The green fringe of the Aes Sedai's shawl ruffled lightly in the breeze as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall in the shade the roof of the building gave her. Hard brown eyes carefully studied the tussling Warders and Warder iin Training, some with weapons and others hand to hand, as if she searched for something amongst them. She was quite a sight amongst the other Aes Sedai of the Tower, wearing nothing but breeches and tunic where dresses were most common. She even eschewed the riding breeches some of the other women opted to wear. She only wore what she considered "frippery" when she was relaxed, in the company of good friends, or intending to catch the eye of a worthy Warder trainee. Or even a Gaidin, she mused to herself.
She did not love anyone, man or woman, so much that she would be a wife. She had once loved in such a way; had been torn apart inside by the betrayal inherent in his death, which she could feel from their bond, and had moved on. But she told herself that day that there would be no one else to fill her heart, only her head with a bond, and the man who accomplished both would have to be her equal in almost every way. Almost, she amended with a slight smirk as she watched a Gaidin take down a young trainee, because if he were to be my equal in everything, then he would never love a woman so cold as I have become. The chances of this actually occurring are slim to none.
Her gaze rested on a particular trainee with auburn hair, one she had traveled with before. She hadn't gotten to know him well at all on that trip, seeing as she had returned to the Tower soon after starting off and had brought him back with her. There had been other things to occupy her mind since then and she had even forgotten his name. He was well built and tall and looked to be able to use the sword he held quite well. She considered him for a long moment before passing him over to watch a black haired man get thrown to the ground, wincing somewhat sympathetically at the yelp he vented, and found the auburn-haired young man to be gone when she once again looked up. He did not vanish, she wryly berated herself, and there are others to look at even if he did.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lyth was on the practice field; most of the time that was were you could find him. He was sparring with a full Warder currently, Zhahn al'Dhenn, studying the speed and ease at which the other man deflected Lyth's cross slashes and thrusts. Lyth felt himself wincing as the Gaidin scored hit after hit across Lyth's sides. Sometimes, he thought he might hear a rib crack, but all he came away with is a few bruises mostly. He knew they gained speed and stamina from the bonding, but he just couldn't help challenging them to spar. How can someone get better if not at times like this against someone far superior then himself? he reasoned. It was getting over the humiliation from being beat all the time one had to live with, and of course the bruises.
After a while he was getting tired and this was when he most often drifted off, thinking of other things. Then he felt a prickling at his neck and turned an eye towards a building. There was an Aes Sedai leaning against it, easily discernable from the face one could not put an age too, though she must have been at least relatively new mayhap less than forty years, for she still had a body to excite the minds of men.
He then winced as he was brought back to the immediate circumstances as Zhahn rapped the wooden practice sword across his knees. "Pay attention. Soon enough, you will have an Aes Sedai to look out for. If you survive and one wants a well beaten kid, that is." Lyth knew it was just to get him angry and let the Warder think it had worked as he sent slash after slash against him harshly. He knew the minute the Warder would strike and he slid to the side as he left his predictable side open and was able to rap the sword against the Warder's side. A blow, if made by a real sword, would have even killed the Warder. "Then again, you have promise in you boy." He rubbed his side a little bit, though Lyth would have been doing it for a long while after a hit like that.
"Thanks, I do try and not fall for obvious insults. Unless I can use them for my own benefit," Lyth replied, a little out of breath from the day's workout.
"Don't you have other things to do today?" Zhahn asked and it popped into his mind that he was supposed to be mucking out stalls today.
"Will I ever remember anything else besides the sword?" he said a bit and rushed off, turning an eye to the Aes Sedai against the wall before running around a building and she was out of sight. She was watching me I know it. He shivered a little, maybe from the cold of the air against his sweat soaked skin or was it something else? He didn't know what to do, knowing that. He finally made it to the stables and was of course dressed down more than he was already, and on top of mucking out stalls he would have to pull some absurd guard duty tonight!
