Age & Power [Attn: Carraidhin Glaisne, the Amyrlin Seat]

[Bella]

Miahala Ives Sitting before the oval mirror suspended over the modest vanity, tucked into the corner of her new bedroom, Mia watched her hands work as they threaded themselves through her hair to tie it up into a simple bun at the base of her skull. Delicate streaks of grey had threaded their way through her auburn hair, giving it the appearance of being lighter than it was naturally. Her keen blue-green eyes peered out from her ageless face and impassive expression. She only paused to trace a fingertip down the scar on her cheek.

On the vanity top beside her rested a piece of parchment, folded again and bearing the only slightly broken seal of the Amyrlin Seat. Thus the returned, resurrected Daughter of the Tower had been summoned to meet with Amyrlin Seat.

How many had she known over the years? Harmony, of the Green like Mia, and a friend for many years when they were young and before each had ascended to their places. Joaynna had been another friend, of the Blue like Mia's second husband Darien, and now her daughter Sadira. And Lelianna, who had been Leanna still when Mia had met her. All when they were young, and still up-and-coming. Leanna who had been Caden's bondmate before he was Miahala's. And then Amora...

Others had taken the Seat that Mia had not known so well, but she could remember those who had been friends like it was yesterday; like she had never watched so many she love come and go; like she had not seen them die, or lost their hearts from her life...

Did anyone have the right to live so long as she had?

Then, what did it really matter? Even if she had not the right, she wasn't going to kill herself to sate the curiosity. That was not her place, and the Wheel clearly had plans for her. She would just have to see what they were, and for the moment, it was tea with the Amyrlin Seat. She made sure she was presentable. Not a vain woman by any stretch, she knew that she was Aes Sedai and this was not some casual encounter at the Band of Brothers. She would do her Tower, her Ajah, and her family proud with her deportment and her grace, as she had always endeavored to do.

In order, she deemed she was ready and she made her way from her quarters in the Green Halls to the audience chambers of the Amyrlin, arriving a few minutes before Three Hours Past High (when they were arranged to meet) and announcing her arrival...

((OOC: I always forget the protocol for these things, so I left it vague. XD ))

[Carra]

Carraidhin GlaisnePast, Present and into the Future
News of the coming and goings in the Grey Tower were becoming more and more timely. For a time in the first year as Amyrlin Seat most felt that as a figurehead, a young child barely fit to serve, she did not need such information and was instead given forms to sign and blanket approvals. As the former Keeper to her current station Carraidhin knew full well that she had to allow them this to test her, but with the coming challenges of not just her station but that the world beyond the Tower was changing at a rate that those within it could not yet comprehend, Carra insisted that Virya share with her any and all information and to connect with the Keeper of Archives to ensure there was no duplicate work between herself and Riven. The information gap was mended and quickly she became as efficient in her work along with processing rumors and filtering out what she needed and what she did not. Keeping Virya informed and involved they had worked out a system that ensured that Carra was informed while not overburdened.

News of the returning Aes Sedai, Asha'man, Gaidin and Gaidar was a point of unnerving. Their return reflected a few things, one of which was a need to return as the Pattern would not have brought them thus, and that there was an information gap that was going to be filled by the returning.. IF they had information they wished to have fulfilled. To which Carra sent out a simple summons to one of the firsts, but also one of the most bizarre cases that came across her desk. A woman back from the grave, Carra was curious about Miahala Ives. None came back from death, not unless they were bound to the Horn and those were under extreme circumstances and partially still Legend.

"Thank you, Virya." the voice of the Amyrlin Seat rose from behind the wide cherrrywood desk. "That will be all for now."

There was a slight pause before Carra spoke again. The door clicked behind the Keeper of the Chronicles and then two heartbeats passed. "Domashita calichniye ni niende sur'en Aes Sedai rhyagelle kodome ain hei." her smile was faint, but genuine, "Here is always a warm welcome for lost daughters of Aes Sedai who come home."

When Miahala had approached the raised dais, Carra motioned to a chair on the supplicant side of her desk. "Have a seat." Tea set to the side already steeped and warmed perfectly to serve.

