Sail Away With Me (attn: Bella)

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Liaran smiled at the question, finding it easier to answer Haeden precisely because neither of them ever pressured the other into speaking. "Not right now," she said, "I'd like to walk a little more." As she spoke, the Aes Sedai stepped away from where she had been standing, leading the pair of them away from the Sailmistress and Windfinder. Once she felt sure that she would not be heard by either the women or anyone else, Liaran felt comfortable speaking quietly to her husband.

"I was just watching Tayla's weaves," she explained, "and I was thinking of how, when I came back to the ships, I never thought I would want to leave them again. But...I did, and when I made that decision I was glad to put them behind me...." She paused, not entirely sure how to describe what she'd been thinking and the emotions she was still feeling; there was some guilt for how she'd left, some remembered misery from the days before she'd made up her mind to leave....but there was also contentment in having found her place in the Grey Tower, where her younger self had never expected to belong.

She moved closer to Haeden as they walked, though she wasn't entirely aware that she was doing so, and in a voice hardly above a whisper Liaran explained, "I suppose I was just never meant for the life of a Windfinder; I don't have the Talent for it as strongly as most do among my people, and those I do have I could never put to use here. Returning to the Grey Tower felt almost like becoming a whole person again." The Aes Sedai smiled, though, as a thought occurred to her, and Liaran even managed a little quiet laughter. "If the girl I was could see me now," she confided to her husband, "I think she'd be shocked by who I've become!"

[Bella]

That draw a smile from him. The man certainly never smiled so much at any time in his day-to-day life as he did when he was in the privacy of his wife. Admittedly, being around his family--especially his younger half-brother--did come a close second. It was still markedly second place, though.

"I imagine both of our younger selves would be very surprised to see us now," he agreed with amusement, but warmth as well. "I hope that they would be pleased, though. To know that we may not have ended up where they expected but that we have ended up in a good place, with a good person beside us."

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

When her husband smiled, so did Liaran. "I think she would be, eventually." she commented. "Even when I was much younger, what I wanted in life was no more than a place where I belonged, a chance to do some good in the world, and I have that now, just in a form I could never have imagined as a girl." She slowed her pace as she turned her head, looking up at the man beside her.

And you, Liaran thought, To share a life with you is more than I ever dared to hope for. If she did not say so, it was because she did not need to; the bond between them would convey her emotions clearly, possibly better than Liaran herself could have had she attempted to put them into words. She looked away from Haeden only out of necessity as they continued on their way along the other side of the ship.

Enjoying the peace she felt in his presence, in spending time with her husband without needing to fill the silence, Liaran remained quiet until the pair of them were approaching the place where they'd begun their walk. "Let me know when you're ready to do something else," she said then.

[Bella]

Haeden certainly had no complaints about just walking and spending time in the company of his wife. After all, this was still far less physical exertion than an average day in the training yards, but he did know that if they just kept going in circle after circle, the crew might well start to look at them funny.

"I wouldn't mind moving on to another activity," he said, his tone light and easy, "though I find myself somewhat at a loss to suggest anything since I'm still unlearned in what the options are aboard a ship." He knew they had discussed it somewhat, but they had discussed many things and he was still wrapping his brain around being on a ship, let alone the details of it.

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Several days later, Liaran and Haeden had chosen to have their dinner in a small inn somewhere in the city of Bandar Eban. The Aes Sedai stared down at the plate in front of her, fidgeting with the two thin sticks she held in one hand. She had wanted to learn about every city they stopped in, an opportunity she had never had during her time as a Windfinder, but was silently questioning whether trying the Domani food, with its strange utensils, had been a wise decision. Strips of meat and vegetables littered the table in front of her, quite a lot more than she'd been able to eat using the sticks. After spending far too long trying to lift just one piece of meat, Liaran huffed in annoyance and finally gave up, setting the sticks back down beside her plate.

Snatching a fork from its place near the edge of the table, she began to take actual bites of her food, suspecting that by now her husband might be nearly finished with his. Whether or not that was true, she knew Haeden wouldn't want her to rush through the meal for his sake, so she ate at her own normal pace. Even the waiter who seemed to be hovering nearby, and had already asked them twice if they required anything else, appeared to almost be watching her, but Liaran ignored him until she decided she was done with her food.

After drinking an entire glass of water, and getting out the coin needed for her part of the meal, the Aes Sedai stood up. As she did, her foot caught on the edge of something, and she swayed forward, catching herself by grasping hold of the table. She let go once the moment she needed to regain her balance had passed and crouched down to look under the table, pushing the tablecloth aside with one hand. Spotting one of the floorboards sticking up from among the others, she ducked beneath the cloth, reaching out to shove the board back into its place so it wouldn't trip anyone else. When she got closer to it, however, something caught Liaran's eye. Instead of standing back up, Liaran hissed at her Warder in a voice so low only he would have been able to hear. "Haeden, come here."

[Bella]

For his part, Haeden was far from expert in the use of the Domani utensils, but there had been some experience with it during his training and upbringing in the Grey Tower. A warder had to always be prepared for any situation their ward may partake of, after all. Still, it wasn't entirely smooth sailing...so to speak. He managed to finish his meal a little before she did, but not by a wild margin.

Things took an even more interesting turn as they were preparing to leave, which was a surprise.