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Rio watched the flame at the top of the candle as it flickered. The light reflected in her brown eyes at the center of each pupil as if they contained fires themselves. It also warmed the cast of her face while hiding in shadows the tense lines apparent there and picked out a shimmer of reddish-gold highlights in her dark brown hair where there wasn't darkness. She could have channeled Fire to make a dozen more flames in her study had she wanted, being as it was one of her two strongest aspects. She was, by no means, a weak channeler, but she had met Aes Sedai stronger.
This evening, Rio'lan Shade Dyelra Sedai brooded. She could feel her Gaidin elsewhere, one of them so far from her that she only knew his general direction and the barest hint of his well being, but knew she could take care of herself and that he would be back soon. She'd had to do so for many namedays. But such thoughts were not what truly had her suffering from insomnia. The darkness outside of her window had seemingly crept into her soul during the interim between day and night, as it had done ever since she had regained her memory so very long ago. The loss of Raistlin two namedays after her raising had wounded her severely, but the added losses of the others she had been close to-whether family, friends, Gaidin, or promised-had only hardened her further.
Her memories dwelled in her past. It was enough to keep any hardy soul awake, truly, but for Rio the horrid lands were home. She flicked her gaze over the room and once more felt the oppression of being inside four walls. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her stallion Cheyhrad slept restlessly, having sensed her mood and not liking it, but she soothed him with a breath of thought. He's becoming too old to take out anymore, she sadly realized. But he would waste away in a stall or a field. He lives to fight, like his rider. I will have to travel to the Borderlands again one day and let him die as gloriously as he can protecting me. Perhaps, I, too...
She cut the thought off abruptly and stood. "Being trapped in this room is addling my wits," she growled in irritation. She walked to where her sword hung on its peg on the wall and strapped it on. Her daggers followed suit shortly thereafter. She picked up the dark gray cloak she'd worn that day and swung it over her shoulders to complete the whole affair and headed for the door. She'd learned long ago that being unarmed at any time could be deadly. I am my own Gaidin, she mused a bit bitterly as she closed her door behind her and stalked away.
Her movements were as silent as any assassin could want, her lessons from long ago not forgotten in the least. She walked so that she would not be heard, though she kept herself visible, and settled a look on her face that fairly shrieked that the one bothering her had best have a good reason indeed. The cloak swirled around her in the dimly lit halls as she padded along quickly, a hand on her sword hilt just in case, and she set her steps for the Tower gardens. A little time in the peace and quiet there should be enough to sort through the mush in my head, she reasoned.
When she arrived at her destination, she entered and made her way through the gardens to the fountain therein, desiring to sit by it and listen to the soothing sound of the falling water. Even then, she couldn't quite bring herself to relax completely for fear of some hidden attack. She did the best she could, however, and closed her eyes to enjoy it as much as she was able.
It wasn't long, however, before her mood went dark once again. It wasn't difficult for her, by any means. Her thoughts from earlier returned with a vengeance, not allowing her any respite at all. Through her mind ran the visions of her prior life, and the ones of her recent past as well. The idea from earlier slid into her mind again. Perhaps, I could end it with dignity in battle, she told herself. I can unbond Bandin and head out to Shienar tomorrow, and do the same for Junal so that it doesn't hurt him when I die. Yes.....yes, that sounds very nice. A sad smile touched her lips as she drew her dagger from its place at her side, turning it over and over in her hands. Or maybe they could find other Aes Sedai. Bandin could, I know. Junal will be half-dead anyway once his mother dies and he returns. Perhaps.....now.....?
She heard the man come up behind her but didn't move. "Leave me," she stated quietly, not having heard what he said at all. His voice is vaguely familiar, she mused idly as her eyes opened to behold him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lyth had been up all night so far, a punishment for not cleaning the stalls in the stables earlier when instead he had been practicing his sword work. So much for becoming better. How am I going to get any practice in tomorrow if I sleep the whole day away from guarding a pantry that only a mouse would get into, much less some novice or other individual getting some late night meals. He yawned and almost dozed off but a strange sight passed which put him on guard immediately. Hey she's the one from the mountain city and Black Tower affair. Rio was her name. She was watching me also this morning. She looks sad.
