sister was alive, Sahra Covenry. Only she wasn’t the sister of her heart. As much Mina might dislike Toulan, they had actually history together, a connection between them. With this stranger she had nothing in common except the knowledge that their parents had been burned. The sister was part of the past Mina wanted to leave behind her. She didn’t want to meet Sansa’s sister and see what her life could have been like if she had had a normal childhood.

Maybe they would stop hounding her with the past if she told that openly. And if not, then Mina would find the sister and through her the employer who was causing her so much trouble. “Sansa Covenry, the woman you are looking for, is dead. She died when she was sixteen.” Her old life had ended and a new one had begun with the death of Pander Wilkes. “So there is nothing to reunite. Please tell that to your employer and the sister. Searching is futile and so are these”, she tapped the poster with her finger. “You are just wasting your time spreading them. Your employer will understand that, yes?”

———-

He didn’t believe her. The face might hide lies well, but it also revealed too much ancestry. The problem with that was if she didn’t want to be found he wasn’t sure he should tell Sahra he had found her at all. He took a drink of his ale, trying to think of what to say to the woman. There was no way he was going to be able to change her mind, he could see that, anymore than he could convince Sahra to stop looking.

He needed time to think about what he was going to say, but she didn’t seem likely to give him the night to think about it. He took a deep breath as he looked up at Selena. “I can talk to my employer and the Sister, but I honestly don’t know if that will cut it. Telling them that she died when she was 16? I would need something to back it up to get them to step away from this. Do you have any? Proof that the sister died back then? Can you tell me where and how?”

He had a passing thought that he was treading on dangerous ground here, but he had to see this through for Sahra. He knew how much family meant to her and he’d do anything to help her. If he knew that her sister was dead and could prove it to her, he would. But if she was alive, he didn’t know what he’d do. From the sounds of ‘Selena’ he had a hard decision in front of him and he didn’t like that thought at all.

——–

The signs of disbelief were evident on Sana and Mina almost sighed. Getting rid of him was not an option if the employer would send someone else. So she would have to talk him to somehow telling his bloody employer convincingly enough that she really was dead. The most believable lie was one that was strongly laced with truth, so she would have to share some details of her past. And she knew just the perfect dead end.

This whole thing brought about the question of how they had been able to make the poster. It was likely modeled after some relative but which one? The sister, the mother? But no matter. All that was important was for the search to end.

“Sana, what is your motive for doing this? Is it money or loyalty?” She had to determine would he blubber it all for the employer, who would then be the final decision maker. “And I can give you proof. How much does your employer know already? How did they find out that the sister might be still alive in the first place? Did they know to search specifically from Cairhien or are these posters being spread elsewhere too?” Great Lord but she would get really angry if that was the case.

“Anyway, Cairhien was the right place. And there was a house where the woman grew up.” She eyed Sana with frustration. “Look, this is really difficult without knowing how much you know already. Anyway, the house burned down fairly soon after she left it. There were servants there and bodyguards. I can give you some names but they are not really important since you can trace the path onwards.” Unless he insisted on speaking with them and hearing of the childhood of the woman. Which would be unfortunate since every single person in the house whose name she had remembered were dead in their sleep. Courtesy of Nyssa and Mina couldn’t say that she was sorry. All of them had looked away and no one had cared.

“Neighbours might remember something too. The evident trail ends when she left. But I know where she went. And that is where the trail ends permanently. She ended up in an inn in a bad condition. Someone brought her in and paid her bill. There was a wisdom to see her, I guess but it was too little too late. I can take you to the inn and you can speak to its owner.” Mistress Caldevwin was one of Duram’s so she wouldn’t reveal his involvement. Mina would just first have to make sure that the Mistress would know that she was supposed to be dead. And to call her Selena, not Mina. She was one of the few people in Cairhien who knew her real name. The Wisdom might prove a problem but good mistress likely knew someone who could be summoned up and convince Sana that Sansa Covenry had died that day.

———

Sana listened to the story, not wanting to say much on his own. Whatever he knew or didn’t know, he didn’t want to play into whatever she was telling him. That there was a trail that she said was unknown was a bit intriguing, but then he already knew the truth, no matter what words she spoke.

There was no question in his mind about who she was, but there was a great deal of question about what he should do about it. If this girl didn’t want to be found, it was trouble. Sahra would never take no for an answer and the girl was dangerous enough that he didn’t trust her enough to some within city limits of his love. Sahra might be good at her job, but could she really defend herself against this woman with the face she knew so well? It was hard enough to wonder if he himself could. Then again, a few minutes into this conversation he already knew he could. She might look the part, but she was nothing like his Sahra.

He nodded his head as the story ended. “I would appreciate any help you could give me.” He said finally. Sahra would never take no, but he needed to. He loved her more than anything and if it meant protecting her from the past, he would do it. Creator give him strength, but he would. “My employer is very thorough, so it would be helpful to talk to someone who could verify your story. Just for added clarification.” He said, giving his best smile.

———

So, no answers were worthcoming. That was just fine by her. Better to keep their encounter brief. Mina would let him to find out things from her past and she genuinely hoped that he got the hint to let them to remain history. If someone else came to Cairhien looking for Sansa Covenry, there would be a reckoning. But she wouldn’t just take his word for it. She had to find out who this Sana was and who he worked for. It was information that she didn’t need from him.

They both knew that he knew so she returned his smile. There was no real warmth to it, though. “Let us go then. The inn’s name is Gracious Moon and its owner is Mistress Caldevwin. It is at the edge of the Merchant’s Quarter so we will have to walk a bit.” He followed her and it might have been amusing how on his guard he was if her future didn’t depend on him. But she couldn’t get rid of him until she got more information and was certain that his employer didn’t send others.

Mina lead him through the orderly planned streets until they stood in front of a well kept house with a painted sign of a glowing moon. “This is it.” She sauntered in and greeted the good mistress. She was one of the rare people in Cairhien who knew her real name and even part of her history. And now she wanted to share it all with Sana. Great Lord, but she didn’t like that. Still, it was a necessity.

After the regular greetings, she introduced him and Sana to each others. “Mistress Caldevwin, this is Sana. Sana, this is Mistress Caldevwin. He has some questions about a customer of yours four years back. I think that you would remember this one: the girl some stranger brought in badly beaten and who died of her wounds shortly afterwards.” She spoke calmly, as if speaking of a stranger.

Mistress Caldevwin looked slightly taken aback but nodded. “I remember her, Selena. The poor girl. Why don’t we go to somewhere a bit more private.” Motioning one of the waitresses to cover for her, she lead them to cabin. Thankfully it was not the same where Mina had once spoken with Duram. Once they were seated, the Mistress looked from Sana back to her. “So what do you want to know?”

“Please tell Sana how she ended up here and in what condition?”

Still slightly ill at ease, the Mistress drew a breath and explained. “It was very late and I was already asleep when one of the girls came to wake me up. Some man had brought in a badly hurt young woman, carried her to a room and given the girl enough money to cover her stay for a month. We called the Reader of course and she did her best but the girl never even stirred. The next day she died and we used the coin for her funeral. None of us knew her name and she had no items with her, so we left the stone empty save for the death date.”