He knelt beside her when she hissed for him. Like any good, quick-moving Gaidin, he had offered inconspicuous assistance to regain her balance but then stood as she moved to check the culprit. That turned out to be...a cockeyed floorboard? He knew they were gaining some odd attention, including from the waiter, but he only let his awareness settle on it enough to know if it was a danger.

"The knife marks?" he asked quietly. He saw them on the very edge of the board, which basically told a story that someone had purposefully pulled this board up. To what end? His green eyes roved the entire edge of the board, seeing nothing else to suggest that there was any sort of trap under it. "Should we? Do we have jurisdiction in Bandar Eban restaurants for suspicious floorboards?"

Haeden wasn't typically known for his sense of humor. Even if it sounded funny, it was a serious question. When it came to these matters, it was the Aes Sedai's lead that should be followed without any clear, present danger that would press the warder to take the lead.

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

From her position beneath the table, Liaran turned to her husband and shrugged. "Haeden, how often do you hear an Aes Sedai ask permission to do anything?" She herself only did for issues which were actually important; something as minor as further inspecting one floorboard which was already loose hardly qualified. Using a lever made from Air, the Blue sister slowly shoved the board upwards, widening the space between it and the rest of the floor just enough to allow her to see inside. She knelt down and leaned forward, turning her head to the side in order to get a better view of the space.

At first, Liaran saw only darkness, which was no surprise to her. She channeled, exchanging the lever she'd made earlier for a tiny sphere of bright light, which she directed under the floorboard to illuminate whatever was down there. The shining light allowed her to view an area that seemed larger than she would have expected, one that was full of large, but very ordinary, plain brown sacks. At first glance, Liaran thought it might be no more than a storage room for the restaurant above, but as she studied the place further, she noticed light reflecting from something small and shiny that appeared to have spilled from one of the sacks.

It could have been no more than the restaurant's profits, but Liaran doubted the place would store any amount of money barely hidden beneath the floor. "It looks like...silver, maybe....possibly gold," Liaran whispered as she turned back to Haeden. Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to make sense of what she'd seen. She scooted to the side, attempting to make room for Haeden to see for himself if he wanted. The motion shifted the tablecloth that had until now hidden her presence under the table, and very shortly afterwards, she thought she heard footsteps coming towards them.

[Bella]

Haeden did avail himself of the opportunity to look beneath the floorboards as Liaran lifted them and created the light within. The bags were obviously plain and nondescript, but the flashes of glimmering discs was plain. He thought it looked golden, although the glinting wasn't quite conducive to seeing color.

He heard the footsteps as they drew near. The sound didn't surprise him, since people (probably?) didn't spend a lot of time underneath the tables of the restaurant. Still, his whole body tensed because anything could be a threat. He didn't pull his weapon, of course, but he was prepared to in a heartbeat.

Lifting his eyes, he saw a server coming toward them. It wasn't the one who had served them, but all of the servers wore similar attire so they could be identified. The man was curious, although there was some tension around his eyes that someone who had been trained like Gaidin were could spot. That didn't give the reason for it, of course, but it was worth noticing.

"Can I...help you?" the server asked cautiously, his eyes swinging between the Aes Sedai and Gaidin.

Haeden rose to his feet first, in case any sort of defense was necessary. "We found something anomalous and were seeing what it was," he replied flatly.

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

When she heard the footsteps, Liaran pushed the board back down as far as it would go before poking her head out from underneath the tablecloth. Without pausing, the Aes Sedai stood, positioning herself beside her husband. She felt the shift in him from husband to Warder as the server approached them, and for herself, Liaran kept hold of saidar.

She said nothing in response to the man's question, seeing no need for any help, but Haeden chose to answer him. He said only that they had found something odd, offering no further details, which seemed to encourage the man to press for more information.

"Oh, well...what exactly did you find?" the server asked.

Looking up, Liaran fixed her dark eyes on the man with absolutely no intention of saying anything more than Haeden had.

"We already took care of it," she told him in the calm tone of an Aes Sedai. It was not even a lie, since she had already put the floorboard back in its place. Without saying anything more, Liaran returned to her place at the table, aware that the server's eyes were still on her.

"May I clear away these dishes?" the man offered, and while it might have been a perfectly ordinary question, Liaran couldn't help suspecting that the man very much wanted them to leave.

[Bella]

Haeden couldn't help but suspect the same thing, which made him less inclined to do so. There was still something of a mystery, and Liaran clearly did not think the waitstaff needed to know. Perhaps she had a suspicion about it. Either way, Haeden had no intention of being encouraged to stay or go based on anyone but the two of them.

To the question, a ghost of a polite smile crossed his face. "If you please," he said, even as he took his seat at the table across from his Aes Sedai again. He ordered an after-meal (non-alcoholic) drink as well, just to make it clear that the waiter should go about his business while he and his wife remained.

The waiter seemed to hesitate, but then he clearly couldn't come up with an excuse to linger so he bowed his head slightly and removed the dishes. The Gaidin waited until he was out of earshot before he turned his attention to Liaran. "Not the usual dinner entertainment," he said with droll humor. "The waiter either thinks we're very strange for this or has another reason to linger around us now."

He spoke somewhat vaguely, just in case someone was around to listen in.