Knowing he shouldn't leave his post, he shrugged and followed anyway. The Aes Sedai then left out the door and headed towards the tower gardens. "What is she up to?" he softly said above a whisper to himself. He followed further through the green maze of bushes and plants, then saw a plant with bright yellow flowers and paused to pick one as he walked past it. Every woman needs to be given a flower now and again, he thought to himself and nodded as he decided to do just that. "Why not? If you never try, you never accomplish anything," he said in the same quiet voice he had used previously.
He then turned the bend and saw her sitting by the fountain. What a beautiful sight. Makes me wish I could paint to capture it, he thought to himself as he neared her slowly. He noticed her eyes were closed and she played with a dagger in her hand. Strange... better not startle her too much. I've heard tales of this Rio. He then took a deep breath and stated loud enough for her to hear, "It's certainly a beautiful night, but you sitting there like that draws my eyes more than the stars above."
He was startled at first when she said, "Leave me," and he almost did just that, forgetting the flower in his hand in the process. She then looked up to him when he didn't move right away, and he held it out to her as if in offering. "Here, I know I should not disturb you Aes Sedai, but I thought you might like this." He placed it then by her side on the fountain, then turned to leave as she had asked him.
Rio stared at the flower as if it were a viper. "I do not deserve such things," she responded quietly, shifting the dagger in her hand so that the point faced her. "What I deserve is what I shall soon give to myself." She reached out for the flower and lifted it gently, smelling of it with a delicate sniff. "But thank you for attempting to make my last night something sweet."
"What?" he asked a little confused then a thought like dawn lit his brain up. "Noooo!" he cried and grabbed for the knife, cutting himself on the blade as Rio snagged it away, and his other hand grabbed the wrist holding the dagger. His free hand rested at his side and seemed to be contorted from the slice across his palm. "You can't, Aes Sedai, it would not be right," he pleaded a bit.
She looked at him with tired, if large, brown eyes and answered simply, "What is right in this life? What is justice for the blood of hundreds on your hands taken for pleasure? What recompense can be made those whose lives were shattered by me? I will never be free. Except in death. Why will you not allow me to do this?" Her gaze darted to his cut hand and then back to his face, handsome as it was.
"How can you say this? I regret things I have done in my own life also. Nothing is worth ending it when I have the chance to strike at Old Grim." He seemed to spit the name of the Dark One with a vileness above most would. "You have a chance far above most. Sure, I can become a Warder, but you wield the Power. Something that can far more damage him then what little sword-work I can do." He sighed and sat down near but not right next to Rio. "That is if I can even find an Aes Sedai to bond me. You… You are already past your trials and are out there already doing good for the Tower."
"No!" she thundered, eyes blazing as she stared at him. "I am not past my trials. I almost killed one of my own Gaidin once in a fit of rage. I have killed children. I walk the border between the Light and the Dark constantly. Always am I in danger of turning to the Dark One. I was once his and happy for it. I slide so closely back to that at times that even the animals sense it when I speak with them." She shook her head. "No, I will never be past my trials. I don't do good for the Tower so much as do murder that feels good to the populace as a whole. The part of me that is Light desires the eradication of Shadowspawn. The part of me that is Dark desires to rule them, regardless of things of that side that have caused me pain."
He couldn't believe what he had just heard about this woman. But then, he pondered, you know bloody well that not all lovely ladies are of the Light. You were married to one of the ones who weren't. He looked to Rio and stood enraged to say, "Know this: if you turned I would try to kill you myself, though I may not succeed. If you want an end then when you do let the Light through enough for my sword to pierce your heart." He then turned a bit and his eyes saddened. "Till then spare your life and fight what you know is wrong."
"I am wrong. In here," she snarled as she thumped her fist to her chest. "I have been for longer than you have been walking these lands, boy. As for you killing me......" She shrugged nonchalantly, her demeanor suddenly aloof and uncaring. "You couldn't. Not because of anything inside of you that held you back, but because even if you survived my weaves, you would not survive my weapons." Her voice was not arrogant, only matter-of-fact like she was telling him how nice the weather was that night. "And I would rather end it now, before the Dark has me, than wait until it perhaps takes me fully. For when that happens, there will be no good. There will be no Rio. There will only be Rio'lan Shade Dyelra, the girl who killed her entire clan one night accidentally, and then proceeded to become an arms dealer, a bounty hunter, and finally an assassin of the highest skill." She leaned forward a bit, her eyes never leaving him for a moment. "Do you know what it's like to exult in the feel of blood washing over your hands? What is the difference if it is a child, or an innocent, than if it is a Trolloc?"