There even was such a stone in the grave yard. Mina had had it made herself after she had become a Dreadlady and she had returned to Cairhien. Six feet under was buried her life as a Sansa Covenry and she had never expected anyone to come digging. Mistress Caldevwin was an expert at dissembling and her peope would say what ever she told them – or likely wouldn’t even remember the whole case.

“And what of her wounds? And the strange man? I am sure that Sana here would like to speak with the girl who saw him. And the Wisdom too.”

“Hmm, please forgive me now good master but I cannot remember which one of my girls it was. She might even be one of the two who quit and got married. I can ask, though. As for the Reader, it would have been old Esme. But she died a year ago, the Light shine on her. Her apprentice is now the Reader so you should ask if she recalls the girl. She was with Esme then.” Marbella Cassiel was one of them, if not one of Duram’s and Mina outranked her.

“And I have never seen anyone mistreat a pretty woman like that, although the beauty was hard to tell as she was so bruised. The face was all swollen and she had taken such a knock on her head that she never woke up. Long red hair she had, not a popular colour around here since the Aiel War, so maybe that was why she got mugged up. Better quality clothes but they were torn. A man had been behind it, that much is clear. Maybe even the one who brought her in, who knows. The poor thing, to have to go through that.” The innkeeper muttered under her breath about how world was a bad place.

The comment made Mina frown with displeasure. She didn’t want to hear such implications even if they were crafty lies. In fact, she didn’t want to hear any of it and she resented Sana for forcing her to.

“But what killed her was the injury on the torso. Pure cruelty that, kicks and hits. Esme said that she had internal bleeding. Would have taken the One Power to save her and White Tower is far away. Her life hadn’t been easy, though. The back was badly scarred and they were years old wounds.”

“That was quite graphic enough, thank you”, Mina cut her off. She didn’t want to be reminded of her treatment or Sana to learn of her life before her supposed death. She gave him a grim look. “Are you happy now?”

———-

Sana listened to the woman speaking and there was a great deal of discomfort there. The woman didn’t want to be talking about this. It could be bad memories of course, or it could be something more. Light, he hated being suspicious of everyone, but he knew enough of the truth to be wary about anything said. And the way Selena cut her off at the end could be anything from painful remembrance to anger or guilt. He hated this whole thing and hated what it was forcing him to do to Sahra.

He listened to the story and decided he was done with this whole thing. He knew what he was going to do and the quicker he got it done with the quicker he could be gone and back with Sahra. Telling her the lies she needed to hear before she could be hurt any worse by this.

He put on his best compassionate smile as he spoke. “Thank you so much Mistress Caldevwin. I know it must be difficult to remember such a thing, but I think my employer will be relieved to know the truth at last.” He said.

Taking a deep breath he looked between the two of them. “I don’t think we need to bother anyone else. I’m sure this will be enough for me to take back. I thank you for your time Mistress.” It irked to say thank you to a lie, but he had what he needed now. An eyewitness to Sahra’s sister’s death and a reliable way to end this search that Sahra refused to let go.

———

Mina watched the man take it all in and she could tell that he was suspicious, maybe dubious even. In a way she was glad if he thought it all a lie. She didn’t want anyone to know what had happened to her. But he had to believe it enough to pass it on to his employer. If he shared his doubts, the investigations would begin. Duram certainly wouldn’t be satisfied until he knew everything. She had to find out what he was going to do now.

“Thank you, good mistress. For everything”, she said also softly and the innkeeper smiled back at her. “It was kind of you to take the time to recount such a morbid story.”

At Sana’s words, a more genuine smile bloomed on her face briefly. But he could just be saying it. “I could have a glass of wine.” Her look told clearly that Sana was going to pay for it. He did owe her something for the uncomfort after all. “Please bring us a bottle of your best red, Mistress Caldevwin.”

Likely he didn’t want to spend anymore time with her than was necessary and the sentiment was returned. Her wish was granted and she waved the owner away, opening the bottle and filling their glasses herself. They had servants for that at home but Mary and Nyssa had taught her how a gracious hostess would serve close friends. He wasn’t even an acquiaintaince but a nuissance but that didn’t mean that she had to forget her table manners.

She would have much rather had Leon sit there opposite to her but he had ran away from her. She had been very rude and she blamed the wine. Nice way to ruin a brother’s birthday after the gift choice had went wrong too. The slight buzz had passed and she really had no intention to take more than just one glass to settle her nerves.

Lifting her glass, she forced Sana to to return the gesture and there was a slight cling as they toasted. “To answers”, she said and took a sip. Not as good as the earlier wine but even that had left a bitter memory. “So, what did you make of the answers you got? And what do you think your employer will make of them?”

———

Sana raised his glass to hers and echoed her words “to answers” before taking a drink. He preferred ale to wine, but this was good and he’d drank enough in his day to know the good from the bad. Something he’d known before coming to the Tower and had certainly been refined a bit by Aran and his tutoring over the years. The man might be infuriating to the higher ups of the Tower Guard, but Sana knew him to be a good man to have at your side and an even better friend. Aran had a way of making you see the truth whether you liked it or not. And sitting next to the woman with Sahra’s face but a suspicious and even dangerous manner … he was glad he’d had such a teacher. Aran had forced him to face some hard truths about himself and had given him the ability to look at himself in a different light. It was that ability that let him sit next to this woman all the while knowing he was going to go back home and lie to Sahra, telling her that her sister had died while knowing she was alive. It was for Sahra’s own good though and while she would never thank him if she found out, he couldn’t bare what would happen if Sahra came face to face with this woman and got hurt for it. Sahra was tough and a good Tower Guard, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Selena would attack first and never ask questions.

He swirled the wine in his cup a bit, watching the legs running down the cup. He shook his head as he looked at the woman in front of him. So like the woman he loved and yet so different. Someone Sahra might have become if things had gone differently.

“It’s hard to imagine what that poor girl’s life was like. It’s sad to think that so many bad things can happen to someone and no one knew, or those who did refused to act. I’m sorry she lived that life.” He said. “But I think my employer will see the end of this search at last. It’s been a long hunt, but at least we have this ” He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘the truth’, “story to pass along. My employer will finally be able to let this rest, knowing the woman sought is now dead.”

Sana could lie with the best of them when he needed, had been well practiced while still a youth, but he preferred not to lie. And for some reason, a part of him wanted to reach out to Selena. She was Sahra’s family, and Sahra was his now. He truly did want her to know that he felt sorry for what had happened to her, even if he wouldn’t come right out and call the whole thing a sham. It might be the more dangerous path to take, but then again no one had ever claimed he lived by his head. Sana’s heart was on his sleeve and even now he gave into the need to put it in view.

———-

Blood and bloody ashes, he was pitying her. Mina had been pretty certain that it woud happen once he heard the story, but it was still unpleasent and annoying. She could also use it. The way he sometimes looked at her – not like he was lusting her thankfully, but like he knew her might play to her hand too.

“Bad things happen more than most would know or even want to know. Followers of the Light close their eyes and carry out these deeds all the time”, she spoke dispassionately since it was the truth. The best people she knew were all sworn to the Great Lord. “But the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.” And that cruel and uncaring entity had to be stopped from spinning people into the same agony again.