"No doubt you wonder why I have summoned you." she began with laced fingers over the surface of her desk. It was polished so smoothly that it reflected her personage like a pool of water. "Perhaps it is out of curiosity for your return, or for what strange occurrences around your death may have entailed. There are few of your generation still within the halls of the Grey Tower, few that have lived the life that you have." Sitting back, waves of riven fire cascading down her shoulder showing movement as Carra leaned back in her chair. The eight stripe stole around her neck as apparent as the black and red dress that tugged at her frame showing both her strength and lithe build. Green eyes watching the woman, thoughtful and yet still cold of emotion, like a statue in thought, pure stone.

"I do wonder most why a Daughter that Stands Ready in the Light returns to the Grey Tower after a rather impressive Death. I can see with my own eyes that you, my Daughter, are no Ghost.



Ooc: I know NOTHING about Protocol! That was Amora's thing.. So I "borrowed" from her threads. >.>

[Bella]

[OOC: Oh, good. That was always a weak spot of mine! ]

After paying the appropriate respects for the woman's rank, Mia took the chair that was offered her. It was like two statues sitting down to tea, Miahala's age long ago having gained her the agelessness that made her look more like porcelain than person. The woman inside would forever burn with passion, but the Aes Sedai had learned how to keep that well contained so that nothing showed through her. It was an obligation of her age and status, she felt, to be so.

It was even more important now because while she did not have doubts about this Amyrlin--she didn't know the woman enough for that--she had...uncertainties.

Carraidhin was so...young. At least in Miahala's eyes. Anyone less than a century was young to her, and from this position, it felt a little strange. That and this Red Ajah business. She tried to keep an open mind, but with how she had been taught and raised here in the Tower, it was a disconcerting change. One she needed to learn more about.

"No, I am no ghost, Mother," she agreed flatly, though respectfully. "The mystery of my resurrection is as much so to me as everyone else, for I cannot tell you how it occurred." She paused. It was of great and still growing frustration that it was, too. "I do not know why I live again, except that the Wheel is clearly not done with me. However, I am able to say that I returned to the Tower because it was so long my home that it is my home still, even after a death that did not take."

[Carra]

Carraidhin Glaisne "No. The Pattern has its ways of using those that serve it for a purpose we are not expected to understand." There was a hint of a smile, or scorn, in Carra's tone. The Amyrlin Seat, a Foreteller, was all too aware of how the Pattern used people at little cost to itself. Carra, on the other hand, paid dearly each time. "It is still a great boon to the Grey Tower to have you return to us. I am sure that many of your brothers and sisters have missed your guidance." She said carefully. Half truths always were easy for her to speak, but she seldom spoke with few as old as Miahala. Although she was unsure of Amairwyn's age if she dared compare. Taboo's were taboo's for a reason.

"I trust that the Green Ajah has been accommodating to your return. I'm afraid the Tower is not as it was, in many ways. But I personally wish to extend a hand offering aid in anything you should need. People you need connected with. Items possibly misplaced. Although, my word only goes so far." This time the quirk of her lips was on purpose with a certain irony laced in her tone. Carraidhin knew her audience, at least enough that perhaps she would appreciate the joke. "You are rare, in your return, and I do hope still willing to give counsel as well? I would hate for you to be overlooked when you have such a breadth of experience to offer. If you are willing?"

[Bella]

Was it more like a dance, or a spar? That was a question that permeated Miahala's mind, with some amusement, as she sat with the Amyrlin that day. Their words were like both, and they did it without thinking. And with thinking. It came as natural as breathing to listen, analyze, plan, and then carefully select the response that would come next.

Were there any who missed her guidance? There were, but they were more friends than anything...and was that the same? Perhaps.

"Of course," Miahala replied with that faint bow of her head that was respect although not...submission. "I have ever been ready and willing to serve the Tower and the Amyrlin Seat, in whatever manner I am able." Nothing was lost on her, not irony or the joke, as it were, although she did not respond to that aspect. "If you wish my counsel, I stand available."