"There are differences! The child did not ask to serve anyone, but the Trolloc does so for the love of it and he must. There is still a choice in you and don't think someone wouldn't take you down eventually no matter how good you are." He seemed to sadden further as he saed that. "Also if you die, how can that make up for what you've done? It only adds another to the list of all you have slain, the worst one on that list also. They say death is no bar to Old Grim."
"Neither is a life lived in the Light," she shot back. "And perhaps you think I would be taken down like a lamb to the slaughter? If I turn, I will attempt to become one of the new Dreadlords for the Dark One, up until the point where it is my time to have my thread cut. I may not have the power, but I have the other qualifications that are needed. I know me better than do you." She stood, her stare frosty without warning. "Whether the creature is a child or a Trolloc, it still dies. It is still killed." She leaned close to him and held his gaze. "I have still killed both. They die about the same way, did you know that?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Everybody dies the same way, heroically or not. My life began full of violence, it has been lived full of violence, and it will end violently. That is something I have been prepared for since I first learned the ways of my clan long before you were born."
"Maybe, maybe not." He didn't turn and stared right back into the eyes and he still thought even then as her words dripped acid that she was very lovely. He then began to open his mouth once more and found he had nothing else to say that might stop her, but there was definitely something he could do. He leaned forward and kissed her, or began to.
His lips touched hers without warning and her immediate response was one of shock. It had been..... much too long, really, since any man had kissed her. Her sudden desire to let him continue it warred for a long moment with her sudden wash of outrage, and finally the outrage won. Rio leaned back slightly and pushed her hand near his midsection, the dagger she had slid from her sleeve resting in it. She didn't stab him, only let him feel the blade was there. "Never," she stated, her voice barely audible above the slight breeze running through the gardens, "try to kiss me without my permission. Is that understood? There is a reason I have lived this long. Don't make me show you."
Lyth looked down and nodded. "Never again without your permission." he agreed, but Rio could sense he would not give up. "I am sorry... the moment and the light of the moon on your skin overwhelmed my good judgement." He also knew that she had enjoyed it at first. "Sometimes I am impulsive and do not know my place. If anything stay alive so I may try for that permission," he said as he began to walk away, leaving Rio there holding the knife where it used to lay against his stomach. "It would at least make one person happy to see you alive if not yourself."
The dagger vanished with a flick of her wrist. "Come here, boy," was all she said, and her tone expected obedience.
Lyth stopped, thought about walking on and finally turned though he did not walk back. "Young I may be, but I am no boy. Also, I need not follow your orders, Aes Sedai, and you can tell the Master of Warders I said just that. You have plenty of Novices to do what you want." He said it in a matter of fact tone, neither angry nor condescending.
"If you will one day be a Gaidin to a Sister in this Tower, you will learn to listen to an Aes Sedai. And you are a boy to me because I was your age when your father had yet to have you in his arms." She crossed her arms over her chest, her face devoid of emotion like her voice. "I would like to show you something. There is another way I might do it, if you were willing, but the only way a Warder in Training could be out this late is if he were doing something under the Master of Arms' instruction. Since I doubt quite seriously you would like to face his wrath at leaving your post unattended, because if you can do something like that so easily then imagine what he'd think of you leaving an Aes Sedai unattended, then I might suggest you step over this way and sit for a while longer and let me explain to you why what you think you see is not what is really there."
Lyth's face lost some of its fight, and he walked over. He had no foot to stand on now, and besides he really didn't want to go back to guarding the pantry. He then sat down on the fountain once more and listened to what she had to say.