“I am glad that your hunt is over at least, even if it didn’t lead to pleasent results. Will you tell your employer of the process how you came across the information?” He knew that she was asking if he would tell of her. “You would have come across the Gracious Moon eventually. Mistress Caldevwin might not have been as talkative to a stranger but then a persuasive young man could achieve results.”

“There is still the employer, though. Some of the people I have worked for have been very insistent on learning every detail. I wouldn’t have the guts to lie to them or even omit anything.” But with Duram there was so much more than fear and respect. She very badly wanted to tell him everything and get his approval. “But I like my anonymity, so there is a dilemma. Why would you care about the wants of some Cairhienin girl you met today?”

“Are you bribable, Sana?”, she asked and this time there was genuine amusement that lit her face. Making a liar out of a random person and corrupting Lightfools was the kind of fun a stereotypical darkfriend was supposed to enjoy. It wasn’t her favourite pastime but then she rarely met Lightfools save on missions. And more often than not long conversations were not part of it.

———-

Sana shook his head, a small smile on his lips. He wasn’t sure why the question made him want to laugh, but it did. He managed to keep it to a small smile with a bit of luck. “Bribeable? No, i’m afraid i’m not. But I won’t give you away. At least not in so much. A pretty girl who remembered another pretty girl in bad shape. No details, but enough of a memory to point me to the Inn. My employer will be satisfied with the account, I assure you.”

He really didn’t like lieing to Sahra but he wasn’t about to let anyone try to skin her for looking for someone that didn’t want to be found. “And you have been incredibly helpful today. I would hardly be a gentleman if I didn’t respect your wishes after all of this. My employer will be able to stop expending income on this chase and I can hopefully find myself back in home, a warm bed, and a warmer body to keep me busy.”

He smiled at the other woman, at Sahra’s kin, which in his world made her his own kin. “But i’ve taken enough of your time. Thank you again for that. Unless there is anything you need of me?”

———-

He said that he wouldn’t give her away and Mina would have to just trust on that. Of course she wouldn’t leave it to that but he didn’t need to know it. She had means to keep an eye on him without him being aware of it. And she had to find out who he worked for.

“Thank you very much. I like my privacy.” His comment about being a gentleman made her smile slightly wryly but he hadn’t done anything to make her disbelieve him. Her face went utterly blank at the remark about a warm body. She was not used to any kind of sexual banter and it made her deeply uncomfortable. But normal people talked about such things so she just had to get used to it.

After a moment she was able to return his smile. “It was not a big thing and I don’t need anything. If you are leaving, I’ll go at the same time.” Embracing Saidar quickly as she stood, she prepared the Tracing weave and ‘accidentally’ bumped into him so that she got in contact with his sword hilt. “Ouch.”

She was certain that it was an item that he would not discard so it would make a good landmark. She knotted the weave loosely enough that it would unravel in a week as she stepped back. “Sorry about that. I am not usually so clumsy.” She waved away his apology as they walked to the door together. “This is it then. Goodbye Sana.”

It would be interesting to see where he would be in a week. She would find him anywhere. She didn’t look back after they departed but slipped soon into an alley and made sure that he couldn’t follow her even if he tried.

She was returning from the privy and passing one of the many lounges without paying much attention to the conversation inside until a clear and beautiful female voice mentioned the name of her husband. That made her halt and she began to listen what was said inside.

“Did you be seeing Lord Stavros yesterday?”, the tone was half disdainful, half admiring. It was that second half that really made her perk up. “I can no understand how the Queen be giving him that title no matter how he did be helping her.”

There were murmurs of consent but a hesitant voice finally said. “He did be very brave, though. And I be hearing he lost many men.” Finally a ladyling with some sense.

“Mudbloods. Who be caring about them”, a third voice said full of contempt and Arette fell her blood pressure rise. Those people who had died had been family and lower class had as deep feelings as the nobility. How cold hearted could one to be to pass their suffering and sorrrow with a shrug of shoulders. “But Hera, I did be seeing how you did be looking at him. I can no understand you. He do be very muscular but too much so which be making it vulgar. And his manners… ugh. And that ruined face, it be giving me shivers. And no matter how the Queen be making him a lord, he be nothing but a dock rat. It be disgusting.” Arette officially hated this little bitch now. It was the woman’s luck that she did not know who she was.

The first voice responded and Arette could pair one voice and face. This was Hera Menelaos, a twenty year old slip of a girl who was already the High Seat of her House. Many named her the most beautiful woman in the court and her hand was highly sought after.

“I be knowing, Athina”, Hera admitted with a shameless chuckle. “But that be the attraction, no? It be forbidden and yet no and he be so different than all those young men courting me. They be just boring me. This be something else, a real challenge. And just be imagining those arms and thighs crushing around you. Ooh.” The second girl tittered nervously and the third one, likely lady Athina Kouros, gasped all scandalized. Her name was now firmly scribbled down to Arette’s mental note book of people to bring low.

Hera was interested of Con now? Light help them all if she ever got the courage to act on it. She had no idea how Con would react but it would end up badly, she just knew it. This young girl was everything that he disliked the most in a person. Hera could imagine him in bed with her as much as she wanted but he wouldn’t touch her even with a ten feet pole. Con’s fidelity was unshakable and the knowledge that she indeed was the one getting delightfully crushed in their marriage bed was enough to keep the jealousy at bay. She had no cause for such feelings anymore and most certainly she would not waste them on this girl who wasn’t even one hundreth part the woman Telcia was.

“But he be married and they be having children. And the wife be an Aes Sedai. She be turning you into a toad”, the second voice protested.

“They be having only daughters, Basileia”, Hera said softly. [color=green]“And you be seen the wife, she be plain and she be old. I be knowing that she can no have children anymore. I be much more desireable than she and I be able to be giving him something she no be able, a son.”

Enough! That manipulating little slattern. Somehow she had managed to discern Arette’s weakest spot and burn her if she let Hera Menelaos go ahead with her mad schemes and ruin everything by provoking Con’s temper. She was not going to listen to even one more word and the wretched woman’s companions were of the same mind.

“You be out of your mind, Hera”, lady Basileia Nyxos cried.

“I be agreeing and I be leaving now”, lady Athina said coldly.

She squeaked when she reached the doorway and met Arette’s dark glare. She was made of sterner stuff, though and managed to compose herself even if her gait was half-run when she passed her and headed toward the end of the corridor like the Dark One himself was after her. Arette’s entrance had an effect on the trollop and her friend too. Basileia went deathly pale and Hera stood holding her hands over her heart. She was clearly afraid as she should be.

“Lady Basileia has judged the situation almost aptly, child.” Her voice was the blade coming off the sheath. “I won’t give you even the credit of insanity, you are merely a fool. You are a naughty little girl whose mother failed to teach you any sense of propriety. It disgusts me that you would plot to break a happy home without an ounce of care.”

“The Queen will not need two ladies in waiting like you for some time. I shall borrow you for a while and return you with some sense and ability to serve your country properly. You expressed such interest in my husband’s affairs that I am of the mind to grant you your wish. You will meet and attend my daughters and truly grasp the consequences of your plans, Hera. And your lesson, Basileia, is to learn better judgement when choosing friends and how to give advice that is truly listened.”