[[OOC: Am I the only one who is seeing/hearing this in my head during this thread: http://imageserver.moviepilot.com/lets- ... height=196 ]]

[Carra]

Ooc: Oh totally!! LOL!! I love it.
Carraidhin Glaisne It was like a mirror, or a row of stone stone built next to each other. One that had stood for years and now weathers, while the new one weathered but held the details of the stone. Carra was reminded of Illyria with this woman, only.. Miahala was much much more. Carra would not underestimate this woman, it would be very foolish of her.

"Of course." She replied, accepting the formality of her reply. Committal without committing anything. How political, and fascinating. "Perhaps you can enlighten me a little. Some have only shared parts of this story with me, and since attaining the Shawl and then the Stole, nothing at all. Do you know of the events that transpired between the White Tower, their Red Ajah specifically, and the Grey Tower. If you have any information of these events, I would be most grateful to hear them. All of it." Carra's eyes as cold as the stone features on her face. "I am tired of being skirted around for an event of the past."

[Bella]

Miahala certainly had no intentions of underestimating the woman before her either. To ascend to the stole so young, and as part of an Ajah that had had no place in this Tower until so recently... She must be formidable in her own right, and the Green was not going to forget it, since she had not survived this long by being foolish.

The request did not precisely surprise the elder, although she feared she was about to disappoint her new Amyrlin. "Although I was a Novice of the Tower before the Breaking, it had been well established by the time I found my path here. I was not privy to the events you ask about, and nor was I subsequently informed. The rumors of my youth were not to be recalled. I simply know that when the Tower was founded, and not until well after I'd attained the shawl, Saidin had not been cleansed and we had to protect our male channelers from the purpose of the Reds of the White Tower.

"If I knew more than this, I would tell you. To be honest..." And she had to be with the Oaths, and speaking so bluntly as she was. "...I do not know that it was more than that."

[Carra]

Carraidhin Glaisne "A pity." There was genuine disappointment in her voice, although the lilt was light and the feeling a flash and then gone. "It would have been nice to know. I shall have to ask another then. Never the less, your honesty is appreciated, daughter." Carra sat there thoughtful as she regarded her guest. Silence was its own tool, but her opponent was far more adept as such things. Even if the truth of the matter was, Carra was not sure what to do with the woman. She was certainly her senior, and far stronger than she could even hope to become. There were things this Aes Sedai knew and experienced that Carra could not hope to comprehend. Even death had always eluded her and Miahala has already experienced that and lived. Curious, the events around that.

"I do not wish to hold you longer. I would love to hear your tales and adventures that lead you to far and dangerous places, when you are ready." Carra let the curiosity glimmer in her eyes. She wanted an ally, she needed on. The presence of someone who the Pattern spat back into the world was very tempting.

[Bella]

Unlike most Aes Sedai, Miahala was not keen to playing games. She didn't like to dance on the edges of obscurities, nor did she like to have to pick apart every statement said to her to discern if there were ulterior motives or hidden agendas. She was more than capable of it, of course, but that didn't mean that she reveled in it like some of her brothers and sisters. She had pursued the Green because she was straightforward and blunt.

She preferred razor sharp stiletto daggers to fight with, not to speak with.

Yet as she sat here before the Amyrlin Seat, she could not help but feel that she was doing so. She didn't enjoy the feeling, but she did not feel comfortable enough to not do so. There were too many questions and too many uncertainties for her. And this was the most powerful woman in the Tower, in terms of rank and position, at least. That had to be respected, and Mia did. Even if she did not know the woman, she respected the stole and she always had.

"The Amyrlin Seat has but to ask," Miahala replied with another slight inclination of her head, although she did not lower her eyes. "At such time you so request, I will be happy to offer such tales as I have."

[Carra]

Carra rose, "Yes, that would be lovely. It was most agreeable to speak with you, daughter. The Keeper will arrange our next meeting. I shall look forward to it." Her words tradition and yet genuine because she did look forward to such discussions. The Stole heavy, tradition and formalities made conversation stale. Something she was taught, but disliked. Perhaps she should be less so. At another time. "I am afraid our time has come to an end. You may take your leave, Daughter."