Rio stared at him for a long moment before calmly beginning to roll up the sleeve of one of her arms. She made sure it was the arm that had held the dagger before, more out of habit than anything else. It never hurts to let them think that I perhaps don't have any more weapons than the two they've seen already, she ruminated briefly. "You see, when I was an Accepted, almost ready for my raising to the shawl, I was lured out of the Tower and taken to Altara for a bit by a Brown sister. She got full permission from the Amyrlin as it was to study my past in conjunction with strange happenings near Ebou Dar right around the time I mentioned my memories ended. Once there, we met her other Brown Ajah sister and the man who was supposed to have been helping guard us all from danger. My dagger and most everything else of use to me was taken from me. I was studied, and all of my secrets were revealed. I was picked through, down to my channeling abilities and Talents, my strengths and weaknesses, my likes and dislikes, even my abilities with weapons. And finally it was decided that Mical would show me what I was really there for." She pointed to several of the long white thin scars criss-crossing her forearm, some places reminiscent of spiderwebs, then continued. "They shielded me from the One Power and he bound me to a nice slab and proceeded to slice me apart with his instruments. Some were the kind of blades that Fades use, so they didn't Heal very well at all. When he would finish and need a break, the two Browns would Heal me up so that I couldn't die. They were trying to extract information from me, information I have never been able to recall, about weaving a certain form of Gateway." Her voice dropped a notch. "When the torture didn't work to their desires, they decided to try something else." Her hand moved to her throat before halting midway to the point and shaking slightly in her effort to control it. "They wanted to see how an a'dam worked, Light blast their curiosity, and I was their perfect subject." She squatted beside him on the ground, still looking up at him. "Do you know how I got away? Some of my friends came for me. But Salena found herself with my dagger in her throat after they released me from that accursed a'dam." Her chuckle was dark and deep in her throat. "I don't believe anything else has ever felt so good as that one moment in time when her life ended." She patted her arm. "These make sure I can never forget what the Dark has done to me. But they also make sure I can never forget the joy of the kill."
He winced a little at the sight of the scars, not from them being hideous, but from what it must have been like as Rio described what was done. "No.. It can't be…" he almost interrupted as she told him about the a'dam she had been forced to wear. Finally Rio finished and he nodded. "I'm sorry. I truly had no idea and could never judge you." He sat down beside her and finally turned to her once more. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, no one should." He shook his head and looked once more at the scars, not wincing at all now as he absorbed what they meant overall.
"They cover my entire body. I will hesitate todisrobe for any man," she stated matter-of-factly, tracing one of the scars on her arm as she watched. "And my trust comes only after a long, long association unless I feel otherwise." She looked up at him, her gaze flat. "I have lived with the darkness inside of me for about forty namedays now. Aes Sedai can live to be three hundred or more if they take care of themselves." She lifted her arm so that it was parallel to her body and in between them, her hand in a fist, as she brandished the evidence at him. "Could you live so long and constantly battle inside yourself? Could you live with the scars on your body made by a madman who wanted a secret inside you that you still never remembered? It has been rough for me to live this long, and I only obtained my scars twenty or so namedays prior to this night. There are very, very few that know of this. I do not want pity." Her gaze sharpened. "From you or anyone else."
Lyth began to apologize again but clamped his mouth shut as he nodded. "Yes, Aes Sedai, I could never imagine what it would be like. I just hope to make Warder status to prevent this from happening in the one I bond. It is all I see for my future."
"The ones who rescued me contained one of the men I would later bond, a male channeler. I loved him dearly. He betrayed me with another woman after he left me to do something for the Black Tower, and she killed him after they had..." Rio stood abruptly, her face a mask of ice. "She was more than likely a Darkfriend, and he was in love with her. He always had a taste for the Dark anyway. But she still lives somewhere, and for ridding the world of my one-time lover I will grant her continued existence until it is time for her thread to end. No more, no less. Out of the two Warders I have right now, neither are around me much." Her face softened just a tad. "Not that being bonded to an Aes Sedai who is prone to fits of journeys into the Borderlands to fight Shadowspawn for amusement is simple by any means. Especially not when that said Aes Sedai can open a Gateway to get there at any given moment and leave them leagues away in an instant." She shrugged. "It is a great deal of my own fault that I have become what I am. That much I have always accepted." Her head tilted back to gaze at the stars she could just see above the trees and an odd expression of sadness crossed her face. "I chose my professions in a place that I will never see again. But it hadn't been my home for a while before I left it, even though the leaving of it was by pure accident. That mishap was what brought me back to the Light."