Hera opened her mouth to protest, a harebrained girl, and Arette stuffed it with a gag of Air. “And don’t be entertaining any ideas, Hera. You may get close to my husband but he is as far out of your reach as the moon. If you have any wisdom, you will steer clear of him entirely and not enforce his loathing of your kind.”

“Come along then, you two. We have much to do today.” Not unexpectedly, Hera turned out to be a little rebel and even tried to run from her. It was a stark satisfaction to be given the excuse to smack her bottom with Saidar and by the time they were out of the Palace, she toed the line.

Arette Stavros
Hoping that she isn’t making a horrible mistake

———-

She was Hera Menelaos, High Seat. Noble. She didn’t have to put up with this. She was better than this, than these people who had come in and overnight been granted the title of Lord and Lady. Well, the Lord, rough as he was, had been helpful to the Queen to be certain, but the Lady.. she was an Aes Sedai and everyone knew not to trust those. In truth, she had been a fool to make her comments aloud when the Lady Stavros might overhear, but how had she? Manipulative woman had probably been following them all along, envious of their youth and in her case at least, beauty.

She had opened her mouth to protest as they got out of the carriage, but was quickly silenced by what she saw. She was supposed to be living here? In the Perfumed Quarter? She had thought the Lord Stavros would have quickly seen to a new estate outside this filth, but he must not have had the resources.

It proved her point of course. Lord Stavros needed a good woman and she was just that woman. Others might titter on about the men that came to court them, but Hera liked the men that needed chasing. She wanted someone out of the ordinary and now that Con Stavros was a Lord, he certainly qualified. She might turn her nose up at his birthing, but he might be the sort of man that just needed a strong woman to lead him on the right path. From the state of the house, his Aes Sedai wife was not that woman.

They were in the entrance hall before she finally got her tongue back. Looking at the Lady Stavros, she turned her nose up slightly to show her distaste. “This do no be suitable at all. The Queen do be learning that you be taking me against my will and she do be forcing you to release me.” She said, certain in her assertation. “And you be expecting me to stay in the Perfume Quarters? I do be dead before the night comes. I demand you take me back to the Palace where I be safe and properly cared for. I am no fool and no simple commoner. I am the High Seat of House Menelaos. I will not be treated thus.”

Hera Menelaos

———

Walking to the palace and back would have been more preferable option to Arette but Con’s new title and her own position required some maintenance. They had to behave in public like the nobility was expected to act. The carriage was also safer than walking the streets even if she usually was accompanied by her trio of protectors and especially today when Light only knew what kind of a fuss Hera would kick up. Basileia was quiet and subdued and the slight smiles Arette directed at her didn’t seem to solace her much. Hera on the other hand was pure insolence, looking her down upon her nose for the whole ride and openly wrinkling her nose in disgust as they got closer to the Perfumed Quarters and the dock and the smell got stronger. She had grand plans for how to clean the canals with the One Power but five channelers had not been enough and her skin crawled at the possibility of linking with the Asha’man. They could bring only four men in anyway as the number of women had to be greater if the old writings about linking held true. But even that might not be enough with Saidin so alien and men not as strong with Water as women.

It wasn’t a worry of today. They arrived to the barracks and even Basileia appeared taken back by their home. It certainly wasn’t a manor and 7 rooms was smaller than some apartments in the palace. Still, it suited them just fine and these two ladylings would learn to not sneer at it. Hera begun her tirade of protests as was expected. Arette listened patiently through all of it and in the end she laughed just because it would annoy the woman. She wasn’t really amused at all so the short chuckle sounded hollow.

“Dead in a barrack of over hundred men? Such illusions and ignorant fears you have of the Perfumed Quarters, child. My husband has been working to make the streets safe and they have never been more so than now. But you will learn what it is really like here and other things. I don’t think that you have ever met someone who you haven’t been able to bully with your position or wrap around your finger by a little charm and womanly wiles. None of that works here so that is a good lesson.”

“You also have an overly inflated view of your importance. The Queen will not miss you and she won’t mind me borrowing you because I will return you back more useful. The Queen lived with us for months so she knows what I am talking about. I had to warm her bottom a few times too so don’t think that I stay my hand with you if you need to be taught the hard way.”

“As for suitability of our home, my husband and his men built this house themselves and Con loves this place. If you want to be truly idiotic, go ahead and make the mistake of snide comments when he is present. I’m sure that you will try to be all honey and milk around him but you can not help your true colours shining through sooner or later. He hates snotty nobles.”

“Now, was there something else that you wanted to say, child?”

———

Something she wanted to say? Oh there were a good number of things she wanted to say, but she had better hold her tongue. She hadn’t gotten to where she was without a brain and she knew how to keep her peace. She would do what she had to, but there was no doubting she would get what she wanted in the end.

Tomorrow she might rebel a little less against her captor, and in a few days seem contrite about her previous actions. The woman had already given her a little insight into the mind of her husband and she would be able to use it.

“No Lady Stavros. You have made yourself quite clear.” She said, not trying to keep the anger from her voice. “Are we to be your slaves then, My Lady?” she said. “Shall I scrub your boots My Lady?”

Ignoring the angry tone, Arette was glad that Hera could demonstrate at least that much self-control that she didn’t let all the steam out. It was a good start. She smiled placidly. “You can both call me Arette and I will call you Hera and Basileia. Or children when you do behave like ones. You are not my slaves or even my servants but my students. If you are slave to something, Hera, it is your pride but I will try to help you to master it. And no, your first task is not to scrub my boots because you might ruin a perfectly good pair. We will start with something more simple like cleaning and helping me to prepare dinner by chopping things. When I don’t have other chores for you, you will keep company to my daughters.” Light help them if they did something stupid around Rana and Cina. But one of the three men would always be present to supervise if she wasn’t there.

“Now why do you think that I am going to make you do some physical work? I give you a hint. Because I am evil is not the right answer.”

She wanted to make an angry retort, but stopped. “Physical work? I do be supposing you think to be educating us in the ways of commoners.” Her father had tried to explain to her the virtue of the common man. He had been a noble, but he had also been a bit too soft when it came to them. Her mother had been the strong one in the family and had been the only one Hera listened to. Her father simply enough had been too problematic for the family, always thinking with his heart and not his head.

Hera’s tone was still condescending but at least the words were polite. “That is right. Common people don’t have servants to do chores for them and if they work outside home, it is usually some kind of physical labour. And every country relies on the work they do like farming and fishing. I doubt that you have ever had to do any work yourself so now you will get a glimpse on what it is like. The Tower uses the same technique for the novices. Every Aes Sedai has spent their first ten or so years in the Tower scrubbing pots and sweeping floors from time to time.”

It supposedly made you more humble but most novices didn’t really grasp what it was all about and were perfectly happy to leave it all behind when they became Accepted and Aes Sedai. Likely Hera would spend the short time in their house loathing the chores so that was more for Basileia’s benefit. Arette would think of other things for Hera that would open her eyes to the truths in Perfumed Quarters. “Tell me, Hera. How do you percieve your role as a noble? What are your obligations or is it just about the priviledges?”

She knew the correct answer even if it wasn’t the one that was real. The Aes Sedai who would be a Lady thought to make her understand her role in the world, but it was one she knew well already. “Our obligation do be to the people beneath us.” She said with a polite smile. “It do be our responsibility to make certain they do be cared for and well treated.”

Arette applauded at the well performed act. It was obvious that Hera for some reason tried to give her the answers she expected Arette wanted to hear. But such behaviour hampered her learning, it bordered almost lying and that was intolerable from mentees. “That would be the ‘right’ answer but it is not the right answer for you because you don’t really believe in it. Why don’t you? Is that how your parents brought you up to believe or is it your own conclusion? Out with it. And from now on you will tell me what you really think instead of being politically correct.”

“What I believe do be that commoners take care of themselves. They do no want nobility and they do no think they be needing it. I be of no mind to change their opinion.” She said. If the Lady wanted to know her true feelings then far be it from her to sugar coat them anymore.

“And how well do you think that the commoners have been taking care of themselves so far? For example what do you know of the situation in the Perfumed Quarters before and after the Militia was found? Why don’t they want the nobility? And is there really nothing you feel like you could do for the commoners?”

“There do be things you can do, and there be things that be impossible. The Perfumed Quarters may be safer now, but they do no be entirely safe, no matter what you do be telling people. If it do be me, I say they do be too lentient on the criminals and be letting them get away with too much. If it be me, I do be saying hang the thieves and prostitutes and there be no more trouble do they? But, they do no want the Nobility and it may be the good for them.” She hated this sort of thing. She hated being questioned about her beliefs and about a people that were less than common.

Hera’s response made Arette frown deeply with displeasure but this was the kind of honesty she had demanded. And they would be getting nowhere if she got angry. Instead she would have to make Hera to question her own beliefs and come to her own conclusions. “Likely no place can be made entirely safe but that should still be the goal. And do you believe that most of the people in the Perfumed Quarters are criminals? Most of them are actually peaceful if poor fishers and dock workers and housewives. There are thieves and prostitutes too but have you ever thought why they take up those trades? Are they really just greedy and wanton or might there be some other reasons too? And how about that poorness? And the shabby conditions of the Quarters? Is there nothing to be done to it and whose responsibility would it be?”

“This do be the Queen’s work.” Hera said immediately. “But I do no say every person in the Quarters be a thief. I be saying that they be too lenient on those that do be caught. If they be harder on them then there be fewer looking to ply a trade in it. And what be a prostitute, but an unmarried girl? That do be something her family be looking into. If she be from a good family as you say most of these people be, then they do be looking out for her. But that be the problem. They do no all be good families and caring for one another. So you be getting prostitutes and thieves. They do be travelling the same paths and making this area unsafe.”

She didn’t think the Lady was enjoying this discussion so she took a deep breath. “I do no say the Nobles be washing their hands of it. But I do be thinking it be a work of the Queens to take on such a large task. She do take taxes from us all to pay for such things and it be her responsibility to be sure that this sort of thing no be happening. The Queen be new to the throne and I no be doubting you be telling her the same thing, but it do take time, even for a Queen to be making an impact like this.”

———-

Hera just was ignorant of the true state of povertry in the Perfumed Quarters. Most of the people who took up undesireable professions had lost their jobs and possibility for earning their livelihood in honest means. Certainly in some families it passed along the generations as they had never seen any other possible way of living but it was difficult to intervene in a way that was actually productive. And everyone had their own families to look after first even though the community as a whole was important. She and Con would work hard to create all kind of opportunities for the people in the Perfumed Quarters but sometimes people would have to change to be able to utilize them and that was the hardest thing of all.

The comment about taxes earned Hera a soft snort. As one of their perks and priviledges nobles were exempt from taxes and had in fact the right to levy taxes from their own subjects. The only ones the Queen taxed were the people of her own estates and the people of city of Illian. It didn’t leave her with too large funds to operate with and in many countries powerful nobles had been able to coerce control over the ruler by lending them money. But being indebted to a powerful rival had still been preferable option to loaning from the Tower. The system was hardly equal and it tied the ruler’s hands when it came to large investments. And even if there was money and goodwill, the change became real only when people’s attitudes altered.

“The nobles pretty much have washed their hands of the Perfumed Quarters. How many of the Lords and Ladies do you think would be delighted if the Queen told them that they have to pull their load for their country and actually pay for some of the infrastructure changes here. But I’m sure that we will have many discussions about this topic. How about your own people? What are your duties and priviledges toward them? Do you actually know how to manage your own estates or do you have stewards for it?”

Her private ponderings were interrupted by a brisk knock on the door. She and Con exchanged a surprised look and she stood to answer when the door opened revealing her mother-in-law. Arette walked to embrace her with a smile and Electra wasted no time telling her her business even as she returned the squeeze. “Cilia’s water did be just breaking and she be asking for you.”

The news sobered her. She always wanted to be there as a midwife for the women of the family no matter what else was going on. The only thing that worried her was the young age of the mother giving birth for the first time. Cilia was only seventeen. Sure, there were some Andoran girls who married that young, but usually they were a year or two older. But now wasn’t the time to start the argument again. “I am coming of course.” She turned to look at Hera and Basileia with consideration. She would be gone all night, it might even take two days if things went badly, and she was not pleased at the thought of leaving them behind.

Electra and Con were sharing a hug but Con’s mother picked the direction of her gaze. “You no be taking them with you”, she said firmly and shook her head. “You be a fool, Arette.”

She gave her mother-in-law a sharp look and puffed her cheeks letting her breath out. “We already had this discussion, Electra, and I would still be saying that I am an optimist.” Even though her optimism in this particular case was rapidly waning. “But you are right. Basieia, Hera, you should stay here. If I am not back by the morning, you can start cleaning the house. You know the drill by now. And mind your manners and make sure that you give no trouble.” Her warning glance was directed for Hera. She would better not be getting any ideas, or she would regret the day her mother met her father. Con was disapproving enough of their presence, and he did not need to become absolutely convinced of the true stupidity of the whole thing.

Moving to kiss her husband, she laid a loving hand on his scarred cheek. “Con, you will see that the girls get their breakfast, yes?” A rhetoric question. “You’ll have to explain to them where I am.” She grinned at him mischievously. “They will have questions about where babies come again. And don’t you even think that you can tell them to ask me to tell the story again.” A shame that she couldn’t be there to watch it. But then Con seemed to deal with such embarrassing conversations much better than she did.

“I think that this can take even as long as this night and the whole tomorrow. The trio will be here with Rana and Cina, so they will be fine.” She still didn’t trust the noble brats enough to leave her precious daughters to their hands without someone to supervise, even though Basilea was getting there. The twins liked her and she liked them back, unlike the other trollop. And Con would likely eat lunch with them. “If they get really agitated… well, you can bring them to Cilia. But you know what to do.” And despite all the fussing she knew that he did; Con was a great father.

“I will see you soon, dear.” With a last embrace, she departed from her husband and walked after Electra, who had been patiently waiting for her to make her preparations.

———

Stones was perhaps the stupidest game in the world and after Arette left, Hera had little care to finish the game. She did some things to try to keep the peace where the woman was in view, but in all honesty, how could this woman talk to her about right and wrong when she held two women captive in her home? She sighed heavily and when Basileia looked at her she just shook her head. The woman was getting more and more like Arette’s little pet and Hera couldn’t understand it at all. True enough, Basileia had always followed the crowd but Hera hadn’t anticipated that the other woman’s spine was so soft that she would imprint this sort of peasant life into herself.