"People are people, their hearts hidden from the world. Why, we all try for what we desire. You are a good person, Rio, even if you cannot see it through the veils of your past. Others see it and that is enough." He looked to the ground in thought. "Not all would forsake you Aes Sedai…" His voice dropped. "Not me…"
Her gaze fell on him once again, something haunted in them like she wanted desperately to tell him something and yet knew it was best not to do so. "I have seen your mare, Daien, and spoken with her." She knew the topic had been changed and intended it as such.
He looked up, almost sensing something, and replied, "It must be handy, what did she have to say?" He didn't pay much attention to what she responded with, yet tried to figure out what was setting off his sense she wanted to say something more there for a second.
She shook her head and her face went still as stone again and just as readable. "It is a Talent of mine. She would be willing... if you would allow it to be...." She didn't look at him in the least, as if she were having problems asking him what she wanted to ask.
Lyth then burst out laughing, right there almost falling to the ground, as he figured out where the conversation was going. "She wants your stallion… I had noticed the slight clues, and the way he strutted around her, but I never thought she might recruit you to help."
Her gaze was curious. "No, Lyth. I asked her to carry my stallion's foal, and she agreed. Cheyhrad is only attracted to her because she is a lovely, fast mare. He has been like this with other mares in the Tower stables."
"He's like any other male in this world, and if she has agreed, I'll not stop her wishes. She needs the attention, really, and some fun. It will leave me without a mount for awhile though." His laughing slowing now as he considered that. "I can't very well get around without a mount."
"I will speak with some of the free horses of the Tower," she replied gently, quietly. "They will allow you to ride until Daien has foaled and the little one is weaned and ready to be trained." There was a glimmer of a smile on her face. "Animals understand me inside. Sometimes they are the only ones who do."
Lyth nodded and thought about things for a bit. What could he say to something like that? He couldn't disagree, so he let it hang there and he would show this Aes Sedai by his actions, for they were more truthful than anything he could ever say. "Well I better get back. If I get caught away from post I'll be in real trouble and never get back to practicing my sword-work or having time to talk with anyone at all." And before she could respond really he stood up and began to haul butt back to his spot before he was discovered away, a last few words drifting to his ears as he hurried.
"On the morrow, then," she called after him. She watched him go somewhat sadly, though filled with a curious hope that things would turn out all right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lyth grinned at Rio from where he sat across from her at her table in the Gholam Inn. It was a strangely named place, but one that was for the Tower as well as near it. The Aes Sedai, Gaidin, and Asha'man who frequented the establishment knew all too well what the name meant, but took the indestructible aspects of the creature to affix to the building with the name. The hope was that the inn would prove to be long-standing and well-nigh immortal.
Rio lifted her mug of spiced wine in salute to Lyth with a slight smile on her face, but said nothing. "You won't be leaving for the Borderlands tonight?" he asked her quickly. "If you do, perhaps you could speak with the Master of Arms to lengthen my days of freedom so that I may protect you? I wouldn't like to stay away from the sword training too long..."
"No," she interrupted smoothly. "I am not leaving for Shienar for another little while. I want to see if Daien catches from the breeding." She gave him a taut smile that he didn't catch the reasonings of. "And I did well to get you away from your training all of this day."
Lyth's eyes creased a bit as he laughed. "She isn't running anymore, is she?" Though you still are, he added silently, enjoying the buzzing he felt in his head from his drink.
"No, her flirting is quite done," Rio answered somewhat drily. "I believe Chey is wooing her with his scars and struts at the moment." She snorted derisively. "Just like a male," she grumbled as she took another sip of her wine. She glanced at Lyth's mug and saw that it was once more empty. If he's not drunk by now, she mused, he's bloody close to it.
"Ah, but you wound me, Aes Sedai," he responded, putting a hand over his heart with a look of mock mourning. "Not all of us attempt to woo a lady of beauty so callously!"