The only thing that made any of this worthwhile was the man she had just been left alone with. Well, there were children in the house but they were asleep and Basileia was a simpering fool who was easy enough to send to bed as well. Alone for all intents and purposed. And alone enough for what Hera had in mind. She showed a barely stiffled yawn and continued the stupid game, losing rather quickly as her mind focused on a plan.

When the game was over, she told the others it was time for her to retire. Seeking her room, she waited for the rest of the house to quiet as she sat on the edge of her bed, brushing her hair and waiting for the right time to make her move.

——–

“One more!”

“Bed.”

His daughters lying back on their beds, Con smiled slightly. He didn’t mind being dragged into telling more stories, but when he was stern they listened. Watching them as they closed their eyes and laid back, Telcina opened her eyes slightly and saw he was watching and closed them again with a giggle. Would that they would remain three forever, he didn’t envy the thought of them when they were older. But either way, they would still be beautiful.

“Good night.”

Hearing it returned in a chorus, Con nodded and closed the door softly as he stepped outside. Beautiful like their mother, though Arette wouldn’t be so quick to agree. To her they were more beautiful, but that was an argument that there was little point in having. He just wished that she were here with him when he stepped into his quarters, they didn’t have the same amount of time together as they used to. Shutting the door behind him as he began to tug off his shirt, he tossed one item of clothing after another into the basket in the corner. If he could not have Arette with him, at least he could have a good sleep.

Slipping under the covers as he blew out the single candle sitting next to the bed, Con decided that they would make time in the morning. Sit down and have breakfast, if she were done by then that was. Births could take a long time, and more likely than not she would simply want to have some sleep. But, that was time too, and it’d have to be enough, or so he thought as he began to doze.

——-

The house was finally quiet and Hera decided it was time to act. Not only was it quiet, but it was late enough that she was certain Con was asleep already. It was exactly what she wanted. She set her hair brush down and pulled a thin robe over the silky gown she wore.

Stealing out of her room, she walked quietly through the halls until she was standing outside Con’s room. Arette would be gone a long time yet and she was feeling good about the decision to do this tonight. She opened the door quietly and dropped her robe to the floor as she slipped into the bed.

Sure hands worked their way across muscled arms and continued moving across this chest as she pulled closer to him. Leaning over him, she left a trail of kisses across his neck. He stirred slightly, and she smiled to herself as she grazed his lips with hers before deepening the kiss.

——–

Smiling sleepily as he felt hands turn him onto his back, he looked down slightly to Arette as she drifted from his neck to his lips. She’d made it back and she wasn’t tired thankfully, anything but it seemed. Murmuring her name between kisses, his hands wandered up her flank and over an arm as she shifted over him, something was disquieting and he couldnt figure out what it was. Well, he wasn’t really figuring out anything at the moment with her tongue teasing his, but there was something nevertheless. Breaking away from her slightly, Con asked her softly. “Arette?”

She murmered soft reassurances as she leaned back in for another kiss. She wasn’t about to talk, knowing that her voice would give her away. One hand slid down his chest, making swirling patterns down his chest, trying to keep his mind on hands and lips instead of anything else that might break the moment.

Hearing Arette murmur back, Con decided to banish the feeling, it was nothing. Pulling her close, he nuzzled her neck as they rolled over. As she wrapped her legs around him, he inched closer as his kisses drifted a little lower a-

-nd found hair. Arette’s hair wasn’t that long anymore.

A jolt running through him as he realised that it wasn’t Arette. “What?”

Attempting to pull away, the legs around the small of his back tightened but he interposed a hand between himself and whoever it was. Pushing even as he reached behind himself and unhooked her feet, there was nothing gentle about the way he freed himself, or dragged her off the bed after him as he took her towards the nearest window. There wasn’t much moonlight, but there was enough to make out the features of the one who had slipped into his bed.

Hera.

“What do you be doing in my bed?!” It was hard to tell what was more prominent, anger or confusion.

Con Stavros
Lord

———

Damn! Damn damn damn damn damn! A couple more minutes and she would have had him. Being dragged to the window wasn’t what she wanted, but there was no real choice in the matter so instead of being catty, she went gracefully, showing her figure off in the moonlight. It would be too much to hope that the wretched woman would just happen past that particular window and see it, but it was a calming thought in the back of her head anyway.

His words were hard, but there wasn’t the hatred she might have expected. She looked down for a moment. Some lords preferred that in a bed mate. A woman who could stand on her own in public but more subservient in bed. “I do be trying to help you.” She said softly. “A man has his needs and you do no need to be lonely tonight.” She brought a hand up to his chest and looked up through heavy lashes. “I be willing to be whatever you want me to be tonight.”

She got a light shove for her comment and Con’s words were certainly sounding more angry as he spoke. “”Be a ghost and be getting out of here. Now!”

She narrowed her eyes slightly. She didn’t like to lose and she couldn’t believe he didn’t want her. “You be worried about your wife and girls, I do know that. But it be just between us.” She said smiling sweetly. “I do no be the sort of girl to kiss and tell.”

Con couldn’t believe what this woman was saying, and it only served to infuriate him further. “Be to your room, never be speaking such filth to me again.”

She was angry now and she didn’t try to hide it. “What do you think you wife be brining me here for Con?” She asked in a quiet voice. “Because she knows she do no be able to handle you well enough. Did she tell you what we be talking about that upset her so? That brought us from out homes to yours?” She took a step closer and smiled. “I be telling the others that I do be wanting in your bed, and in your arms. It do be nothing more devious than that. If I be doing something so wicked, why be your wife brining me into your home, with your children?” She shook her head. “My wickedness be that I want you, and your wife’s, that she be wanting me this close to you…”

——-

Anger was not something that Con was comfortable with, but he couldn’t help it as he shoved her back again, this time a little harder. He turned and walked to his bedside table as he spoke. “You be insane. Take your madness elsewhere.” Opening the top drawer and finding his small clothes, he began pulling on a pair as he added. “You do be thinking yourself so clever? I be knowing my wife better. Get out.”

Hera took a deep breath, recognizing the answer that was in his voice. True anger and she wasn’t sure she would survive if she kept pushing. Still, she couldn’t just walk away. She watched him a moment longer, pulling his clothes on and wondered why he was doing so if he hadn’t been interested at all.

She shook her head and reached for her robe, only admitting momentary defeat. “Do you? Well then be sure to ask her in the morning, after you be dunking yourself in cold water, because I do no lie. She be hearing me say that I be wanting you and she can no forget it.” She gave him a seductive smile. “You do no be forgetting it either. You know where my bed be.”

“Far away from me.” Con might have made a practice of not striking women, but the filthy way this woman acted made him feel unclean. “You do be nothing more than a candle next to the sun that do be my wife, your bed never be finding me in it. Get out.”

She did as she was told then and made her way back to her room. She didn’t know if Con would ever come around to seeing her in a different light, but she hoped he would his wife. She meant what she had said and the taste of him still lingered on her lips, like a promise of some future encounter. Throwing the robe aside as she slid between her own sheets, she smiled to herself. If nothing else, Arette would have a rough morning and that thought let Hera drift off to wonderful dreams of the Lord Con Stavros, Hera on his arm, and a certain nag no where to be seen.

Age: 130

Looks: Annabel is short even for a Cairhienin with the typical dark hair and eyes and pale skin. She looks very much like a pretty, delicate porcelain doll and if there is one thing that infuriates her are jokes about her height and being called a doll. She has been an AS for far too long time to let it show, though.

History:

Annabel is from a merchant family in Cairhien. Her dad was a weakling dominated by her strong mother. Annabel pitied her father and admired her mother. But she also respected the male gender because she had 3 younger brothers (Beauregard or Beau, Anton & Joffrey) who she loved very much.

When she was brought to the Tower, she kept in touch with her family and never really cut her ties to them despite the Tower requiring that. She chose the Red Ajah because she feels like it’s the most important Ajah in the Tower beside the Greens with a real mission. But even Annabel likes men, the Greens were definately taking it to excesses (yes stereotypes here, but somehow she never really got convinced that they were just that) and the Reds’ sisterhood mentality and close-knitness appealed to her.

After getting Raised, Annabel returned to Cairhien and used her position as AS to subtly advance her brothers’ affairs. When Muirenn, the Head of the Red Ajah, found out about this, she assigned a harsh task upon Annabel to finally sever these ties: she was to ruin her brothers politically and monetarily. Annabel was horrified but knowing that she had done wrong thing, she had no choice but to obey even she thought that Muirenn was being truly draconian. This definately made her a better AS and Red and she holds no grudge to her Ajah or the Tower but she forever hates Muirenn bitterly.

Annabel is making up what she had to do to her brothers with every male channeler she encounters. She sees her brothers in every single one of them and it spurs her compassion that hasn’t faded even during the century she has worn the shawl. The male channelers she has brought in have in average lived longer than the others. She shows this soft side only in missions, though, in fear of getting into another confrtontation with Muirenn. Even now with Zania in charge, the habit has become too ingraned to change.

She enjoys company of men when out of the Tower and treats them in big sisterly manner. Annabel was named to take charge of the embassy to the Dragon Reborn if diplomacy fails. She lead the kidnap. After seeing the Dragon Reborn’s hatred toward the Aes Sedai, especially when he had been whipped without her consent by one of the Sisters whose Warder Rand killed, Annabel has started to question the worth of the idea of the whole kidnap but she would still not release him but believes that by showing him that AS truly want his good and the good of the world his wounded pride and anger can me mended.

No one was more surprised than she when she discovered that she LIKED attending these classes. Not for the boys, but for the ideas. The wonderful, wonderful ideas. Things of the world she had never known, natural history, mathematics, science. She shivered late at night sometimes just thinking about the possibilities and all there was to know. She became a scholar indeed, to the point where the flirting and the boys were irrelevant, the classes were the purpose unto themselves. The boys at the school, used to enjoying her attentions, became quite irritated at the loss of her notice, and began to taunt her. Their cries of “Scholar, Wallflower, and Teacher’s Pet” followed her, for a Domani woman who ignored men was not a real woman…

One day, when she could take no more, the final cry that pushed her over the edge was “Schoolboy.” With a wail of anger she reached out – and did the most amazing, the most incredible, the most irreversible thing she had ever done. Afterward, when she looked around at the boy who had taunted her, now on the floor after sliding down the wall, and at the terrified faces of the boys around, and the infinitely sad and tender expression on Master Rachin’s face, she knew things would never be the same again.

And they weren’t. She was escorted home by Master Rachin, who talked kindly to her the whole way. Words she never heard. Upon arriving at her house he had a discussion with her parents, locked away in their study. As he departed, he looked at her and said, “I’m sorry, Karana. You were the best I had.” And with that he left.

Her parents came out looking confused and uncertain. She was packed up and on her way before it all sank in. “Channel.” “Aes Sedai.” “Tar Valon and the White Tower.” All she knew of those places was the Library they were reputed to keep there. And she was to become one of them? Her? She knew no one there, had no one to turn to, except a name. Serafelle Sedai, the Keeper of the Chronicles. Her…mentor? The word was strange. A strange word, for a strange place. One she had never wanted to go to, and still didn’t. All she wanted to do was study, not be some, well, freak. She could admit it to herself, that’s how people viewed the Aes Sedai. “Witch,” they said. And that is what she was to become?

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

So many years, even centuries later, how things had changed. Karana had reveled in being an Aes Sedai, a Sitter in the Hall, and especially Head of the Brown Ajah. Amongst the Browns she had found sisterhood and fellow scholars as passionate about their studies as she was. And she was pleasantly surprised when she manifested a Talent with ter’angreals. She often needed only to hold an item to determine its purpose, although that was not the case with others. Some she never could figure out.

But to this day she remained the one Aes Sedai who had traveled, found, and returned the most ter’angreals to the White Tower. She has traveled the continent numerous times searching out items of power to bring back to the White Tower to study. And whenever an Accepted or even a Novice manifested any Talent with objects of Power, Karana made certain that girl went to the Browns.

Less than 5 years ago, after Kathana Travelaer’s death, Karana was Raised to the Amyrlin Seat. She chose Arette Sedai as her Keeper of the Chronicles. Her rule so far as Amyrlin has been fairly quiet except for a few controversial decisions that have come out of the Hall.

She is the oldest Aes Sedai known to be still living and her hair is almost completely gray, although her face remains unlined and ageless.

–Physical Description: tall for a woman (6’1) and willowy, pale skin, mahogany coloured straight hair to her shoulders, large dark eyes that glint merrily, aquiline nose and thin lips.

–Place of Birth/Raising: Shol Arbela, Arafel

– Age: 183

–Character History: Nastasia was born as a third child of six to a cobbler and a weaver and she learned from early age to hold on to her own. Her parents were worried about her because she was interested of everything and everyone, learned quickly (and then got bored as soon and moved onto something else) and showed clearly signs on intelligence and they couldn’t afford her education. They tried to scramble together all books possible so she could learn on her own but usually what they could offer and what Nasty was interested didn’t meet and they gave up, leaving her to learn from people who knew about things. Despite her siblings’ grumblings, her parents didn’t force her to become an apprentice permanently but she helped the neighbours or worked as hired hand where was need and interest from her part. Her particular interest when she encountered the Red sister who brought her to the Tower was sa’sara and she received tutoring in a place for which even her tolerant mother would have given her a good spanking had she known. Why the Red sister was there… well, Nasty wouldn’t have been Nasty had she not asked – and encountered the first person in her life who could shut her up. Even she loved her family dearly and missed them horribly for the first few years, Nasty leaped eagerly to the new adventure and never really looked back.

It took Nasty a little longer than average to make it to the shawl, because of her difficulty of focusing on one thing at time and for long. That and her quality to say out exactly what she thinks. But the Tower taught her self-control (when she wants it) and patience and now it takes years, maybe even a decade, if her current project is really interesting, before her feet start itching and she starts feeling an irresistable pull to move on.
Nasty made lots of friends as an initiate and afterwards too, even she hasn’t stayed in the Tower too long times since her Raising, and they are fairly evenly spread among all Ajahs. But there are also sisters who are not her fans for her outspokeness or for simply being annoyed by the fact that she succeeds in what she wants to reach with seemingly minimal effort. It’s easy to dislike too “perfect” people and Nasty is the type of person you either like or hate.