"But you do swagger and strut," Rio replied airily as her eyes passed over the room once more. It wasn't an action she really controlled by this time, being as it was her suspicious nature coming out. That's what happens when you assassinate people and live on the wrong side of the Light for a long while, she told herself soberly. Some things can never be forgotten, especially not after the life I've led before and after the reclaimation of my memory. She noted that there were many people from the Tower around the inn that night, some she knew well, and she wondered what new rumours would begin about her and a drunken Siswai. Especially after I leave with him to go to the stables to check on the horses, she ruminated. She didn't mind the rumours at all, and took a perverse bit of delight in hearing them. They amused her to no end. Besides, she chuckled internally, more than half are probably true anyway.
"Only when needed," Lyth protested with a shake of his head. "So perhaps I won't strut around you in the future!" He regretted it the moment he said it and cursed the liquor for loosening his tongue even as the next phrase flew out. "I wouldn't if I were your Gaidin, I assure you!"
Her brows rose in surprise. So he's still thinking of that, is he? she asked herself. I had a feeling... "You are only a Siswai, Lyth Chatham, and have must to learn before you are Ashandarei and fit to bond."
He blinked at her a moment. "Then Promise me. You may do it. When I am Ashandarei, I will bond you and be your Gaidin." Light, what are you saying?? he demanded of his reeling mind. Stop talking before you dig yourself a grave and cover yourself up in it!
But Rio shook her head. "I cannot Promise you, Lyth, as per the Tower laws." And you would not want me as an Aes Sedai anyway, Light blast you! she told him mentally. Why must you be so adamant?
He frowned at the cup in his hand, still empty, and pushed it away. His jaw had set stubbornly, and though he didn't look at her he said almost inaudibly, "And have you never bent the Tower laws, or wriggled around your Three Oaths, Aes Sedai?" He froze in horror at the words even as he spoke them, knowing he meant them but not meaning to say them to her.
Rio sat up bolt upright in her seat, anger flaring at his words as she looked around hurriedly. "How dare you even suggest such to an Aes Sedai's face in the middle of the common room of the Tower inn?" she hissed so that only he could hear. "Would that the Master of Arms could hear you. He'd have you flogged for it." He didn't speak, or look at her, even though his jaw was still set in stubborn refusal to give in, and so she continued. "I cannot see how you would want to bond me. If you ever are raised to Ashandarei status, then yes I will bond you without fail. Until then, I cannot do a thing."
He glanced up at her and nodded slightly, though he remained intractable. "I do not have to bond another, or Promise anyone else, until that day I stand before you to ask for your bond. Though you cannot Promise me, I will not be anyone else's."
She sighed and shook her head. "As you wish," she returned wearily, then stood and motioned for Lyth to follow her. "Come with me. It's time we checked on the lovebirds for the last time tonight. Then you must head to your room and I must go to my study." He stood with her, though it was somewhat unsteady, and attempted to smile at her reassuringly. "I'm certain that they will be more than safe where they are, Rio Sedai," he told her warmly. "They know more of what they are doing than do we."
She shrugged and moved off towards the door on soundless feet, her eyes watching everywhere as if she were a Gaidin in her own right. "They may indeed," she acquiesced finally as she stepped out of the inn and held the door for him. The night air was cool where it wrapped itself around them with the breeze that fluttered by. It tugged at the loose strands of Rio's braided hair and tousled Lyth's stray strands playfully. "In which case, I will go my way, and you may go yours."
"After we reach the Tower grounds," he corrected swiftly as they started off. "We are going to the same place."
She sighed, her hint for him to continue on without her for a while either not being received or being ignored, and agreed. "That we are, Lyth. That we are." Though if you are lucky, you will find yourself wanting another for an Aes Sedai, she groused to herself. How do I get myself into these things? "I think that if Daien is in foal to Cheyhrad after tonight, I will leave at the end of this fortnight. The Wheel may weave it so, or perhaps may weave it to be longer." She shifted uncomfortably under her cloak. "Something tells me this fortnight will be interesting indeed."