Nasty was one of those wild card Accepted of whom no one could be certain where she’d lean. She was interested of almost all Ajahs equally and she didn’t like even one bit the fact that she’d have to be bound to just one for life. The worst she knows is having her freedom limited (she vehemently opposes the new Law that restricts AS from endangering themselves without the Hall’s permission) and she had great thirst for traveling after the chance being dangled before her nose for two decades. Finally she ended up to the Blue Ajah because she thought that it would restrict her the least as it was all about causes sisters chose themselves. Over the years Nasty became a jack of all Ajah trades but master of none. She has spent years and decades on missions with members of all Ajahs and knows a larger variety of sisters than almost no others in the Tower.

Nasty will be chosen to replace Arette as Karana’s Keeper because she has few friends in the right places and no one in the Hall dislikes her too badly. She is a good compromise candidate when the Sitters deadlock on nominations and fairly neutral because she is as close to an Aes Sedai of all Ajahs and none as one can get without too much personal ambition. She has also all the needed skills; she knows some administration, acted as a Royal Advisor to a short lived war crazy Saldaean King almost hundred years ago, who died personally leading an hopeless attack to Blightborder against her advice (the Tower believes that he lived as long as he did only thanks to her, but whether it was a good or a bad thing…) and is loyal enough to the Tower that the Sitters can trust her to report them if the Amyrlin does something unexpected.

Handle at DM/WT: Callie

Email: lupaecainis@gmail.com

Physical Description: Cail fits the stereotype of an Andoran woman with her long, straight golden locks, fair skin and cornflower blue eyes. She is not of high birth, but her appearance is somewhat haughty without her own volition. She merely naturally holds her head high and in addition to that, the shape of her nose, her slightly pouty lips and heavy lidded eyes make her seem as if she is constantly looking down upon her nose.

Place of birth: Caemlyn, Andor

Age: 110

Character History: Callie’s childhood was somewhat unusual starting from when she was nearly eight years old. Her family consisted of two parents, a father, who worked in a family printing company and a mother, who was employed in an orphanage sponsored by the Queen, and also two younger siblings. Unfortunately her father developed a drinking problem and in order to solve his issues, he took himself off. No one heard of him in years, so he was assumed dead. Callie’s mother remarried with the blessing of a local Wisdom and all was well for a while… As imaginable, it caused quite an uproar when, soon after the wife’s wedding, Markas Redhill had the guts to return to Caemlyn – with his own new family, of all things. Callie was twelve years old then and just happy to get her father back. However, the scandalous state of things caused much tension over the years in her family and her father\’s new career as an freelance artist faced unmitigated disapproval from her mother. All the more when Callie started showing interest in the same field. As a pre-emptive strike her mother found her a job as a maid in a wealthy merchant house in hopes that she would come to her senses. The clever girl however quitted and got the money to take home instead from her father’s artist friend by working as his model. It allowed her to remain close to her passion, painting. Callie’s mother remained duped for almost a year, but when she saw an painting with a recognisable figure, she arranged her new husband to carry the kicking 17-year old all the way to Tar Valon. If she couldn’t clear her daughter of her folly, surely the fabled Aes Sedai could.

Cail is curious about everything and eager to learn new things all the time from both, books and people. She becomes easily excited about new projects, but her attention span is fairly short. If she isn\’t finished with something in few weeks or even days – or if it’s really interesting, within months – she most likely never carries through with it. Or then she picks the project up again later when the topic becomes fascinating to her again … only to soon grow bored with it and move on to the next thing. She is very much a Renaissance person, “jack of all trades, master on none”.

This going where the fence is the lowest too often is one of her greatest flaws and drove her to conflicts with demanding Novicehood teachers, who knew that she could do better. And often she could, but she would see the effort only if the topic truly interested her. Otherwise the strategy was to just drop the issue, if it was just possible. Quitting was never an option in the Tower, though, and Callie wanted the shawl on her shoulders after realizing that Tar Valon was the foremost center of learning. It was also the most beautiful city in the world and her heart broke of the thought that she would have to leave it.

The chemistries of Callie and her mentor, a dry epitome of Gray clerk, never really matched, but the Mistress of Novices saw it fit to keep them paired as the Gray could whip her – sometimes literally – to better achievements. Not an ounce of friendship was wasted there. Callie found it also difficult to open herself completely to her fellow novices in the Tower after her roommate, who she had become fairly close to, was sent away because her channeling ability was so dismally small. Unwilling to risk her heart to new disappointments and abandonments, from that on Callie\’s relationships remained on level of acquintances or superficial friends from her side. Maybe it could be different one day when she reached the Shawl and it would be clear, who were going to stay around…. In any case, she did make a diverse network of contacts as she needed models for her paintings, nude and clothed. It was the first kind that gave her also a mostly unjusted reputation of a pillow friend. She also organised study groups and met people that way.

The Acceptedhood flew past since Cail could focus only on studies she was interested in. She found out that she was a fairly good teacher and enjoyed being in front of the classroom. Finally she also had enough time to dedicate to her art. As an Accepted she was able to bring males – Tower Guards mostly – to her rooms to pose for her, which made some people think that she might be heading toward the Green. However, the thought of bonding made Cail physically uncomfortable. She thought she could never share her innermost self that intimately with anyone. Still, the Greens were among her many teachers. Despite having some aptitude toward many Ajahs, it was widely accepted that the Brown would be her eventual choice.

One of the first things she sought as a newly raised Sister was an allowance from the Amyrlin Seat to paint an official portrait of all the newly raised Sisters that would be added to the Tower\’s collection. Since she had talent and it would only increase with a lifetime longer than any mortal artist\’s, the permission was granted. The raisings were rare occasions and Aes Sedai had time to wait for their portrays (many wanted it only after reaching agelessness), so she wasn\’t confined to the Tower. Cail isn\’t particularly adventurous and doesn\’t like risking her comfort, but enjoys traveling and seeing new places and people.

Her first trip was the traditional Brown Ajah pilgrimage to all the biggest libraries of the world. Since then her whims and interests have flew her all over the continent, save Amadicia, with at least yearly stops in Tar Valon to paint and teach initiates. In the years to follow, she has practiced new painting techniques, searched ter\’angreal from private collections and bazaars while studying antique styles, collected stories and tales, helped villagers with their crops and architects with construction… you name it. Everywhere she has went, she has tested girls of the proper age since she firmly believes that the Tower is wasting more than half of it\’s potential with its introverted attitudes. The longest time she has been able to resist the itch of her feet was some fifty years ago, when she acted as the governess for a future queen of Arafel for five years.

Cail is a versatile and intelligent woman and she is equally matter and person oriented. She is somewhat reserved in larger groups and around new people in unfamiliar contexts and tends to listen more than talk. She can easily end up leading conversations, though, as she asks alot of questions. In general she is an easy person to get along with, even though it takes a long time and consideration from her part to make really close friends. She doesn\’t judge people, but accepts them the way they are, including their flaws, which makes it comfortable to be around her and to accept her ear and maybe her counsel. She is a good listener and wants to hear all the sides and different opinions before making her mind.